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The Fairfax line, surveyed in 1746 starts at the southern tip of western Maryland and extends 76.5 miles (123km), bearing S 46° E, to the headwaters of the Conway River in Madison County, Virginia. The forests of the Fairfax line can be divided into five map units, based on the presence or absence of ‘key’ species, which have significantly different woody floras. The forest units show a pattern of alternations with topography and underlying rock type which can be best explained by differences m substrate moisture. Although the common woody species appear in recurring groups, each species responds more or less independently to variation in topographic form, rock type, and direction of exposure. The surveyor's journal documents a large blowdown in the presettlement forests of the Appalachian Plateau, and witness tree data suggest that distribution patterns of the common woody species have changed little m more than two hundred years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘high plain’ shown on many early maps of Michigan was not a fanciful creation, but reality as perceived by early travelers. Their perception of a high plain was as much the result of a change in vegetation as of an actual change in landforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses plant-life contributions made by the U.S. Investigations by the U.S. are expected to help appreciate the part that the most ancient of the land-surfaces may have taken either as evolutionary centers or as sanctuaries in the early history of currently dominant plants. According to the author, the chaotic condition of present knowledge of plant-distribution is becoming worse every month with the ever-increasing output of the work of the systematist. There are said to be two demands made on U.S. palaeobotanists, particularly the demand of the U.S. Geological Survey for stratigraphical results and the call of the student of the history of plant-life over the globe for the contribution of the country to the world's story.

The article discusses two maps of the U.S. vegetation produced by Forrest Shreve and J. W. Harshberger. According to the author, Shreve's map depicts 18 types of vegetation where its scale of colors is depressing and sometimes very difficult to distinguish. On the other hand, Harshberger's large wall map is boldly colored with well-contrasted tints showing 29 types of vegetation. However, the state and national boundaries on Harshberger's map are not well-represented. The author notes that the maps illustrate the great difficulty of producing a trustworthy representation of the types of vegetation on an extended region of the Earth's surface.

The article provides information on the climatic regions and crop distribution in the U.S. taken from published articles in various journals. The write up "Crop centers of the United States," by A. E. Waller from the "Journal American Society of Agronomy" talks about the origin, cultivation and the variability of maize, the prime cereal of the country. Meanwhile, the article "Forest Centers of Eastern America," by E. N. Transeau cites the distribution of wheat, cotton and wild or prairie grasses across the region. It states that climate and other topographic factors affect the vegetation of crops.

The article presents information on an international excursion that has been planned by Swiss phytogeographers for 1915, following upon the very successful International Phytogeographic Excursions of 1911 and 1913, in the British Isles' and the U.S., respectively. The international excursion have lasted from mid-July till the beginning of September 1914, and was to have been divided into three parts--the first devoted to the Eastern Alps, from Vienna to Innsbruck, the second to the Swiss Alps, Zurich to Lugano, the third to the Western Alps, Mont Cenis to Nice.