Chapter LXVI: Recreation and Vacation

“Laying out your work” is a familiar phrase, and describes a common practice. But hardly one man in a hundred deliberately “lays out” his play, planning his recreation so as to get the best value out of every hour of his leisure time. Yet when he consults a doctor because his work is not running smoothly, one of the first questions he has to answer is about the amount and form of recreation he takes.

[Sidenote: Recreative Reading about Recreation]

An important branch of the art of playing is to learn the value of reading about play. The more a man knows about any form of amusement, the more he will enjoy the hours he devotes to it, and the better he will succeed in keeping his mind off his business during these hours. But there is another and an even greater advantage in this kind of reading: _it will take your mind out-of-doors during hours of leisure that you are compelled to spend in-doors_. Everyone recognizes that out-door recreations, involving some degree of bodily activity, are the most wholesome for men whose work is sedentary, as is the case with nearly every reader of this Guide, and the best forms of out-door recreation are those in which the contrast with your work is accentuated by the complete change of scene and of habits which most men can only hope to get once a year, at vacation time.

Turn to the next best form of relaxation, the out-door amusements that lie close at hand. Here, again, your opportunities are limited, for all these pleasures require daylight, which, during a great part of the year, ends before your work is done; and most of them require weather conditions that you can only get at certain seasons. An hour spent in reading and thinking about out-door amusements and travel, and in making plans for such delights, even if the planning must be for a future that seems far away, is therefore always refreshing.

It is not the purpose of the present chapter to suggest a course of reading, in the strict sense of the phrase, for it cannot be assumed that everyone who would like to read about lawn-tennis would also like to read about tarpon-fishing. But a general account of the Britannica articles that afford information about recreation and vacations will give the reader a choice among subjects in which he is already interested and among others which may offer him new possibilities.

MOTORING

In connection with motoring, the possessor of the Britannica will not be surprised to find in it, as might be expected from its universal comprehensiveness, much fuller technical information in regard to the structure and operation of his engine, the fuel he employs, and the friction and other resistances he must overcome, than in any of the ordinary manuals on the subject. But it may not occur to him that in planning either a long or a short tour, he can find in the volumes information of other kinds that will give added interest and significance to everything he sees. It is not only when he crosses the Atlantic for his motoring trip that cities and villages and mountains and rivers have stories to tell. In our own country, place-names which may at first suggest nothing, are found, on reference to the Britannica, to be associated with episodes of early exploration, of Indian hostilities, of local agitation, of one or another war, with the lives of famous men, the growth of industries and of commerce, the first success in a new branch of farming, the early days of railroad and canal construction, or the development of transportation by river, lake or sea. And what is being done to-day, in these places, is often quite as interesting, and quite as difficult to ascertain from any source other than the Britannica. This use of the work as a guide-book, or rather as doing a great deal that guide-books lamentably fail to do, is discussed later in this chapter in connection with travel in general as a form of recreation; but motoring gives especial opportunities for observation enriched by knowledge.

The value of the Britannica in connection with the planning of a motoring trip may be illustrated by brief notes on some of the articles you might read if you were about to make, for example, the run from New York through the Berkshire Hills and on to the White Mountains. _The following information is all from the Britannica, and from articles to which you would naturally turn in this connection._

_A Specimen Tour from New York to the White Mountains_

[Sidenote: Along the Hudson]

Leaving New York by Broadway, your first point is YONKERS (Vol. 28, p.
922), where, as the Britannica tells you, stands “one of the best
examples of colonial architecture in America,” Philipse Manor Hall,
now a museum of Revolutionary relics. Frederick Philipse, owner in
1779 of the Hall and of an estate extending for some distance along
the bank of the Hudson, was suspected of Toryism, and all his property
was confiscated by act of legislature. A mile and a half beyond
Yonkers you get a magnificent view of the Hudson, disclosing the
Palisades, of lava rock (Vol. 13, p. 852) which, in cooling, formed
joints like those of the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. The impressive
breadth of the Hudson and its navigability throughout the 151 miles to
Troy, notwithstanding that in all that distance it falls only five
feet (a good many New Yorkers would be amazed to be told that fact),
is due to the low grade of the river bed, permitting the tide to enter
and to back up the water, so that this long stretch of the river is
really a fjord, not a stream. The article Fjord (Vol. 10, p. 452)
tells you how such a rock basin or trough is formed by geological
action. The article HENRY HUDSON (Vol. 13, p. 849) tells you how the
great navigator, himself an Englishman, although employed by the Dutch
East India Company in 1608 to find a westward route to China, sailed
the little “Half Moon” as far up the river as Albany before he was
convinced that the Pacific did not lie ahead of him.

The next point after Yonkers, DOBBS FERRY (Vol. 8, p. 349), was a
strategic centre of great importance during the Revolutionary War.
“The American Army under Washington encamped near Dobbs Ferry on the
4th of July, 1781, and started thence for Yorktown in the following
month,” and it was there that Washington and Governor Clinton, in
1783, “met General Sir Guy Carleton to negotiate for the evacuation by
the British troops of the posts they still held in the United States.”

[Sidenote: Sleepy Hollow]

In TARRYTOWN, as the article under that title (Vol. 26, p. 433)
recounts, Washington Irving, who made the legends of the Hudson
immortal, built his home at “Sunnyside,” and was buried in the old
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The article IRVING (Vol. 14, p. 856), by the
late Dr. Richard Garnett, the famous literary critic, tells you all
about Irving’s life; and Professor Woodberry of Columbia, in his
article on AMERICAN LITERATURE (Vol. 1, p. 831), reminds you that,
although Irving spent 21 of his adult years in Europe, he is the one
American writer who has “linked his memory locally with his country so
that it hangs over the landscape and blends with it forever.”
“Kaakoot,” one of the large estates at Tarrytown, recalls the
extraordinary career of its owner, described in the article JOHN D.
ROCKEFELLER (Vol. 23, p. 433); and “Lyndhurst,” that of Jay Gould, of
whom and of whose daughter, the well-known philanthropist, the
Britannica tells in the article GOULD (Vol. 12, p. 284). On the post
road near Tarrytown is the bronze statue of a Continental soldier,
erected to commemorate the capture of Major André, whose life is told
in the article ANDRÉ (Vol. 1, p. 968).

As you mount the hill and leave the Hudson, you enter the beautiful
region of hills, lake and streams, upon which the city of New York
long depended for its water; and you will be interested in comparing
what New York has accomplished in this connection with what has been
done by other great cities, as described in the article WATER SUPPLY
(Vol. 28, p. 387), by G. F. Deacon. Many of the large country places
you pass are the property of prominent New York men, of whom there are
biographies in the Britannica.

Your brief run through the hilly northwestern corner of Connecticut,
of which the physical features are described and the history narrated
in the article CONNECTICUT (Vol. 6, p. 951), takes you through
SALISBURY (Vol. 24, p. 78), near Bear Mountain (2355 feet), “the
highest point in the State.” A few miles more and you cross the line
into Massachusetts and enter the enchanting region of the Berkshire
Hills. The article MASSACHUSETTS (Vol. 17, p. 851) says that “the
Berkshire country—Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin
counties—is among the most beautiful regions of the United States. It
is a rolling highland, dominated by long, wooded hill-ridges,
remarkably even-topped in general elevation, intersected and broken by
deep valleys. Scores of charming lakes lie in the hollows.”

[Sidenote: Great Barrington]

GREAT BARRINGTON (Vol. 12, p. 397) “was a centre of disaffection
during Shays’s Rebellion,” an episode for which you may consult the
article DANIEL SHAYS (Vol. 24, p. 815), and the account in the
historical section of the article MASSACHUSETTS (Vol. 17, p. 860). In
1786 Shays was known as having been “a brave Revolutionary captain of
no special personal importance.” The State finances were in a bad
condition and taxes were heavy. Mobs of discontented citizens, under
Shays’s leadership, assembled to prevent the courts from sitting, so
that the collection of taxes and other debts might be obstructed. “The
insurrection is regarded as having been very potent in preparing
public opinion throughout the country for the adoption of a stronger
national government.” WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (Vol. 4, p. 698),
“earliest of the master-poets of America,” practiced law at Great
Barrington for nine years.

[Sidenote: Stockbridge]

Leaving Great Barrington, you cross Monument Mountain (1710 feet) on
your way to STOCKBRIDGE (Vol. 25, p. 929) with its famous avenue of
elms—perhaps the most characteristic New England scene in all the
Berkshire country. The conspicuous bell-tower was erected by DAVID
DUDLEY FIELD (Vol. 10, p. 321), the law reformer, whose proposed code
of laws for the State of New York was the model on which most of the
existing state codes have been based. The park was the gift of his
brother, CYRUS W. FIELD (Vol. 10, p. 320), born at Stockbridge, to
whom we owe the first Atlantic cable. In 1834, at the age of 15, he
became a clerk in the great New York store described in the article A.
T. STEWART (Vol. 25, p. 912); later embarked in the wholesale paper
business in New York, failed, formed the firm of Cyrus W. Field & Co.,
and in 1853, at the age of 34, had made a quarter of a million, a
large fortune in those days, paid off the debts of the paper business,
and nominally retired. From that time he was chiefly occupied with the
cable scheme, of which the early difficulties are described in the
cable section of the article TELEGRAPH (Vol. 26, p. 527), although he
operated actively in stocks, was associated with JAY GOULD (Vol. 12,
p. 284) in completing the Wabash Railroad, and had a controlling
interest in the New York Elevated Railroad, besides being chief
proprietor of the New York _Mail and Express_.

When, in 1750, JONATHAN EDWARDS (Vol. 9, p. 3), the famous New England
theologian, had to leave his church at Northampton, he became pastor
at Stockbridge and missionary to the Housatonic Indians, remaining
there until 1759. It was there that he wrote his famous treatise on
the _Freedom of the Will_. In a cleft on Bear Mountain, just outside
the village, is the curious Ice Glen, with caverns ice-lined even in
midsummer.

[Sidenote: Lenox]

On the road from Stockbridge to Lenox you pass the beautiful lake
called the Stockbridge Bowl, on the shore of which NATHANIEL
HAWTHORNE, in 1851, wrote _The House of the Seven Gables_. His reason
for adopting literature as a vocation is quaintly stated in a letter
to his mother quoted in this Britannica biography. “I do not want to
be a doctor and live by men’s diseases, nor a minister to live by
their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So I don’t see
that there is anything left for me but to be an author.” LENOX (Vol.
16, p. 421) is surrounded by high hills, famous for their vivid
coloring when the leaves change their hues in the fall, Yokun Seat
(2080 feet), South Mountain (1200 feet), Bald Head (1583 feet) and
Rattlesnake Hill (1540 feet). “The surrounding region contains some of
the most beautiful country of the Berkshires—hills, lakes, charming
intervales and woods. As early as 1835 Lenox began to attract summer
residents. In the next decade began the creation of large estates,
although the great holdings of the present day, and the villas
scattered over the hills, are comparatively recent features.” The
township was named after the third Duke of RICHMOND AND LENNOX (Vol.
23, p. 307), “a firm supporter of the colonies in the debates on the
policy that led to the War of American Independence; and he initiated
the debate of 1778 calling for the removal of the troops from
America.”

Among other names associated with Lenox and with its famous schools
are those of the actress FRANCES KEMBLE—“Fanny” Kemble (Vol. 15, p.
724); HENRY WARD BEECHER (Vol. 3, p. 639); HARRIET HOSMER (Vol. 13, p.
791), the sculptor; MARK HOPKINS (Vol. 13, p. 684), the famous
president of Williams College; ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS (Vol. 25, p.
887), vice-president of the Confederate States, who, the article
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (Vol. 6, p. 899), says, was “during the
war a strong antagonist of President Davis’s policy;” and WILLIAM H.
YANCEY (Vol. 28, p. 902), whose fortunes were influenced by a singular
event. A lawyer, and editor of a little anti-nullification weekly in
South Carolina, he married a wealthy woman; but a few years later, in
1839, the accidental poisoning of all the slaves on the estate forced
him to return to the law; and he subsequently became one of the
political leaders of the Confederacy.

[Sidenote: Pittsfield]

PITTSFIELD (Vol. 21, p. 682) is both a popular resort and a prosperous
manufacturing town, with ample water power supplied by the east and
west branches of the Housatonic on either side of it. It was here that
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW (Vol. 16, p. 977) wrote _The Old Clock on the
Stairs_ at “Elm Knoll,” the house of his father-in-law, NATHAN
APPLETON (Vol. 2, p. 224), a reference to whose biography in the
Britannica discloses the interesting fact that his son, Thomas Gold
Appleton, a famous wit in his day, originated the saying, “Good
Americans when they die, go to Paris,” which is generally attributed
to Oliver Wendell Holmes. Just outside Pittsfield lies the village of
the SHAKERS (Vol. 24, p. 771), the curious sect founded by Ann Lee,
daughter of a blacksmith in Manchester, England, who came to America
with a small party of her adherents in 1714. The road through ADAMS
(Vol. 1, p. 181), affords a view of Greylock Mountain (3535 feet), the
highest point in Massachusetts; and at NORTH ADAMS (Vol. 19, p. 760),
there is a natural bridge 50–60 feet high across Hudson Brook; and you
can see the ruins of Fort Massachusetts, captured in 1746 by the
French with the aid of the Indians. Here is also the western end of
the Hoosac Tunnel, 5¾ miles long. The article TUNNELS (Vol. 27, p.
405) says that the piercing of this tunnel, begun in 1835 and not
finished until 1876, was marked by the first American use of air
drills and nitroglycerin; and the article POWER TRANSMISSION (Vol. 22,
p. 232) describes the influence which this successful employment of
compressed air had in furthering its use for the noisy “gun” tools now
so familiar.

[Sidenote: Williamstown]

WILLIAMSTOWN (Vol. 28, p. 685), the last town in Massachusetts on your
route, is the seat of Williams College; and the “Haystack Monument” in
Mission Park, stands where the prayer meeting was held which was the
forerunner of the American foreign missionary movement described in
the article MISSIONS (Vol. 18, p. 583), which contains the interesting
statement that in the 3rd century the proportion of Christians to the
whole human race was one to 150, while it is now one to three. The
article VERMONT (Vol. 27, p. 1025) contains an interesting summary of
the early disputes over state boundaries in this part of New England.

[Sidenote: Bennington]

BENNINGTON (Vol. 3, p. 743) lies at the foot of the Green Mountains,
near Mt. Anthony (2345 feet). “The Bennington Battle Monument, a shaft
301 feet high, is said to be the highest battle monument in the world.
It commemorates the success gained on the 16th of August, 1777, by a
force of nearly 2000 ‘Green Mountain Boys’ and New Hampshire and
Massachusetts militia ... over two detachments of General Burgoyne’s
army,” of whom 700 were taken prisoners. The article AMERICAN WAR OF
INDEPENDENCE (Vol. 1, p. 842) shows how important an effect this
victory had on Burgoyne’s campaign. In 1825 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON
(Vol. 11, p. 477), the anti-slavery leader, edited a paper at
Bennington, leaving it when BENJAMIN LUNDY (Vol. 17, p. 124), the
Quaker abolitionist, determined to secure Garrison’s co-operation on a
Baltimore abolitionist magazine, “walked through the ice and snow of a
New England winter from Boston to Bennington, 125 miles,” and
persuaded Garrison to join him. Bennington was the home of ETHAN ALLEN
(Vol. 1, p. 691), the frontier hero who led the “Green Mountain Boys”
and of SETH WARNER (Vol. 28, p. 327), who subsequently became their
colonel.

[Sidenote: Hanover]

On leaving Bennington you can choose any one of several routes to
bring you over to the Connecticut River, but, whichever you take, you
will be fairly on the main route to the White Mountains (by which you
would have gone from New York through Waterbury, Springfield and
Greenfield if you had not included the Berkshires in your itinerary)
when you reach HANOVER, N. H. (Vol. 12, p. 927). Here, “ranges of
rugged hills, broken by deep, narrow gorges and by the wider valley of
Mink Brook, rise near the river and culminate in Moose Mountain, 2326
feet above the sea.” Near the foot of that peak is the birthplace of
LAURA D. BRIDGMAN (Vol. 4, p. 559), the first blind deaf-mute to be
successfully educated. Dr. S. G. HOWE (Vol. 13, p. 837), who was head
of the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, heard of her case in
1837, took charge of her in October of that year, and by June, 1840,
at eleven years of age, her mind had become as well developed as that
of a normal child of her age. Charles Dickens saw her when he was in
America in 1842, and his account of her case led to the introduction
in England, and afterwards in all parts of Europe, of the Howe system
of training.

[Sidenote: Dartmouth College]

The attractions which Hanover owes to its picturesque site are
enhanced by the fine buildings and the notably beautiful campus of
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE (Vol. 7, p. 838). The purpose for which this college
was originally founded is quaintly expressed in its charter, granted
by George III in 1769. See the article on INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN
(Vol. 14, p. 452). This document ordains “that there be a college
erected in our Province of New Hampshire by the name of Dartmouth
College, for the education and instruction of youth of the Indian
Tribes in this Land in reading, writing and all parts of Learning
which shall appear necessary and expedient for civilizing and
christianizing children of pagans ... and also of English youth and
any other.”

With the name of Dartmouth College will always be associated that of
DANIEL WEBSTER (Vol. 28, p. 460), not only because he was graduated
there in 1801, but because the famous “Dartmouth College case,” in
which Webster appeared for the college before the United States
Supreme Court, was the first in which that august tribunal fully
asserted its power to support the Federal constitution by nullifying
any usurpatory statutes passed by state legislatures.

When you turn away from the Connecticut River to go up the valley of
the Ammonoosuc, you are fairly in the White Mountain region, which the
Britannica (Vol. 19, p. 490) describes in part as follows:

[Sidenote: The White Mountains]

“The White Mountains, a continuation of the Appalachian system, rise
very abruptly in several short ranges and in outlying mountain
masses from a base level of 700–1500 ft. to generally rounded
summits, the heights of several of which are nowhere exceeded in the
eastern part of the United States except in the Black and the Unaka
mountains of North Carolina; seventy-four rise more than 3000 ft.
above the sea, twelve more than 5000 ft., and the highest, Mount
Washington, attains an elevation of 6293 ft.

The principal ranges, the Presidential, the Franconia and the
Carter-Moriah, have a north-eastern and south-western trend. The
Presidential, in the north-eastern part of the region, is separated
from the Franconia on the south-west by the Crawford, or White
Mountain Notch, about 2000 ft. in depth, in which the Ammonoosuc and
Saco rivers find a passage, and from the Carter-Moriah, parallel to
it on the east, by the Glen-Ellis and Peabody rivers, the former
noted for its beautiful falls. On the Presidential range, which is
about 20 m. in length, are Mount Washington and nine other peaks
exceeding 5000 ft. in height: Mount Adams, 5805 ft.; Mount
Jefferson, 5725 ft.; Mount Sam Adams, 5585 ft.; Mount Clay, 5554
ft.; Boot Spur, 5520 ft.; Mount Monroe, 5390 ft.; J. Q. Adams Peak,
5384 ft.; Mount Madison, 5380 ft.; and Mount Franklin, 5028 ft. On
the Franconia, a much shorter range, are Mount Lafayette, 5269 ft.;
Mount Lincoln, 5098 ft.; and four others exceeding 4000 ft. The
highest peak on the Carter-Moriah range is Carter Dome, 4860 ft.,
but seven others exceed 4000 ft. Loftiest of the isolated mountains
is Moosilauke noted for its magnificent view-point, 4810 ft. above
the sea. Separating Franconia and Pemigewasset ranges is the
romantic Franconia Notch, overlooking which from the upper cliffs of
Profile Mountain is a remarkable human profile, _The Great Stone
Face_, immortalized by Nathaniel Hawthorne; here, too, is the
Franconia Flume, a narrow upright fissure, 60 ft. in height, with
beautiful waterfalls.

The whole White Mountain region abounds in deep narrow valleys,
romantic glens, ravines, flumes, waterfalls, brooks and lakes....
The headwaters of the rivers are for the most part mountain streams
or elevated lakes; farther on their swift and winding
currents—flowing sometimes between wide intervales, sometimes
between rocky banks—are marked by numerous falls and fed by lakes.

The lakes and ponds, numbering several hundred, were formed by
glacial action and the scenery of many of them is scarcely less
attractive than that of the mountains. The largest and most widely
known is Lake Winnepesaukee on the S. border of the White Mountain
region; this is about 20 m. long and from 1 to 8 m. wide, is dotted
by 274 islands, mostly verdant, and has clear water and a rather
level shore, back of which hills or mountains rise on all sides.
Among the more prominent of many others that are admired for their
beauty are Squam, New Found, Sunapee and Ossipee, all within a
radius of a few miles from Winnepesaukee; Massabesic farther S.; and
Diamond Ponds, Umbagog and Connecticut lakes, N. of the White
Mountains. The rivers with their numerous falls and the lakes with
their high altitudes furnish a vast amount of water power for
manufacturing, the Merrimac, in particular, into which many of the
larger lakes, including Winnepesaukee, find an outlet, is one of the
greatest power-yielding streams of the world.”

After exploring the country thus described in the Britannica, you can take for your return trip to New York, the route by Portland, Me., that by Lake Winnepesaukee and Portsmouth, or, that by Plymouth and Manchester, N. H. By any of these ways, you will visit Boston, and its famous suburbs, Concord, Lexington, Brookline, Salem and Marblehead, whose historical and literary associations are fully described in the Britannica.

[Sidenote: Automobiles]

The article MOTOR VEHICLES (Vol. 18, p. 914), with 37 illustrations, is by the late C. S. Rolls, the famous builder and driver of motor cars, with a special section on commercial vehicles, by Edward Shrapnell Smith, editor of _The Commercial Motor_. The story of the development of the car, told at the beginning of the article, is full of human interest, for it shows how national characteristics affect industries. From 1802, when Richard Trevithick built, in England, the first practical road carriage, until 1885, all the most promising efforts to further mechanical road traffic were made by English inventors. As early as 1824 there was a regular motor-omnibus service between Cheltenham and Gloucester, at a speed that sometimes (perhaps down a hill) reached 14 miles an hour; and if inventors had been encouraged, the effort to lighten road engines would have produced the tubular boiler long before it actually appeared. But the influence of the landowning, horse-breeding, horse-loving English aristocracy was too strong, and one act of Parliament after another imposed destructive restrictions, culminating in the law passed in 1865, making 4 miles an hour the maximum speed, and requiring that a man showing a red flag should march ahead of the engine! Of course this drove every engine off the road except a steam roller or the heaviest type of traction engine. In 1885 Daimler invented the internal combustion engine, and for a moment Germany seemed likely to lead the world. But Daimler failed to hit upon a satisfactory system of transmission, and although his engine worked well in motor boats, the risk of starting a car on the road was too great. His boat, shown at the Paris Exposition of 1887, attracted the attention of the French firm of Panhard & Levassor, makers of wood-working machinery. They bought the French rights, and Levassor devised the clutch, the gear-box and the whole system of connecting the engine with its work, which, save for improvements in detail, are all in use to-day. In 1895 the French car which won the race from Paris to Bordeaux covered the 744 miles at a mean speed of 15 miles an hour, and the world realized that the motor car was a practical means of transportation. But it was not until 1896 that the English parliament gave cars the freedom of the roads, and that English manufacturers could see a future for themselves.

In the United States, the industry began under great difficulties. The roads, except in the immediate outskirts of the larger cities, were abominable, and no system of suspension that could make them tolerable had yet been discovered. But though starting late, by 1906 the United States overtook and passed France, becoming the foremost car building and car using nation of the world. Nowhere else are factories worked upon so large a scale, and nowhere else are really serviceable cars so light and so cheap. And the greatest recent improvement in the gasolene engine, the Knight sleeve-valve, is an American invention. It is, altogether, a curious story, this struggle in which England, Germany and France, one after another, seemed destined to attain the leadership which in the end fell to the United States.

Turning to the subsidiary articles which relate to motoring, the gasolene engine is elaborately discussed in OIL ENGINE (Vol. 20, p. 35), by Dugald Clerk, an expert engineer and himself the inventor of the Clerk cycle engine. This article shows how complete a change in engineering practice was effected in 1883, when it was demonstrated that small engines could be run at a thousand revolutions a minute, a speed four times as great as any previously contemplated. All the types of carburetter are described, with mechanical diagrams. Other diagrams show the action of the inner and outer sleeves of the Knight valves. Gasolene, and the experiments made in search of a less costly fuel, are dealt with in the article FUEL (Vol. 11, p. 274), by Prof. Georg Lunge, of the Zurich Polytechnic, the greatest of all authorities on the subject. Tires, the bugbear of every car-owner, form the subject of a separate article Tire (Vol. 26, p. 1006), by Archibald Sharp, which contains a number of curious and instructive diagrams showing the direction of the stress on a tire at the point where the road slightly flattens it. RUBBER (Vol. 23, p. 795), by W. R. Dunstan, president of the International Association of Tropical Agriculture, is well worth reading for its information as to the effect upon tires of exposure to air and light, apart from wear. The materials used, and the mechanical principles involved, in the construction of cars are discussed in a number of separate articles under obvious titles.

PHOTOGRAPHY

A large place, in any review of recreations, must be given to photography, which, even in its most elementary form, provides a record and an echo of an infinite variety of amusements, and, after a little study, not only does this all the better, but becomes a delightful art in itself, to be enjoyed in-doors as well as out-doors, at all hours and at all seasons. The amateur can find no more authoritative, full and yet concise manual of the subject than the Britannica article PHOTOGRAPHY (Vol. 21, p. 485), equivalent to about 125 pages of this Guide. The first section on History and Technique is by Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, author of _Instruction in Photography_, _Colour Vision_, etc. Next is a section on photographic apparatus by Major-Gen. James Waterhouse, whose photographic work in India is known throughout the world. And then comes a discussion of pictorial photography by A. Horsley Hinton, author of _Practical Pictorial Photography_. The following is an outline of the article:

History.—Eighteenth century experiments of Scheele, Senebier and Count
Rumford. Early 19th century discoveries. The Daguerreotype and its
improvements by Goddard, Claudet and Fizeau. The Fox-Talbot process.
Albumen process on glass. Collodion process. Positive pictures by the
collodion process. Moist collodion process. Dry-plates; alkaline
developers with formulae for some of the most effective; developers of
organic salts of iron; developer restrainers. Dry-plate bath process
of R. Manners Gordon, with formula for preservative. Collodion
emulsion processes—work of Bolton and Sayce and of M. C. Lea and W.
Cooper; Bolton’s modification; Col. Wortley introduces strongly
alkaline developer. Formula for alkaline developer for collodion
plates. Gelatin emulsion process—Maddox (1871), King (1873), Burgess
(1873), Stas (1874), Bennett (1878), Abney (1879), van Monckhoven
(1879) and his use of hydrobromic acid on silver carbonate with
ammonia. Heating the emulsion—Wortley (1879), Mansfield (1879).

Relative rapidities of the processes described.

Daguerreotype, originally, Half an hour’s exposure.
Calotype 2 or 3 minutes’ „
Collodion 10 seconds’ „
Collodion emulsion 15 seconds’ „
Rapid gelatin emulsion ¹⁄₁₅ second „

The second part of the article deals with the technique of photography. The major topics in it are:

Gelatin emulsions: formulae and directions for emulsion with and
without ammonia. Coating the plates. Exposure. Development, with
formula for alkaline developer. Intensifying and varnishing the
negative.

Printing processes. Albumen method of Fox-Talbot. Sensitizing bath.
Toning and fixing the print—formulae for toning-bath.
Collodio-chloride silver printing process: Simpson’s formula.
Gelatino-citrochloride emulsion: Abney’s formula. Printing with
uranium salts: an early formula. Self-toning papers. Printing with
chromates: carbon prints—work of Ponton, Becquerel, Dixon, Fox-Talbot,
Poitevin, Pouncey, Fargier, Swan, Johnson and Sawyer. Printing with
salts of iron. Photo-mechanical printing processes: discoveries of
Oreloth, de Motay, Marechal and Albert; “Lichtdruck” and heliotype.
Woodbury type. Photolithography: the work of E. J. Asser, J. W.
Osborne and Sir H. James.

Photographs in natural colours are next described, and their history is traced from 1810 when Seebeck of Jena made experiments described in Goethe’s famous work on _Colours_. _The first successful colour photography was by Becquerel in 1848_ on a daguerreotype plate, chlorinized. The later methods of Lippmann and Lumière, respectively, with collodion dry plates prepared with albumen and with dyed gelatin plates (orthochromatic), produce pictures in which the colours show only from an angle.

The section on the _Action of Light on Chemical Compounds_, with a plate showing spectra and graduation scales, contains valuable diagrams and a chronological table of observers of the action of light on different substances. The paragraphs of particular interest to the practical photographer are those on:

Measurement of the Rapidity of a Plate.

Effect of Temperature on Sensitiveness.

Effect of Small Intensities of Light on a Sensitive Salt.

Effect of Very Intense Light on a Sensitive Salt.

Intermittent Exposure of a Sensitive Salt.

Effect of Monochromatic Light of Varying Wave-Lengths on a Sensitive
Salt.

Reproduction of Coloured Objects by 3 Photographic Positives: Ives’
process; Joly’s process; Autochrome of Lumière; Positives in 3
Colours.

Another division (equivalent to 60 pages at least in this Guide) of the article is on Apparatus. It deals especially with the hand camera as developed from 1855 to 1888 when the Eastman Kodak came out. And it has separate paragraphs on Focusing; Plate-holders or Dark-slides (1 illustration); Studio cameras; Portable and Field cameras; Hand cameras (7 illustrations); Twin-lens and Reflex cameras (2 illustrations); Panoramic cameras (2 illustrations); 3 Colour cameras (1 illustration); Enlarging cameras and cinematographs.

A separate section deals with objectives, and contains 45 illustrations, giving special attention to: single achromatic (landscape) lens, including aplanatic; unsymmetrical doublets; symmetrical doublets; triple combinations; anastigmatic combinations; telephotographic objectives; anachromatic lenses; diaphragm apertures.

Then follows a discussion of instantaneous shutters (with 9 illustrations) and a discussion under “lateral” and “central” of flap, drop, drop and flap, rotary, roller blind, focal plane, moving blade, central and iris shutters.

Exposure meters (4 illustrations) with a discussion of the actinic power of light; sensitive plates, films and papers: sensitive dry plates, plates for colour photography, celluloid films, photographic printing papers, apparatus for development (with 4 illustrations); photographic printing apparatus; bibliography.

The last division of this great article is on _Pictorial Photography_, and this is illustrated by three full-page plates. It deals not merely with portrait photography but with “artistic” landscape work, and combination printing, which “is really what many of us practiced in the nursery, that is, cutting out figures and pasting them into white spaces left for that purpose in the picture book.”

In addition to this comprehensive treatise, in itself a complete manual of photography, there are other articles which will be useful to the advanced amateur who desires either to study the scientific aspects of the subject or to undertake the reproduction of his work by processes other than the ordinary printing. The production of chemical changes by the action of light are discussed in PHOTOCHEMISTRY (Vol. 21, p. 484). LENS (Vol. 16, p. 421) is by Dr. Otto Henker, of the staff of the Zeiss factory at Jena, Germany. ABERRATION (Vol. 1, p. 54) is by Dr. Eppenstein, another expert of the same establishment. The making of blocks from your own negatives is covered by the article PROCESS (Vol. 22, p. 408), by Edwin Bale, art director of Cassell & Co., and contains coloured plates showing the stages of superimposed printing. SUN COPYING (Vol. 26, p. 93), by F. Vincent Brooks, a practical printer, describes direct-contact printing without the use of a camera.

OUT-DOOR GAMES

The authority which is back of the articles in the Britannica and the fact that its articles are on a larger scale than those of other works of reference make its articles on sports and games singularly valuable. The reader who is interested in FOOTBALL, for instance, will find an article (Vol. 10, p. 617), of more than 12,000 words, part of it written by Walter Camp, the famous American expert. It includes a historical sketch; a description of the Rugby Union game by Charles James Nicol Fleming, inspector in the Scotch Education Department, and Charles John Bruce Marriott, secretary of the Rugby Football Union; of the Association game, by Charles William Alcock, late secretary of the Football Association, London, and Frederick Joseph Wall, secretary of the Football Association; and of the game in the United States, by Walter Camp and Edward Breck. The article GOLF is by H. G. Hutchinson, amateur golf champion in 1886–87, and author of _Golf_, _Book of Golf and Golfers_, etc. In the same way there are authoritative and full articles on the following subjects:

Athletic Sports Acrobat All-Round Athletics Amateur Archery Ball Base-ball Battledore and Shuttlecock Botori Bowls Boxing Bull-fighting Caber-Tossing Caestus Camping-Out Children’s Games Circus Cricket Croquet Cycling Discus Football Game Games, Classical Golf Gymkhana Hammer Throwing Hurdle-Racing Jumping Kite-Flying Lacrosse Lawn-Tennis Long Fives Marbles Matador Palaestra Pall-Mall Pallone Pelota Pigeon Flying Pole Vaulting Potato Race Pugilism Pushball Putting the Shot Quarter Staff Quintain Quoits Rackets Ringgoal Rounders Rowing Running Scull Skittles Sport Stadium Stool-Ball Swimming Toreador Tournament Tug-of-War Walking-Races Water Polo Weight-Throwing

And among active indoor games on which the Britannica contains articles, are FENCING, CANE FENCING, EPÉE-DE-COMBAT, FOIL-FENCING, SABRE-FENCING, SINGLE-STICK, BASKET BALL, BADMINTON, BOWLING, TENNIS, STICKÉ, FIVES, LONG FIVES, ROLLER-SKATING, SQUAILS, SHUFFLE-BOARD, TRAPEZE, WRESTLING.

[Sidenote: Athletics]

The distinction between games and athletic sports is an arbitrary one, and the articles on athletics have been included in the list of those on out-door games; but a few of them seem to call for special mention. The article ATHLETIC SPORTS (Vol. 2, p. 846) gives a general account of amateur associations and of national and international meetings; and contains a special section on the revived Olympic Games. ATHLETE (Vol. 2, p. 846) and GAMES, CLASSICAL (Vol. 11, p. 443) deal with the ancient Greek and Roman contests. ALL-ROUND ATHLETICS (Vol. 1, p. 709) describes the championship, instituted in this country, for the highest awards attained by one athlete in eleven different branches of sport. AMATEUR (Vol. 1, p. 782) is a very full and impartial discussion of the interminable controversies regarding the distinction between professionals and amateurs. Among the articles on special sports are RUNNING (Vol. 23, p. 853), dealing with every form of race from the 100–yard dash to the Marathon run; HURDLE-RACING (Vol. 13, p. 958); JUMPING (Vol. 15, p. 533); POLE VAULTING (Vol. 21, p. 977); WEIGHT-THROWING (Vol. 28, p. 494); PUTTING THE SHOT (Vol. 22, p. 672); HAMMER THROWING (Vol. 12, p. 899); CABER-TOSSING (Vol. 4, p. 917); DISCUS (Vol. 8, p. 312); and TUG-OF-WAR (Vol. 27, p. 365).

[Sidenote: Hunting]

The reader interested in hunting will turn first to the articles on sporting weapons. GUN (Vol. 12, p. 717), by Sir Henry Seton Karr, one of the world’s most famous big game shots, describes the modern shot gun in great detail, with full particulars as to barrels, locks and ejectors. RIFLE (Vol. 23, p. 325) of course includes full descriptions of the military rifles of all armies, and the sections on sporting rifles and target rifles (p. 334) are by the contributor of the article on shot guns just mentioned. PISTOL (Vol. 21, p. 654) gives a full account of the modern automatic pistol, with diagrams showing the mechanism of the Mauser and Colt types. A useful table shows the length-over-all, barrel-length, weight and composition of cartridges, of the eleven standard types of Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers. AMMUNITION (Vol. 1, p. 864) deals with the cartridges used for guns, rifles and pistols. The “propellants” employed are discussed in GUNPOWDER (Vol. 12, p. 723), by Prof. Hodgkinson; EXPLOSIVES (Vol. 10, p. 81); and CORDITE (Vol. 7, p. 139). SHOOTING (Vol. 24, p. 995), by Percy Stephens, deals with the pursuit of birds, ground game and big game in all parts of the world. Among the varieties of American big game mentioned are the huge grizzlies of Alaska, the wapiti, moose, caribou, antelope, big horn and puma or mountain lion. The section on the hunter’s personal equipment contains excellent practical hints as to outfit. Among other articles of interest in this connection are BIRD (Vol. 3, p. 959), by Prof. Hans Gadow; RABBIT (Vol. 22, p. 767), by Sir William Flower and Richard Lyddeker; DEER (Vol. 7, p. 923); ANTELOPE (Vol. 2, p. 89); ELK (Vol. 9, p. 290); BEAR (Vol. 3, p. 573); PUMA (Vol. 22, p. 644); and CARNIVORA (Vol. 5, p. 366). There is a separate article on PIGEON SHOOTING (Vol. 21, p. 597). On each species of African and Asiatic big game there is an elaborate article. The dogs used in sports of all kinds are described in the article DOG (Vol. 8, p. 374), by Walter Baxendale, kennel editor of the London _Field_, and Prof. Chalmers Mitchell, with five full-page plates.

Riding to hounds, including fox-hunting, stag-hunting, hare-hunting and the drag hunt, is covered by the article HUNTING (Vol. 13, p. 946), by A. E. T. Watson, editor of the _Badminton Library_. Other forms of the chase are dealt with in COURSING (Vol. 7, p. 321) and FALCONRY (Vol. 19, p. 141), by Lieut.-Col. Delmé Radcliffe.

[Sidenote: Fishing]

The key article on line fishing is ANGLING (Vol. 2, p. 21), in length equivalent to 35 pages of this Guide. It begins with a most interesting historical section, showing that, before the days of the earliest hooks, the cave-men used on their lines a little flake of flint or strip of stone, fixed in the bait, with a groove in the middle of it, around which the line was so fastened that when the pull came the instrument turned crossways in the fish’s stomach and could not be disgorged. A delightful section on angling literature follows this historical matter; and then comes treatment of fresh water fishing, with fly-casting and the use of surface baits; live-baiting and spinning; and bottom-fishing; each of the three fully treated. A detailed study is then made of the habits of the salmon and of the tackle and methods devised for his beguiling. Trout, muskelunge, bass, perch and roach are successively discussed; and then comes the section on sea-angling, the tarpon, tuna, jewfish and the giant black bass. The article ends with a complete bibliography of the subject. There are 96 articles on individual fish, all listed on p. 891 of Vol. 29, if the reader desires to refresh his memory as to the varieties. FISHERIES (Vol. 10, p. 429), by Prof. Garstang and Prof. Chalmers Mitchell is concerned with the industry rather than with sport, but it contains much information about sea fish which will be of use to the sea-angler.

[Sidenote: Taxidermy]

A thoroughly practical article is TAXIDERMY (Vol. 26, p. 464), by Montague Browne, author of a manual of the art. His book and Dr. W. T. Hornaday’s _Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting_ are the most important special books on the subject, and Mr. Browne in this article constantly refers to the improved methods introduced by Hornaday and other Americans. He points out the dangers of using arsenical soap and gives the formula for the substitute, quite safe except when hot, which he himself invented. Minute directions are given for skinning, mounting, etc. And the article also treats of the advantages of modelling as compared with the old method of “stuffing”; and the placing of specimens in natural surroundings, with panoramic back-grounds, top- and side-lighting, etc.

[Sidenote: Sailing and Boating]

On sailing, boating and kindred subjects the reader should first consult the article YACHTING (Vol. 28, p. 890), equivalent to 26 pages of this Guide, by B. Heckstall-Smith, yachting editor the _Field_, and secretary of the Yacht Racing Association and of the International Yacht Racing Union. The historical part of this article traces yachting in England back to the state-barges of the Anglo-Saxon kings and through the pleasure ship of Elizabeth (1588), which was built at Cowes in the Isle of Wight, so that this place has been associated with the sport for more than three centuries. Charles II in 1660 received the present of a yacht from the Dutch, and at this time the Dutch word “yacht” first found its way into the English language. Yachting clubs date from the establishment in 1720 of the Cork Harbour Water Club, now the Royal Cork Yacht Club. At Cowes races were sailed as early as 1780 and a yacht club was organized there in 1812. The first yacht club in the United States was formed in 1844 and the first race in the United States was at New York in 1846 to Sandy Hook light-ship and back. The first important alteration in type was in 1848 when the “Mosquito” was built—a 50–ton vessel, 59 ft. 2 in. at water line, 15 ft. 3 in. beam, with a long hollow bow and a short and rather full after-body. The first races in the United States resulted in the building of the “America,” which in 1851 crossed the ocean and won a race round the Isle of Wight, bringing back to the New York Yacht Club the “America’s” cup. The later races for this cup are described in detail at the close of the article, with elaborate tables showing the exact tonnage or sailing length of competing yachts, dates of races, time allowance, elapsed time, corrected time, and margin by which each race was won. The article describes 1870–1880 as the first great era of yachting. Changes in the method of reckoning length, introduced in 1879, resulted in the “lead mine” or plank-on-edge type. In 1887 the system of tonnage measurement was introduced and a method of rating by water-line length and sail area—and this “crushed the plank-on-edge type completely. There was not another boat of the kind built.” The era of big cutters followed—in America notably the Herreshoff boats. The success of the bulb keels in the small classes threatened the use of “skimming dishes” in the larger classes—and a consequent lack of head room and cabin accommodation. New linear rating rules were therefore adopted—one in 1896 and another in 1901, followed in 1904 by international rating rules. The English types of Fife and Nicholson were succeeded by such boats from the Krupp yard at Kiel as the “Meteor” and “Germania.” See also the article MODEL YACHTING (Vol. 18, p. 640).

Other articles on the subject of boating are CANOE (Vol. 5, p. 189); MACGREGOR, JOHN (Vol. 17, p. 232) (for the famous “Rob Roy”); CATAMARAN (Vol. 5, p. 502); and ROWING (Vol. 23, p. 783), by Charles Murray Pitman, formerly stroke of the Oxford University eight, with a special treatment of rowing in the United States and a comparison of English and American “styles.” The articles SWIMMING (Vol. 26, p. 231) by William Henry, author of _Swimming_ in the Badminton Library, and DROWNING AND LIFE SAVING (Vol. 8, p. 592) are of practical value.

[Sidenote: Mountaineering]

The article MOUNTAINEERING (Vol. 18, p. 937) is by Sir W. Martin Conway, famous for his ascent to a height of 23,000 feet in the Kara Koram Himalayas, for the High Level route through the Alps which he originated, and for his climbs in Spitsbergen. It contains paragraphs on the dangers from falling rocks, falling ice, snow avalanches, falls from rocks, ice slopes, crevasses, and weather; and an outline of history of the sport, which has been systematically pursued only since 1854. GLACIER (Vol. 12, p. 60), by E. C. Spicer is another article of great interest to those who love climbing. Among the articles on individual mountains and on the great ranges, the first place must be given to the scene of the classic exploits of the early mountaineers. The relevant part of the article ALPS (Vol. 1, p. 737) is by W. A. B. Coolidge who, although an American by birth, is more at home in the Alps than any other living writer. This magnificent article, which would fill nearly 40 pages of this Guide, contains a table giving the heights of no less than 1,317 separate peaks and passes, and also a consecutive narrative of Alpine exploration. HIMALAYA (Vol. 13, p. 470) is by Sir Thomas H. Holdich, superintendent of Frontier Surveys in India. The best mountaineering section of the Rockies is described in a section of the article CANADA (Vol. 4, p. 145). ANDES (Vol. 1, p. 960) describes the peaks of the Southern Cordillera. Full articles on the mountaineering sections of our own country, such as the Appalachians, the Adirondacks, the Catskills and White Mountains will be found under the obvious titles.

[Sidenote: Winter Sports]

SKATING (Vol. 25, p. 166) deals with both speed skating and figure skating, and tells of the exploits at Newburgh, N. Y., of Charles June and of the famous Donoghue family. A table of amateur records is also given. Ice hockey is treated in a section of the article HOCKEY (Vol. 13, p. 554). CURLING (Vol. 7, p. 645) describes the “rink” and stones, as well as the game, and contains a glossary of technical terms. ICE YACHTING (Vol. 14, p. 241) explains the mechanical paradox which makes it possible for a boat propelled by the wind to move faster than the wind is blowing. Ski-running and jumping, with the new development of military skiing in France and Italy, are described in SKI (Vol. 25, p. 186); and it will surprise many readers to learn that a clear jump of more than 130 feet has been made. Other articles dealing with winter sports are SNOWSHOES (Vol. 22, p. 296), COASTING (Vol. 6, p. 603) and TOBOGGANING (Vol. 26, p. 1042).

[Sidenote: Driving, Riding and Polo]

For information in regard to sports connected with the horse the reader should first study the article HORSE and particularly that part which concerns the history of horse breeding (pp 717–723 of Vol. 13), written by E. D. Brickwood, an English authority on sport, and the sections on “breeds of horses” by the late William Fream, agricultural correspondent of the London _Times_, and Prof. Robert Wallace, of Edinburgh University, who also wrote the section on management.

HORSE-RACING (Vol. 13, p. 726) contains a section on racing in the United States, including the development of trotting races and the stress put upon time records, pacing races, racing centres, the predominance of dirt-tracks as contrasted with the turf courses of England; a section on the history of English racing, including the institution of the St. Leger, the Derby, the Oaks, the Ascot races, the Goodwood, Two Thousand Guineas, etc., present conditions, including classic races, handicaps, with scale of weight for age, the £10,000 races, the two-year-old races, Newmarket, Ascot and other meetings, value of horses, trainers and jockeys, foreign horses, time, the Jockey Club and steeple-chasing, the Grand National; a section on racing in Australia; a section on racing in France, where, as in England, American owners and jockeys have for some years past been much to the front; and also a mention of the chief meetings in other European countries and in Australia. HORSEMANSHIP (Vol. 13, p. 726) is chiefly concerned with exhibition riding. DRIVING (Vol. 8, p. 585), by R. J. McNeill, discusses the intricacies of tandem and four-in-hand coachmanship, and contains a section on the use of the whip. The importance of acquiring a light hand, and the extent to which this depends on the proper use of the three joints in the arm, are clearly explained. COACH (Vol. 6, p. 574) tells about the amateur road coach and the four-in-hand clubs in America and elsewhere. The coaching horn or “post-horn,” as it used to be called, is treated under HORN (Vol. 13, p. 697) by Kathleen Schlesinger, the great authority on musical instruments. CARRIAGE (Vol. 5, p. 401), by J. A. McNaught, notes that, although the buggy and rockaway are the characteristic pleasure vehicles of this country, the heavier dog-cart and ralli-cart are much used with horses of a certain type.

The article POLO (Vol. 22, p. 11), by Thomas F. Dale, steward of the Polo and Riding Pony Society, describes the twelve varieties of the game played during its existence of at least 2,000 years. The three modern forms are the Indian, the English and the American, the game in England dating from 1869 when it was introduced from India by the 10th Hussars—and more definitely from 1873 when it was adopted by the Hurlingham Club. The rules of the game are given, and its development is traced, and there is a section on the polo pony and the much discussed systems of measurement.

[Sidenote: Gardening]

Out-door recreation in the garden may be fully studied in the article HORTICULTURE (Vol. 13, p. 741), which is a book in itself, for its contents are the equivalent of about 140 pages of this Guide. It is written by Liberty Hyde Bailey, director of the College of Agriculture, Cornell University, who contributes a valuable gardeners’ calendar for the United States, M. T. Masters, editor of _Gardeners’ Chronicle_, and W. R. Williams, superintendent of the London County Council Botany Centre, who write on “principles”; and John Weathers, author of _Practical Guide to Garden Plants_, who writes on the “practice” of gardening. The following is a partial list of the topics treated in this article:

Roots, Root-Pruning and Lifting, Watering, Bottom-Heat; Stem; Leaves;
Buds; Propagation by Buds; Layering; Grafting or “Working”; Planting;
Pruning; Training; Sports or Bud Variations; Formation of Flowers;
Forcing; Retardation; Double Flowers; Formation of Seed,
Fertilization, Hybridization, Reversion, Germination, Selection—all to
be supplemented by the article BOTANY (Vol. 4, p. 299) for more
scientific and less practical discussion of these topics.

The Practice of Horticulture.

Formation and Preparation of the Garden—Site, Soil, Subsoil, Shelter,
Water Supply, Fence, Walks, Edgings.

Garden Structures—Walls, Espalier Rails and other means of training;
Plant Houses (with 12 illustrations), including Conservatory,
Greenhouse, Fruit House, Vinery, Peach House, Forcing House, Pits and
Frames, Mushroom House, Fruit Room, Heating Apparatus, Pipes, Boilers,
Water Supply, Solar Heat, Ventilation, etc.

Garden Materials and Appliances—Soil, Loam, Sand, Peat, Leaf Mould,
Composts. Manures, with descriptions and appraisals of different
varieties, organic and inorganic. Tools, Tallies and Labels.

Garden Operations—Propagation—by seeds, offsets, tubers, division,
suckers, runners, proliferous buds, grafts, with description and
diagrams of different methods—buds, branch cutting, leaf cutting, root
cutting, single-eye cutting, with 12 illustrations.

Planting and Transplanting; Watering; Pruning (with 9 illustrations);
Ringing; Training—horizontal, fan, trellis, etc.

Flowers—Flower Gardens, Pleasure Grounds, Lawns; Hardy Annuals, with
long list and description of plants recommended; Hardy Biennials, with
list; Herbaceous Perennials, with classified list (containing more
than the equivalent of 18 pages of this Guide); Hardy Trees; Bedding
Plants, etc.

Vegetables.

Calendar for the United States.

A list of other articles on special aspects of gardening will be found
in the chapter _For Farmers_.

INDOOR GAMES

For learning indoor games—excluding indoor athletic games which have been listed above—the Britannica is particularly valuable, because of its elaborate treatment by noted authorities and because the handy and convenient form of the India paper volume makes an article on any indoor game as easy to consult as a hand-book dealing with only one game.

For example, the article on BRIDGE (Vol. 4, p. 528) is by William Henry Whitfeld, card-editor of _The Field_. The article is the equivalent of 15 pages in this Guide; and it describes both auction and ordinary bridge, with paragraphs on advice to players, declarations, doubling, redoubling, play of the hand, playing to the score; and other forms of bridge,—three-handed bridge, dummy bridge, misery bridge, and draw or two-handed bridge; and contains a list of authorities.

Even more elaborate, as befits the subject, is the article CHESS (Vol. 6, p. 93), equivalent to 45 pages of this Guide. It contains diagrams showing the arrangement of pieces and the English and German methods of notation and a vocabulary of terms of the game; it treats the comparative value of the pieces—“pawn 1, bishop 3.25, knight 3.25, rook 5, queen 9.5. Three minor pieces may more often than not be advantageously exchanged for the queen. The knight is generally stronger than the bishop in the end of the game, but two bishops are usually stronger than two knights, more especially in open positions.” English, French and German modes of notation and names of pieces are given. The treatment of chess problems is accompanied by eight typical problems with diagrams and analyses. The section on the history of chess gives not merely very interesting early material but a study critical and biographical, of the great chess masters—for example: Ruy Lopez, the first chess analyst Greco; Philidor, a great blindfold and simultaneous player of the 18th century; Allgaier; Mahé de la Bourdonnais; the English school of the 19th century, Sarratt, Lewis, Mac Donnell, Evans (of the gambit), Staunton (on whom there is a separate article) and Buckle, the historian of civilization; the Berlin “Pleiades” and the Hungarians, Grimm, Szen and Löwenthal; Morphy, the American; and among the great players of the last half century, Steinitz, Paulsen, Blackburne, Zukertort, Horwitz, Mason, Teichman, Pillsbury, Lasker, Mieses, Marshall, Tarrasch, Tchigorin, etc. The results of international tournaments are given from 1851 on; and modern tournament play is criticised. The article closes with an elaborate bibliography.

The article on DRAUGHTS or Checkers (Vol. 8, p. 547) is by J. M. M. Dallas, late secretary of the Edinburgh Draughts Club, and Richard Jordan, former draughts champion of the world, and gives the history of the game, with a study of the different openings.

The usefulness of the Britannica for card games in general may be easily tested. Let us turn for instance to the article POKER (Vol. 21, p. 899). It is equivalent in its contents to seven or eight pages of this Guide, and among other interesting features it contains a vocabulary of technical terms, including “big dog”, “little dog”, “cold feet”, “splitting”, and the following mathematical table of approximate chances.

To improve any hand in the draw, the Britannica tells us, the chances are:

┌──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┐ │Having in Hand│To make the Hand below │The Chance is │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │1 pair │To get two pairs (3-card draw) │1 in 4 ½ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │1 pair │To get three of a kind (3-card draw) │1 in 9 │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │1 pair │To improve either way average value │1 in 3 │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │1 pair and 1 │To improve either way by drawing two │1 in 7 │ │ odd card │ cards │ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │2 pairs │To get a full hand drawing one card │1 in 12 │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │3’s │To get a full hand drawing two cards │1 in 15 ½ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │3’s │To get four of kind drawing two cards │1 in 23 ½ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │3’s │To improve either way drawing two cards│1 in 9 ⅖ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │3’s and 1 odd │To get a full hand by drawing one card │1 in 15 ⅓ │ │ card │ │ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │3’s and 1 odd │To improve either way by drawing one │1 in 11 ¾ │ │ card │ card │ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │4 straight │To fill when open at one end only or in│1 in 11 ¾ │ │ │ the middle as 3 4 6 7, or A 2 3 4 │ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │4 straight │To fill when open at both ends as 3 4 5│1 in 6 │ │ │ 6 │ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │4 flush │To fill the flush drawing one card │1 in 5 │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │4-straight │To fill the straight flush drawing one │1 in 23 ½ │ │ flush │ card │ │ ├──────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │3-card flush │To make a flush drawing two cards │1 in 24 │ └──────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┘

Among indoor games and kindred topics, each in a separate article, in the Britannica, are:

Ace Acrostic All-Fours Ambigu Boston Bouillotte Brag Bridge Calabresella Cards, Playing Casino Catch the Ten Charades Checkers Chess Children’s Games Commerce Conjuring Consolation Conundrum Crambo Cribbage Deuce Dice Doll Dominoes Draughts Ecarté Euchre Fantan Faro Fast and Loose Gaming and Wagering Go, or Go-bang Goose Halma Hazard Hearts Hoyle Jones, Henry (“Cavendish”) Juggler Knucklebones La Grâce Legerdemain Loo Lotto Matrimony Mora Napoleon Nine Men’s Morris Old Maid Ombre Pachisi Patience Petits-Chevaux Ping-Pong Pinochle Piquet Poker Pope Joan Prestidigitation Primero Puzzle Raffle Rebus Riddles Roulette Salta Shio-ghi Skat Snip Snap Snorem Solitaire Solo Whist Speculation Spelling Bee Spillikins Spoil-Five Top Toy Trent et Quarante Ventriloquism Vingt-et-Un Vint Whist

[Sidenote: Needlework, etc.]

Needlework as treated in the Britannica has one element of peculiar value and novelty. In this department, as throughout the book, the illustrations have been chosen upon a principle unusual in works of reference: they really illustrate; they throw light on the text; they are not mere pretty pictures intended to catch the eye and inserted in the book haphazard. Turn for instance to the article LACE (Vol. 16, p. 37). Among its 61 illustrations are not only small diagrams explaining different stitches and meshes and patterns and larger halftone illustrations of “Bone Lace” “Reticella Needlepoint”, “Gros Point de Venise”, “Point de Flandres à Brides” “Point de Venise à Brides Picotées,” “Réseau Rosacé,” etc., but there are reproductions of portraits of the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, showing not merely patterns of lace but the method in which it was used and how it “combined” and harmonized with styles of costume, and of hair dressing. These “lace portraits” are: one from the Louvre, about 1540 of Catherine de’ Medici, wearing a linen upturned collar of cut work and needlepoint lace; one by Morcelse, about 1600, of Amelie Elisabeth, comtesse de Hainault, wearing a ruff of needlepoint reticella lace; one, 1614, of Mary, countess of Pembroke, wearing a coif and cuffs of reticella lace; one by Le Nain, about 1628, of Henri II, duc de Montmorency, wearing a falling lace collar; one by Riley, about 1685, of James II, wearing a jabot and cuffs of raised needlepoint lace; one, about 1664, of Mme. Verbiest, wearing pillow-made lace _à reseau_; one, about 1695, of Princess Maria Teresa Stuart, wearing a flounce or tablier of delicate needlepoint lace with small relief clusters; and one of de Vintimille, about 1730, wearing needlepoint of the _Point de Venise à brides picotées_. This article on Lace, equivalent in length to 60 pages of this Guide, is by A. Summerly Cole, author of _Ancient Needle Point and Pillow Lace_. EMBROIDERY (Vol. 9, p. 309) is by Mr. Cole and A. F. Kendrick, keeper of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington; and is illustrated with 18 figures showing many styles of early embroidery. There are also articles on Tapestry, Needlework, Knitting, Yarn, etc.

[Sidenote: Dancing, the Stage, etc.]

On dancing and the stage there is much of interest in the Britannica. The article on the DANCE (Vol. 7, p. 794) distinguishes dancing as an expression of emotion, whether social joy or religious exultation; dancing for pleasure to the dancer or the spectator; and mimetic dancing, “to represent the actions or passions of other people.” A section on primitive and ancient dancing describes various early dances, many of them not unlike the “trots” and “hugs” so notorious during the last few years. At an Aztec feast, “called Huitzilopochtli, the noblemen and women danced tied together at the hands, and embracing one another, the arms being thrown over the neck.” Primitive imitative dances, the attitude of the ancient Romans towards the dance, religious dances and the attacks on the dance of such Puritan sects as the Albigenses and Waldenses close the section on ancient dancing.

“Modern dancing” describes the branle (or brawl), the pavane, saraband, minuet, gavotte, écossaise, cotillon, galop, lancers, schottische, bourrée, waltz, fandango, bolero, jota, Morris dances, hornpipe, and other English dances of the 17th and 18th centuries. In treating of present-day dancing the article deals especially with the waltz, quadrille, country-dance, lancers, polka, galop, Washington Post and other American barn-dances, polka-mazurka, Polonaise, Schottische and Sir Roger de Coverley. And it discusses ballet dancing (on which there is also a separate article) and musical gymnastics. There are separate articles on the following dances: ALLEMANDE, BERGAMASK, CHACONNE, CHASSE, COURANTE, GAVOTTE, JIG, MAZURKA, MORRIS DANCE, PASSACAGLIA, PAVANE, POLKA, POLONAISE, QUADRILLE, SARABAND, SCHOTTISCHE.

For a sufficient knowledge of the theatre and the drama to heighten his enjoyment of a play, the theatre-goer should read up the subject, the period and the author in the Britannica. For a more serious and thorough study of opera, music in general and the drama as a literary form, he may turn to special chapters of this Guide.

TRAVEL AT HOME AND ABROAD

If the traveler would make the most of his vacation journeys—as has already been suggested—he should “read up” in the Britannica, even if he does not wish to make a systematic study of the literature, art, architecture, music, etc., of the country he is to visit. If he does wish to pursue systematic study he can use the Britannica to better advantage than a whole library of books of travel or special treatises.

The Britannica has often and successfully been used in this way. A single instance: The Rev. Dr. George R. Van DeWater of St. Andrews Church, New York City, in a letter addressed to the publishers of the new Britannica, wrote:

“I have recently had occasion to look up South America with a view to obtaining needed information for a proposed tour there, and I found all that I wanted to know and found it readily.”

Among the general classes of valuable information for the traveler are:

The excellent maps, newly made with the greatest care from the best sources;

Articles on the great countries of the world. Particularly valuable sections are those at the beginning of each of these articles on physiography, climate, etc., and those on transportation by rail and water;

Articles on the states of the Union, similarly arranged, and like them accompanied by maps and with full descriptions of the surface of the country and the means of communication, climate, etc.;

Articles on regions, rivers, mountains, etc.,—for instance on the RIVIERA, ALPS, NILE, RHINE, HUDSON, YOSEMITE, YELLOWSTONE.

Articles on cities and towns, with descriptions of the principal places of interest, historical sketches, diagrams of battle-fields, etc.;

General articles such as ARCHITECTURE, PAINTING, MUSEUMS, which give critical and related accounts of great art treasures of different periods and schools. To this information, as bearing on the particular place the traveler intends to visit, he will be guided by the Index;

Biographical articles related to the special vicinity to be visited—as for instance, WORDSWORTH, COLERIDGE and DEQUINCEY for the Lake District.

This survey, already too long for the limited space of this Guide, yet far too brief to represent properly the aspect of the Britannica with which it deals, will have accomplished its purpose if it induces the possessor of the volumes to go to them when he needs relaxation. Articles of the kind described in this chapter, showing you how to make the most of leisure hours, are doubly serviceable, giving pleasure while they are being read, and again when their suggestions are carried into effect.

But it is not only in the articles dealing with recreation that Britannica reading insures future as well as present enjoyment. Lafcadio Hearn said it was worth while to visit Japan if only because what one sees there makes one’s dreams more beautiful all through later life. And so the fascination of history, of science, of biography, does not end, but only begins, with the reading which opens for you a gate leading into fresh fields. What you read this coming year, in any department of the Britannica, will be still, ten years from now, a source of pleasure, for knowledge, once acquired, brings continually renewed delight.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. ● Enclosed bold font in =equals=.