The Ketchikan miner., 1907-05-18
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entirely unsuspected. For instance, in the summer of 1905 which was a particularly good one for all growth in the north dozens of plants and shrubs that were never before met with in Yukon sprung up in .abund- ance and fourished in many different parts of the country. The following year. just as in the summer preceding 1905, these plants were entirely absent from the flora of the country Thus, it will be seen, the collecting of plant life in the north presents conditions not found elsewhere and involves time and patience as wella sd great special aptitude.
 ''I am not" said Gervais, ''educated as botanist. I took this up as a pastime. 1 go away sometimes for three weeks at time on prospecting trips. Often I am not able to take horse, boat, or any conveyance with me. On these occasi ons l have to keep in mind picture of each of the fifteen hunrded specimens l have, and whenever I see plant that seems new I pluck it and bring it back to the cabin. I often have difficulty in carrying around in the rough places that a prospector's life naturally leads him, these specimens without damaging them. But find that my memory can be depended upon, for it is very rarely that I pick a plant thinking it is a new one, only to find that already have specimen.
 ''I am told that there are only three men in America capable O. classifying and giving a name to each set of the collection 1 have with me. One is Prof Macoun at Ottawa, and the others are situated at Washington and St. Louis respectively. I am going East as soon as possible to have the collection classified, as those who have seen it and who know something about the science of plant life tell me that I have some fifty entirely new specimens, specimens not yet named, and it is to the best interests of science that there should be a record kept"
 The collection covers four hun dred feet of wall space in spite of the fact that each specimen is closely mounted to the next one. There are thirteen different kinds of trees in the north, a fact that is somewhat surprising, as few hundred miles south one may find eight and ten times this number. But only the hardest trees flourish in the north, whereas the flowers, which have but summer life do nearly as we'll as their cousins in the south. The fora of the northen states.is represented north of fifty-three and there are few gaps in the rollcall.
 A beautiful portion of Gervais' ex- hibit is the different mosses. Some of the northern mosses are as fine as any fur. The tree moss, black and as fine as silk, the variegated rein deer moss and the cabin moss form as fine contrast in color, texture and growth as thything in the north.
 The wild rhublrb of Alaska is probably larger than any grown out side. It has been suggested that some Burbank might take the Yukon and Alaskan specimens and cultivate them and form a new specie for the garden. The wild hay of Yukon too is unsur- passed. There is also special clover which the writer has not met with elsewhere. It is something like the red clover but grows much nearer the ground and with a shorter finer stem. The flower is fully as big as the largest white clover, and animals seem to thrive on it as on the best pasture of the south. Indeed three of the White Pass horses which in 1898 went astray, were captured three years later, having spent three winters outside without any shelter and were in better condition than the stock that had spent that time in the stables On the other hand some stock that the writer knew of was left outside during the winter of 1905 and Was never seen again. It was gen. erally supposed, however, that the lean and hungry wolf-pack of the spring had more to do with their dis appearance than the lack of food.