'578 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. io, 1908. 
WHITE, PAPER OR CANOE BIRCH 
BETULA PAPYRIFERA 
From “Our Trees; How to Know Them.” 
BIRCH FAMILY 
Recent Publications 
The Story of the New England Whalers, by 
John R. Spears. Cloth, 418 pages, illus¬ 
trated, $1.50. New York, the Macmillan 
Company. 
This history of the whaling industry and its 
rise, period of prosperity and decline opens with 
alongshore whaling in Easthampton, Long Island, 
in 1651, when, instead of killing off the Indians, 
as was done in other places, the thrifty settlers 
employed them in their whale hunting. For the 
redmen were so much more skillful in finding, if 
not in killing, whales that their wages were three 
shillings a day when white laborers received but 
two. This access of skill, however, was of short 
duration, for the farmer-whalemen soon became 
even more adept, and this occupation of the In¬ 
dian became less profitable to him. 
Mr. Spears goes even further back for his 
data relating to whalers, methods, boats and 
implements used by the Eskimos and others in 
the capture of whales, but his story has to do 
mainly with the various successes and failures 
of American whalers. The narrative is an ex¬ 
tremely fascinating one, and a copy of the book 
should be in the library of every patriotic Ameri¬ 
can. 
Our Trees; How to Know Them. Photographs 
from nature by Arthur I. Emerson, with a 
guide to their recognition at any season of 
the year and notes on their characteristics, 
distribution and culture by Clarence M. 
Weed, D.Sc. Small quarto, 293 pages, 140 
illustrations, $3. Philadelphia, the J. B. Lip- 
pincott Company. 
The illustration which we are permitted to re¬ 
produce herewith shows the full size of the 
plates used throughout this excellent book. On 
one page is the plate, and on that facing it are 
the notes relating to the particular tree illus¬ 
trated. This is followed throughout and the 
plan is extremely simple and concise. Further¬ 
more, all the trees of one family are described 
and illustrated in their proper sequence, in this 
way giving opportunity for close comparison. 
The authors have followed Prof. Sargent’s 
BET U LACE AL 
Manual of the Trees of North America” in 
technical names and in the sequence of the trees, 
but in some cases additional names are also 
given. For nature students “Our Trees” is of 
the greatest value, for the language of the text [ 
is shorn of technicalities, and the magnificent I 
reproductions from photographs, printed on the 
best quality of paper, make comparisons a very 
easy matter. 
Books Received : “The Last of the Plains- ; 
men,” by Zane Grey; the Outing Publishing 
Company. “Ginseng and other Medicinal Plants,” 
by A. R. Harding; the A. R. Harding Publish¬ 
ing Company. “The Lay of the Land,” by Dallas | 
Lore Sharp; Houghton, MifHin & Co. “Red Cap | 
Adventures,” by S. R. Crockett; the Macmillan 
Company. “Trout Waters, Management and 
Angling,” by Wilson H. Armistead; London, [ 
Adam and Charles Black. “Wet-Fly Fishing 
Treated Methodically,” by E. M. Tod; new re- 
vised edition; London, Sampson Low, Marston 
& Co. 
