Nov. i9, r8o&] 
4 o - 
the Canadian Rockies this past summer, I failed to 
erect a cairn in evidence of this first appearance of man 
on the spot, familiar as I am with the fact that custom 
among mountaineers almost requires the formality. Had 
I not. by a not unmitigated misfortune, left behind me 
one of my pairs of goggles— the green glass of which is 
at least indestructible, and 'which may at the proper 
moment escape being covered with snow — our visit 
would lack all possible substantiation, if any one saw 
fit to assert that my series of photographs, made from 
the summit, were taken from points much below the 
same." 
In Mr. Owen's disregard of facts, and in his attempt to 
gather and knit together these odd ends of defamation, 
having their origin for the most part in rumor and hear- 
say, for the purpose of piecing out a consistent calumnv 
with a web of a little truth and mo>e falsehood, we 
have a realization of the truth of a sentiment uttered, if 
I mistake not, by the distinguished Lord Clarendon. 
"The judgment of God," sdid that nobleman, "will be 
plainly visible in infatuating a party ripe and prepared 
for destruction." Nathaniel P. Langford, 
About Trees. 
BosTOif, Mass., Nov. 6.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The article "About Trees" in your last issue is by one 
of the most careful observers and accurate reporters 
of things odd and interesting in nature. I should think 
more cf his dictum than that of almost any other man 
personally known to me. If, as he thinks, the common 
notion that just as sap ascends in the spring it re- 
turns in the fall is wrong, Mr. Hardy has started a very 
interesting discussion, and one which I hope will stimu- 
late observation and give us the result in Forest and 
Stream. I am unable to contribute anything of value, 
having merely accepted the common idea that sap re- 
turns in the fall, though supposing it to be in much re- 
duced volume. I have, like Mr. Hardy, heard of maple 
syrup being made from sap drawn in the fall, but sup- 
posed it was the returning sap, and that the fact that 
trees were seldcm tapped at that time was because 
the fall flow was small. Mr. Hardy's arguments are 
strong. If growth and expansion depend on sap then the 
swelling of buds in fall and winter prove the presence 
of sap. 
Mr. Hardy's experiments proving the enormous pres- 
sure required to "send sap up through solid wood" are 
most interesting. I. however, suspect the possibility of 
an error in his conclusion. It will be remembered that 
his bit-hole was plugged with dry poplar, and that when 
a piece 4.in. long was tried the resistance was such that 
the "sap ceased to force its way through to the end 
and began to creep out at the. sides about half an inch 
from the end." Now, I suspect that dry poplar and liv- 
ing rock maple are two very different things, and that 
in the latter the sap has not a resistance to overcome, 
but finds the lifting power itself, which draws it up, in- 
stead of a resistance to be overcome by some hypothet- 
ical vis a tergo. That the tremendous bursting or lateral 
pressure spoken cf by Mr. Hardy exists there can be 
n\> doubt whatever; but I suspect that to explain it we 
shall have to know something of what "life" means. 
When we can tell just why water leaps up through a 
lump of dry sugar or in a capillary tube, in such direct 
opposition to its ordinary action in seeking the lowest 
level, we may have taken the first step in our explana- 
tion cf the ascent of the sap in a tree, but is it not 
likelv that another will be made when we know just 
what is involved in the phenomena of endosmose and 
exosmose, and still another, and the greatest of all, when 
we go beyond mechanics and find what life means and 
the exact difference between inanimate and animate 
tissue? 
My suspicion is that sap is drawn up, and not pushed 
up. But whatever be the power and however it may . 
be applied, it is certainly tremendous. The physical 
power of the plant organism we have all seen exerted 
where trees growing in the cleft of a ledge have pried 
apart, lifted and sometimes thrown over heavy masses 
of rock, and I believe a case is on record of- a tree 
growing up through the hole in the center of an aban- 
doned millstone, and eventually lifting the stone, and 
still growing, sustaining the whole weight of the stone 
on the expanded portion near the root. I cannot give 
chapter and verse for this, but often heard of it when 
a boy, and think the case was well known in my neigh- 
borhood. The discussion reminds me of an experiment 
made at the Amherst Agricultural College some twenty- 
" five or more years ago to test the physical force exerted 
by a growing squash. As I recall it the test was made 
by placing a lever across a growing squash in such 
manner that by attaching weights to one end of the 
lever the pressure on the squash could be accurately com- 
puted, the weight being gradually increased until the 
squash, without rupture of tissue, lifted and sustained 
the surprising weight of nearly 3.ooo]bs. ! The natural 
reflection of almost every one would be, I think, like that 
of a friend of mine, who vowed he should think it would 
"souash the squash." 
If such a soft tissued thing as a squash plant has a 
sucking or prmptrg apparatus equal to such a per- 
formance, what may we not believe possible of such 
an iron-limbed tree as the rock maple of our Northern 
hills! 
Sirce my letter, like Mr. Hardy's, is mainly "about 
trees," let me mention, as I did some, years ago in these 
columrs, the nct : on prevalent in some quarters that 
birch trees are never struck bv lightning. 
My old gnide, T. W. Billings, of Brownville, Me., 
often spoke of the notion, and took delight in pointing 
out to me a practical refutation of it in the case of a 
tall young birch near the Gulf road, above Katahdin 
Iron Works, which had the telltale streak of a lightning 
bolt nearly the whole length of it, though it was still 
alive. During my recent trip to the Maine woods I dis- 
covered another undoubted instance of a lightning- 
marked white birch. Why the birch should ever have 
^>eep considered "immune" from lightning I never knew. 
Again, as to the more rapid rate of growth of the 
white pine as given by the college professor, I can 
corroborate Mr. Hardy. There is at this moment— unless 
cut within the past year — on a piece of land in Boscowen, 
N. H., aeljoining what was my father's farm, and which 
was bare pasture when I was a boy,' a sturdy growth of 
white pine, many of the trunks of which are at least i8in. 
in diameter a foct from the ground. This growth 
cannot be more than forty-five years old, 
As to Mr. Hardy's inference, that because the same 
tree produces material so different as bark, leaves, nut- 
shell and nut fruit, the sap must be of varying quality, I 
do not sec why this follows any more than different quali- 
ties of blood in the human system are to be inferred 
because from the blood is drawn that: which nourishes 
such diverse substances as the bones, nails, hair, muscle 
and nerve tissue, and the lenses and fluids of the eye. 
Must we not in this case also look to the mysterious 
selective power of the organism, the attribute ot life, for 
the explanation of what is accomplished? 
It is true that I cannot answer Mr. Hardy's question, 
and that I am equally with him desirous of having it 
answered; but I am sure he will tolerate my suggestion 
that, however much we may learn of the mechanics of 
these wonderful performances of plants, we are likely 
to find that the final reason for them cannot be given in 
terms of mechanics. C. H. Ames. 
The Shedding of Deer's Horns. 
New York. — Will you kindly give us your decision on 
a discussion a number of us had. Do the deer drop their 
horns each winter, and go without horns for several 
months? Also, how soon do they grow again? Some 
of the party claimed that when they drop their horns new 
ones are immediately seen, in other words, the outer part 
of the horn peels otf. The other party claimed that the 
entire horn falls off, and it takes several months for the 
new one to appear. By giving your opinion on the 
above, you will greatly oblige J. S. Ehrich. 
tit is not a matter of opinion, but of observed facts. 
The deer drops its horns annually, in the fall or win- 
ter, or sometimes in the spring. As observed by Judge 
Caton, "When the antler is dropped in the fall or winter 
the periosteum which surrounds the pedicel, or the pro- 
cess of the skull on which the antler grows, 
the edge of which was left naked and bleeding 
when the old antler was cast off, commences 
extending itself over the naked end of the bone 
which it surrounds, and which constituted the seat of 
the antler, and in a few days at most it has closed 
over it, and consists of a thick vascular naked covering 
with a black cuticle, and in this condition it remains, just' 
fairly filling the concavity which is left by the lower 
convex end of the discarded antler. This vascular cover- 
ing forms no more during the winter, but the blood 
circulates moderately through it. This remains in a 
quiet s^ate till spring, when vegetation begins to shoot 
forth mid a scanty supply is procured by the deer. Then 
the top of the pedicel rises up in convex form, assuming 
first the appearance of a great blood blister.' Now the 
antler commences a longitudinal growth, the top main- 
taining its convex form, while the beam aitains at once 
its full diameter; and so it grows in length, but never 
appreciably in thickness. When the beam has attained 
the height where it is to throw off a branch, it first be- 
comes flattened at the end, and then bifurcation takes 
place, and the two parts grow on pari passu, ever in- 
creasing in length, but not in diameter, that which is to 
be the longest growing faster than the other, and so 
on to the completion of the external growth, so that all 
the part's shall be completed about the same time. When 
this growth is finished externally, the circulation of 
blood along the antler becomes slower and at last ceases. 
The vascular covering, called the velvet, and which con- 
sists of the periosteum overlaid with a short, dense 
fur, is rubbed otf by the animal against small trees or 
other convenient objects." 
The process is described at length in Judge Caton's 
work "Antelope and Deer of America."] 
A Note on Buffalo. 
A private letter dated in October, from Uinta county, 
Wyoming, gives the following notes on buffalo — or as 
they are more commonly called by mountain men bison 
—just outside the Yellowstone National Park. The an- 
nouncement that a calf was following the cow is the 
more' interesting because most reports this year from the. 
Park affirm that no calves or signs of calves have been 
seen there this summer. We are disposed to think, how- 
ever, that some calves have been born. The writer of 
the letter says: "This spring we saw where a buffalo 
cow had wintered in the Wind River range, and this 
spring she went back toward the Park, and had a calf 
with her, Also, one of the guides saw where some buf- 
falo, three or four, were running between the Buffalo Fork 
cf the Snake and the headwaters of the Gray Bull and 
Stinking Water. 
"Bears are certainly increasing here. I suppose that it 
is owing to the small number of trappers, and the over- 
flow from the Park. I hope that the Park will be en- 
larged." 
A Maine White Deer. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. J. R. Hegeman, Jr., the well-known sportsman 
and hunter, is the lucky man. For several years strange, 
weird stories have come from guides and hunters in 
the neighborhood of Mount Katahdin of a ghost or 
phantcm buck of enormous size having been seen in 
this mountain. Many so-called crack shots had fired 
at the animal only to see a white object disappear into 
the forest. Guides became superstitious, believing the 
strange animal was protected against bullets by some 
special providence. However, such was not the case, as 
has been proved by Mr. Hegeman, He was hunting 
with his guide toward the top of the mountain, when 
they saw through the brush some strange white form 
standing between a good-sized pine tree and some large 
boulders. They could not distinguish just what the ob- 
ject was, as the tree and brush hid most of the body. 
As the animal had not been startled, the hunter watched 
it breathlessly for a few moments. Suddenly a pale 
reddish-colored head of a buck with magnificent antlers 
marched down in the brush to nibble some food. The 
head surmounted a snow-white neck and shoulders, and 
looking the other side of the tree could be outlined the 
pure white hindejuarters of the animal. The heacl partly 
disappeared again and left no shot except one which 
was most difficult to calculate on. 
Carefully outlining the body, Mr. Hegeman figured 
out the position where the vital spot would come be- 
hind the tree, and taking careful aim, fired deliberately 
through the pine tree and into the buck. The ball, hav- 
ing flattened somewhat, entered the deer in the proper 
spot just back of the shoulder, dropping him in his 
tracks. 
The deer was undoubtedly the long-hunted phantom, 
and is said to be the strangest specimen of an albino that 
has ever been seen or captured. The entire, body is snow- 
white, with the exception of a few reddish spcits on the 
shoulder. The head is a light reddish color, mixed with 
white hair reaching down to the nose and under iaw, 
which are ajso white. The feet are olack as coal. The 
deer weighed 24olbs. , when dressed, an excep'ionally 
heavy weight. W. W. H. 
A Red Squirrel which Turned White. 
Brewer, Me., Nov. 8.— Yesterday I obtained a most 
remarkable specimen of red squirrel, not so much on ac- 
count of his color as the fact that we have posiJve proof 
that since June he has changed from the common 
color to nearly white. Last June we saw a red squirrel 
in our garden. This is a very uncommon thing, as we 
are over a mile from any trees except shade trees, and 
do not see a squirrel here once in a good many years. 
He kept visiting us quite often. In September, when 
my daughter was picking crab apples, he several tim .3 
came into the tree close to her, and then was quite 
light in color, and she saw and told me that he had a 
notch in one ear as if it had been bitten. Lately, men 
working for me have several' times told me of seeing a 
white squirrel in my garden. Yesterday I shot it, and 
it proved to be the same one, as the notch in his ear 
proved conclusively. He had a quite dark head to the 
ears. All the rest of his body is white, tinged with red- 
dish gray, but looking pure white a short distance off. 
His tint is like that of any red squirrel, but shows signs 
of changing color at the base. 
I have seen a great many albinos of many kinds of 
animals and birds, but this ij the first instance I have 
ever known where it could be proved that one became 
white by changing color. I omitted to say that his eyes 
were the common color, instead of being pink, as is 
usual in albinos. M. Hardy. 
The Ways of Roots in the Ground, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
A peculiar phenomenon, which might be classed as a 
case of "natural selection," has recently come? under 
my observation, and might prove of interest to your 
readers. Some twenty years ago, my grandfather per- 
mitted the body of a person who died without relatives 
or friends to be placed in his burying lot. The lot 
having since become somewhat crowded, it was foir.ul 
necessary to remove this body, which had been placed in 
a simple wooden coffin for interment. When the grave 
was opened for the purpose of removing the body, it 
was found that nothing remained of it but a few teeth and 
some hair. But now comes the remarkable part. Near 
the head of the grave grows a medium-sized cedar, tree, 
a root of which had entered the grave at its head, and 
had continued its growth throughout the length of the 
body, branching at the limbs and continuing throughout 
their length. Branches had also left the main root at 
the shoulders, and had assumed practically the shape of 
the arms. The root was detached from the tree and re- 
interred. Warren. 
Mississippi, Nov. T. 
[This comes with a letter from Coahama, who vouches 
for the reliability of Mr. Shelton's statements.] 
• Quadrupeds in Towr. 
Ithaca, N. Y.— Even the fragrant and thoroughly in- 
dependent American skunk Iras apparently come to ap- 
preciate the educational advantages of this university 
city, and he is no longer a rare old visitor to the busi- 
ness center of the place. Within a few days two of 
these animals have been killed scarce a stone's throw 
from the principal street, and the death of the second 
one disclosed the fact that a happy family of five little 
skunks, snugly ensconced under a friendly barn, have 
been made orphans. But the city cat, after the manner 
of the municipal tabby the world over, has appeared 
upon the scene in quest of enjoyment, and daily gives 
the disconsolate family of skurtkies a violent romp. 
One morning recently a gray rabbit common to the 
covers about here came scudding down State street (the 
main business street), pursued by a foxhound in full 
cry, and for the length of two of the busiest blocks 
there was a fine example of enclosed coursing. Gaping 
clerks, clamorous fruit venders and blase men about 
town elbowed each other ferociously for a view of the 
wildly exciting chase, which ended by bunny saving his 
white flag of truce under a yawning culvert. 
M. Chill. 
A. O. U. Meeting. 
The sixteenth annual congress of the American 
Ornithologists' Union is being held this week in Wash- 
ington, D. C. The first session, the business meeting, 
was held on Monday evening, Nov. 14, at 8 o'clock, at 
the Army Medical Museum, at which the active mem- 
bers of the Union considered the election of new mem- 
bers and such other business matters as came before 
them. 
The public sessions of the Union are being held at th« 
United States National Museum, commencing on the 
morning of Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 11 o'clock. These ses- 
sions are devoted to the reading and discussion of 
papers. 
