102 Rhodora [JUNE 
contains the statement that “ Its soil is rich and its crops are exuberant, 
affording to the enterprising farmer not only the comforts but some of 
the luxuries of life." ! Contrasted with this most tempting picture 
of the fertility of the easternmost coast of Maine is the account given 
by William Oakes in a letter to his friend, Dr. James W. Robbins. 
Oakes, writing under date of August 14, 1828, said: “The greater 
part of July I have spent ‘down East’ even as far as Quoddy Head 
which lieth more eastward than Eastport. I have seen there however 
but few plants new to N. E. & am convinced that no great accessions 
to the N. E. Flora, and of absolutely new plants hardly any, are to be 
expected from the State of Maine." * ‘These very different accounts 
of the Eastport district, one a picture of “exuberant” vegetation, the 
other of hopeless paucity of the flora, made it of more than usual 
interest to explore a region which could produce such contrasting effects 
upon the minds of casual observers. So on the morning of July 6th 
we were all assembled at the house of Mrs. A. C. Bridges in Pembroke, 
where we were to have a pleasant home for six weeks, and a workroom 
with impromptu tables was soon established in the barn, with abun- 
dant drying facilities on the woodpile. 
Pembroke is situated on one of the northwestern arms of Cobscook 
Bay, which extends westward with antler-like branches from opposite 
the islands of Passamaquoddy Bay. It had been selected as a center 
for work because at Ayer's Junction, in the northwestern part of the 
town, the Washington County Railroad forks and we could, by means 
of the trains, extend our explorations east to Eastport, north to Calais 
and Princeton, or southwest and west as we should wish. ‘The 
summer's work in Washington County actually covered much of the 
town of Pembroke and adjacent areas in Dennysville, Charlotte, and 
Perry; Moose Island in Passamaquoddy Bay, upon which is situated 
the town of Eastport; the eastern and southern coasts of Lubec, from 
Lubec village to Bailey’s Mistake; and casual observations in Trescott 
and Whiting. Northward, the valley of the St. Croix was followed 
from above St. Croix Junction to Milltown and for a couple of miles 
below the city of Calais, and a day was spent along the course of the 
river between Baileyville and Princeton. 
To the person from farther west, who has somehow gained the 
1"X," Hovey's Mag. x. 405 (1844). 
2 Wm, Oakes to Dr. J, W. Robbins in letter now in possession of Mr. Walter Deane, 
