6 



cea alpina, etc.,) — form the northern florula of Ohio; plants whose southern 

 range has been limited by southern temperature or summer drouth. 



The geological basis of the northern and eastern parts of the State is formed by 

 the equivalents of the Hamilton, Portage and Chemung rocks of the New York 

 geologists, and by the carboniferous conglomerate ; the latter a coarse massive 

 sand-drop which underlies the coal measures. Of these the first three are highly 

 argillaceous, and by their decomposition produce a clay soil of most tenacious and 

 retentive character. This soil is not restricted to the area occupied by the out- 

 crops of the rocks which furnish it, but these being soft and readily acted upon by 

 the drifc agents, have been extensively eroded, and their debris spread over the 

 conglomerate ; even reaching on to the slopes of the hills of the coal basin. This 

 region was originally covered with a dense forest of beech, maple, tulip, elm, 

 ash, hickory, and linden, and is agriculturally especially adapted to grazing. This 

 fact, and no preference of inhabitants, has made the Western Reserve the dairy 

 of the West. 



To this general character exhibited by the greater part of the district under 

 consideration, there are many local exceptions. Over large surfaces thick beds 

 of sand and gravel — the later drift deposits — were once spread, which have not 

 been removed by subsequent denudation ; and such surfaces, having a porous 

 substratum, and a sandy or loamy soil, in a state of nature sustained on the up- 

 land forests of white, black and red oak, with hickory in the swales, and black 

 ash in the swamps. In cultivation, these uplands have produced good crops of 

 cereals, and now form out-lots of the great wheat field of the State. * * * 



The eastern portion of Ohio is occupied by the hills of the coal region, and the 

 narrow valleys which divide them. This district has an average elevation greater 

 than that of any other considerable area in the State, and the surface is more 

 varied and picturesque. The rocky sub strata are alternations of coarse and mas- 

 sive sandstones, argillaceous shales and limestones, with thinner beds of coal, 

 potter's clay and iron ore, which in their local predominance, have in turn given 

 a local character to the soil, and hence to the indigenous and introduced flora. 

 As a general rule, however, the surface is covered by forests of oak, with 

 here and there a tulip and black walnut, and on the sandy ridges the chesnut, 

 which shuns the clay. As in other sections, the character of the flora is here 

 given by the greater development of genera and species more sparsely distributed 

 over all our own and adjacent States. There are, however, a few plants which, 

 though common here, are scarcely known west of the line of out crop of the 

 Devonian shales, which passes north and south just east of Columbus. Among 

 these, the most conspicious are the Kalmias (K. latifolia and K. anguatifolia) 

 The great laurel, (Rhododendron maximum), etc., etc., which properly belong to 



