14 
seminated, are in such situations as to make their origin 
self-evident, while others are so distributed as to appear to 
all intents and purposes as natives. Again, by the clear- 
ing of the forests, the general cultivation and changes in 
the condition of the soil, many native plants best able to 
endure the changes, or those to which the changes have 
proved beneficial, have been given positions of undue 
prominence in the flora; while other species, which at the 
time of the settlement of the country were much more 
abundant, have now become less numerous, or have entirely 
disappeared. It is a matter of considerable difficulty to 
picture to ourselves the country as it appeared two hun- 
dred and fifty years ago. It is probable that extensive 
forests reached to the ocean shore and, excepting the river 
marshes and clearings made by the fires of the aborigines, 
occupied the whole territory. The Indians cultivated 
corn, pumpkins, beans, tobacco and a few other plants. 
It is possible that some species of foreign plants had been 
introduced previous to the settlement by the whites 
through trade or by adventures, but this is uncertain. 
The-study of the introduced plants is aided by the work 
of Mr. John Josselyn (New England Rarities Discovered), 
a reprint of which, with valuable notes by Professor Ed- 
ward Tuckerman, is now available. Josselyn visited 
New England several times ; when on the longest sojourn, 
1663-1671, he landed at Boston and soon went to Black 
Point, Scarborough, Maine, where most of his obser- 
vations were made. Josselyn was an excellent observer 
and although his writings are filled with the usual strange 
stories current in old works upon new and unexplored 
countries, they contain the first accounts of any conse- 
quence regarding the New England flora. This author did 
not, perhaps, make many observations in Essex County, 
yet his work contains but few species that do not grow 
