158 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
Mud creek is in the southeast part of the county with 
an original timber belt of several miles. 
The northeast part of the county is devoid of timber 
except a strip about a mile wide, or a little less, along the 
east branch of Crooked creek in Scott township. This 
branch of Crooked creek is sometimes called the South 
Fork of Crooked creek, but is commonly known in this 
locality as simply Crooked creek. The soil of this part of 
the county is a black, rich loam, several farms having been 
sold in recent years at prices ranging from $100.00 to%115.00 
per acre. 
The specimens to be here enumerated were mostly 
gathered in Scott township, from the open prairie district 
unless otherwise stated. Very little of the original soil in 
the prairie district remains untouched by the plow. 
In untiled sloughs may be found primitive conditions, but 
such instances are now rare. The timber along Crooked 
creek has been cleared away to a great extent and the 
land put under cultivation. Where the timber still stands, 
the hoof of the herd has eradicated the primitive denizens 
of the soil to such a degree that one must need seek the 
secluded nook for the aboriginal plant; and even then it 
may be missing. 
About fifteen years ago the writer collected a few hun- 
dred specimens of flowering plants growing mostly in 
Scott township in the extreme northeastern corner of Henry 
county. The list here submitted is the first installment of 
this collection. It is the desire of the writer that, in the 
brief intervals of a busy life, he may find time in which 
not only to prepare the remainder of the above collection 
for the proceedings of this Society, but that he may sup- 
plement his earlier work by a continued and more extended 
research covering the whole county. 
An apology for the use of dates and location in the de- 
scription of a plant may be found in the statement that 
science is exact, is comprehensive rather than abbreviative. 
One knows just where and when a certain plant was once 
found. We give it a “habitation and a name,^' even a 
