198 
IOWA ACADEMY OE SCIENCES. 
Since good farming land has increased so much in value 
within the last five years the timber land will be encroached 
upon more and more for farming purposes. All the best 
timber land has been under the plow for some time. The 
portion that remains now consists mostly of the steep hill- 
slopes and clay ridges on either side of the streams. 
One hopeful fact is that the small wood lots are being 
gathered together into larger areas and used for pasture, 
thus to a certain extent preserving the timber, yet pastur- 
ing is detrimental to young trees. Man and the goat are 
doing their part in destroying the young trees and under- 
brush of the steep hills. 
Madison county has enough rough land, unfit for the 
plow, to grow sufficient timber to supply all her people 
with fuel and fence posts, if the proper care be given it. 
A good oak post can be grown in twenty years, and timber 
for fuel in less time. 
Is it not true that the government should make some 
provisions to preserve the forest upon land that is of little 
use otherwise than grazing? 
The following is a list of shrubs and trees found in 
Madison county: 
Angiospermse. 
Dicotyledones. 
Tiliace^e. 
Tilia americana Linn. Basswood. Linden. 
Common on bottoms and lower slopes of hills between 
the oak ridges and the bottom land. 
Rutacea:. 
Xanthoxylom americanum Mill. Prickly Ash. 
Common everywhere. 
Celastracea:. 
Celastrus scandens Linn. Climbing Bitter-Sweet. 
Frequent, found everywhere climbing over shrubs. 
Euonymus atrojyurpureus Jacq. Wahoo. Burning Bush. 
This is quite common on the bottoms and along 
ravines. 
