Nov., 1911.] Climatic Conditions and Plant Growth. 
395 
(species of Aster), sunflowers (species of Helianthus), goldenrods 
(Solidago canadensis and S. nemoralis), plantains (Plantago 
major, P. rugelii and P. lanceolata), yard grass (Polygonum 
aviculare), docks (species of Rumex), goosefoots (Chenopodium 
album and C. urbicum), milkweeds (Asclepias comuti), lettuces 
(Lactuca scariola and L. canadensis), purslane (Portulaca oler- 
acea), evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) and crab grass 
(Panicum sanguinale). Some of the above ripened or succumbed 
sooner than others. In woods, in low meadows and along streams 
grasses and sedges were able to persist in good quantity, but on 
higher open ground wild grasses and sedges were for most part 
dead and brown above ground by the middle of August. 
The leaves of many trees, especially maples and ashes, became 
dry and brown before the middle of September, and it was sus- 
pected that a considerable number of these would die the following- 
season. The many planted trees of the campuses of Miami Uni- 
versity and The Western College for Women, at Oxford, were 
carefully watched through the season of 1909. The campus of 
the former institution has a shallow soil, the solid limestone 
rocks being within three to six feet of the surface, while rocks 
have not been reached on the campus of the latter institution in 
digging, except in very low- places. Many large, planted trees 
have died on the campus of Miami University since the summer 
of 1908; but only two planted trees have died on the campus of 
The Western during the same years, and these two w r ere badly 
injured by Cenangium abictis. Of 213 maple trees on the campus 
of Miami University before the drought, 9 were dead in the fall 
of 1909; and 38 more were in a dying condition as shown by thin 
foliage or more frequently by more or less of the crown of the 
tree being dead. Of 90 planted ashes, 9 shou T ed a larger or smaller 
number of dead branches, and 7 died before the summer of 
1911. Of 10 spruces, 4 w^ere in a dying condition in 1909. 
About 35 other trees died or were in a dying condition in 1909; 
but these were scattered through many genera, and while the num- 
ber is large, great damage was not shown by any of the genera 
involved. Trees have been dying on the campus of Miami 
University in considerable numbers since 190S, and the dving is 
largely confined to the trees that show r ed the injurious effects of 
the drought of 1908. The superintendent of grounds for Miami 
University informs us that not a single large, planted tree on the 
campus died from 1898 to 1908, but that dying has been going on 
constantly since the latter date. 
The contrast in crop conditions between 1908 and 1909 has 
been given above. Other contrasts in vegetation conditions 
w r ere also very marked. In 1909, all kinds of herbaceous vegeta- 
tion of the region was green and luxuriant throughout its natural 
cycle, and trees not considerably injured by the drought of the 
