194 
NATURE NOTES. 
derfully real. The album should be large enough to allow of four or five leaves, 
each representing a different stage in the colouration — yellow, pink, crimson, and 
all other tints which belong to each special tree. A page should of course be 
reserved for each set of specimens, and the English and Latin name, the date, 
and any other particulars written at the bottom of the page will add to the 
scientific value of the collection. Eliza Brightwen. 
Children’s Country Holidays Fund.— A correspondent demurs to our 
appeal (p. 157) on behalf of this excellent Society, on the ground that “ however 
interesting it may be to those it concerns,” it “ has no place in natural history 
records.” We have never understood that the scope of Nature Notes was 
limited to “ natural history records,” and our preliminary prospectus suggested 
no such limitation. One of our aims is to encourage and develop a love of 
Nature, and we can imagine no more suitable way of doing this than by enabling 
the children of the town to learn something of the sights and sounds of the country. 
We know from experience that the Children’s Country Holiday Fund largely con- 
tributes to this desirable result, and of this some evidence will be found in Nature 
Notes for 1892, p. 123. It is to be regretted that subscriptions have this year 
fallen short of what is required. There is even yet time to secure a country 
holiday for some child who has not had one, and this can be done by sending 
los. to the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, at 10, Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C. 
“ Nature Notes ” due North— and Elsewhere.— Mr. W. J. C. Miller 
writes : — “ I am sure all members that I have ever spoken to would much wish, 
with me, that the admirable Nature Notes could be extended to twenty-four or 
more pages. This morning I had a long and interesting account from Sir Dyce 
Duckworth of his voyage beyond Spitzbergen, up to nearly 81“ north latitude! 
Among other things, he told me that they had an eminent naturalist on board ; 
that he read your magazine with much interest, as did also several others of 
Sir Dyce’s fellow voyagers : and that they had all around them hosts of birds, 
whereof I had seen a few on the Devonian Headland. 
“ They steamed, in their large vessel, far beyond Spitzbergen, till they came to 
the pack-ice, at 80° 30' North, amid spouting whales, and full sunshine that never 
set, and sea birds and seals, and hosts of other things that I should like to see. 
I gathered that your magazine was largely read, and I gave Sir Dyce nearly all the 
numbers that I had, including August. You should surely get to at least twenty- 
four pages. Every one that speaks to me of the Magazine, or writes to me, 
or writes of it in out-of-the-way newspapers and such like things, says how much 
they enjoy all that it contains.” 
“ Dead Trees and ‘ Nature Notes.’ ’’—Under this heading we find the 
following paragraph in London for September 13 : — “ St. George the Martyr. 
Mr. Thornton referred at the vestry meeting to the remarks in Nature Notes 
of the neglect of the trees in the roadways of the parish. He asked whether 
anything was being done to protect the trees. Mr. Brown said several of the 
trees along the road were dead, and he thought a man should be specially 
employed to look after all the trees in the parish ; it seemed impossible to get 
them well looked after under the contract system. The clerk, Mr. Millar, 
observed that the subject was being considered in committee, and would be 
dealt with in a special report.” 
M'e shall esteem ourselves fortunate if we have succeeded in arousing the 
sleeping consciences of the St. George’s vestrymen, and shall await with interest 
the report of the committee. But, as we pointed out on p. 142, the “ tree com- 
mittee” has so far done absolutely nothing except to neglect the duties imposed 
upon it, and no “report” can possibly be more conclusive than that which was 
submitted to them four or five years since by an expert. As to employing “aspecial 
man,” that is a matter which the ratepayers .should look into. The existing con- 
tract with the nurseryman who supplies the trees distinctly provides for their being 
kept in order by him, and it surely rests with the vestry, through their surveyor, 
to see that the agreement is carried out. Meanwhile, the tree-guards are being 
newly painted, which will at any rate draw public attention to the broom-sticks 
and dying trees which .so many of them protect. 
