﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



Vol. XII.] NOVEMBER, 1904. [No. 143. 



NOTICE OF BOOK. 



" Bog-trotting for Orchids." By Grace Greylock Xiles. With illus- 

 trations from Nature. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 

 The Knickerbocker Press, 1904, 8vo. pp. 310, with seventy-two photo- 

 graphic illustrations. 



This is a charming volume. " During many seasons spent in the 

 Hoosac Valley," the authoress remarks, "it has been a source of great 

 pleasure to me to trace mountain streams through moss-grown ravines to 

 their beginning, and to explore the almost inaccessible recesses of the 

 sphagnous boglands. I have found it a delight to study the Orchids, ferns, 

 and various flowers sheltered in their homes, far removed from the roadside. 

 I seldom follow any well-worn forest paths, for I have observed that the 

 rarer plants do not dwell where the foot of man or the grazing herds have 

 wandered. So it happens that the walks described in these pages lead 

 mostly across lots, over hills and mountains, and through swamps." 



And the locality? "The Hoosac Valley lies in the heart of the 

 irregular Taconic Mountains, and extends over the south-western part of 

 Bennington County, Vermont, and the north-western part of Berkshire 

 County, Massachusetts. The region has a soil peculiarly adapted to the 

 origin and growths of Orchids. Here along the numerous streams and in 

 the little vales are many unfathomable peat and marl beds which are 

 veritable Orchid gardens. The valley seems to be the common ground 

 where rare plants from the North and South, as well as the migrating 

 species from the East and West, meet and overlap each other." 



The excursions recorded were made particularly in search of Orchids, 

 but the authoress remarks : " I have collected and observed all other flowers 

 of interest which grow in the region which I have traversed, for the pur- 

 pose of showing the natural environments of Orchids; and introducing their 

 near neighbours of swamp, forest, and rocky pasture land." 



We have allowed the authoress to introduce herself, and may now pro- 

 ceed to indicate the nature of the work, pointing out at the commencement 

 that of the seventy-one species of Orchids found in the north-eastern 



