FLORA OF EMMET COUNTY, IOWA. 
BY R. I. CRATTY. 
Emmet county lies in the northwestern part of the state, 
bordering on Minnesota, and has an area of 408 square 
miles. Its surface waters mostly find an outlet in the east 
and west forks of the Des Moines river, both of which flow 
through the county in a southeasterly direction. A small 
part of the northeastern township, near Iowa Lake, lies in 
the drainage area of the Minnesota river, and its flora, 
therefore, is represented in Prof. MacMillan’s admirable 
volume, The Metaspermce of the Minnesota Valley. 
This county lies entirely within the area of the Wisconsin 
drift and the retreating ice fields of our last glacial period 
left within its borders many shallow depressions, the 
deeper of which have become permanent lakes; while the 
more shallow, which undoubtedly were once lakes and 
ponds, have been gradually filled by the erosive agency 
of wind and water, aided by the decaying vegetation of 
mosses and other aquatic plants, until at last the water- 
loving sedges and grasses gradually narrowed the shore 
line, till in most cases the whole was converted into a 
quaking bog; a few of which have an area of several 
hundred acres, while there are a great many of less size. 
The greater part of the county has a gently rolling sur- 
face, there being no very high hills. The valleys of both 
branches of the Des Moines river are much below the 
level of the surrounding country, and show the effect of 
extensive erosion. In the eastern part of Iowa Lake and 
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