46 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
consin, 1 to 105. By this showing—and a further comparison 
with the remaining States would only increase the relative ad¬ 
vantage of this State —Wisconsin is the most healthful State 
in the Union. 
FLORA AND FAUNA. 
Flora .—There has not yet been made a thorough botanical 
survey of the State; but the public spirit and laudable scien¬ 
tific enthusiasm of several naturalists — among whom Messrs. 
Lapham of Milwaukee, Hoy of Racine, and Hale of the State 
University, are worthy of most prominent mention — have so 
far made up for this neglect of the State, that the State Agri¬ 
cultural Society has been enabled to publish in its 2d, 3d and 
5th Volumes of Transactions, catalogues of some 1300 species 
of plants; and this present volume will include additions to 
the number of 160. Great credit is due to the scientific gen¬ 
tlemen who have, on their own account and without remunera¬ 
tion, carried on these important investigations in the botany of 
our State. 
The Trees indigenous to Wisconsin embrace nearly, if not 
quite, all those species which belong to the best American por¬ 
tions of the North Temperate Zone. The Oak, the Maple, the 
Elm, the Cherry, the Hackberry, the American Linden, or 
Basswood, the Ash, the Walnut, Butternut, the Hickory, Beech, 
the Poplar, the Birch, the Sycamore, and others of the hard¬ 
wood families are here, each presenting its numerous varieties, 
and all flourishing in their respective localities to a degree un¬ 
surpassed in any portion of the country. The evergreens are 
also here, with their numerous families and species — Pines, 
Hemlocks, Spruces, Firs and Cedars — occupying large areas 
in some portions- of the State, and yielding immense quantities 
of the best lumber produced in the world. 
For a detailed description of the Forest Trees of Wisconsin, see 
the interesting papers of Dr. P. R. Hoy and I. A. Lapham, Esq., 
embraced in the second, and fourth volumes of Transactions 
above mentioned. 
The Distribution of Timber is a subject of so much interest 
