International Excursion in America. 31 
Dr. Shantz published a Bulletin in the same series (No. 201) 
entitled “ Natural Vegetation as an Indicator of the Capabilities 
of Land for crop-production in the Great Plains area,” and giving 
an excellent account of the natural vegetation of this neighbourhood 
and of its relation to the crops. 
The international party arrived at Akron early on the morning 
of August 10th, and was joined by Professor and Mrs. Clements. 
Two days were spent in the neighbourhood. The members of the 
party not only had the opportunity of studying the native vegetation 
under the guidance of Mr. T. H. Kearney and Dr. Shantz, but were also 
able to inspect the experiments above mentioned under the guidance 
of Drs. Briggs and Shantz, and to obtain a first-hand idea of the 
methods of work. A particularly fine set of automatically recording 
instruments for measuring meteorological and other physical factors 
is installed at the station. Automobiles were most kindly lent by 
the principal citizens of Akron, and these made it possible to visit 
in a day the sand-hill region near Yuma, about thirty miles from 
Akron, as well as various typical associations of the Great Plains 
passed en route. 
The Great Plains region covers an enormous area of country, 
extending northwards into Canada and southwards as far as Texas, 
with strikingly little change in the essential character of the 
country and of the vegetation. In physiographic character the 
Great Plains are very uniform, consisting of flat or gently rolling 
grassland on a clayey or loamy soil. Over considerable areas there 
are large deposits of sand, and these form sand-dunes in all stages 
of fixation by vegetation, and of rejuvenescence by the formation of 
blow-outs, and bear a distinctly different vegetation from the finer 
grained more compact soil of the rest of the area. The region is 
intersected by stream-courses, most of which are dry “sand-draws” 
for most of the year. Only the larger rivers, such as the Platte, the 
Republican and the Arkansas, rising in the Rocky Mountains or the 
foothills and running through to the Missouri-Mississippi system, 
maintain their streams at all times. 
The main area of the plains is covered by the “ short grass ” 
association, dominated by the grama-grass ( Bouteloua oligostachya) 
and the Buffalo-grass ( Bulbilis or Buchloe dactyloides). Under the 
natural conditions these grasses do not attain a height of more than 
2 or 3 inches above the soil. They form a fairly close sod with 
little bare soil showing between the plants. Associated are such 
plants as Festuca'octoflora, Plautago Purshii, Salsola pcstifer, Munroa 
