A correspondent of the Garden says:

"Thuja gigantea is, among the trees on the Northwest coast, the Indian's best friend, for out of its wood and bark he manufactures endless articles of domestic, hunting, fishing, and war-like economy. Most of their canoes are hollowed out of it, at least in Vancouver Island; and there is a case quoted where a canoe made out of Cupressus Nutkaensis, in Vancouver, was quite an exception, and indeed the canoe was probably traded from some of the northern tribes, and not of Vancouver manufacture at all. The Indian ropes are also very commonly twisted out of its bark. The tree which I took for Thuja plicata, and out of which I happened to see the Indians, just at the time I wrote the letter quoted, twisting ropes, I believe, from after investigation, to have been only a stunted form of T. gigantea, and that T. plicata is not a separate species, but for reasons which I have given in another place, and cannot now again repeat, is indeed, only a variety of T. gigantea. North of latitude 530 Cupressus Nutkaensis takes the place of Thuja gigantea, and is applied by the Indians to all the useful purposes of T. gigantea, and to some others in addition.

For instance, at the Matlakatlah Mission, on the coast of British Columbia, in about latitude 54P north, where there are fine groves of it, it is sawn into lumber and sent to Victoria, where it meets a ready sale among the cabinet-makers, as it takes a fine polish and works beautifully. Most of the prettily polished discs and htlle cylinders used by the Indians in gambling are made either from this wood or from that of Acer macrophyllum. It is also valuable for ship or boat-building. The wood of T. gigantea is whitish, but in its fresh state is yellower; hence the name Yellow Cypress applied to.it. It is light, tough, durable, and easily worked. The property of durability it shares with Thuja gigantea, and, in addition, it has a pleasant fragrance. On this account the Russians about Sitka used to call it dushnik, or scented wood. It was absolutely at one time exported to China, and returned marked with Chinese characters, which warranted it as 'real Chinese camphor wood,'puissant for many purposes and a sovereign remedy against moths in drawers ! In repairing old Fort Simpson, the only log found sound after twenty-one years' trial of those used for underpinning was a stock of this".

To which we may add that it is well-known to American botanists that Thuja plicata, of English gardens, and Thuja gigantea are identical. In regard to the range of the two species named it is an error that north of latitude 530, Cupressus Nut-kaensis takes the place of Thuja gigantea. The writer of this penetrated near latitude 6o°, without meeting a single specimen of the Cupressus, though the Arbor Vitoe was abundant up to that point, and probably it extended further. In the Russian Church at Sitka, which the writer had the chance to examine, the fragrant wood was certainly the Arbor Vitae. With a good chance to botanize for a couple of days about Sitka, no specimen of the Cupressus was seen. The Indians converted to the Greek Catholic system do not sit in church on seats, but either kneel or sit on their heels, which is the Indian method of sitting; and for a "carpet" the floor is strewn with branches of the Arbor Vitae. Our party brought to these people the news of the coronation of the Czar, a year after date ! and the church was at once festooned with the Arbor Vitae, and not the Cupressus. Our little party had also a chance to touch at the Indian Mission of Matlakatlah, which is on the border line between Alaska and British Columbia. We found over a thousand of Indians civilized by a missionary named Duncan, living in houses built by their own hands, like unto ours.

They had a grand church, built also by their own hands, under the direction of their good missionary; a very beautiful building, and which was built wholly of Thuja gigantea. The odor from the wood reminded one of the incense-flooded cathedrals of Catholic Europe. Unfortunately it rained in torrents, and it was not possible to do much botanizing around that spot; but all the trees seen were of Thuja gigantea.

At Killisnow Island in Alaska, the Reverend Mr. Hill, a Presbyterian Missionary, teaching Indians the industrial arts, had established a saw mill, and told the writer that it was only on rare occasions that they found a tree of the Yellow Cypress. The Arbor Vitas was everywhere. On the whole, we conclude that the impression that the yellow cedar is a common tree in Alaska, and takes the place of the Thuja, which is to be limited to a range farther south, is erroneous.

The Arbor Vitas is well worthy of its specific name, gigantea, as seen in Alaska. It grows quite as large as the average of pine trees in our Eastern States.