I58 ANNUAL REPORT STATE GEOLOGIST. 



The number of grapes that grow wild through the state, 

 and the great size of the vines, suggest as plainly as Nature 

 can suggest anything, that our state is unusually well adapted 

 to grape culture. 



Much might be said of the distribution of the timber and 

 of the industries of the state based upon it. Such a paper, 

 however, to have any value, would require much more time 

 and labor in gathering the statistics of geographic distribution, 

 manufacture and exportation, than it has been possible for the 

 Geological Survey to give the subject. This is a work, how- 

 ever, which ought to be done, and which must be done when 

 we cease to deal in generalities and undertake to let the world 

 know specifically what our natural resources are in this direc- 

 tion. Our endless forests of yellow pine, our vast cypress 

 swamps, our sweet gum, oak, holly, hickory, cedar and other 

 forest trees are but a part of the plant wealth of the state. 

 'More modest but quite as useful plants are usually overlooked, 

 Our abundant tannin producing plants are not utilized ; forage 

 plants, of which we have not a few, contribute their share to 

 our natural advantages; plants of medicinal properties abound, 

 while our wild flowers vie in beauty with the brightest and 

 fairest in the world. 



It is hoped and believed that the publication of this list 

 will encourage the study of botany here for its own sake, 

 and that this list will be greatly lengthened and improved by 

 local observers. There is perhaps no state in the Union having 

 so rich and varied a flora, no state in which such large num- 

 bers of subtropical plants meet equal numbers of northern 

 ones, as in Arkansas. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY AND EXPLORATIONS.* 



The work of Nuttall. — The botanical work done in Arkansas 

 up to 1887, when the work of the present Geological Survey 

 began, was confined to a few individuals and a few exploring 

 parties. The earliest explorer was Thomas Nuttall, one of the 



*The bibliography has been prepared by Professor Coville. 



