211 



imposing works of nature but dollars and cents and to whom 

 her beauties and the rights of others make no appeal. 



Mr. Letchworth lives in a home-like roomy house situated only 

 about 250 feet from the edge of the precipice which makes a sheer 

 descent into the deep pool in front of the fall. Here on bright 

 sunny days rainbows play in the mists constantly arising from the 

 tumbling waters, distant but about 350 feet from the house, and 

 from this Mr. Letchworth has named his home Glen Iris. 



The object of my visit to this park was to namiC and have 

 properly labeled the trees in the vicinity of the roads and paths, 

 which Mr. Letchworth has constructed and is constructing 

 through this tract, that the public may have easy access to all of its 

 beauties. One is at once struck here by the purity of the veg- 

 etation. By this I mean the almost entire absence of plants not 

 native to the tract. Even in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 house, where the open lawns would permit of such treatment, but 

 few extraneous species are to be found. Such plants are, how- 

 ever, represented by the horse-chestnut [Aesctihis Hippocastammi), 

 of Greece, the sweet or yellow buckeye [Acsailus octandrd), of the 

 southeastern United States, and the fetid or Ohio buckeye [Aescu- 

 lus glabra), of the central United States. Others of this nature 

 are the sweet gum {Liqiiidauibar Styraciflua'), the Norway maple 

 {Acer plata7ioides), of Europe, the maiden-hair tree {Ginkgo bilobd), 

 of China, the purple form of the European beech {Fagus sylvatica 

 purpurea^, the Norway spruce {Picea excelsd), of Europe, in some 

 noble specimens, and the Colorado spruce {Picea Panyanci). It is 

 plain on all sides that every attempt has been made to keep things 

 as nature made them. The arboreal vegetation is well represented, 

 and in one region down near the lower fall, inaccessible to the 

 jumberman on account of the precipitous bluff on one side and 

 the raging waters of the river on the other, are some large trees, 

 perhaps representing the original growth. I had a most enjoy- 

 able time for two days going over this tract. Of course in that 

 limited period it was not possible to make an exhaustive study of 

 the trees, my operations being confined to the vicinity of the paths, 

 but here a large proportion of the species must be represented. 



Among the conifers the most common tree is the white pine 

 {Pinns Strobus). This grows in great quantities, springing up 



