1885.] 



CHIPS. 



319 



Chips. 



A Leaf Album. — A leaf album is 

 among the newest fancies. To make 

 one only requires the exercise of a little 

 care and patience. First get a slab of 

 plate-glass, and spread upon it a daub 

 of printer's ink ; then get a small roller 

 such as printers use, and roll it over 

 the ink till the glass is equally covered ; 

 then lay the leaf — clean and freshly 

 gathered — on the inked glass, and care- 

 fully draw the roller over it. Next 

 lift the leaf by the stalk — using con- 

 siderable tenderness, because of the 

 fi'agility of the subject — and place it 

 between a folded sheet of paper ; press 

 and rub gently all over it, being careful 

 not to let it alter its position. Then 

 take the leaf out and you should have 

 a beautiful clean impression of both 

 the front and back. The same effect 

 might be got to a certain extent with 

 lamp black, oil colour, or anything of 

 that kind, but when it is done with 

 jn'inting ink it is not only far more 

 clear and distinct, but permanent. A 

 bit of common plate-glass, or a bit of 

 marble, or even a china palette, will 

 suffice to put the ink uiion — anything, 

 in fact so long as it presents a smooth 

 surface, is non-metallic, and non-ab- 

 sorbent. 



Forests and Eainfall. — A young 

 correspondent inquii-es if the opinion is 

 correct that forests increase the fall of 

 rain, and whether more rain comes 

 down in wooded than in cleared regions 

 of the country. In answer, we may 

 state that we have always held the 

 opinion that trees at the surface of the 

 earth cannot sensibly afl'ect the clouds 

 in their onwaixl march miles above, 

 from which the rain is pouring ; and 

 that there is no jjractical difference 

 between the distance from the tops of 

 forest trees, and from the foliage of a 

 corn-field or of a meadow, to the high 

 clouds above. Both would 0)ierato, if 

 at all, in the same way. Tlie diti'erence 

 in distance between trees fifty feet high 

 and corn eight feet high, to clouds two 

 miles high, would not be one two- 

 hundredth part, and one would be 

 about as likely to draw water down, if 

 at all, from two miles as the other. 

 But facts disprove the theoi-y. Many 

 loose observations are quoted to sustain 

 it ; but where accurate records are 



kept, although varying with the changes 

 of the season on both sides, some giving 

 diminished rains where the woods have 

 been cleared, and others increased rain, 

 the average is very nearly equal. The 

 Signal Service has kept records of the 

 rain for from forty to sixty years, at 

 jiosts in Ohio and Kentucky ; for the 

 first ten years, when the forests were 

 mostly standing, the rain was slightly 

 less than for the last ten years, when 

 they had been largely cut away. The 

 annual average for the first jieriod was 

 43-01 inches ; for the last, 4.3-iJ3 inches 

 —a very small difference, and doubtless 

 to be accounted for wholly by the 

 variations of wet and dry summers. 

 Several other records could be quoted, 

 which go to prove that there is no 

 average difference. 



This opinion appears to have been 

 adopted in the first place by some one 

 who made a single observation, or else 

 who thought it a handsome theory ; 

 and writers, without full examination, 

 have copied it and continue to copy it 

 down to the present time. — Albany Cul- 

 tivator and (Jomitrii Oentleman. 



Extinction of the Buffalo. — I 

 have observed a note on the above 

 subject in The Field for the ."Srd inst., 

 and, having lately seen a good deal of 

 the country which was foi-merly the 

 home of the buffalo, perhaps I may be 

 permitted to add a few remarks. I 

 fancy people in this country have no 

 idea of the rapidity with which the 

 extinction of this animal has gone on 

 during the last two years. It is pro- 

 bable that a few individuals will yet 

 be found ; but it would surprise me 

 but little were an inquir}' to reveal the 

 fact that the last of the buffaloes has 

 now disappeared from the face of the 

 jjlains. In this opinion I may be 

 wrong, for reliable information upon 

 any subject is a very rare article out 

 west ; but although I have been long 

 distances out over the Union-Central, 

 Northern and Canadian Pacific Eail- 

 ways, I have never yet seen a live wild 

 buli'alo. I doubt the correctness of 

 your correspondent's statement that 

 "the main herd has crossed the Sas- 

 katchewan river into Canada," for, to 

 do this, it would require to have crossed 

 the line of the Canadijin Pacific Bail- 



