LAKE MO HONK AND VICINITY. 



345 



been necessary in some cases to expose bare earth 

 and newly-broken rocks, they are made as little of- 

 fensive as possible, and kindly nature soon assists 

 in covering them again. 



It will rejoice the lovers of forestry to see the 

 trees cared for. Like so many other regions, this 

 has suffered from fires and the wood-chopper. In 

 a few inaccessible places, the trees unmolested show 

 what they once were and what there is to hope for 

 in the future, but most of the wood is a secondary •« 

 growth that has come up from the stumps of trees 

 cut down. In the cutting that now goes on, the 

 seedlings likely to make fine trees are left, and in 

 many parts of the woods a vigorous thinning out is 

 what is most needed. Thousands have already 

 been taken away, but the newly arrived tourist does 

 not notice the vacancies and is sometimes inclined 

 to sentimental objections against the removal of any ; 

 but if he is a man of sense he will, as soon as his 

 attention is called to it, perceive the superior beauty 

 of those woods where cutting and thinning have been 

 judiciously done. 



Although the preservation of landscape beauties 

 already existing has been the main work here, gar- 

 dening in its more restricted sense has suffered no 

 neglect. A thousand acres of farming land, even if 

 of rock, hilly formation, supplies the large hotel 

 with abundant products of dairy and field. Besides 

 numerous orchards of apples, over twenty acres are 

 devoted to peaches, grapes, currants, raspberries 

 and other small fruits. The delightful and exten- 

 sive gardens are situated in a somewhat sheltered 

 place just east of the hotel, and are easily reached 

 by a dry walk over the main drive and a short path 

 covered with pounded shale. A beautiful lawn has 

 just been made with great labor and care. The 

 rocks had first to be removed and then the scanty 

 soil collected and leveled. The eye now looks from 

 the hotel across as pretty a sheet of green as could 

 be found anywhere of its size to the gay beds of 

 flowers beyond. The gardens contain all the usual 

 varieties of flowering plants and many new and rare 

 things. Less attention is paid to bedding plants 

 than is common at summer resorts, but hardy per- 

 ennials are steadily gaining ground, and carry a load 

 of color and wealth of bloom, from the purple flags 

 of the iris and gorgeous oriental poppies to the last 

 white flowers of the fall-blooming Japanese anem- 

 ones. Five thousand rose bushes afford flowers in 

 such an abundance that nearly 40,000 have been 

 gathered in a single day. The familiar summer- 

 houses are here, but tamed and subdued in harmony 

 with their surroundings. Even a rough log foun- 

 dation to one of them is rendered beautiful by the 



companionship of flowers, and those abominations 

 of the gardener, uprooted stumps, are here gathered 

 into a great group and glorified by coverings of cle- 

 matis, that take most kindly to their uncouth forms. 



I 



The use of vines is appreciated, but not o\erdone. 

 The Virginia creeper and wild clematis are encour- 

 aged to grow in the less cultivated places, but sur- 

 rounding the house can be found wistarias, mingling 

 with the annual Cobaa scandcns and Madeira vine, 

 while the bitter-sweet rambles with the climbing 

 rose and sweet pea. In some places the Aiiipelopsis 

 VcitcJiii can be seen, creeping among the ancient 

 lichens on the rocks. Some good shrubs have been 

 planted near the house, and a few trees, but much 

 might be done in this way to add a charm equal to 

 any it now possesses. The late and early frosts are 

 not favorable to many garden plants, and some need 

 the hot days of summer ; but shrubbery flourishes 

 in the cool air and frequent showers of these re- 

 gions near the clouds. 



It is encouraging to the lovers of natural beauty 

 to find how few acts of vandalism are committed by 

 a crowd of people annually gathered from all parts 

 of the country and subject to no special restrictions. 

 To be sure, a rough class is not attracted here, but 

 the experience here goes to show that a large and 

 expensive hostelry can be well supported in an out- 

 of-the-way place, without the adventitious attrac- 

 tions so often said to be necessary to maintain a 

 hotel. However well kept the house may be, it 

 would not succeed were it not for the attractions 

 offered by nature in the surroundings. There is but 

 one Mohonk, but there are still many very attract- 

 ive places unoccupied, and visited only by those who 

 destroy and do not preserve. Landscape beauty is 

 more and more every year coming to have a com- 

 mercial value, oftentimes greater than that of the 

 most productive soil. With the increase of popu- 

 lation and of the continued defacement by man, the 

 remaining traces of the primeval will have a value 

 proportionately far beyond what they now possess. 

 Time was, and not so many years ago, when a whole 

 range of mountains could be bought from the In- 

 dians for a trifle ; but he who would possess an at- 



