THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 79 
good fortune I had made the acquaintance of Mr. Roderick 
Cameron, foreman at Niagara Park in the summer 1891, and, he being 
a close observer and a very good local botanist, I asked him to look 
out for the tree. He found it in flower somewhere between St. 
David’s and the escarpment, where, f am unable to say, as I failed to 
find it. In company with a Mr. H. N. Topley, our photographer, 
the roads were traversed in all directions and every man, woman and 
child we came across interviewed, but without success. When we 
were about to give up the quest we saw in the distance men at work 
on the roads and as a last resource we interviewed them with the 
same results. As I turned away a young man said: “ over in that 
field, there is an old man who knows everything, he can tell you if 
such a tree exists, if anyone can.” The old man knew, and rising 
from his knees—he was trimming turnips —pointed to a dead pine 
in the forest and said : “ beyond that tree on an old road you will find 
what you are looking for.” His directions were so precise that we 
had no difficulty in finding the clump of Cucumber-tree, and 
although the day was showery we obtained two fine photographs. 
When going to the spot we came out on the ridge south of Merriton 
which seemed to be about a mile to our right. 
While at Niagara Falls in 1891 we obtained photographs of 
nearly forty species of native forest trees, and travelled over many 
miles of country roads, made many enquiries for Sassafras, but could 
get no account of any outside the thick woods, yet on our return from 
the trip just spoken of we came upon a farm completely surrounded 
by them, and nearly all very fine specimens. 
I wish just here to call attention to the fact that our boasted 
system of education is very much like the missionary work of the 
churches. In no section of Ontario have I found an intelligent ap- 
preciation of their surroundings among the school children and young 
people generally, and yet ignorance, in another sense, does not exist. 
The Church, like the children, is well posted regarding foreign 
heathen, but our own heathen, which are in both city and country, 
are too local to be of much account, or bring eds to any society. 
The early settlers of the Niagara Peninsula were wiser than 
they knew when they left so much half-cleared land and allowed so 
many single trees to grow up to maturity in their fields and fence 
corners. To-day the beauty of the country and the enhanced value 
of the land is largely due to this cause. So many trees scattered 
