278 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



BOOK REVIEWS. 



Edited by William Frederic Bade. 



-DO- Among the books that have come to the 



^ reviewer's table is an interesting little volume 



OF California. ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ entitled The Big Trees 



of California.* Mr. Clark undoubtedly has earned a veteran's 

 right to speak about the Sequoias, for he has known them a long 

 time. For many years he was Guardian of the Yosemite Valley, 

 and he claims to be the first white man who set foot in the 

 Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. The book is abundantly illustrated 

 with good photographs, the frontispiece being one of the author 

 himself. The contents are composed of a dozen thumb-nail 

 sketches under such titles as "Origin of the Big Trees," "Age 

 of the Sequoias," "Habits and Characteristics," "Cones and 

 Seeds," "Celebrated Specimens," etc. No attempt is made to deal 

 with the subject exhaustively, each sketch being studiously brief. 

 The salient facts only are given in form suited particularly to 

 the taste and needs of the tourist, who is bound to find this an 

 exceedingly convenient little manual of information. One is 

 bound to place a question-mark behind the statement on page 58, 

 that Sequoias "catch the electric ether from the atmosphere" as 

 "one of their most vital sources of life." But that is an insig- 

 nificant matter in a book that has so many merits. Mr. Clark 

 has passed the remarkable age of four score and ten, so that this 

 little book has gathered into itself the loving memories of long 

 years spent among the noblest of all trees. The book seems to 

 have been privately printed, but copies may doubtless be obtained 

 by addressing the author in Yosemite Valle}'-. W. F. B. 



^ Idle Rhymes from Oregon is the title of a 



Idle Rhymes^ booklet by Mr. C. H. Sholes, who is the 

 FROM Oregon. president of the brother organization of the 

 Sierra Club in the North, the Mazama Club. The author has 

 gathered into book form his various occasional poems suggested 

 by sights, scenes, and incidents in the mountains. Mr. Sholes 

 exhibits in these products of his pen a keen appreciation of nature. 

 A number of excellent half-tones accompany the "Rhymes." The 

 photograph of the water-ouzel by Gertrude Metcalfe is a notably 

 successful piece of camera work. The pamphlet is limited to two 



* Big Trees of California. By Galen Clark. Yosemite Valley, Cal. Pp. 

 103, with 20 illustrations. 



