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new building in Golden Gate Park in time for the Panama 
Exposition. 
November 22 was devoted to an excursion to Muir Woods, 
the most famous collecting ground in the vicinity of San Fran- 
cisco. From Mill Valley, charmingly located among hills and 
redwood groves and easily reached by ferry and electric train, 
the steep ascent of Mt. Tamalpais is easily negotiated in a train 
of special construction and the descent to Muir Woods is made 
by a gravity c his whole region, including the mountain 
with its ae eheibs and herbs, and the deep gorges in its 
flanks filled with immense redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) and 
ferns, i is of intense botanical interest. 
oods is one of the few extensive tracts of virgin redwood 
forest now in existence. In 1908, the 295 acres comprised in this 
tract were given to the National Government by Mr. Kent and 
dedicated in honor of John Muir, the celebrated geologist. The 
largest trees, reaching 14 feet in diameter and 300 feet in height, 
stand on the floor of the cafion along the banks of a small stream. 
A few other trees, such as fir, alder, maple, and tan-bark oak, 
grow sparingly in the twilight between the towering redwood 
trunks. Muir Inn, situated on a promontory between two 
branches of the main cafion, is an excellent base for explorations 
in this vicinity. The best season for collecting fungi is usually 
during January and February; the best for flowers is probably 
in April. 
On November 23, I went to Santa Rosa to see Mr. Burbank 
and his experimental grounds. After devoting several hours of 
his valuable time to my instruction and entertainment among 
the long hedgerows of spineless cacti and other interesting and 
important products of his genius, Mr. Burbank graciously re- 
marked: ‘Most people take my time; a few give me theirs. 
You are of the latter class.” One experimental plot of several 
acres surrounds the old homestead in the edge of the town; the 
other, which is much larger, is at Sebastapol seven miles away. 
Mr. Burbank is recognized as the greatest ‘‘selecter’’ of variations 
in plants, especially in young plants; there is no limit to his 
patience or devotion where a beneficial variety is concerned; he 
