35o 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



photographers to make pictures as our 

 hem. Surel) . i » 1 1 surely, some 

 of the reproductions that appear in the 

 leading photographic magazines could 

 not have been made as the eyes oi the 

 so-called pictorialists saw them. If so, 

 my advice is, "Consult an uculist at 

 e.' 



I have rejected three of the leading 

 monthly magazines on this account, for 



hen one pays fifteen cents per copy, 

 or "in.' dollar and fifty cents per year, 

 he wants value for his money, and 

 does not care to receive the photo- 

 engraver's out-of-focus, screen work, 

 nor the printer's ink smudge. We owe 

 many thanks to the editors of these and 

 other magazines for the titles below 

 the pictures, as I am sure that no one 

 under the canopy of heaven could ever 

 guess what they are. On account of 

 these silly pictures many an ambitious 

 amateur has doubtless "thrown up the 

 sponge" in utter disgust. 



The foregoing may seem ridiculous 

 to the pictorial (?) band. Nevertheless 

 they themselves will sooner or later 

 become tired of such work. As the old 

 saying goes, "Chickens always come 

 home to roost," so will this class of 

 photographers return to their first love. 

 A\"hile not a confirmed crank on photo- 

 graphs that are so sharp that they are 

 likely to prick one, yet I want to see 

 pictures that shall show some semb- 

 lance of detail, and to make them so 

 that one may know what they are. In 

 some prints that I have seen in genre 

 work it was an utter impossibility to 

 tell whether the figures were men, wo- 

 men or children devoid of eyes, nose 

 and mouth, three essential parts of the 

 human body. These pictures were 

 raved over and called works of high 

 art in photography. I mentally re- 

 marked. "Heaven help the low art." 



As I have given vent to my feelings 

 on this important subject, I should like 

 to have the opinion of others, as no 

 doubt my heterodoxy will cause many 

 to "hem and haw," and say that the 

 writer is a fool. But fool or not, he is 

 truthfully expressing his view in the 

 matter. Everybody knows that a 

 photo-engraver can do wonders in 

 many ways with halftone cuts, and to 

 my mind the majority of these beauti- 



ful ( ?), so-called "atmospheric" pic- 

 ture-- were prepared in the workroom 

 i if the engraver. 



J. H. Jost. 



The Twin Oaks. 



Yarker, Ontario, Canada. 

 To the Editor : 



I send you a photograph that shows 

 a rather remarkable freak growth of a 

 white oak tree. The branch from the 

 tree on right is almost perfectly united 

 with the trunk opposite, as can be seen 

 from the photograph. 



Yours truly, 



A. M. Ewart. 



THE TWIN OAKS. 



