November 30, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



575 



roads here are so poor that I don't care much about driving," 

 says many a new-comer. " They seem so to you," we old- 

 timers reply, " because you probably keep to the highways." 

 " Of course," is the answer, " the less important roads must 

 be even worse." In a city man this reasoning is natural ; but 

 it is greatly mistaken. Many of our woodland roads are 

 quite delightful to drive upon ; and taken altogether they are 

 better than are our high-roads as a whole, although here and 

 there, near the towns, we have some good solid bits of highway 

 to show. Only, if Professor Shaler comes to try them, he 

 must be content with my one-horse buggy. He must not 

 bring his own pair of trotters. For — as I think I have already 

 told the readers of Garden and Forest — our wood-roads have 

 their three ruts very clearly defined by the passage of vehicles, 

 mostly belonging to small farmers. A pair of horses can 

 traverse them without great discomfort ; but they are meant 

 for a single steed ; and the pair is apt to do mucli damage to 

 the pretty alternating ribbons of grass. Golden-rod and 

 Aster ! And, as Professor Shaler knows, our axles are eiglrt 

 inches wider than the axles of Boston Town ; so that, in his 

 own carriage, he could profit by only one of our three com- 

 fortable shallow ruts. 

 Marion, Mass. M. G. Van Rensselaer. 



The Niagara Reservation. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The botanist who visits Niagara Falls is constantly at- 

 tracted away from the striking features of the river and cataract 

 to admire the remarkable development and variety of the 

 plant-life that is everywhere manifest. Especially is this true 

 on Goat Island, which is now one of the few spots in this 

 vicinity that are covered with primeval growth. It is probable 

 that even here the earlier timber lias been removed, for that 

 which remains is not very large, but the absence of stumps 

 shows that no cutting of trees has taken place for a long time. 

 The timber is chiefly of the ordinary hard-wood trees. Beach 

 and Maple predominating, with an occasional Oak, Ash or 

 Tulip-tree, and near the paths many small Cedars, white 

 and red. Hemlock and prostrate Yew-bushes. 



The long period of neglect which preceded the erection of 

 the Falls into a state reservation was favorable to wild growth, 

 and it is the avowed plan of the present management not to 

 "improve" the locality more than the necessities, of travel 

 require, still there is evidence this year more than ever before 

 that the gardener is at work here and there, and may some- 

 time enter upon a warfare against the wonderful wild growth 

 of Goat Island. It is at tlie close of a fall lili;e this one that the 

 region is most attractive. Up to the last week in October not 

 a leaf had been touched with frost. Though not so brilliant 

 in hue as autumn leaves become under frost, the yellow hues 

 were everywhere, and in gi'eat variety, while the Sumachs, 

 which form a grove on the south-east of the island that is 

 striking at any season, do not wait for frost, and produce reds 

 and yellows that are fairly flaming. 



It may be said almost literally that no wild plant known here- 

 about is lacking to the flora of Goat Island, and especially is 

 this true of plants of the more wayward and vagrant tenden- 

 ■cies. In few other places does the Wild Grape climb so high 

 or spread so far or swell itself into such tree-like proportions. 

 Nowhere, especially on the American side and in the vicinity 

 of Luna Island, is the visitor out of sight of these rampant 

 vines. The slope leading down to Luna Island is covered witli 

 small trees so overgrown by vines tliat one wonders how the 

 trees can grow at all, yet they appear to thrive under the load. 



If the Grape-vines are without fruit this fall, it is not the case 

 with otiier wild plants on Goat Island. The Virginia Creeper, 

 Bitter Sweet, Waahooand Barberry are purple, yellow and scar- 

 let with berries, and grow as though this were their chosen 

 home of all the- earth. The Barberry here, especially, illus- 

 trates the tendency of certain plants to keep away from culti- 

 vation. By far the finest specimen on tlie island hangs so far 

 below the Luna Island stair-landing that it is unsafe to try to 

 gather the rich clusters of scarlet berries, while a bush on the 

 roadway that has been planted and given some cultivation is 

 far less vigorous and seldom bears more than one or two ber- 

 ries on a single stem. The largest Bitter Sweet clusters hang 

 far over the western bank, growing in very indifferent soil, 

 and the Waahoo is best content where left entirely to itself. 



Goat Island contains a deep and mostly rich' soil, which 

 most of the other islands do not, and it will always retain its 

 remarkable flora if the state officials will let it alone. Their 

 terracing operations in the vicinity of the cottage near the en- 

 trance of the island, and the thinning out of the trees between 

 Luna Island and the Biddle Staircase, look extremely ominous. 

 If they go much farther, it will be time for the lovers of nature 



to cry out. Already the erection this year of a monster pile of 

 brick work, the firstofmanyfactories that the great tunnel must 

 attract if it succeeds, presages the day when the town, even now 

 rapidly growing under the new inspiration, is to be a manu- 

 facturing centre, with Goat Island for its chief breathing-place, 

 so that the town, as well as the world at large, will be greatly 

 the loser if the island is robbed of a single one of its distinc- 

 tive natural attractions. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. John Chamberlin. 



Periodical Literature. 



In the current quarterly number of the Journal of American 

 Folk-lore, Dr. D. G. Brinton gives his recollections of a child- 

 hood spent in the southern portion of Chester County, a few 

 miles north of "Mason and Dixon's Line," the time being 

 about forty years ago. It was a region of large farms, culti- 

 vated by negroes, many of whom had come from the adjacent 

 slave states, the white population being almost entirely Amer- 

 ican-born, and the general intelligence being above the aver- 

 age in the state, owing to the interest in popular education 

 taken by the original settlers, who belonged to the Society of 

 Friends. Much of the folk-lore of the region, says Mr. Brinton, 

 could be traced to thenegroes,butsomeof it had other sources. 

 " Thus many of the farmers observed the phases of the moon 

 in the planting and sowing of crops, in felling timber, in cut- 

 ting weeds, in the renewal of their live stock, in the prepara- 

 tion of the soil, and in the killing and curing of meat for food." 

 There can scarcely be a doubt, he explains, that these super- 

 stitions " descend directly from that remote period when the 

 moon was the goddess of moisture, the field, the growing crops 

 and reproduction in general. Just such superstitions prevail in 

 France, and the eminent Arago thought it worth while to di- 

 rect a treatise against them. Many of the superstitions which 

 Grimm narrates as occurring among the Scotch and north 

 Germans, were familiar beliefs. ... If it was desired to extir- 

 pate weeds and briers so that they should not sprout again, 

 they must be cut down in the wane of the moon. For some 

 allied notion it was the custom to cut trees for use as firewood 

 in the wane of the moon, as the timber cured more soundly 

 and was less apt to become soggy and sputtery. The latter is 

 also a Scotch superstition, as there is a Lowland agricultural 

 maxim, ■ Cut wood when the moon is wadel,' the word ' wadel ' 

 meaning disappearing, diminishing or waning. Jacob Grimm, 

 in his Teutonic yl/j/^/zo/i?^, after bringing forward a mass of kin- 

 dred superstitions, offers the general theory that, in folk-lore, 

 operations requiringseverance, dissolution, cutting down or re- 

 moving from, promise best results if conducted in the wane of 

 the moon ; while those of an opposite character are appropriate 

 to the new moon." Thus planting operations are best per- 

 formed while the moon is waxing ; but, in his natal region, 

 says Dr. Brinton, "by some it was held that the sign varied 

 with the nature of the crop to be planted. Root crops, such as 

 Turnips, Potatoes, Carrots, and the like, which ripen their edi- 

 ble portions beneath the soil, should be planted in the wane of 

 the moon, or, as the local expression was, in the 'sinking' 

 sign, in contradistinction to the 'rising' signs, which were 

 those of the increasing orb. Even such a matter as fence- 

 building should be carried on with due respect to these potent 

 influences. A fence should be constructed in the 'rising' 

 signs, for if tlie posts be planted and the corner-stones which 

 support the rails in a worm-fence be located in the ' sinking' 

 signs, the former will rot more readily, and the latter will sink 

 into the ground and allow the bottom rails to decay." 



The community in which Dr. Brinton was brought up was 

 by no means peculiar in this respect, for these same supersti- 

 tions were prevalent in all the middle states, at least. In one 

 agricultural community with which we are familiar, not fifty 

 miles from this city, all the farm operations were made to con- 

 form with the supposed influence of the various phases of the 

 moon, or, ratlier, of these phases in connection with the signs 

 of the zodiac, so that the almanac was the ultimate authority 

 in almost all matters of farm practice. Not only was it sup- 

 posed that rail-fences were to be constructed at certain periods 

 of the lunar month, but no one laid a stone wall in the " new 

 of the moon," through the apprehension that the frost would 

 heave it, and it was a matter of universal belief tliat if Lima or 

 Pole Beans of any kind were planted in the " old of the moon " 

 they would never climb or fasten themselves to the supports 

 provided, but settle down in a tangled mass on the ground. 



Notes. 



There must be still a good many woodsmen at work in the 

 forests of Michigan, since from Menominee alone 600,000,000 

 feet of lumber have been shipped this year. 



