25 SEPTEMBER 1880, Page 23

Report of the New York State Surrey for the Year

1879. By James T. Gardner, Director. (Charles Van Benthuysen and Sons, Albany, N.Y.)—The interesting part of this volume is the Report on the Niagara Falls, about which it is proposed, by concert between the State of New York and the Government of Ontario, to make a public park, rescuing the place from the intrusions of bad-taste and specu- lative rapacity. There are a number of interesting maps and sketches. One of the former exhibits the retrocession of the Falls within the last thirty years or so. This has been as much, in some places, as 150 ft. We have also a fac-simile of the first representa- tion of the Falls, which is found in a book published in 1698.