Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
5-1925
Abstract
This map has been prepared by transcribing the species of bearing trees recorded by the original surveyors who traversed the Territory and State of Ohio before the destruction of the virgin forest by the hands of white men.
Surveying of Ohio was begun in July, 1786, (1) under The Geographer of the United States, Thomas Hutchins, employing for the first time his device of sections one mile square. This empirical device was hailed as a great American invention, although the State of Ohio has since been found to possess a curved surface in common with the rest of the earth. All corners which lay within the forest were located with reference to nearby trees, the species of which were noted. These corners becoming permanent, the net result of Hutchin's plan has been the preservation of a systematic record of such great biological value as to redeem its geometrical shortcomings.
Comments
Published in The Ohio Journal of Science, v. 25, no. 3 (May, 1925), 139-149.