1922] SMITH, BOTANY IN SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN 121 



identified by fruit or bloom, so we cast off Monday noon, July 10th, 

 bound for Viroqua, Vernon county. Our trip led us down route 25 

 through Marshland and Galesville to route 11, where we were con- 

 stantly in sight of the Mississippi down through the rich farming coun- 

 try at Onalaska into La Crosse. We didn't tarry long in La Crosse, 

 which is a fine bustling city, because the Museum herbarium and the 

 University of Wisconsin herbarium are both well represented from this 

 neighborhood. It is on these herbariums that we are basing our coming 

 manual of the flora of Wisconsin. So we ambled out on route 11 

 through Coon Valley, where we had to detour to Westby to the old 

 ridge road, number 27, and thence ,on into Viroqua. The hills were 

 steep and long. A three mile hill was the average, and with brakes all 

 set, the motorcycle would descend in graceful antelope hops. It was 

 quite an adventure, not knowing what was to come next. Viroqua is 

 about the highest town in Wisconsin. It is downhill in every direction 

 from there. If you travel the ridges, the hills are not so bad, but to 

 drop into a valley assures one of some pretty rough country. Not 

 satisfied with being on the highest point, we applied to Mayor A. E. 

 Smith, for permission to photograph the surrounding country from the 

 top of their water tower, one hundred and ten feet higher. He made 

 us sign a statement releasing Viroqua from liability in case of accident, 

 and we promptly climbed the tower with our five by seven view 

 camera and all equipment, and panoramed the country. 



We found accommodations at Mrs. Munyon's, though she claimed 

 no relationship to the notorious doctor of a decade before. She boarded 

 a cement gang, who were paving route 11 through Viroqua, and we, as 

 motorcyclists, were indeed quite comfortable, since only a perfunctory 

 toilet was necessary to prepare for dinner. We were lucky, too, in 

 picking out the boarding house where W. Raymond Spellum of the 

 Nash garage boarded. He was an amateur scientist of the first water 

 and helped us immeasurably in scenting out the vantage points of the 

 country. He was quite a hunter and his bachelor den was a regular 

 museum of the local fauna, geology, invertebrates, insects and what- 

 not. He had a fine series of the local lizards, which would do credit 

 to any museum. His arsenal was an interesting adjunct to his quarters. 

 He was the captain of the local company of the National Guard, and 

 had done service on the Mexican boarder and in France. He took us 

 one memorable day on a trip through the wilds of Vernon county in 

 his Ford. Some of the roads, which he assured us were post roads, 

 could not have been found by any other than a native. We had to 



