October 21, 18 



•] 



Garden and Forest. 



429 



some interest in the geography of the region, but this 

 seems quite incidental, and he evidently has no idea that 

 his readers care for information of this character or he cer- 

 tainly would have furnished them with a map of some 

 kind, even if it were nothing more than a rough sketch. 

 His excuse that there are no detailed maps to cover the 

 region is not quite satisfactory, and the lack of such a help 

 must be looked upon as a blemish to the book. Nevertheless, 

 all who have enjoyed the experience of camp-life in the 

 mountains, and the much larger body of persons who have 

 never had that pleasure, but who entertain an inward long- 

 ing to try it, will be grateful to have their attention directed 

 to this book. In the first place, it is attractive to look at, 

 printed on excellent paper and with large, bold-faced type, 

 and the illustrations have a genuine artistic quality. That 

 is, Mr. Wilcox has the faculty of selecting a point of view 

 from which his camera looks out upon a well-composed 

 picture, with all that is distracting excluded. Many of the 

 photogravures are conspicuously good and reproduce in a 

 striking way the pictorial effects of these great mountain 

 masses, glaciers, lakes and streams. 



It is the glaciers which give the crowning interest to 

 these Canadian Rocky Mountains, for they do not reach 

 the height attained by the range within the United States. 

 But these great stretches of ice, with their lofty surround- 

 ings, are many of them uniquely beautiful and make a most 

 impressive appeal to the imagination. And then when 

 we consider that 120 of them may be counted from the 

 summit of Mount Abbott, and even more are in view from 

 Eagle Peak, it can readily be seen that a summer can be 

 passed in a comparatively small district with a glacier to 

 be studied every day. Every reader will share Mr. Wilcox's 

 evident enjoyment of this wonderful scenery, and, although 

 he has not the large descriptive and poetic faculty displayed 

 by Mr. Muir, he writes in such a straightforward, manly 

 way that every reader feels that he would enjoy life under 

 the same tent with him. Camp-life, when it has an estab- 

 lished base of operations at a first-class hotel, and 

 possesses all the modern equipments for comfort and 

 convenience, has hardly enough of hardship and adventure 

 in it to satisfy those who lie in a hammock and read about 

 mountaineering, and yet there was enough of danger and 

 privation in Mr. Wilcox's experience to demand patience, 

 courage and resolution and to test the nobler qualities of a 

 man/ After the quiet descriptions of perilous ascents and of 

 various trials and privations encountered, one feels that the 

 author speaks only words of truth and soberness when he 

 argues that life in the mountains is an education, especially 

 in the way of strengthening character. Before these 

 ranges are thoroughly explored and their highest summits 

 scaled the nerve as well as the muscle of many a camper 

 will be put on trial. Mr. Wilcox presents many facts re- 

 lating to the geology, the climate and the vegetation of 

 this region, much about the Indians, the game animals and 

 the lower forms of life, but the primary excellence of the 

 book is its buoyancy of tone, which exhilarates like moun- 

 tain air. This is seen not only in descriptions of scenery, 

 but in the experiences of camp-life, with its adventures and 

 pleasures, its labors and disappointments. The author 

 does not complain because the storms do not abate to suit 

 him or because the mountain paths are hard. He makes 

 the best of every risk and discomfort, although he has the 

 good sense to realize that it is the part of wisdom to fortify 

 himself in every possible way and not to encounter hard- 

 ships for their own sake. Here is a little advice which 

 every one who meditates enjoying a summer vacation 

 among these glaciers will do well to heed : 



Let the camper surround himself with all the luxuries that 

 are possible without trespassing on the bounds of reason ; let 

 him have a good cook and a good packer ; horses that are used 

 to travel ; a fine camp outfit, comfortable blankets and a good 

 tent ; a full supply of cooking utensils, knives, forks and spoons ; 

 above all, let him take an abundant supply of provisions, com- 

 prising a large variety of dried fruits and the various cereals, 

 and let each article be of the best quality. 



Exhibitions. 



Flowersand Fruits at the American Institute Fair. — II. 



A S we go to press a collection of Chrysanthemums is on 

 •**■ exhibition at Madison Square Garden, although it is, of 

 course, too early for many of the best kinds. Last week few 

 flowers were seen on the tables, although there was a fine dis- 

 play of Cosmos, which in color, size and graceful poise we 

 have never seen excelled. Mr. Childs, too, had some admira- 

 ble spikes of Gladiolus of the Lemoine type. A few superb 

 Roses were contributed by E. W. Bliss, gardener to A. J. 

 Wengertner, Bay Ridge, New York, and a good collection of 

 ornamental plants was shown by Mr. Dimmock, the Ameri- 

 can agent of F. Sander & Co. Very effective, too, was a table 

 of Cacti, including some fifty varieties, among which was an 

 example of Cereus giganteus, and exhibited by M. Keppler. 



The greater part of the space, however, was given up to 

 apples, and a magnificent show they made. The most com- 

 plete collection was sent by the New York Experiment Station 

 at Geneva, and it consisted of 225 varieties of apples, besides 

 some of the best American plums, and many of the newer 

 varieties of grapes. These were all carefully named, and formed 

 a valuable object-lesson to those who wish to study and com- 

 pare varieties. The management has concluded to let them 

 remain to the end of the exhibition on the 29th, and it is hoped 

 that all interested in pomology will appreciate this opportunity. 

 Two other exhibitors, Messrs. White & Rice, andT. F. Pierson, 

 showed as many as 175 varieties each, and there were some 

 admirable entries for a smaller number of varieties, especially 

 that of Mr. Charles C. Kromer, every plate of which was worthy 

 of a first prize. 



Vegetables were surprisingh/ good. The Riverhead Town 

 Agricultural Society showed a collection of fifty-three different 

 sorts, with more than 200 varieties, which, considering 

 the lateness of the season, was remarkable. J. M. Thorburn 

 & Co., Peter Henderson & Co., J. W. Foster, of Yonkers, 

 and J. Van der Wend also made large entries. None of these 

 exhibits, however, had greater attractions for visitors than the 

 vegetables contributed by the vacant-lot farmers in this city. 

 Taken together this display was very comprehensive. One of 

 these farmers, Mrs. Miller, showed thirty-five varieties, every 

 one of which was well grown. A large bunch of peanuts, still 

 attached to the plants, and grown in a vacant lot along Fifth 

 Avenue, created a mild sensation. 



Notes. 



Staple products affected by short crops include currants, 

 raisins, figs, cloves, Grenoble walnuts, Sicily filberts and Texas 

 Pecan nuts, all of which have recently advanced in price. 

 Hickory nuts are also scarce, and the new crop sells for half as 

 much again as old nuts carried over in cold storage, the latter 

 constituting the main supplies now. 



Among fruits still seen in excellent condition, but in light 

 demand because their season is past, are large firm water- 

 melons, offered at forty-five cents each, and choice Maryland 

 peaches, which find few purchasers at fifty cents for a basket 

 holding thirty selected fruits of first size. In one of our mar- 

 kets barberries are offered, the tart red berries being prepared 

 for the table much as cranberries are. Pomegranates, from 

 Spain, cost fifty cents a dozen. 



Many of the primary schools in southern Russia have 

 orchards and kitchen gardens attached for the use of the 

 schoolmaster, as well as small model kitchen gardens, tree 

 plantations, or farms, in which gardening and sylviculture are 

 taught. Even vineyards are to be found in connection with 

 some of the schools in Caucasia, and the pupils are carefully- 

 instructed in silkworm culture and beekeeping. The Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle well remarks that besides encouraging the 

 pursuit of agriculture as a calling, and in this way diminishing 

 the rush of population to the towns, these school-gardens have 

 another immediate good effect, and that is upon the health of 

 the children by the interchange of outdoor study with seden- 

 tary work in the schoolroom. 



Courses of informal talks on botanical subjects, with illus- 

 trations by charts, blackboard demonstrations and specimens, 

 will be given to private classes, village improvement ass 

 tions and similar organizations by Miss Dock, who is known to 

 our readers as an occasional writer for GARDEN ami FOREST. 

 One of these is an historical course, giving the development <>( 

 modern botany; another is descriptive, outlining briefly the 

 history and distribution of a few of the well-known families of 



