MEDSGER: THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 295 
trip to the summit of Wittenberg, remarked: “The trail to which 
we had committed ourselves led us down into Woodland valley, 
a retreat which so took my eye by its fine trout brook, its superb 
mountain scenery and its sweet seclusion, that I marked it for 
my own." Elsewhere, Mr. Burroughs speaks of this immediate 
locality: “ОҒ all the retreats I have found amid the Catskills, 
. there is no other that possesses quite so many charms for me as 
this valley; it is so wild, so quiet, and has such superb mountain 
views." 
The rocks of the region are practically all of sandstone of 
the Devonian period. 'The tops of the mountains are capped 
with a coarse conglomerate which apparently disintegrates easily ; 
thus the soil, as a general thing, is sandy or gravelly. Loose 
stones abound almost everywhere, either the result of glacial 
action or of weathering. The mountains are steeper and rougher 
and the valleys narrower and deeper than they are in the northern 
Catskills. 
Every week we took a hike with the camp boys to some 
interesting locality. We spent on each trip from one to three 
days. The region around Woodland for a radius of nearly ten 
miles was fairly well covered. Among the mountains visited 
were Terrace, Wittenberg, Cornell, Slide, The Giant's Ledge, Cross 
Mountain, and Mt. Pleasant. We also collected plants about 
Winnesook, along the Panther Kill, at Diamond Notch, in the 
West Kill Valley, at the Broad Hollow Notch, and about Shanda- 
kin. Slide Mountain is the highest peak of the Catskills and we 
found it a most interesting region botanically. 
Almost the entire area is covered with forests. Years ago, 
some of the best timber was cut away and a surprising waste in 
wood took place. Hemlock trees by the thousands were felled 
for the bark, which is extensively used for tanning, and the logs 
were allowed to decay on the ground. This was probably the 
most abundant tree of the neighborhood, now it is scarcely com- 
mon. It was about the time of the Civil War that the greatest 
destruction of this tree occurred. Where trees were cut for lumber, 
very wasteful methods were used. Sometimes, as on Cornell 
Mountain, one may find a virgin forest of rare beauty. It is 
always a delight these days to find such a forest in the East. All 
