284 THE PLANT WORLD. 



"I am told that there are only three men in America 

 who can name and classify the plants of my sets. One of 

 these is at Ottawa, another at Washington, and a third at 

 St. Louis. I expect to go East as soon as possible to have 

 the collection worked over by a botanist, for I have been told 

 by those who have seen it and who know something of plant 

 life that there are in it some fifty species not yet named, and 

 it is to the best interest of science to have these recorded." 



The collection comprises only thirteen trees, a state- 

 ment which will be surprising to some, for within a few 

 hundred miles to the southward of the Yukon one woulci 

 find eight or ten times this number. While only the hardi- 

 est trees flourish in the north, the herbaceous plants, which 

 have only the short summer for their activity, thrive nearly 

 or quite as well as their relatives in milder climates. The 

 flora of the southern United States is well represented north 

 of the fifty-third parallel, and there are few marked gaps in 

 the roll call. 



A beautiful portion of the Gervais exhibit comprises 

 the mosses. Some of the northern mosses are of as fine a 

 texture as any fur. The tree moss, black and silky, the va- 

 riegated reindeer moss, and the cabin moss, form as fine 

 contrasts in color, texture and habit as anything in the North. 



The wild rhubarb of Alaska is probably larger than any 

 of the cultivated forms and it has been suggested that the 

 Alaskan plants might furnish a valuable addition to the gar- 

 den. The wild hay of the Yukon is also unsurpassed. There 

 is a wild clover which the writer has not met with elsewhere. 

 The latter resembles ordinary red clover, but it does not 

 stand nearly as tall and has a shorter and more slender stem, 

 with a flower as large as the largest white clover. Animals 

 seem to thrive on this clover as well as on the best pasture of 

 the South. Indeed, three White Pass horses which escaped 

 and passed three winters in the open were in better condition 

 when captured than stable fed stock. The hungry wolf 



