ed and charted; while the remains of others, from walled cities whose metes and bounds are still plainly defined, down to temporary hunting camps of a few tepees, are thickly scattered over the state. Of the recent village sites, or those occupied during historic days, five have been explored: the Bryant site, near Yutan: an Otoe site, where Elsworth visited the Otoes in 1832;⁷ the Esty site, a recent Pawnee village, seven miles south of Fremont; the McClain site, a Pawnee site, immediately across the Platte from Fremont; the Otoe site at Barneston, and the very recent Pawnee site at Genoa. A history of these sites may be obtained from published works, so one need not resort to relics.
   Relics of domestic economy and of art are being gathered, which will reveal the people who used them as truly as we may read the lives of our associates in their everyday walks. Archaeology may, in time, construct a true history of the race which lived, loved, and worshiped (sic) on the soil of Nebraska.

    CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.⁸ It is probable that all pioneers notice more or less carefully the conditions of temperature and rainfall in the new region in which they are making a home. Particularly is this true if the region is popularly supposed by former neighbors and friends to have a rather inhospitable climate. Probably reasons of this nature account, in part at least, for the unusual and intelligent interest which was manifested in climatic conditions by the early settlers of Nebraska. Preceding the settlers, at least in the matter of accurate, preserved weather observations, comes the United States army. The soldiers, in accordance with the usual practice, kept weather records at the frontier army posts. The earliest of these records commenced in 1849 at Fort Kearney, and for twenty years the records at the various army posts form an important part of our knowledge of the Nebraska weather. The earliest preserved records kept by settlers commenced at Omaha in 1857, Brownville and Bellevue in 1858, Nebraska City and Fontenelle in 1859. The number of observers increased but slowly for the next twenty years, and many records are broken, or perhaps have been but partially preserved; for there was no organized attempt to encourage or collect and preserve the results of the work of those who are carefully noting events. A leader to stimulate interest was wanting.
   In January, 1878, Gilbert E. Bailey, professor of chemistry and physics in the University of Nebraska, organized the Nebraska voluntary weather service, similar to a service organized three years earlier in Iowa, "for the purpose of collecting facts and securing an accurate and complete history of the weather of Nebraska." The organization thus formed has existed essentially the same to the present time, nearly forty years, and during this period there was issued, without a single omission, a monthly statement of the weather which prevailed in Nebraska. Much credit should be given to the intelligent citizens who have composed this band of workers, and especially to the "director" of the service who, particularly in the early days, contributed largely in enthusiasm, time, and sometimes money to secure the object sought. The directors were Gilbert E. Bailey, 1878; S. R. Thompson, 1878 to 1884; and G. D. Swezey, in 1884, until the work was turned over to the officials of the United States Weather Bureau in 1896. The continued activity of the service seems the more unusual when it is noted that but once -- in January 1884 --have the workers met in convention.
   The first attempt to collect the scattered records and determine the climate of Nebraska was made in 1878 by G. E. Bailey, at the time he organized the voluntary service. He charted the rainfall for the two ten-year periods ending 1867 and 1877. The results seemed to prove that the rainfall in Nebraska was increasing. Thus was advanced the theory of increasing rainfall (perhaps already in the minds of the people) with seemingly good reasons, which in the next ten years became firmly fixed as a belief in the mind, of the average Nebraskan. The second attempt to present the climatic

conditions of Nebraska was a more complete and pretentious "Climatology of Nebraska," printed by Samuel Aughey, professor of natural sciences in the University of Nebraska. This was a chapter in a book entitled Sketches of Physical Geography and Geology of Nebraska. It contained many statements of supposed facts which were determined from insufficient data and which are now known to be incorrect. It included an elaborate exposition of the mistaken theory of increase in rainfall. In 1890, a comprehensive statement of the Nebraska climate was prepared by the United States Signal Service and printed as Senate Document No. 115 of the Fifty-first Congress. The unusual weather conditions of 1894 aroused considerable interest in the climate, especially as regards rainfall. A complete summary of the rainfall records was prepared by the Nebraska voluntary service, and was printed as Bulletin No. 45 of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Nebraska. In 1895 Professor G. D. Swezey prepared an excellent survey of the climate of Nebraska for the July number of the Northwestern Journal of Education.
   The intelligent interest of the citizen, starting with the early history of Nebraska and continuing for a half century, has resulted in the collection of sufficient data to establish the characteristics of the climate with considerable accuracy, also to point out some of the errors of early students. There is every evidence that no permanent change has occurred in the climate of Nebraska since its occupation by man. The variations of climate observed in the half century would have occurred if the country had been uninhabited, and they are similar to those occurring in all parts of the globe. The climate of Nebraska is controlled by its location on the globe; that is, its latitude, elevation above sea level, distance from large bodies of water, and the extensive mountain ranges to the westward, with the absence of such barriers to moisture-laden winds, to the south and east,
   The average temperature for the year varies with the latitude and elevation. It is highest -- 52^o -- in the extreme southeastern portion of the state, at an elevation of about nine hundred feet, and 2^o less in the southwestern portion, at an elevation of about three thousand feet. The mean annual temperature decreases northward at an average rate of 1^o for forty miles in the eastern and southern portion of the state while in the northwest the decrease in temperature is somewhat less rapid. Along the northern boundary the average is slightly above 46^o.
   January is the coldest month, with a mean temperature approximately 27^o below he yearly average, or with a range of from 25^o the southeast to 20^o or slightly below in the north. In the very coldest days of winter the temperature falls to between 10^o and 20^o below zero, and on rare occasions to 30^o below zero. In the northwest portion of the state 40^o or more below zero has been recorded twice in the past forty years, the coldest recorded being 47^o below zero in February, 1899, at Camp Clarke.
   July is the warmest month, with a mean approximately 26^o above the yearly mean, or with a range of from 78^o in the southeast to 72^o in the northwest. In the hottest days of summer the temperature exceeds 100^o. In 1901, the hottest July recorded, the highest temperature was from 108^o to 110^o while in 1894, 114^o was recorded at Creighton and Santee on July 26th.
   The last killing frost in spring in the southeast, in the last decade, occurs in April, but it appears gradually later to the northward and westward, occurring near May 1st in the greater portion of the agricultural section of the state, while in the northwest, in the more elevated and principally grazing districts, the season is about two weeks later. The first killing frost in the fall in the South Platte district, except the western portion, occurs as a rule during the first week in October, and from five to ten days earlier in the central and northwestern part of the state. The average number of days without killing frosts, that is, from the last frost in the spring to the first frost in the fall, is 155 to 165 in the southeastern part of the state; 145 western parts, and 130 to 135 in the northwestern portion. The ground usually thaws out and some plowing and seeding are done in

March, but the real growing season does not begin until the higher temperatures of April are felt.
   The precipitation of Nebraska is almost entirely rain; the snowfall for a year averages about twenty inches, equal to about two inches of water, or less than one-tenth the annual precipitation. The moisture precipitated over Nebraska comes almost entirely from the Gulf of Mexico, brought by the prevailing southerly winds of summer. The annual precipitation slightly exceeds thirty inches in the southeastern part of the state, and decreases to the north and west somewhat irregularly, but at an average rate of one inch for thirty miles across the state from the southeast corner to the middle of the western border, where it is only fifteen inches. The decrease northward along the eastern border of the state is about one inch for forty miles, or to twenty-seven inches in the northeast corner. The decrease is one inch for fifty miles westward along the northern border, or to eighteen inches in the northwest corner. Very little rain or snow falls in the winter months, averaging less than an inch of water a month, from November to February inclusive. A slight increase is manifest in March, but the spring rains begin in April when from two to three inches is the normal fall for most parts of the state. In May the rainfall is about one inch more, while June and July follow with nearly the same amount. June is the month of heaviest rainfall, with an amount ranging from more than five inches in the southeast to slightly less than three in the extreme west. August brings a decided decrease, being only about the same as April, while September and October have still less. The rainy season in Nebraska coincides with the crop season or the warm growing months. Nearly seventy per cent of Nebraska's precipitation occurrs (sic) in the five months, April to August, inclusive.
   The percentage of cloudiness is highest in March, April, May, and June, when there are slightly more clouds than clear sky. July, August, and September are the months with the least clouds.
   The velocity of the wind is high in all parts of the state except in the Missouri valley, and averages from nine to eleven miles per hour.

    VEGETATION.⁹ The natural vegetation of Nebraska is emphatically that of the Great Plains, and thus differs much from that of the forests to the eastward and the mountains lying westward. To say that the eastern botanist notes the absence of many familiar plants signifies nothing, since this must always be the case in comparing the flora of one region with that of another. The flora of the Plains differs in many respects from that of New York and New England, but the eastern botanist must not unduly magnify the importance to be attached to the fact that he does not find here many of the plants he knew in his childhood days. The Plains have their own plants, which will eventually be as dear to the men and women who gathered them in childhood, as are the old favorites to the New Englander transplanted to the West.
   A study of the vegetation of Nebraska shows it to possess some remarkably interesting features. The wild plants of the state are very largely immigrants from surrounding regions. By far the greater number have come from the prairies and forests lying adjacent on the east and southeast by creeping up the rivers and streams, or in case of herbaceous plants, blowing overland without regard for the watercourses. Thus, of the one hundred and forty-one trees and shrubs which grow naturally within the state, all but about twenty-five have migrated from the Fast, in nearly all cases following the streams. Of these twenty-five, four or five may be considered strictly endemic, the remainder having come down from the mountains.
   A careful study of the plants of the eastern part of the state, show's that many species are confined to limited areas in Richardson and the adjoining counties, and that the number of species decreases with marked regularity as we ascend the Misssouri (sic) river. The same general law is seen as we ascend the three great rivers, the Republican, Platte, and Niobrara, which

cross the state from west to east. On the other hand, as we ascend the streams we meet, here and there, a mountain plant which is wandering eastward down the slope from an elevation of a mile above sea level in the western counties to less than a thousand feet along the Missouri river. Thus the buffalo berry, the golden currant, low sumach, the dwarf wild cherry, and yellow pine have traveled half-way or two-thirds across the Plains; while the creeping barberry, black cottonwood, Rydberg's cottonwood, mountain maple, mountain mahogany, and sage-brush barely enter the western counties, not extending eastward of the Wyoming line more than a few miles. A few species of wild roses, the sand cherry, and perhaps the sand plum seem to belong strictly to the Plains.
   Wherever we go, we find upon the Plains a similar commingling of eastern and western species. Every mile one advances westward brings to view plants not hitherto seen while at the same time there is left behind some familiar species.
   Nebraska affords one of the finest illustrations of the commingling of continguous (sic) floras to be found anywhere in America. Not a few of the species in the southern half of the state have come up from the plains of the Southwest, some even coming from Texas and New Mexico. Others, again, appear to have migrated from the great northern plains of the Dakotas, while here again there are endemic species, as the buffalo grass, Redfield's grass, false buffalo grass, and many more.
   Through the untiring efforts of the members of the Botanical Seminar of the University of Nebraska there are now known fully three thousand three hundred species, representing every branch and nearly every class of the vegetable kingdom.
   There are sixty-four species of native trees in the state. There is, however, no place in the state where all these species grow together. No county contains sixty-four kinds of native trees. Thus there are nineteen species of trees in the northwestern quarter of the state, southwestern, and fifty in the southeastern.
   A close study of the distribution of our [twenty-seven in the northeastern, fifteen in the (sic)] trees shows that nearly all have probably migrated to the Plains from the East. They have in some cases done no more than get a little foothold in the extreme southeastern counties, to which they have come from the heavy forests of Missouri. A few have doubtless crossed the Missouri river from western Iowa, although this number is evidently very small. Nearly all have come up from the Missouri bottoms and spread from the southeastern corner of the state west and northwest. Possibly a few may have come up the Blue river from Kansas, but these must eventually be traced to the Missouri river bottoms at the mouth of the Kansas river.
   The trees and shrubs which are found only in the western part of the state unquestionably came from the Rocky mountains and have spread eastward to their present limits. Only one of these, the buffalo berry, has spread itself over the whole state. There is a probability that a further examination of the bluffs of the Niobrara, Platte, and Republican rivers will show several more of these Rocky mountain plants, which have come down with the river currents. It is singular that so few of the western trees and shrubs have come down the streams, especially as prevailing winds are also from the westerly parts toward the east. It would naturally be supposed that it would be much easier for the western trees to come down stream, and with the wind, than for the elms, ashes, plums, etc., to have gone up the streams against the prevailing winds.
   Some of the more important trees are: The yellow pine or bull pine, red cedar, black cottonwood, Rydberg's cottonwood, cottonwood, basswood, white elm, red elm, hackberry, plane tree, mountain maple, butternut, black walnut, shellbark hickory, big hickory nut, bitter hickory, white oak, bur-oak, red oak, iron-wood, canoe birch, choke cherry, wild black cherry, wild plum, Kentucky coffee tree, white ash, red ash, and green ash.
   The yellow pine, which occurs so abundantly in the Rocky mountains, is the only pine native to Nebraska. It forms quite dense forests in the northwestern and northern portion of the state, extending from the Wyoming line along

the Pine Ridge and Niobrara river to the eastern boundary of Rock and Keya Paha counties. It occurs also on the North Platte river as far east as Deuel county.
   The white elm is deservedly popular throughout the state as a shade tree; it is the common elm of the state. It is known as "water elm." A specimen of the white elm in Tecumseh has a spreading dome-shaped top nearly one hundred feet in diameter. Along the Salt Creek in the vicinity of Lincoln are many trees of about the same size. It will adapt itself to almost any soil and condition and grows well over the entire state.
   The bur-oak is the most widely distributed oak within the state. In favorable situations it attains a great size even along the western border of the state. In Long Pine canyon there are trees from two to three feet in diameter, with large and well shaped tops.

   Grasses. Many plants are commonly called grasses which are not grasses at all. Many people speak of clover and alfalfa as grasses, because they are made into hay for stock, just as many of the real grasses are. So, too, many of our weeds are called grasses, as rib-grass, knot-grass, etc., when they are not at all related to the proper grasses. On the other hand, many true grasses are commonly kept separate from them, under the impression that they are very different plants. Thus many people do not think of common field corn as a grass, and yet it is in every way a true grass, although a very large one. So, too, wheat, oats, rye, barley, etc., are real grasses, although we rarely hear them spoken of as such.
   A grass is a plant with narrow, elongated leaves which are in two ranks upon the jointed usually hollow stem. The leaves end below in open sheaths, which wrap around the stem for a greater or less distance. The flowers are chaffy (sic) and are never colored or conspicuous; they are often in loose heads (panicles, as in blue grass and oats), or in spikes (as in timothy and wheat). Some live for but a single season (annuals), while others live for many years (perennials).
   In the world there are about 3,500 species of grasses, and of this vast number 154 have been recorded as growing wild or under common cultivation in Nebraska. Probably there is no place in the state in which there are not from fifty to seventy-five kinds of grasses, and in some places doubtless there are more than one hundred.

   Wild Flowers. Contrary to the popular notion Nebraska has a rich flora, and its wild flowers include many species whose beauty has commended them to the florist and gardener. It is safe to say that there are at least three hundred species which are notable for their attractiveness. This large number is, however, distributed over so great an area that no locality possesses many of them.
   The more important of the wild flowers are the following:

   LILIES. -- Eight of these are attractive flowers. The most striking are the two species of "Mariposa lilies" whose lavender flowers may be found abundantly in the northwestern part of the state. Much more common, but very pretty, are the two species of "spring lilies" (Erythronium), the one a lavender white, the other rarer one a light yellow. The Canada lily and the little white trillium are so pretty as to merit the high place given them among beautiful flowers. The sand lily (Leucocrinum) of the western half of the state sends up in early spring its delicate white, fragrant flowers, while in the same region in early summer the stately dagger weed (Yucca) rears its tall stem, crowned with its creamy tulip-like flowers.

   ORCHIDS. -- Nine or ten pretty orchids grow in different parts of the state, but these shy plants are nowhere abundant.

   BUTTERCUPS. -- About a dozen species of buttercups are known within the state, and there are as many more near relatives, the columbines, larkspurs, anemones, and pretty climbing clematises.

   WATER LILIES. -- The prettiest of these is the white water lily so much prized by flower-lovers, and the giant water lily (Nelumbo) with its light yellow flowers and gigantic leaves.

   POPPIES. -- Throughout the western half of the state the native prickly poppy is very common, its large, white flowers being conspicuous everywhere upon the high plains. In common with many of the preceding species, it is very generally cultivated in gardens in the older parts of the United States.

   CAPERS. -- This odd name is applied to a family represented in Nebraska by several very pretty plants: one of the prettiest is the Rocky mountain bee plant, whose pink flowers yield much nectar to the bees.

   VIOLETS. -- Every spring the hills are dotted over with beautiful prairie violets of several species. Some of these have heart-shaped leaves, while in others they are shaped like the leaves of the larkspur. All are worthy of cultivation in gardens.

   MALLOWS. -- The eastern resident will see few more interesting plants upon the plains than the native mallows, from the tall growing lavender or blue flowered species to those with bright red flowers. Some of the former have very deep growing, enlarged roots.

   CACTUSES. -- In eastern Nebraska, on the rocky hilltops, a species of prickly pear grows plentifully, as also in many counties westward to Wyoming. Another species much like it .occurs in the western counties only, while a couple of species of melon cactus with spherical stems are common from the central counties westward.

   MENTZELIAS. -- Several species of Mentzelia with thin, straw-colored, star-shaped flowers, and adhesive leaves, are very abundant in the western counties. They are sometimes known as "star flowers," and have been cultivated in the garden under the name of Bartonia.

   EVENING PRIMROSES. -- These occur in great abundance throughout the state, and six of the species are very ornamental, having bright yellow flowers an inch or two in diameter. Some of these are common in eastern gardens.

   THE ROSES. -- No part of Nebraska is without one or more species of wild roses, and in some places these are so abundant that the landscape is made pink by the color of the beautiful flowers which are produced in great numbers. Nearly related to the roses are the cinque-foils of many species, and the well-known wild strawberries, of which we have two species.

   LUPINES. -- In the western counties several kinds of wild lupines are found, which are very attractive both in flowers and foliage. Related to these are the milk-vetches of many species, some of which are ornamental.

   PRAIRIE CLOVERS. -- Two species of these plants, the white flowered and the pink flowered, are common everywhere, while three or four more occur in the center of the state and westward. Some of these have long been cultivated in gardens in the east and in the Old World.

   MORNING GLORIES. -- While some of these are troublesome weeds they are at the same time very pretty ornamental plants. One which does not climb and which is known as the bush morning glory produces fine, large purple flowers in great profusion. It is worthy of cultivation. It is curious on account of the very large root which it produces, this sometimes reaching the enormous size of five feet in length and a foot in diameter and weighing from fifty to one hundred pounds.

   GILIAS. -- A few of the many species of Gilia are pecularly (sic) beautiful and have long been grown in gardens under the name Collomia. They occur mainly in the western part of the state.

   PENTSTEMONS. -- Six to eight species of these beautiful flowers grow in the state, some of them being common everywhere. The finest one is the large flowered species (Pentstemon grandiflorus) whose blue-purple flowers are two inches long.

   VERBENAS. -- Some of our species are coarse and lacking in beauty, but others are low with pretty leaves and flowers, suggesting that they may well be brought into gardens.

   SUNFLOWERS. -- We too commonly regard all the sunflowers as weeds only, but even the coarsest are not devoid of beauty. The most common species (Helianthus annuus) is the parent from which have been derived all the cultivated varieties so common in gardens the world over. The so-called Russian sunflower which is often cultivated for its oily seeds is nothing but a highly improved form of our common species. Other species of sunflowers are somewhat cultivated and are prized for their stateliness, but none are as well known as the common kind mentioned above.

   ASTERS. -- Of this genus of plants we have many species in the state, several of considerable beauty. They always attract attention, and are deservedly popular with children and other lovers of flowers.

   GOLDENRODS. -- Few genera of plants have received the attention bestowed upon that which includes our native goldenrods. Their tall wand-like stems, topped with their golden heads, make them striking objects upon the landscape of the Plains. We have many species, ranging from the stout and stocky "rigid goldenrod" to the slender "Canadian" species. One of the most graceful of the species, the "tall goldenrod" (Solidago serotina), has recently been designated by law as the floral emblem of Nebraska. This really handsome