588 



GAL VES TO N. 



alone can determine this, and also the amount to be 

 thinned out. 



And why are the readers of The American Garden 

 to be treated to such subjects as this? What has the 

 garden to do with the forest? Has the forest a relation 

 to the garden? 



Have you not heard how the olive used to be grown in 

 northern France, while now its cultivation is pushed 

 southward, because of the opening of the northern coast 

 to refrigerating winds by the forest destruction ? Have 

 you not heard how in Kansas the timber belt on the south 

 side of a field or garden has protected the crop against 

 the scorching hot winds? Is not everywhere the value 

 of the wind-break, the timber belt, properly placed, 

 known to the orchardist? 



The world is full of experiences to show that alter- 

 nations of forest growth with open fields gives the most 

 favorable climatic and cultural conditions ; and hence 

 every gardener will locate where he can have such pro- 

 tection as the forest affords against the rapid evaporation 

 and sudden changes of temperature which the unchecked 

 summer and winter winds bring with them. 



If he is wise and able he will own the protecting wood- 

 lot and will manage it somewhat as indicated, as a pro- 

 tecting cover, from which he can derive also useful 

 material. He will relegate this friend of his orchard to 

 the forest soil he has, to the rocky, unsightly places, 

 and those that are not fit for any other use; for forest 

 growth thrives even there, yielding a revenue and afford- 

 ing grateful protection and beauty. B. E. Fernow. 



GALVESTON. 



O ONE who remembers the 

 tragedy of Last island, and 

 who comes to Galveston fresh 

 from viewing that scene of old 

 ocean's mighty power and 

 anger, there is something hor- 

 ribly suggestive in this long, 

 low stretch of sand upon which the Island City is 

 built. It is fronted by the ocean and hemmed in 

 by its estuaries. If you come to it by rail, for 

 three miles your train runs upon a trestle that is 

 set upon piling, and the water is under and all 

 about you. If you approach by steamer, then 

 from the vessel's deck the eye has an unobstructed 

 sweep, for an elevation of seven feet is the utter- 

 most height that can be found throughout the 

 length and breadth of the land — the thirty-five 

 miles of length and the two and one-half miles of 

 breadth that comprise the domain of Galveston 

 island. As one watches the waves roll in upon the 

 long, low beach, the thought comes that some day 

 the sea may again gather up its strength and 

 tumble huge wave after wave shoreward until 

 naught but wreck and ruin are left in its track. 

 Thus did the waters of this huge gulf with Last 

 island, with Indianola, with Sabine Pass. But un- 

 concernedly some 30,000 good people here go about 

 their daily tasks, and eat and sleep and sing and 

 dance, never fearing what the sea may bring, and 

 so I, who am but a looker-on in Venice, will do 

 to-day as the Venetians do. 



The physician, the sanitary engineer, the man who 

 looks into things, will ask, before he has completed his 

 first day in Galveston, about the drainage and the water. 

 And the genial citizen will point to the water flowing at 

 a snail's pace in the open gutter, and reply: "Drain- 

 age ? Yes, sir ! Good drainage ; fall of a foot and 



a-half to the mile." And as to sewerage, while an 

 attempt is made to carry it off through an outlet at the 

 back of the town, the fact is, that both sewerage and 

 drainage are mainly accomplished by means of the 

 porous and absorbent quality of the soil. "Sickly?" 

 Not at all, especially considering the facilities which 

 would seem to exist for cultivating plagues and diseases. 

 In truth, Galveston impresses one as being a clean city ; 

 much more so than certain others of the south where 

 better facilities for cleanliness exist. And to revert to 

 the water question. Upon bathing my face at the hotel, 

 a peculiar brackish taste was left upon my lips and 

 moustache. Upon inquiry, I found that all water, ex- 

 cept for drinking and for culinary purposes, was ob- 

 tained from wells, and that it all had a "salty flavor." 

 For table use and cooking, each resident must catch his 

 own supply from the clouds or go without. This is not 

 a difficult thing to do, as the annual precipitation aver- 

 ages nearly 60 inches, being, I believe, the heaviest of 

 any point within the United States, certainly much 

 in excess of any other point in Texas. This water is 

 retained in large tanks or cisterns above the ground, not 

 highly ornamental. 



Broadway, Galveston. 



I am an ardent pedestrian, but I soon found that in 

 Galveston pedestrianism was not to be lightly under- 



