Sagas of the Evergreens, by Frank H. Lamb. 8 vo., 359 pages with illustrations. New York : W. W. Norton Co., 1938. Price $3.50.

Evergreens everywhere are the living announcement to the climber that he is approaching the mountains. Climbers, hurrying to the nearby snows, brush through the evergreens without much thought of them. We all know in a superficial way the evergreens characteristic of our favorite climbing districts ; I imagine all of us who have never really studied botany feel that the only thing to learn about them is the list of their scientific Latin names and how to identify each species. In Sagas of the Evergreens, there is unfolded to the reader in accurate but easy reading not only the different species, but everything up, down, and sideways, bearing on each group—and much indeed there is to learn about these guardians of the mountains. Ancestry antedating the formation of the Alps or Rockies, adaptability to tropics or arctic, forests or deserts, economic uses for lumber, for pulp, for gum, not to mention the comforting campfire, management of forest preserves, and fire protection. Although never intended as a “mountain climber’s” book, the appearance of the names of John Muir and Edmund S. Meany in the very first chapter gives the reader an idea that, maybe, the book will be close to the mountain climber’s heart, and true indeed that is, for are not the majority of the beautiful illustrations by our own member, Asahel Curtis? A book worthy of inclusion in the library of everyone who loves the mountains.

J. E. F.