Walter Deane (1848-1930) Papers; Journal Jan-Dec 1901. Botany Libraries, Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, Mass.

29 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 4 (2)

Our room is in the second story at the back of the main house and faces due south, overlooking the beautiful lawn studded with large elms and rock maples. A pair of red squirrels live in a hole in one of the maples and are constantly seen. Beyond the lawn comes the garden filled with old fashioned flowers Centaurea cyanus (Bachelor's Button), C. moschata (Sweet Sultan) white, Eschscholzia californica (California Poppy), Papaver of different {species}, Lilium of various sps. white, Paeonia of various kinds, Roses, Honeysuckles, Fraxinella, Larkspurs, Hollyhocks, Day lilies [?]. The vegetable garden lies beyond. Around and beyond the garden is a grass field sprinkled with trees, a linden, chestnut, two or three pines introduced sps. cut leaved maples, and beyond the land slopes to Ondawa on White Creek bordered by trees & shrubs and the most attractive being an elm with five or six large trunks diverging below the surface of the ground. Seats are built between them.

The lot contains two acres and is about 2 1/2 times as deep as broad. The house sits about 30 feet back from the street. A row of rock maples is just inside the wooden fence. A little church adjoins the lot on the east, and on the west there is an open lot of some extent with a house on the further side.

We had a steady rain this evening beginning after dark. It is still raining. Terrible [?] in the village [?] to the 4th.

30 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 5

It rained last evening from about 9 to 11. The rain entering the ground for but a very short distance. To-day has been cloudy and threatening with mercury around 80°, air sultry.

Miss Florence and I walked to the village this A.M. It was too nearly raining to drive to–day but we have had a very nice morning in the garden and looking over one of the large portfolios of original watercolors by J.J. & J.W. Audubon. It was a rare treat of great delight and we sat about the large dining room table listening to what the ladies said as we examined picture after picture. I noted the following original watercolors by J.J. Audubon, and reproduced in Audubon & Bachman's Quadrupeds of North America :–

Lepus americanus (winter dress), one water color of the scenery and mere outline of the hare, sent to the engravers who wanted to work on the picture, and a later water color of the hare without the scenery. Lepus americanus (summer dress). Two water colors same as above Canis (Vulpus) cinereo-argentatus. Swift Fox. Histrix dorsata. Porcupine. Tamias quadrivittatus. Four white-lined ground squirrel. 2 ads [adults], 2 young on separate sheets but brought on as one sheet in the Quadrupeds The sheet with young is dated, May 20, 1841, N.Y. The sheet with ads [adults] is dated Nov. 16, 1841, N.Y. Tamias townseadi, dated May 16, 1841.

31 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 5 (2)

Spermophilus parryii ♂ [male], dated Sept. 15, 1841, New York. Spermophilus franklinii dated Nov. 27, 1845 Procyon lotor (young), dated Sept. 10, 1841 Sciurus lanigunosus, Fort Simpson, N.W. coast of America, Nov. 1835. from Capt. W. Brotchie J.J.A., New York, 1841, May 24. Lepus townsendii, Townsends Rocky Mt. Hare

There were sketches of birds by J.W. Audubon in 1834 when he was a young man in England and there were drawings whose authorship was doubtful. I compared all the originals of J.J. Audubon's animals with the plates in the Quadrupeds, and I can see how much is lost in the reproduction of the delicate tone and color of the originals. At the [?] of John J. Audubon & his wife the hosts of original drawings were scattered among different branches of the family and many of them got destroyed. It is very fortunate that so many are preserved here.

In our room described before are the following water colors oils by John W. Audubon, reproduced in the Quadrupeds.–

The White Wolf. The Dusky Squirrel, and The Black-tailed Deer. There is a large oil by John W. representing a landscape with two cows in the foreground. The foreshortening of one of the cows secured for John W. his election into the National Academy of Science in New York.

There are also two oils by Victor, representing Cuban tropical scenes, palms and in one two Herons.

32 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 5 (3)

After dinner Dr. Mcguire called in his new automobile and took me a beautiful ride down the valley of White Creek through East Greenwich or as it was formerly called "Slab City". It was a [?] and interesting ride of five or six miles and my first opportunity to see the country. The streets in the town are bordered mainly by rock maples and American Elms. I have seen some immense locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia) nearly three feet through. The country is very hilly on either side of the valley. The creek runs prettily through mostly open country devoted to pasturage, grass land, and immense fields of yellow waving rye. Immense quantities of rye are raised here and we saw in one field the farmer cutting & cradling it. No wheat or barley is raised about here. White or Oudawa Creek empties into Black Creek and then into the Battenkill River a beautiful stream some 75 yards broad where we crossed it at East Greenwich. We went a little way beyond and stopped at a farm where I wandered about and heard Chewinks and Veeries singling freely. Bobolinks & Meadow Larks were singing in the grass field. The breeze created by the ride was refreshing. We returned the same way.

We spent the evening talking and playing games.

33 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 6

It rained very hard last night and the ground was well watered. Cloudy & clearing all day. Mercury ranging around 85°.

This morning I spent in the the garden by the creek and in the house talking with the ladies on the piazza. This afternoon I went to drive with Miss Florence and Miss Young. Mr. Potter who owns a stable took us in a light covered carryall with a pair of chestnut horses. We drove about twenty miles going north through a corner of Hebron and then into West Rupert in Vermont and home over the hills following White Creek. We ascended steadily the first half of the way and among the hills we had very fine views. To the west we looked far in the direction of Fort Edward. In the immediate vicinity the hills were piled one over another in grand confusion. The roads were very good, but there has been a sad cleaning up of much of the roadside in places, everything being stripped off between the road and wall. Where this has not happened, rock maples seem the prevailing tree. Elms, very large locusts (Robinia pseudacacia), Hornbeams (Carpinus), Butternuts occur along the way. The field of waving rye and oats were very beautiful. The rye has turned to a golden yellow and is now ready to be harvested. The Bugloss (Echium vulgare is a very pernicious week throughout this region. In two spots during our drive I saw a large hill slope of a