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VOL. XXVII FEBRUARY, 1926 No. 314 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A DWARF PLANTATION N. L. BRITTON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SOILS ARTHUR HOLLICK BOTANIZING IN THE HIGHER ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. — II. WEST VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE P. A. RYDBERG ORIGINAL EXPLORATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK JOHN M. COULTER BOTANICAL FEATURES OF CEYLON H. A. GLEASON NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT ACCESSIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA. THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY Entered at the post- offlee in Lancaster, Pa., as second- clasa matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS FREDERIC S. LEE, President ADOLPH LEWISOHN HENRY W. DE FOREST, Vice President KENNETH K. MACKENZIE F. K. STURGIS, Vice President BARRINGTON MOORE JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer j p MORGAN N. L. BRITTON, Secretary ^ z w l s RUTHERFURD MORRIS EDWARD D ADAMS FREDERIC R. NEWBOLD HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN H H - _ , _ T P n B T r o NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER £. HOBART PORTER PAUL D. CRAVATH CHARLES F RAND ROBERT W. DE FOREST HERBERT M RICHARDS CHILDS FRICK HENRY H - R U S BY WILLIAM J. GIES GEORGE J. RYAN R. A. HARPER MORTIMER L. SCHIFF JOSEPH P. HENNESSY WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON JAMES F. KEMP W. GILMAN THOMPSON JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York FRANCIS DAWSON GALLATIN. President of the Department of Parks SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS R. A. HARPER, P H . D., Chairman JAMES F. KEMP, Sc. D., LL. D. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, PH. D., FREDERIC S. LEE, P H . D., LL. D. LL. D., LITT. D. HERBERT M. RICHARDS, SC. D. WILLIAM J. GIES, P H . D. HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D. GEORGE J. RYAN GARDEN STAFF N. L. BRITTON, P H . D., SC. D., LL. D Director- in- Chief MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator FRED J. SEAVER, PH. D Curator ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist PERCY WILSON Associate Curator PALMYRE DE C. MITCHELL Associate Curator JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses M i\ BY E. EATON Artist KENNETH K. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant HESTER M. RUSK, A. M Technical Assistant H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds JOHN R. BRINLEY, C. E Landscape Engineer WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETI Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XXVII FEBRUARY, 1926 No. 314 A DWARF PLANTATION To illustrate the phenomenon of dwarfing in trees and shrubs, a collection has recently been planted at The New York Botanical Garden, just east of the rock garden, near the entrance on the Southern Boulevard. The plants used for this demonstration have been moved from other plantations of the Garden, twenty-four kinds having been thus assembled. Other kinds are known in botany and horticulture, and the collection will be increased from time to time; but enough have been brought together to effect an interesting educational feature. Many other specimens may be seen in other plantations in the Garden, in proximity to normal trees of the same kinds. Dwarfing, technically known as nanism, is known in many kinds of plants, not alone in trees and shrubs, but in herbaceous plants as well, being taken advantage of in agriculture in dwarf beans, peas, and other crops. The cause or causes of natural nanism are obscure. Some dwarfs have appeared in gardens and nurseries as what the gardeners know as sports and the botanists as mutants, coming from seeds among normal plants of the same kinds or from shoots, and have been perpetuated by cuttings, or in some cases by their own seeds. Other dwarfs have appeared under truly natural conditions, apparently also as sports or mutants. There are some actual records of such appearances. Induced dwarfs, produced by starving, pinching, and twisting young plants and by pruning, are in a category by themselves and are not here taken under consideration. In some cases, at least, natural dwarfs have apparently been utilized in this process, brought to its greatest development by the skill and patience of 25 Japanese gardeners. Dwarfs must also be distinguished from species which are naturally small or low of growth. The kinds of dwarfs used in the primary installation of the demonstration plantation here described are as follows: i. Dwarf Weeping Hemlock Spruce.— A low form of the North American Hemlock Spruce, not over 5 feet high, but often 10 feet in diameter or more, with branches drooping quite to the ground. Its cones and leaves are quite the same as those of the normal forest tree which forms the famous Hemlock Forest of the Garden. This dwarf is believed to have originated in nature, many years ago, and is now widely planted for ornament and interest. Seed taken from one of the Garden trees, some years ago, germinated and produced plants which retained the dwarf drooping habit. 2. Dzvarf Catalpa.— A small- round- topped tree, becoming 8 to 10 feet in height, densely leafy. This has long been in cultivation and its origin is not definitely known, but it is understood to have come from the forest tree Catalpa of the eastern United States. The Garden's trees were presented by the late Mrs. F. K. Sturgis in 1912, and there is a group of them near the entrance to the Bronx River Parkway, close to many normal Catalpa trees, but none of the dwarfs have as yet flowered. 3. Dwarf Round Arbor Vitae.— A low compact dense nearly globular form of the American Arbor Vitae, or White Cedar. Our plants, which are about 2 feet in diameter, were presented by Bobbink & Atkins in 1917. One of them is making cones this year and if seed can be had we will try to germinate it and ascertain if this dwarf form may be thus perpetuated. 4. Spaeth's Dwarf Arbor Vitae.— The collection contains two plants of this remarkable dwarf, which were presented to the Garden by the late Lowell M. Palmer in 1904, under this name, and they seem to agree with the descriptions of it in horticultural literature, but it is one of the most curious of all dwarf evergreens, having two kinds of branches and two kinds of leaves, looking not at all like a normal Arbor Vitae. It is said to have originated from seed in a German nursery and was named for a man by the name of Spaeth, horticulturist and forester. We wish very much that this would produce fruit so that we could make sure that it is what it is supposed to be. 27 5. Dwarf White Pine.— A form of the most valuable of North American forest trees, given by Bobbink & Atkins in 1914, now only 4 feet high, with leaves shorter than those of the normal tree, which may be seen in the Pinetum near by. 6. Dwarf Mountain Rhododendron.— A low compact form of Rhododendron catawbiense, obtained by H. P Kelsey in 1921 in the mountains of North Carolina and believed to be a natural dwarf. This has made slow growth and is scarcely higher now than when we received it, but it has flowered. 7. Knee Pine.— This is a variety of the Mountain Pine of Cen^ tral Europe and has long been in cultivation. It does not reach more than about 4 feet in height, the normal tree becoming 40 feet high. Our plants have as yet made no cones. 8. Silvery English Yew.— This becomes 5 or 6 feet high, but is widely spreading and may become 15 or 20 feet across. The normal European Yew attains the height of a forest tree. Our plants came from Mr. Lowell M. Palmer in 1908. 9. Low English Yew.— Our plants are about 3 feet high and 5 feet across, also from the Palmer collection. 10. Golden Dwarf English Yew.— An extremely depressed type, with relatively short leaves, recorded as originating as a seedling in an English nursery in 1838. 11. Dwarf Cranberry Bush.— A dwarf of the European Viburnum Opulus, densely branched and small- leaved. Our plants are over 30 years old, but only about 2*^ feet high. We do not know the flowers or the fruit of this dwarf. 12. Maxwell's Norway Spruce.— A compact dwarf spruce about 2 feet high and somewhat broader than high; from the Palmer collection in 1904. Its leaves are shorter than those of the normal tree which in Europe becomes 150 feet high, and of which trees about 25 feet high may be seen in the Garden Pinetum in a group planted near the Railway Station. 13. Gregory's Nonoay Spruce.— This is a dwarf spruce somewhat similar to the one just described, but rather more compact and rounded, with grayish leaves, from the Palmer collection in 1903. 14. Tamarix Savin.— An almost creeping irregularly branched dwarf, believed to have been derived from the European Juniperus Sabina. 28 15- Dwarf Japanese Red Pine.— This is a compact round-headed condition of the Japanese Red Pine, our trees having become 12 to 15 feet high after 30 years' growth. The normal tree reaches 100 feet in height in Japan. Some of our trees have made cones and we will experiment with the seeds, if they mature. 16. Weeping Japanese Red Pine.— This is a contorted dwarf weeping type which came to the Garden from Mr. Lowell M. Palmer in 1903, and is still less than a foot high. 17. Dwarf Japanese Yew.— A nearly flat- topped variety of the Japanese Yew, becoming about 5 feet high, though some of our plants are not over 4 feet high. One tree of this variety has been used in the dwarf plantation, but the most noteworthy one in the Garden collection is with the other yews, on the ridge north of the Herbaceous Garden; this remarkable individual has attained a diameter over all of about 30 feet. The normal Japanese Yew, which forms a forest tree, may be seen along side of it. 18. Dwarf Chinese Juniper.— This was given to the Garden in 1917 by the firm of Bobbink & Atkins and has now reached the height of about 3 feet, and is rather loosely branched. Trees of the normal type 25 feet high may be seen in the Pinetum. 19. Globose Chinese Juniper.— Somewhat similar to the Dwarf Chinese Juniper and about the same height, given by Mr. Henry Hicks in 1917. The origin of this and of the Dwarf Chinese Juniper is unrecorded. 20. Pfitzer's Chinese Juniper.— This has long been in cultivation and is recorded as having originated in a German nursery many years ago. It is taller and more loosely branched than either of the two preceding types described and forms highly characteristic bushes. 21. Plumose Sawara Cypress.— A compact bushy evergreen, with small and scale- like leaves; our plants were given by Bobbink & Atkins in 1914 and are now about 4j-< feet high. The species is native of eastern Asia and normal trees about 25 feet high may be seen in the Pinetum. 22. Dwarf Hinoki Cypress.— This is of Japanese origin, also given by Bobbink & Atkins in 1914 and now about 6 feet high. In Japan the normal tree reaches forest size. 23. Pigmy Hinoki Cypress.— This is a dense dark green dwarf now about 2 feet high, which came to us from the Palmer collection in 1903. 29 24. Dwarf Box.— This has long been known and is esteemed for forming borders along garden paths, reaching a height of scarcely over a foot. It presumably originated in Europe, but whether in nature or in some garden or nursery is not definitely known. We shall be glad to receive dwarfs of other kinds to add to this plantation. Enough have been brought together, however, to indicate something of the range of nanism in the vegetable kingdom in North America, Europe, and Asia. N. L. BRITTON. THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SOILS1 The lecturer prefaced his lecture by remarking that the subject of soils was one in which both geology and botany are intimately involved, and that a knowledge of the structure and composition of rocks, as well as of the structure and life- history of plants is essential for a thorough knowledge of the origin, history, and general characters of soils. It is a case of cause and effect. Geology may be regarded as representing the cause and botany as representing the effect, for the reason that soil must first be formed by geological processes before plant Ufe is possible. The average person, if asked to define soil, would probably reply " Soil? Why, soil is loose earth," or something to that effect; and that would be a sufficient definition for all practical purposes, unless some particular kind of soil was in question. The Standard Dictionary defines soil as " finely divided rock material, mixed with decayed vegetable or animal matter, constituting that portion of the surface of the earth in which plants grow or may grow.'' From the viewpoint of exact science, however, soil may be defined as disintegrated rock, or decayed organic matter, or a mixture of both; and it may or may not be capable of supporting plant life. It may be composed entirely of mineral matter, such as a fresh area of beach or dune sand, or volcanic ash; or it may consist entirely of vegetable matter, such as a 1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture given in the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, October 31, I925. 30 bed of peat or layer of leaf mould; or it may be a mixture of mineral, vegetable, and animal matter, such as the ordinary soils of farms and gardens. All soils, however, hark back primarily to a purely mineral or inorganic origin— to the disintegration of the original hard rock crust of the primitive earth, by chemical and mechanical agencies. These primitive conditions, however, will never prevail again and need not concern us further. The origin and formation of soil, under conditions that prevail to- day, may be observed and studied almost everywhere. There are very few places in which soil of some sort is not in process of formation. Even upon the roofs of our tallest city buildings there is a constant fall of atmospheric dust, soot, fine ashes, etc., that, in the aggregate, represents many tons of soil deposited each year. Soil may be either native, that is, formed in the locality where it is found, or it may have originated elsewhere and was transported by natural agencies to its present location. Native soil— soil formed " in place," as it is usually designated— necessarily consists only of elements that were constituents of the underlying parent rock from which it was derived. Transported soil, however, may contain constituents very different from any that are in the rock upon which it rests. Soil that is formed in place is due to the fracturing and subsequent mechanical and chemical disintegration of the underlying parent rock. Rain, frost, sunshine— each plays its part in the process— and then vegetation becomes established and contributes its quota. Some kinds of plants can get along and flourish with surprisingly little soil in which to maintain their growth. Lichens, for example, are partly fungoid and partly algoid in their composition. They grow very often upon what appears to be bare, smooth rock surfaces. But their tiny rootlets are insinuated into the inequalities, and, once established, they begin the process of rock distintegra-tion. The mechanical effects that they produce are infinitesimal and the chemical effects are but little more so. If we lift up or scrape away a growth of lichen from a rock the surface beneath may be seen to be roughened and a thin layer or film of soil, usually more or less black from the decayed parts of the lichen, may be seen. This is one of the simplest examples of the formation of soil in place and although the amount so produced is 31 almost negligible it is of interest because it probably represents the origin of the first terrestrial plant- bearing soil. Lichens can exist on hot, sunbaked rocks under conditions in which any other form of vegetation would be impossible. Hence we may assume that when the original crust of the earth had cooled sufficiently for the first terrestrial vegetation to establish itself the lichens or lichenoid algae represented the first kind of vegetation to emerge from the adjacent waters and adapt itself to, and assist in forming, the primitive terrestrial soil. Many of the higher plants also require but little soil to maintain their existence. The sedums or stone- crops and the Opuntia or common cactus of this vicinity are familiar examples in this connection, and they follow the lichens closely as primal agents of rock disintegration. They usually take possession of cracks, crevices, or joints in rocks, which are thus slowly eaten into and widened and become receptacles for soil, until enough has been formed to harbor the seeds of shrubs and trees. As soon as these are able to germinate and maintain an existence, the disintegration of the rock is more rapid, due to the more vigorous root growth which frequently splits the rock asunder and hastens its disintegration and its decay into soil. The effect of marine vegetation is simliar to that of terrestrial, as may be seen by an examination of rocks on the seashore, where they are covered with growths of seaweeds; but on the seashore the mechanical effect of wave action in wearing away the rocks is at a maximum, and the disintegrating effect of vegetation is incalculably small in comparison. The gravelly and sandy soil of beaches is due, to all intents and purposes, entirely to the disintegration and attrition wrought by water, ice, and wind. Soils that are almost purely organic in their constituents are formed wherever vegetation decays and accumulates, as on the floor of a forest. This is what is commonly known as leaf- mold, and in the aggregate it forms no inconsiderable part of the Earth's surface- soil. Peat bogs are also examples of the formation of organic soil in place, and these often contain beds of peat many feet in thickness and extend over miles of territory. Transported soil is due mostly to the action of running water, volcanic action, wind, or ice, usually in the form of glaciers. Rivers 32 transport vast quantities of sediment, often for hundreds of miles, and deposit it at their outlets where it forms bars and deltas. The deltas of the Nile and the Mississippi are too well known to require more than passing mention. They are hundreds of miles in extent and their soils represent the disintegrated rock from thousands of square miles of territory drained by the rivers and their tributary branches. Volcanic activity was a far more extensive source of soil formation in the past than it has been in historic time; but a number of intermittently active volcanos ( Etna, Vesuvius, Krakatoa, Katmai, and others), have contributed an enormous amount of ash and cinder soil to their respective vicinities. Sand dunes represent the most striking example of transported soil due to wind action. The sand and fine gravel of sea and lake beaches is carried inland during high winds and is piled into drifts that in certain localities reach more than a hundred feet in height. It is a more or less difficult matter for vegetation to gain a foothold on a sand dune, as it is always shifting its position more or less, and the composition of the soil is usually such that only a limited number of plant species are suited to it. The region in the vicinity of Provincetown, at the end of Cape Cod, furnishes some of the most striking examples of the formation of sand dunes and the phenomena connected with them. Jce- transported soil may be seen and studied in connection with any glacier that terminates on the land. Glaciers may be likened to slow- moving rivers of ice that are constantly traveling from high altitudes to lower ones. In the course of their travels they erode the rock surfaces over which they pass, and also accumulate fragments that fall on their surfaces. This material is pushed and carried forward and is finally dropped when the ice is melted at its place of furthest advance. This accumulation of material is known as the terminal moraine. Where it rests upon bed rock the line of demarkation is usually sharp and well defined, without any of the phenomena of gradual rock disintegration into surface soil. Glacier- transported soil and other phenomena of glacial action may be seen almost everywhere in the vicinity of New York, in connection with the morainal deposits of the great continental glacier that extended southward to this region during the geological period that we know as the 33 Quaternary or Ice Age. Practically all of the soil in this vicinity has come to us through glacial action from regions to the north; and if we examine the boulders and larger rock fragments of this soil we may recognize examples of most of the rock outcrops that occur between here and the Adirondack mountains or even the highlands of Canada. The lecture was illustrated by means of lantern slides of lichens, trees, and other forms of vegetation growing on the surface and in the crevices of rocks; forest floor and peat bed accumulations of plant remains; rock disintegration and soil formation in place; and transported soil as exemplified by the ash and cinder deposits in the vicinity of Mt. Katmai, Alaska, and Mount Pelee, Martinique; the sand dunes of Cape Cod and exposures of the terminal moraine on Staten Island. ARTHUR HOLLICK. BOTANIZING IN THE HIGHER ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS II. WEST VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE In the first instalment of this paper, I gave an account of our botanical work in West Virginia, and mentioned our return to Staunton. Here we stopped at the Y. M. C. A., partly because there were no tourist camps near the city, and partly because Mr. Perry and myself thought that we needed a good hot bath. Our next intended field of exploration was the renowned Peaks of Otter. These mountains are most accessible from Bedford on the road between Roanoke and Lynchburg. As one of my former colleagues, Dr. Murrill, has his home in the latter place, I thought it would be pleasant to call on him. We decided to drive to Lynchburg by the way of Af ton, rather than by Lexington, partly because the state road through the latter place was said to be under repair. We crossed the Blue Ridge just before we came to Afton, but did not stop for botanizing. The Ridge had a typical Alleghanian hardwood flora. Shortly after leaving Afton we found that the state road as far as Lovingston was under construction and we had to make a long detour on rather poor dirt roads. After some inquiry we located Dr. Murrill's tem- 34 porary dwelling place. He was the sole occupant of the home of his aunt, Mrs. Ford, who, on account of sickness, was staying with her daughter, the assistant directress of the Miller Orphanage for girls, in the suburbs of Lynchburg. The back veranda of the house was turned over to us as a work room, where we attended to the pressing of our specimens and packed boxes for shipment. We found lodging for two nights in the Y. M. C. A., and took a whole day off from the work. Dr. Murrill entertained us with music, partly of his own composition, set to poetry relating to flowers, birds, and nature study in general, intended for Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps, etc. In the forenoon of June 30th, we left Lynchburg, passed through Bedford at noon and reached the high gap between the two Peaks of Otter early enough to make a good camp near a spring. On the following day we climbed " The Peak," i. e., the most southern of the two mountains. The peaks, as well as some lower mountains north thereof, are now included in a U. S. Forest Reserve, except the very top of " The Peak," which still remains as private property. At the entrance of this, is a toll gate ( 50 cents admission), a log cabin containing a small lunchroom and a few bedrooms, further up two water- tanks, a log cabin shelter, where campers may spend the night, and wooden stairs to the top of the big boulders on the summit. An old wagon road, made when the houses were built, leads zigzag to the toll gate, but is not now used, as the supplies are now brought up on horseback. It can not be used for automobiles. A few steeper trails unite right before reaching the gate. The view from the top is superb. " The Peak" is a very steep cone with an altitude of 3,875 feet. It is wooded to near the top which is covered with a few enormous bare boulders. The woods consist entirely of Alleghanian hardwoods, of which were noted hickories ( Hicoria glabra and H. ovata), oaks ( Quercus maxima, Q. Priuus), basswood ( Tilia heterophylla), maple ( Acer spicatum and A. nigrum), chestnut ( Castanea dentata), etc. The chestnuts on the peak were free from blight, but in the lower valleys of the Blue Ridge they were more or less infested and in some places wholly destroyed. At the foot of the boulders at the summit we found dogwood ( Cornus altemifotia), rock maple ( Acer spicatum), and chokeberry ( Aronia melanocarpa). Among the undergrowth may be men- 35 tioned Uvularia grandiflora, Hydrangea arborescens, Circaea lutetiana, Clintonia umbeliata, a species of Asarum, probably A. canadense, Atragene americana, Ranunculus recurvatus, Aruncus alleghaniensis, Coreopsis stellata, Lilium Grayi, Scophularia leporella, three species of Monarda, an unknown Stachys, Convallaria majalis, Tithymalus paniculatus, Heuchera Curtisii, Galium latifolium, Thalictrum coriaceum, Veratrum parviflorum, and enormous specimens of Urticastrum divaricatum, 3- 4 feet high. The following day, July 2, we made an attempt to climb the " Flat Top" the northern of the two peaks. " The Peak" has numerous visitors, not only tourists but also the native population, which often gathers there on the 4th of July and other occasions for picnics. There is a fairly large inn at the pass and a dance pavilion near where we camped. The " Flat Top" is seldom climbed even by the natives. We were told that there was an old trail to the top, used occasionally by the U. S. forest rangers and that it started near the " Big Spring." We missed the trail and got into a primeval forest of chestnuts, oaks, hickories, and basswood. The shade was so deep that there were no flowers to be found among the undergrowth. We got into such a tangle of blackberries, raspberries, Virginia creepers, etc., etc., that we became exhausted and gave up the climb as a " bad job," and retreated down the slope. When nearing the wagon road we crossed an abandoned field, where we found some weeds and introduced plants, such as two species of wild lettuce, a spurge ( Tithymalus paniculatus), and milk- weed, ( Aclepias exaltata), winter cress, ( Barbareo vema), and a rare immigrant from the Old World, Silene dichotoma, growing in profusion. We spent an hour or two collecting along the road through the pass but found little of interest. As the day was very hot, in fact the hottest day we had during the summer, we returned to our camp rather early. On July 3, we continued our journey, passing through Bedford, Roanoke, Pulaski, Wytheville, and Marion to Abingdon where we camped the second night. We had intended to visit White Top and Mt. Rogers, the two highest mountains in Virginia, near the North Carolina border, both about 5,500 feet high. As we wished to see the higher mountains of the latter state and Tennessee as 36 early in the summer as possible we left these mountains for the return journey, but I may just as well give the account of our visit here. On our return trip nearly a month later, on July 29, we left the main state road at Chilhowie, turning southeast, taking the road for Konnarock. The road crosses the Iron Mountains. The inclines on both sides are very steep, but the road was as good as a mountain road could be expected to be. On the other side of Iron Mountain the road followed a branch of White Top River down through a most beautiful narrow dell, both sides being lined with primeval forest trees and the river- banks covered by rhododendrons ( R. maximum). I recognized the place from my former trip to White Top, 18 years ago, when I traveled the road in an old rickety wagon, drawn by a white horse and an almost black mule. At that time the rhododendrons were in full bloom. I am not the only one that has recognized the beauty of the spot, for the present owner of the land, a lumber company, has decided to preserve the dell in its present shape. Eighteen years ago, the bottom of White Top River was all covered with old forest, which is now gone. Near the old crossing of the river, the main road now turned to the right, following the river to Konnarock, two miles below. I do not know if there was any settlement there at all eighteen years ago, as I was not so far down the river then. Now it is a thrifty place with a large saw mill, a good general store, a hotel, post- office and a high school, all the result of the operations of the lumber company and the wise management of the manager, Mr. Hessinger. We stopped at the post- office and inquired where we could make camp. Somebody suggested that we cross the river into a piece of land set aside as a community ground with a pavilion, fire place, etc., among the rhododendrons. Here we camped. The next morning, as the radiator was leaking, we did not dare to try to reach the top of White Top in our car, and decided to make the trip on foot. We inquired for the best trail up, as the wagon road would be at least five miles longer than a direct trail. Hearing this, Mr. Hessinger's second son offered to take us up in his old Franklin, which offer we accepted. The party consisted of young Mr. Hessinger, a cousin and an aunt of his, and ourselves. The two young men, both college students, accom- 37 panie'd us on our tramp on top of White Top, while the aunt stayed in the car. The White Top reaches an altitude of 5,520 feet. The slopes are covered by hardwood forest, in the valleys mixed with pines. Near the top on the southwest side there is a large grass- covered space devoid of trees. This space is covered by a nearly pure stand of Danthonia compressa. In the fall when the grass is dry, this spot is light yellow and in winter white with snow, in great contrast to the dark green spruce- forest on the cap above. Hence the name White Top. The forest cap consists of red spruce. I did not see any balsam but the balsam ( Abies Fraseri) is said to be found on the top of Mt. Rogers, a mountain north east of White Top and of about the same height. On Mt. Rogers and Pine Mountain, another neighboring mountain, Dr. and Mrs. Britton and Miss Vail in 1892 collected also Picea australis Small, a species related to the red spruce, but with less hairy and more slender twigs, more slender needles, and smaller cones. Perhaps those specimens collected by me on Panther Mountain and referred to as Picea canadensis in my former instalment may belong to this rather than to the white spruce. The latter has not been reported from any place in West Virginia, Virginia, or Pennsylvania. .. Northern New York seems to be the southern limit of said species. The upper part of White Top and especially the grass- covered part is used for horse pasture. On this account and as the summer had been exceedingly dry, our trip was almost a failure as far as herbarium specimens were concerned. The only specimens of real interest collected were Cardamine Clemati-tis and Aster chlorolepis. The following morning young Mr. Hessinger and his cousin took us up a ridge halfway up the Iron Mountain, but it began to rain and we returned to Konnarock. After noon the sun began to shine and his car stopped opposite our camp. Mr. Hessinger had also joined the party. We drove up to the same place, where the car was parked. Mr. Hessinger led the way along a ridge. As we were ready to descend into the valley of the upper White Top River a sudden shower came down and soaked us thoroughly. In the valley we saw the most magnificent forests, which will be the field of operation of the sawmill next year. Only a few herbarium specimens were gathered. 38 At Abbington we were told that the road between Bluffs and Johnson City and between Bluffs and Elizabethstown was under repair and we were advised to go to Roan Mountain by way of Damascus, Va., Mountain City and Hampton, Tenn. Our informer had been as far as Mountain City and he said that the road was good. So far it was good, but at that place we were told that from there to Hampton the road could not be made by an auto and that none had gone that way for two or three years. We were told either to go back to Abbington or else cross over into North Carolina and go by Trade, Vilas, and Banners Elk. The mountain road was said to be fair at first and then bad for about 6 miles to the state line. To us the bad road seemed to be at least twice that long and indeed very bad and narrow. As soon as we entered North Carolina the road suddenly become twice as wide and excellent and remained so even after returning into Tennessee. We arrived at Roan Mountain station on July 5 and camped on the edge of the village. The following day we stayed in camp and attended to our pressing and mailed material to New York. On July 7th, we started for Roan Mountain, 14 miles away. On our automobile map the road to the top was indicated as a " good dirt road," and it had been so until lately. Eighteen years ago when I visited the mountain it was a fairly good wagon road, leading up to the hotel at the summit. Fifty or even a hundred years ago it was a rather noted place, and visited by many of the older botanists, as Buckley, Curtis, Chickering, Carey, Gray, etc. On my former visit there were more than forty guests at the hotel, most of them, however, persons afflicted with hay- fever seeking relief in the high altitude. Some years ago the hotel was torn down, after having been damaged by a fire and the road fell into disuse. We drove to a sawmill near the foot of the mountain itself. The road was rather poor but passable. At the sawmill, a farmer, according to a previous agreement, waited for us with two horses, one for packing tent, blankets, and provisions for two days, the other a saddle horse on which we were to take turns. At the next to the last house on the road we found a mule which was to be taken up to the mountain pasture. Mr. Perry rode it most of the way and I used the horse up to the gap near the top and two miles from our camp. Not having been on horse- 39 back for fourteen years, I became so broken up that I could scarcely walk. The flora of Roan Mountain is Alleghanian up to said gap. We did no collecting during the ascent. The forest consisted of oaks, hickories, yellow birch, maples, and chestnut; in the upper part, mostly maple and birch. We found a few trees of buckeye ( probably Aesculus octandra) even near the gap ( Carver's Gap) at an altitude of nearly 6,000 feet. Here one is met by a northerly extension of the grassland which covers the whole southern slope and in some places reaches the top of the ridge. This grassland was indeed poor picking ground for a botanist, as it is used as pastures for horses, mules, and sheep. At our visit it was exceedingly so, partly due to the exceptionally dry summer. At the gap the road turns west and passes north of the highest knoll and about 500 feet below the summit, which is 6,318 feet high and covered with evergreens, i. e., red spruce and Fraser's balsam. On the southern side, this grove is bordered by a fringe of alders. The road ascends gradually till it reaches the most northwesterly part of the ridge, where the old hotel was situated. Here the ridge swings south and is mostly covered by rhododendrons ( R. catawbiense). Here is found a field of this beautiful shrub, stretching about two miles in length and more than half a mile in width at some places. It must represent a gorgeous sight when the shrubs are in full bloom. We found only about half a dozen flower- clusters still remaining. The shrubs were a good deal taller than at my former visit and evidently had encroached on the grass field, but the flora was otherwise much poorer than in 1907. In the undergrowths we found among other plants, Sieversia radiata, Houstonia serpyllifolia, H. montana, Arenaria glabra, Viola blanda, Dendrium Lyonii, Veronica serpyllifolia, Alsine graminea, Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, etc. At the southern end of the rhododendron field is another knoll of spruce and balsam ending at the precipitous rock- ledges, forming a rim, from which in clear days the most magnificent view is seen of the Nolichucky Valley. In the spruce forest we found the mountain cranberry ( Hugeria erythrocarpa). The plant is so unlike a cranberry that I can not understand why that name and why Dr. Gray and others classified the shrub among the species now known as Oxycoccus. Our stay on Roan Mountain was not pleasant on ac- 40 count of the cold wind, the fog, and drizzly rain that we encountered. We stayed only one night and made our descent the second afternoon, I walking down the mountain proper and riding only two miles to the sawmill, where our car was waiting. We returned to Roan Mountain station about eight P M. P. A. RYDBERG. ORIGINAL EXPLORATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK1 Rumors of a geyser region in the Yellowstone, chiefly through the stories of hunters and trappers, had been attracting increasing attention. In 1871 a military reconnaissance into the region discovered that the rumors were based upon facts, and in 1872 the government sent the Hayden Geological Survey Expedition to study the region and report the results. In those days, the government sent expeditions to explore and map the unknown regions of our country. The Hayden Expedition included representatives of the various sciences, the purpose being to collect information not only as to the geography of the unknown region, but also its geology, mineralogy, zoology, and botany. The main outfitting camp was at Ogden, Utah. After the organization of the exploring party, with its scientific corps, and the necessary addition of guides, packers, hunters, etc., the party started by pack train north toward the Yellowstone country, following hunters' trails when possible. They first entered the Teton country and spent some time in exploring and mapping it. Then they proceeded northward to discover the geysers. They knew the general direction, but were confused in following it. Many days were spent in traveling over very rough country without finding the geysers. Finally, trees were climbed daily, and at last, on the edge of the horizon, dense volumes of steam were seen rising, as if coming from some manufacturing city. A hard march brought the explorers into the midst of this steam, and the hot springs and geysers were discovered. 1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture given in the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, November 21, 1925. 41 Each scientific member of the party was assigned a geyser for study. His duty was to time the period of eruption and measure the height of eruption. It was also interesting to decide upon the names to be given to the various geysers. This work continued through most of the summer, with numerous side trips into the neighboring country. Especially impressive were Yellowstone Lake and Falls and the Grand Canyon, with its marvelous coloring. The artist of the expedition was Thomas Moran, whose wonderful painting of the Grand Canyon now hangs in the Capitol building at Washington. In addition to the excitement of hot springs and geysers, the party had many experiences with the wild animals, which really congested the region. The Indians were afraid to enter it, and so the animals found it a park of safety for them. The experiences and incidents of this summer of exploration would fill a volume, but the result was that the Yellowstone National Park was established and mapped, and is now a great center of tourist travel. The speaker showed lantern slides illustrating the geysers, canyons, lakes, and characteristic plants of the Yellowstone National Park. JOHN M. COULTER. BOTANICAL FEATURES OF CEYLON1 The island of Ceylon consists of a central mass of mountains, surrounded by a rather narrow fringe of lowlands. The latter portion is chiefly in cultivation and the small remaining areas of wild land have also been greatly altered by cutting and burning. In the mountains as well, the lower slopes have been largely brought under cultivation. Rubber is grown extensively to an altitude of about 1,500 feet, above which it is replaced by enormous tea gardens covering the mountain sides to 5,000 feet, above which the land is reserved by the government for forests. The great botanical garden of Ceylon is located at Peradeniya, at an altitude of about 1,500 feet, and has long been famous for 1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture by Dr. H. A. Gleason, given in the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, November 28, 1925. 42 its beautiful and important displays and for its researches into various problems of tropical botany. It covers an area of 150 acres and the grounds have been developed for landscape effects, making it wonderfully attractive. There are spacious lawns, long vistas among the trees, gorgeous beds of flowering plants, and numerous specimen trees of great interest. Among the latter may be noted the huge tree of India rubber, the giant bamboos, the Kauri pines, the banyans, and the talipot palms. The latter bloom but once, usually when from forty to sixty years old, and then die. Their clusters of flowers project above the crown of leaves, are fifteen feet high and wide, and form a most magnificent display. The mountains which tower above the botanical garden toward the east appear from a distance to be forested, but a closer view shows that they are covered with tea gardens and with sorts of economic trees, and it is not until the forest reserves are reached at 5,000 feet that really natural vegetation is encountered. The forest on these high elevations is ordinarily known as a mossy forest, from the great development of mosses and epiphytes on the trunks and branches. Seen from across a valley, the crowns of the trees present a great range of shades and colors. Within the forest, the view is not so pleasing. The trees are seldom more than 30 feet high, with crooked gnarly trunks, while the floor of the forest is a tangle of many sorts of shrubs, among which a small bamboo and the erect Strobilanthus are most conspicuous. The latter is interesting from its habit of growth in dense patches, in which almost every individual blooms simultaneously and then dies, so that each patch is of uniform age and size. Periodic blooming of this type is known also for other plants, notably certain bamboos and orchids, and its cause is not yet fully understood. The mossy forest covers all the mountains to their very summits. The highest peak is 8,300 feet, so that a true alpine vegetation is not developed. A conspicuous feature of the higher mountains is the series of wide grassy plains, known as patanas, occupying many of the mountain valleys and extending a short distance up their slopes. The patanas are occupied almost completely by herbaceous plants, the only conspicuous exception being the isolated rhododendrons, 43 reaching a height of twenty to thirty feet. Whatever may have been the original cause for the development of patanas, their perpetuation is undoubtedly due to fire, which annually sweeps over them, doing no permanent injury to the herbs, but killing all seedling trees except a few of the rhododendrons. They seem remarkably resistant to fire, and the older trunks are almost invariably fire- scarred. If fires are prevented, as they are near some of the tea gardens, the rhododendrons multiply rapidly, soon cover the whole patana, and serve as shelters for many other species, so that the patana is soon completely reforested. H. A. GLEASON. NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton left New York for San Juan on January 21. They plan to devote two months or more to a continuation of their field studies of the flora of Porto Rico. Dr. H. A. Gleason, Curator, sailed on January 14 for Porto Rico, where he will undertake an ecological survey of the island in collaboration with Dr. Mel. T. Cook, of the Insular Experiment Station, and under the joint auspices of The New York Botanical Garden and the Department of Agriculture of Porto Rico. It is planned to publish the results of the survey as a part of the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico, to which The New York Botanical Garden has already made notable contributions. The work of Dr. Gleason and Dr. Cook promises to be of unusual interest to ecological science, since comparatively little survey work has hitherto been attempted in the tropics. As the outcome of a special hearing held in Washington in November, the Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. Wm. M. Jardine, announced on December 30 that the restrictions on the entry of Narcissus bulbs authorized by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace three years ago were to go into effect on January 1, 1926, as scheduled, without modification. In commenting on his action, the Secretary said that the information available in 1922 on the entry of pests on these bulbs undoubtedly justified fully the placing of the restrictions, and that the facts obtained since that time 44 have emphasized the menace to agriculture then indicated. However, the restrictions on the entry of eight other classes of bulbs transferred from the restricted to the free list in 1922 for a three-year period have been postponed by order of the Secretary to give more opportunity to determine the risk in connection with their entry. These eight classes, which may still be imported under special permit, are Chionodoxa ( Glory of the Snow), Galanthus ( Snowdrop), Scilla ( Squill), Fritillaria imperialis ( Crown Imperial), Fritillaria meleagris ( Guineahen- flower), Muscari ( Grape Hyacinth), Eranthis ( Winter Aconite), and Ixia. On Saturday afternoon, October 24, in the lecture hall of the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden, Professor H. H. Whetzel, of the Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, gave a talk on " Keeping Plants in the Gardens and Borders Healthy." Professor Whetzel has been interested for many years in the study of diseases of certain garden perennials, especially peonies. He has also studied the diseases of tulips. He said that the first thing to be kept in mind in keeping the plants of the garden and border clean is the necessity of observing certain sanitary practices. In the first place, no bulbs or plants should be put in the border or garden which show any evidences of diseases at the time they are being planted. All diseased plants and bulbs should be rigorously examined and discarded or if especially valuable should be put in a corner by themselves where they can be carefully watched during the growing season, and if disease appears they should be immediately destroyed. A careful watch should be kept of the plants and any which show diseases of any sort should be brought to the attention of a competent plant pathologist for suggestions as to what to do in the particular case. Plants which evidently are dying from disease should be promptly removed and destroyed. In the autumn as soon as the blooming season is over all tops of herbaceous perennials and annuals should be promptly removed and burned before mulching the beds for the winter. Such measures will go far to keep the plants during succeeding years free of disease. During the growing season the plants should be frequently sprayed, or better, dusted with some copper spray or dust mixture. Dusting has many advantages in that the plants are not dis- 45 colored by the mixture as they are when bordeaux is used as a spray. It is also more convenient and rapid. It is quite as effective. Sanders' copper lime dust is most satisfactory for general dusting. However sulphur dust is more effective for certain leaf spots and mildews. Nicotine dust should be kept on hand to apply when plants show sucking insects such as aphids and a spray or dust of some arsenical such as arsenate of lead should be used for insects that eat the foliage. Since most diseases of plants require special consideration the grower should keep in touch with some plant pathologist who can advise him regarding the different cases as they come up. The lecturer spoke without lantern slides but illustrated his talk with blackboard sketches. ACCESSIONS BOOKS PURCHASED FROM T H E GENEVA BOTANICAL GARDEN, AUGUST, 1923 ( CONTINUED) ROTH, AI. BRECHT WILHELM. Enumeratio plantarum phaenogamarum in Germania sponte nasceniium. 2 vols. Lipsiae, 1827. . Tentamen florae germanicae. Vols. J- 3, pt. 1. Lipsiae, 1788- 1800. SACHS, FERDINAND GUSTAV JULIUS VON. Traite de botanique . . . traduit de I'allemand sur la 3 edition et annote par Ph. Van Tieghem. Paris, 1874- SADLER, JOSEPH. Flora Comitatus pestiensis. 2 vols. Pestini, 1825- 26. SAVI, CAETANO. Observations in varias Trifoliorum species. Florentiae, 1810. SCHLECHTENDAL, DIEDERICH FRANZ LEONHARD VON. Flora berolinensis. 2 vols. Berolini, 1823- 24. SCHOUSBOE, PEDER KOFOD ANKER. Observations sur le rkgne vegetal au Moroc. . . . Paris, 1874. SCHOUW, JOAKIM FREDERIK. Grundziige einer allgemeinen Pflanzengeo-graphie. Berlin, 1823. SCHRANK, KARL MORITZ. Morpholgische Studien. Heft 1. Leipzig, 1892. SIBTHORP, JOHN. Florae graecae prodromus . . . cum annotationibus elab-oravit Jacobus Eduardus Smith. 2 vols. Londini, 1806- 13. SMITH, JOHN DONNELL. Enumeratio plantarum guatemalensium. Pars. 6, 8. Oquawkae, 1903- 07. SOMMERFELT, SJZJREN CHRISTIAN. Supplementum florae lapponicae quam edidit Georgius Wahlenberg. Christianiae, 1826. 46 SORET, CHARLES. Catalogue des ouvrages, articles et memoires publies Par les professeurs de I'Universite de Geneve, anisi que les theses presentees de 1873 a 18Q5. Geneve, 1896. SPRENGEL, KURT POLYCARP JOACHIM. Historia rei herbariae. 2 vols. Parisiis, 1808. • . Plantarum minus cognitarum. Pugillus secundus. Halae, 1815. THOMPSON, HAROLD STUART. Liste des phanerogames et cryptogames vas-culaires recueillis au- dessus de 8,000 feet . . dans les districts du Mont- Cenis, de la Savoie, du Dauphine & des Alpes- Maritimes ( Juin- Septembre, 1907). Paris, 1908. Tokyo botanical magazine. Vols. 15- 28. Tokyo, 1901- 14. Transactions of the botanical society [ of Edinburgh]. Vols. 1- 26. Edinburgh, 1841- 1915. TRIANA, JOSE JERONIMO, & PLANCHON, JULES £ MILE. Prodromus florae novo- granatensis; ou, enumeration des plantes de la Nouvelle- Grenade. Paris, 1862. VAHL, MARTIN. Enumeratio plantarum, vel ab aliis, vel ab ipso obser-vatarum. 2 vols. Hauniae, 1805- 06. VEI. ENOVSKY, JOSEF. Flora bulgarica. Pragae, 1891,— Nachtrdge 2- 6. Prag., 1892- 98. Verhandlungen des botanischen Vereins fur die Provinz Brandenburg und die angrenzenden Lander. Vols. 1- 59. Berlin, 1859- 1917. Verhandlungen der zoologisch- botanischen Verein in Wien. Vols. 1- 9. Wien, 1852- 59. WAHLENBERG, GORAN. De vegetationes et climate in Helvetia septen-trionali inter flumen Rhenum et Arolam observatis . . tentamen. Turici Helvetorum, 1813. WILLDENOW, CARL LUDWIG. Berlinische Baumzucht; oder, Beschreibung der im K. botanischen Garten bei Berlin im Freien ausdauernden Bdume und Straucher. Ed. 2. Berlin, 1811. WILLKOMM, HEINRICH MORITZ. Supplementum prodromi florae hispanicae. Stuttgartiae, 1893. WILLKOMM, HEINRICH MORITZ, & LANGE, JOHAN MARTIN CHRISTIAN. Prodromus florae hispanicae. 3 vols. Stuttgartiae, 1861- 80. MUSEUMS AND HERBARIUM 1,439 specimens of flowering plants from Ecuador. ( Collected by Professor A. S. Hitchcock.) 44 specimens of mosses from various localities. ( By exchange with the University of California.) 118 specimens of flowering plants from British Guiana. ( By exchange with Harvard University.) 3 photographs of North American plants. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) 15 specimens of flowering plants from Trinidad, West Indies. ( By exchange with the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad and Tobago.) 47 3 specimens, 2 plants, and i photograph of North American plants. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) 56 specimens of flowering plants from British Guiana. ( By exchange with the Field Museum of Natural History.) 3 specimens of sedges from Brownsville, Texas. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) JO specimens of flowering plants from Connecticut and Massachusetts. ( Collected by Dr. N. L. Britton.) 430 specimens of flowering plants from Long Island, New York. ( Given by Mr. W. C. Ferguson.) 2 specimens, Quercus Caput- rivuli and Tilia eburnea. ( Given by Mr. W. W. Ashe.) . . . \; ; 75 specimens bi; flowed rig'". plants from the low'er Hio Grande region. ( By exchangewith Mx; ' Robert Runyon.) 76 specimens of ferns and flowering plants from the local flora region. ( Collected by Mr. A. T. Beals.) 1 speciment of Rubus from New Jersey. ( Collected by Messrs. Beals and Bassett.) 4 photographs of North American plants. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) 26 specimens of flowering plants from the local flora region. ( Given by Dr. Arthur Hollick.) 97 specimens of flowering plants and ferns from the local flora region. ( Given by Dr. H. M. Denslow.) 600 specimens of flowerless and flowering plants from Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. ( Collected by Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton and Mr. K. R. Boynton.) 2 specimens of New England Hepaticae. ( By exchange with Miss Annie Lorenz.) I specimen of Spyridia filamentosa from Chesapeake Bay. ( By exchange with U. S. National Herbarium.) 1 specimen of Enteromorpha compressa from Patuxent River, Md. ( By exchange with U. S. National Herbarium.) 1 specimen of Tribonema utriculosum from Dutchess Co., N. Y. ( Given by Mr. Harrison Elliott.) 1 specimen of Hydrodictyon reticulatum from Ohio. ( Given by Mr. Harrison Elliott.) 64 specimens of miscellaneous algae. ( Given by Dr. W. C. Sturgis.) 1 specimen of Lithothamnium glaciate from New Brunswick. ( Given by Mr. Frits Johansen.) '•• 18 Hepaticae from Colombia, S. A. ( Collected by Dr. F. W. Pennell.) 1 specimen of Neomeris van Bosseae from Palao Island. ( Given by Professor Yukio Yamada.) 3 specimens of mosses and 2 of fresh- water algae from Alabama. ( Given by Miss Helen Blackiston.) 48 ADDITIONS TO T H E COLLECTION OF D A H L I AS 34 Dahlia roots, 32 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. Joe Robinson.) 28 Dahlia roots, 15 varieties. ( By exchange with Dr. Marshall A. Howe.) 25 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( Given by Dahliadel Nurseries.) 22 Dahlia roots, 18 varieties. ( Given by Mr. J. J. Broomall.) 20 Dahlia roots, 8 varieties. ( Given by Slocombe's Dahlia Gardens.) 18 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. Wm. F. Jost.) 16 Dahlia plants, 12 varieties. ( Given by Fisher and Masson.) 10 Dahlia roots and 6 Dahlia plants, 8 varieties. ( Given by Meachen and Sherman.) 16 Dahlia plants, 8 varieties. ( Given by R. Vincent, Jr., & Sons.) 16 Dahlia roots, 10 varieties. ( Given by Mr. W. H. Waite.) 15 Dahlia roots, 15 varieties. ( Given by the E. T. Bedford Estate.) 14 Dahlia roots, 8 varieties. ( Given by Mr. Alfred E. Doty.) 10 Dahlia plants, 5 varieties. ( Given by Mr. John Harding.) 10 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( Given by Babylon Dahlia Gardens.) 9 Dahlia roots, 9 varieties. ( By exchange with New York State Agr. Exp. Station.) 8 Dahlia plants, 8 varieties. ( Given by Fraser's Dahlia Gardens.) 7 Dahlia plants, 7 varieties, and I Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. Richard Collins Colt.) 7 Dahlia roots, 4 varieties, and 2 Dahlia plants, 2 varieties. ( Given by Mr. Andrew Lufkin.) 7 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( Given by Mr. Wm. Marshall.) 7 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. L. B. Hulit.) 6 Dahlia clumps, 5 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. F. P. Quinby.) 6 Dahlia roots, 3 varieties. ( Given by Mr. W. L. W. Darnell.) 6 Dahlia roots, 3 varieties. ( Given by Rocky Edge Dahlia Gardens.) 5 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( By exchange with New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.) 4 Dahlia plants, 3 varieties, and r Dahlia root. ( Given by Mr. T. J. Murphy.) 4 Dahlia roots, 2 varieties. ( By exchange with Mrs. Chas. H. Stout.) 2 Dahlia plants, 2 varieties. ( Given by Dr. F. R. Waite, Jr.) 2 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. H. J. Allen.) 2 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. J. A. Kemp.) 2 Dahlia roots, 1 variety, and 1 Dahlia plant. ( Given by Flushing Dahlia Gardens.) 2 Dahlia roots, 2 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. C. P. Brummer.) 2 Dahlia roots, 2 varieties. ( By exchange with Miss Rosalie Weikert.) 2 Dahlia roots, I variety. ( Given by Mr. L. N. Davis.) 2 Dahlia roots, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. John W. Eierman.) 2 Dahlia roots, I variety. ( Given by W. W. Kennedy and Sons.) r Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. Gunther Ackerman.) 1 Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. M. H. Davidson.) 1 Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. L. J. Manz.) MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION Dr. Robert Abbe Edward D. Adams Charles B. Alexander Vincent Astor F. L. Atkins John W. Auchincloss George F. Baker Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Edmund L. Baylies Prof. Charles P. Berkey C. K. G. Billings George Blumenthal George P. Brett George S. Brewster Prof. N. L. Britton Prof. Edw. S. Burgess Or. Nicholas M. Butler Prof. W, H. Carpenter C. A. Coffin Marin Le Brun Cooper Paul D. Cravath James W. Cromwell Charles Deering Henry W. de Forest Robert W. de Forest Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow Cleveland H. Dodge Benjamin T. Fairchild Samuel W. Fairchild Marshall Field William B. O. Field James B. Ford Childs Frick Prof. W. J. Gies Daniel Guggenheim Murry Guggenheim J. Horace Harding J. Montgomery Hare Edward S. Harkness Prof. R. A. Harper T. A. Havemeyer A. Heckscher Hon. Joseph P. Hennessy Frederick Trevor Hill Anton G. Hodenpyl Archer M. Huntington Adrian Iselin Dr. Walter B. James Walter Jennings Otto H. Kahn Prof. James F. Kemp Darwin P. Kingsley Prof. Frederic S. Lee Adolph Lewisohn Frederick J. Lisman Kenneth K. Mackenzie V. Everit Macy Edgar L. Marston W. J. Matheson George McAneny John L. Merrill Ogden Mills Hon. Ogden L. Mills H. de la Montagne Barrington Moore J. Pierpont Morgan Dr. Lewis R. Morris Robert T. Morris Frederic R. Newbold Eben E. Olcott • Prof. Henry F. Osborn Chas. Lathrop Pack Rufus L. Patterson Henry Phipps F. R. Pierson James R. Pitcher Ira A. Place H. Hobart Porter Charles F. Rand Johnston L. Redmond Ogden Mills Reid Prof. H. M. Richards John D. Rockefeller W. Emlen Roosevelt Prof. H. H. Rusby Hon. George J. Ryan Dr, Reginald H. Sayre Mortimer L. Schiff Henry A. Siebrccht Valentine P. Snyder James Speyer Frederick Strauss F. K. Sturgis B. B. Thayer Charles G. Thompson W. Boyce Thompson Dr. W. Gilman Thompson Louis C. Tiffany Felix M. Warburg Paul M. Warburg Allen Wardwell H. H. Westinghouse Bronson Winthrop Grenville L. Winthrop MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL Mrs. Robert Bacon Mrs. Miss Elizabeth Billings Mrs. Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Mrs. Mrs. N. L. Britton Mrs. Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Mrs. Mrs. Fred. A. Constable Mrs. Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Mrs. Mrs. John W. Draper Mrs Miss Elizabeth S. Hamilton Mrs Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Mrs. Mrs. Robert C. Hill Mrs. Mrs. Frederick C. Hodgdon Mrs. Walter Jennings Mrs. Bradish Johnson Mrs. Delancey Kane Mrs. Gustav E. Kissel Mrs. Frederic S. Lee Mrs. William A. Lockwood Mrs. A. A. Low Mrs. David Ives Mackie Mrs. Pierre Mali Mrs. Henry Marquand Mrs. Roswell Miller Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham Mrs. George W. Perkins Harold I. Pratt Wm. Kelly Prentice James Roosevelt Arthur H. Scribner Theron G. Strong Henry O. Taylor John T. Terry W. G. Thompson Harold M. Turner Cabot Ward William H. Woodin HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL Mrs. E. Henry Harriman Mrs. John I. Kane Mrs. James A. Scrymser Miss Olivia E. P. Stokes GENERAL INFORMATION Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden are: Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract. Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. Gardens, including a beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock-loving plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens. Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America and foreign countries. Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water-lilies, gladioli, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of greenhouse- blooming plants. A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families, local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York, and the economic uses of plants. An herbarium, comprising more than one million specimens of American and foreign species. ^ Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies, Central and South America, for the study and collection of the characteristic flora. Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified problems of plant life. A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 34,000 books and numerous pamphlets. Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing throughout the year. Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical scientific, and partly of popular, interest. The education of school children and the public through the above features and the giving of free information on botanical, horticultural, and forestal subjects. The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the City of New York, private benefactions and membership fees. It possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for membership are always welcome. The classes of membership are: Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000 Patron single contribution 5,000 Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000 Member for Life single contribution 250 Fellowship Member annual fee IOO Sustaining Member annual fee 25 Annual Member annual fee 10 Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable incomes. The following is an approved form of bequest: / hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated under the Lazvs of New York, Chapter 285 of 1891, the sum of All requests for further information should be sent to THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK CITY
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Contributor | New York Botanical Garden |
Date | 1926-04 |
Description-Table Of Contents | The Awards and Prize-winning Plans in the Small Garden Competition; Botanizing in the Higher Alleghany Mountains.—III. North Carolina; Tree-ferns in Porto Rico; Mycological Work in Bermuda; Lilies at the International Flower Show; Conference Notes; Notes, News, and Comment. |
Format | application/pdf |
Format-Extent | 51 v. : ill. ; 25 cm |
Identifier | 0885-4165 |
Language | eng |
Publisher | Bronx : New York Botanical Garden, 1900-1950 |
Relation-Is Part Of | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden : v. 1, no. 1-v. 51, no. 612 |
Relation-IsVersionOfURI | http://opac.nybg.org/record=b1104879 |
Rights | http://www.nybg.org/library/ |
Subject | Plants--Periodicals; Gardening--Periodicals; Plants, Cultivated--Periodicals; New York Botanical Garden--Periodicals. |
Title | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden |
Volume, Number | Vol. 27, no. 316 |
Type | text |
Transcript | VOL. XXVII FEBRUARY, 1926 No. 314 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A DWARF PLANTATION N. L. BRITTON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SOILS ARTHUR HOLLICK BOTANIZING IN THE HIGHER ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. — II. WEST VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE P. A. RYDBERG ORIGINAL EXPLORATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK JOHN M. COULTER BOTANICAL FEATURES OF CEYLON H. A. GLEASON NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT ACCESSIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA. THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY Entered at the post- offlee in Lancaster, Pa., as second- clasa matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS FREDERIC S. LEE, President ADOLPH LEWISOHN HENRY W. DE FOREST, Vice President KENNETH K. MACKENZIE F. K. STURGIS, Vice President BARRINGTON MOORE JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer j p MORGAN N. L. BRITTON, Secretary ^ z w l s RUTHERFURD MORRIS EDWARD D ADAMS FREDERIC R. NEWBOLD HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN H H - _ , _ T P n B T r o NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER £. HOBART PORTER PAUL D. CRAVATH CHARLES F RAND ROBERT W. DE FOREST HERBERT M RICHARDS CHILDS FRICK HENRY H - R U S BY WILLIAM J. GIES GEORGE J. RYAN R. A. HARPER MORTIMER L. SCHIFF JOSEPH P. HENNESSY WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON JAMES F. KEMP W. GILMAN THOMPSON JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York FRANCIS DAWSON GALLATIN. President of the Department of Parks SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS R. A. HARPER, P H . D., Chairman JAMES F. KEMP, Sc. D., LL. D. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, PH. D., FREDERIC S. LEE, P H . D., LL. D. LL. D., LITT. D. HERBERT M. RICHARDS, SC. D. WILLIAM J. GIES, P H . D. HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D. GEORGE J. RYAN GARDEN STAFF N. L. BRITTON, P H . D., SC. D., LL. D Director- in- Chief MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator FRED J. SEAVER, PH. D Curator ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist PERCY WILSON Associate Curator PALMYRE DE C. MITCHELL Associate Curator JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses M i\ BY E. EATON Artist KENNETH K. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant HESTER M. RUSK, A. M Technical Assistant H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds JOHN R. BRINLEY, C. E Landscape Engineer WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETI Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XXVII FEBRUARY, 1926 No. 314 A DWARF PLANTATION To illustrate the phenomenon of dwarfing in trees and shrubs, a collection has recently been planted at The New York Botanical Garden, just east of the rock garden, near the entrance on the Southern Boulevard. The plants used for this demonstration have been moved from other plantations of the Garden, twenty-four kinds having been thus assembled. Other kinds are known in botany and horticulture, and the collection will be increased from time to time; but enough have been brought together to effect an interesting educational feature. Many other specimens may be seen in other plantations in the Garden, in proximity to normal trees of the same kinds. Dwarfing, technically known as nanism, is known in many kinds of plants, not alone in trees and shrubs, but in herbaceous plants as well, being taken advantage of in agriculture in dwarf beans, peas, and other crops. The cause or causes of natural nanism are obscure. Some dwarfs have appeared in gardens and nurseries as what the gardeners know as sports and the botanists as mutants, coming from seeds among normal plants of the same kinds or from shoots, and have been perpetuated by cuttings, or in some cases by their own seeds. Other dwarfs have appeared under truly natural conditions, apparently also as sports or mutants. There are some actual records of such appearances. Induced dwarfs, produced by starving, pinching, and twisting young plants and by pruning, are in a category by themselves and are not here taken under consideration. In some cases, at least, natural dwarfs have apparently been utilized in this process, brought to its greatest development by the skill and patience of 25 Japanese gardeners. Dwarfs must also be distinguished from species which are naturally small or low of growth. The kinds of dwarfs used in the primary installation of the demonstration plantation here described are as follows: i. Dwarf Weeping Hemlock Spruce.— A low form of the North American Hemlock Spruce, not over 5 feet high, but often 10 feet in diameter or more, with branches drooping quite to the ground. Its cones and leaves are quite the same as those of the normal forest tree which forms the famous Hemlock Forest of the Garden. This dwarf is believed to have originated in nature, many years ago, and is now widely planted for ornament and interest. Seed taken from one of the Garden trees, some years ago, germinated and produced plants which retained the dwarf drooping habit. 2. Dzvarf Catalpa.— A small- round- topped tree, becoming 8 to 10 feet in height, densely leafy. This has long been in cultivation and its origin is not definitely known, but it is understood to have come from the forest tree Catalpa of the eastern United States. The Garden's trees were presented by the late Mrs. F. K. Sturgis in 1912, and there is a group of them near the entrance to the Bronx River Parkway, close to many normal Catalpa trees, but none of the dwarfs have as yet flowered. 3. Dwarf Round Arbor Vitae.— A low compact dense nearly globular form of the American Arbor Vitae, or White Cedar. Our plants, which are about 2 feet in diameter, were presented by Bobbink & Atkins in 1917. One of them is making cones this year and if seed can be had we will try to germinate it and ascertain if this dwarf form may be thus perpetuated. 4. Spaeth's Dwarf Arbor Vitae.— The collection contains two plants of this remarkable dwarf, which were presented to the Garden by the late Lowell M. Palmer in 1904, under this name, and they seem to agree with the descriptions of it in horticultural literature, but it is one of the most curious of all dwarf evergreens, having two kinds of branches and two kinds of leaves, looking not at all like a normal Arbor Vitae. It is said to have originated from seed in a German nursery and was named for a man by the name of Spaeth, horticulturist and forester. We wish very much that this would produce fruit so that we could make sure that it is what it is supposed to be. 27 5. Dwarf White Pine.— A form of the most valuable of North American forest trees, given by Bobbink & Atkins in 1914, now only 4 feet high, with leaves shorter than those of the normal tree, which may be seen in the Pinetum near by. 6. Dwarf Mountain Rhododendron.— A low compact form of Rhododendron catawbiense, obtained by H. P Kelsey in 1921 in the mountains of North Carolina and believed to be a natural dwarf. This has made slow growth and is scarcely higher now than when we received it, but it has flowered. 7. Knee Pine.— This is a variety of the Mountain Pine of Cen^ tral Europe and has long been in cultivation. It does not reach more than about 4 feet in height, the normal tree becoming 40 feet high. Our plants have as yet made no cones. 8. Silvery English Yew.— This becomes 5 or 6 feet high, but is widely spreading and may become 15 or 20 feet across. The normal European Yew attains the height of a forest tree. Our plants came from Mr. Lowell M. Palmer in 1908. 9. Low English Yew.— Our plants are about 3 feet high and 5 feet across, also from the Palmer collection. 10. Golden Dwarf English Yew.— An extremely depressed type, with relatively short leaves, recorded as originating as a seedling in an English nursery in 1838. 11. Dwarf Cranberry Bush.— A dwarf of the European Viburnum Opulus, densely branched and small- leaved. Our plants are over 30 years old, but only about 2*^ feet high. We do not know the flowers or the fruit of this dwarf. 12. Maxwell's Norway Spruce.— A compact dwarf spruce about 2 feet high and somewhat broader than high; from the Palmer collection in 1904. Its leaves are shorter than those of the normal tree which in Europe becomes 150 feet high, and of which trees about 25 feet high may be seen in the Garden Pinetum in a group planted near the Railway Station. 13. Gregory's Nonoay Spruce.— This is a dwarf spruce somewhat similar to the one just described, but rather more compact and rounded, with grayish leaves, from the Palmer collection in 1903. 14. Tamarix Savin.— An almost creeping irregularly branched dwarf, believed to have been derived from the European Juniperus Sabina. 28 15- Dwarf Japanese Red Pine.— This is a compact round-headed condition of the Japanese Red Pine, our trees having become 12 to 15 feet high after 30 years' growth. The normal tree reaches 100 feet in height in Japan. Some of our trees have made cones and we will experiment with the seeds, if they mature. 16. Weeping Japanese Red Pine.— This is a contorted dwarf weeping type which came to the Garden from Mr. Lowell M. Palmer in 1903, and is still less than a foot high. 17. Dwarf Japanese Yew.— A nearly flat- topped variety of the Japanese Yew, becoming about 5 feet high, though some of our plants are not over 4 feet high. One tree of this variety has been used in the dwarf plantation, but the most noteworthy one in the Garden collection is with the other yews, on the ridge north of the Herbaceous Garden; this remarkable individual has attained a diameter over all of about 30 feet. The normal Japanese Yew, which forms a forest tree, may be seen along side of it. 18. Dwarf Chinese Juniper.— This was given to the Garden in 1917 by the firm of Bobbink & Atkins and has now reached the height of about 3 feet, and is rather loosely branched. Trees of the normal type 25 feet high may be seen in the Pinetum. 19. Globose Chinese Juniper.— Somewhat similar to the Dwarf Chinese Juniper and about the same height, given by Mr. Henry Hicks in 1917. The origin of this and of the Dwarf Chinese Juniper is unrecorded. 20. Pfitzer's Chinese Juniper.— This has long been in cultivation and is recorded as having originated in a German nursery many years ago. It is taller and more loosely branched than either of the two preceding types described and forms highly characteristic bushes. 21. Plumose Sawara Cypress.— A compact bushy evergreen, with small and scale- like leaves; our plants were given by Bobbink & Atkins in 1914 and are now about 4j-< feet high. The species is native of eastern Asia and normal trees about 25 feet high may be seen in the Pinetum. 22. Dwarf Hinoki Cypress.— This is of Japanese origin, also given by Bobbink & Atkins in 1914 and now about 6 feet high. In Japan the normal tree reaches forest size. 23. Pigmy Hinoki Cypress.— This is a dense dark green dwarf now about 2 feet high, which came to us from the Palmer collection in 1903. 29 24. Dwarf Box.— This has long been known and is esteemed for forming borders along garden paths, reaching a height of scarcely over a foot. It presumably originated in Europe, but whether in nature or in some garden or nursery is not definitely known. We shall be glad to receive dwarfs of other kinds to add to this plantation. Enough have been brought together, however, to indicate something of the range of nanism in the vegetable kingdom in North America, Europe, and Asia. N. L. BRITTON. THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SOILS1 The lecturer prefaced his lecture by remarking that the subject of soils was one in which both geology and botany are intimately involved, and that a knowledge of the structure and composition of rocks, as well as of the structure and life- history of plants is essential for a thorough knowledge of the origin, history, and general characters of soils. It is a case of cause and effect. Geology may be regarded as representing the cause and botany as representing the effect, for the reason that soil must first be formed by geological processes before plant Ufe is possible. The average person, if asked to define soil, would probably reply " Soil? Why, soil is loose earth," or something to that effect; and that would be a sufficient definition for all practical purposes, unless some particular kind of soil was in question. The Standard Dictionary defines soil as " finely divided rock material, mixed with decayed vegetable or animal matter, constituting that portion of the surface of the earth in which plants grow or may grow.'' From the viewpoint of exact science, however, soil may be defined as disintegrated rock, or decayed organic matter, or a mixture of both; and it may or may not be capable of supporting plant life. It may be composed entirely of mineral matter, such as a fresh area of beach or dune sand, or volcanic ash; or it may consist entirely of vegetable matter, such as a 1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture given in the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, October 31, I925. 30 bed of peat or layer of leaf mould; or it may be a mixture of mineral, vegetable, and animal matter, such as the ordinary soils of farms and gardens. All soils, however, hark back primarily to a purely mineral or inorganic origin— to the disintegration of the original hard rock crust of the primitive earth, by chemical and mechanical agencies. These primitive conditions, however, will never prevail again and need not concern us further. The origin and formation of soil, under conditions that prevail to- day, may be observed and studied almost everywhere. There are very few places in which soil of some sort is not in process of formation. Even upon the roofs of our tallest city buildings there is a constant fall of atmospheric dust, soot, fine ashes, etc., that, in the aggregate, represents many tons of soil deposited each year. Soil may be either native, that is, formed in the locality where it is found, or it may have originated elsewhere and was transported by natural agencies to its present location. Native soil— soil formed " in place," as it is usually designated— necessarily consists only of elements that were constituents of the underlying parent rock from which it was derived. Transported soil, however, may contain constituents very different from any that are in the rock upon which it rests. Soil that is formed in place is due to the fracturing and subsequent mechanical and chemical disintegration of the underlying parent rock. Rain, frost, sunshine— each plays its part in the process— and then vegetation becomes established and contributes its quota. Some kinds of plants can get along and flourish with surprisingly little soil in which to maintain their growth. Lichens, for example, are partly fungoid and partly algoid in their composition. They grow very often upon what appears to be bare, smooth rock surfaces. But their tiny rootlets are insinuated into the inequalities, and, once established, they begin the process of rock distintegra-tion. The mechanical effects that they produce are infinitesimal and the chemical effects are but little more so. If we lift up or scrape away a growth of lichen from a rock the surface beneath may be seen to be roughened and a thin layer or film of soil, usually more or less black from the decayed parts of the lichen, may be seen. This is one of the simplest examples of the formation of soil in place and although the amount so produced is 31 almost negligible it is of interest because it probably represents the origin of the first terrestrial plant- bearing soil. Lichens can exist on hot, sunbaked rocks under conditions in which any other form of vegetation would be impossible. Hence we may assume that when the original crust of the earth had cooled sufficiently for the first terrestrial vegetation to establish itself the lichens or lichenoid algae represented the first kind of vegetation to emerge from the adjacent waters and adapt itself to, and assist in forming, the primitive terrestrial soil. Many of the higher plants also require but little soil to maintain their existence. The sedums or stone- crops and the Opuntia or common cactus of this vicinity are familiar examples in this connection, and they follow the lichens closely as primal agents of rock disintegration. They usually take possession of cracks, crevices, or joints in rocks, which are thus slowly eaten into and widened and become receptacles for soil, until enough has been formed to harbor the seeds of shrubs and trees. As soon as these are able to germinate and maintain an existence, the disintegration of the rock is more rapid, due to the more vigorous root growth which frequently splits the rock asunder and hastens its disintegration and its decay into soil. The effect of marine vegetation is simliar to that of terrestrial, as may be seen by an examination of rocks on the seashore, where they are covered with growths of seaweeds; but on the seashore the mechanical effect of wave action in wearing away the rocks is at a maximum, and the disintegrating effect of vegetation is incalculably small in comparison. The gravelly and sandy soil of beaches is due, to all intents and purposes, entirely to the disintegration and attrition wrought by water, ice, and wind. Soils that are almost purely organic in their constituents are formed wherever vegetation decays and accumulates, as on the floor of a forest. This is what is commonly known as leaf- mold, and in the aggregate it forms no inconsiderable part of the Earth's surface- soil. Peat bogs are also examples of the formation of organic soil in place, and these often contain beds of peat many feet in thickness and extend over miles of territory. Transported soil is due mostly to the action of running water, volcanic action, wind, or ice, usually in the form of glaciers. Rivers 32 transport vast quantities of sediment, often for hundreds of miles, and deposit it at their outlets where it forms bars and deltas. The deltas of the Nile and the Mississippi are too well known to require more than passing mention. They are hundreds of miles in extent and their soils represent the disintegrated rock from thousands of square miles of territory drained by the rivers and their tributary branches. Volcanic activity was a far more extensive source of soil formation in the past than it has been in historic time; but a number of intermittently active volcanos ( Etna, Vesuvius, Krakatoa, Katmai, and others), have contributed an enormous amount of ash and cinder soil to their respective vicinities. Sand dunes represent the most striking example of transported soil due to wind action. The sand and fine gravel of sea and lake beaches is carried inland during high winds and is piled into drifts that in certain localities reach more than a hundred feet in height. It is a more or less difficult matter for vegetation to gain a foothold on a sand dune, as it is always shifting its position more or less, and the composition of the soil is usually such that only a limited number of plant species are suited to it. The region in the vicinity of Provincetown, at the end of Cape Cod, furnishes some of the most striking examples of the formation of sand dunes and the phenomena connected with them. Jce- transported soil may be seen and studied in connection with any glacier that terminates on the land. Glaciers may be likened to slow- moving rivers of ice that are constantly traveling from high altitudes to lower ones. In the course of their travels they erode the rock surfaces over which they pass, and also accumulate fragments that fall on their surfaces. This material is pushed and carried forward and is finally dropped when the ice is melted at its place of furthest advance. This accumulation of material is known as the terminal moraine. Where it rests upon bed rock the line of demarkation is usually sharp and well defined, without any of the phenomena of gradual rock disintegration into surface soil. Glacier- transported soil and other phenomena of glacial action may be seen almost everywhere in the vicinity of New York, in connection with the morainal deposits of the great continental glacier that extended southward to this region during the geological period that we know as the 33 Quaternary or Ice Age. Practically all of the soil in this vicinity has come to us through glacial action from regions to the north; and if we examine the boulders and larger rock fragments of this soil we may recognize examples of most of the rock outcrops that occur between here and the Adirondack mountains or even the highlands of Canada. The lecture was illustrated by means of lantern slides of lichens, trees, and other forms of vegetation growing on the surface and in the crevices of rocks; forest floor and peat bed accumulations of plant remains; rock disintegration and soil formation in place; and transported soil as exemplified by the ash and cinder deposits in the vicinity of Mt. Katmai, Alaska, and Mount Pelee, Martinique; the sand dunes of Cape Cod and exposures of the terminal moraine on Staten Island. ARTHUR HOLLICK. BOTANIZING IN THE HIGHER ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS II. WEST VIRGINIA AND TENNESSEE In the first instalment of this paper, I gave an account of our botanical work in West Virginia, and mentioned our return to Staunton. Here we stopped at the Y. M. C. A., partly because there were no tourist camps near the city, and partly because Mr. Perry and myself thought that we needed a good hot bath. Our next intended field of exploration was the renowned Peaks of Otter. These mountains are most accessible from Bedford on the road between Roanoke and Lynchburg. As one of my former colleagues, Dr. Murrill, has his home in the latter place, I thought it would be pleasant to call on him. We decided to drive to Lynchburg by the way of Af ton, rather than by Lexington, partly because the state road through the latter place was said to be under repair. We crossed the Blue Ridge just before we came to Afton, but did not stop for botanizing. The Ridge had a typical Alleghanian hardwood flora. Shortly after leaving Afton we found that the state road as far as Lovingston was under construction and we had to make a long detour on rather poor dirt roads. After some inquiry we located Dr. Murrill's tem- 34 porary dwelling place. He was the sole occupant of the home of his aunt, Mrs. Ford, who, on account of sickness, was staying with her daughter, the assistant directress of the Miller Orphanage for girls, in the suburbs of Lynchburg. The back veranda of the house was turned over to us as a work room, where we attended to the pressing of our specimens and packed boxes for shipment. We found lodging for two nights in the Y. M. C. A., and took a whole day off from the work. Dr. Murrill entertained us with music, partly of his own composition, set to poetry relating to flowers, birds, and nature study in general, intended for Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps, etc. In the forenoon of June 30th, we left Lynchburg, passed through Bedford at noon and reached the high gap between the two Peaks of Otter early enough to make a good camp near a spring. On the following day we climbed " The Peak," i. e., the most southern of the two mountains. The peaks, as well as some lower mountains north thereof, are now included in a U. S. Forest Reserve, except the very top of " The Peak," which still remains as private property. At the entrance of this, is a toll gate ( 50 cents admission), a log cabin containing a small lunchroom and a few bedrooms, further up two water- tanks, a log cabin shelter, where campers may spend the night, and wooden stairs to the top of the big boulders on the summit. An old wagon road, made when the houses were built, leads zigzag to the toll gate, but is not now used, as the supplies are now brought up on horseback. It can not be used for automobiles. A few steeper trails unite right before reaching the gate. The view from the top is superb. " The Peak" is a very steep cone with an altitude of 3,875 feet. It is wooded to near the top which is covered with a few enormous bare boulders. The woods consist entirely of Alleghanian hardwoods, of which were noted hickories ( Hicoria glabra and H. ovata), oaks ( Quercus maxima, Q. Priuus), basswood ( Tilia heterophylla), maple ( Acer spicatum and A. nigrum), chestnut ( Castanea dentata), etc. The chestnuts on the peak were free from blight, but in the lower valleys of the Blue Ridge they were more or less infested and in some places wholly destroyed. At the foot of the boulders at the summit we found dogwood ( Cornus altemifotia), rock maple ( Acer spicatum), and chokeberry ( Aronia melanocarpa). Among the undergrowth may be men- 35 tioned Uvularia grandiflora, Hydrangea arborescens, Circaea lutetiana, Clintonia umbeliata, a species of Asarum, probably A. canadense, Atragene americana, Ranunculus recurvatus, Aruncus alleghaniensis, Coreopsis stellata, Lilium Grayi, Scophularia leporella, three species of Monarda, an unknown Stachys, Convallaria majalis, Tithymalus paniculatus, Heuchera Curtisii, Galium latifolium, Thalictrum coriaceum, Veratrum parviflorum, and enormous specimens of Urticastrum divaricatum, 3- 4 feet high. The following day, July 2, we made an attempt to climb the " Flat Top" the northern of the two peaks. " The Peak" has numerous visitors, not only tourists but also the native population, which often gathers there on the 4th of July and other occasions for picnics. There is a fairly large inn at the pass and a dance pavilion near where we camped. The " Flat Top" is seldom climbed even by the natives. We were told that there was an old trail to the top, used occasionally by the U. S. forest rangers and that it started near the " Big Spring." We missed the trail and got into a primeval forest of chestnuts, oaks, hickories, and basswood. The shade was so deep that there were no flowers to be found among the undergrowth. We got into such a tangle of blackberries, raspberries, Virginia creepers, etc., etc., that we became exhausted and gave up the climb as a " bad job," and retreated down the slope. When nearing the wagon road we crossed an abandoned field, where we found some weeds and introduced plants, such as two species of wild lettuce, a spurge ( Tithymalus paniculatus), and milk- weed, ( Aclepias exaltata), winter cress, ( Barbareo vema), and a rare immigrant from the Old World, Silene dichotoma, growing in profusion. We spent an hour or two collecting along the road through the pass but found little of interest. As the day was very hot, in fact the hottest day we had during the summer, we returned to our camp rather early. On July 3, we continued our journey, passing through Bedford, Roanoke, Pulaski, Wytheville, and Marion to Abingdon where we camped the second night. We had intended to visit White Top and Mt. Rogers, the two highest mountains in Virginia, near the North Carolina border, both about 5,500 feet high. As we wished to see the higher mountains of the latter state and Tennessee as 36 early in the summer as possible we left these mountains for the return journey, but I may just as well give the account of our visit here. On our return trip nearly a month later, on July 29, we left the main state road at Chilhowie, turning southeast, taking the road for Konnarock. The road crosses the Iron Mountains. The inclines on both sides are very steep, but the road was as good as a mountain road could be expected to be. On the other side of Iron Mountain the road followed a branch of White Top River down through a most beautiful narrow dell, both sides being lined with primeval forest trees and the river- banks covered by rhododendrons ( R. maximum). I recognized the place from my former trip to White Top, 18 years ago, when I traveled the road in an old rickety wagon, drawn by a white horse and an almost black mule. At that time the rhododendrons were in full bloom. I am not the only one that has recognized the beauty of the spot, for the present owner of the land, a lumber company, has decided to preserve the dell in its present shape. Eighteen years ago, the bottom of White Top River was all covered with old forest, which is now gone. Near the old crossing of the river, the main road now turned to the right, following the river to Konnarock, two miles below. I do not know if there was any settlement there at all eighteen years ago, as I was not so far down the river then. Now it is a thrifty place with a large saw mill, a good general store, a hotel, post- office and a high school, all the result of the operations of the lumber company and the wise management of the manager, Mr. Hessinger. We stopped at the post- office and inquired where we could make camp. Somebody suggested that we cross the river into a piece of land set aside as a community ground with a pavilion, fire place, etc., among the rhododendrons. Here we camped. The next morning, as the radiator was leaking, we did not dare to try to reach the top of White Top in our car, and decided to make the trip on foot. We inquired for the best trail up, as the wagon road would be at least five miles longer than a direct trail. Hearing this, Mr. Hessinger's second son offered to take us up in his old Franklin, which offer we accepted. The party consisted of young Mr. Hessinger, a cousin and an aunt of his, and ourselves. The two young men, both college students, accom- 37 panie'd us on our tramp on top of White Top, while the aunt stayed in the car. The White Top reaches an altitude of 5,520 feet. The slopes are covered by hardwood forest, in the valleys mixed with pines. Near the top on the southwest side there is a large grass- covered space devoid of trees. This space is covered by a nearly pure stand of Danthonia compressa. In the fall when the grass is dry, this spot is light yellow and in winter white with snow, in great contrast to the dark green spruce- forest on the cap above. Hence the name White Top. The forest cap consists of red spruce. I did not see any balsam but the balsam ( Abies Fraseri) is said to be found on the top of Mt. Rogers, a mountain north east of White Top and of about the same height. On Mt. Rogers and Pine Mountain, another neighboring mountain, Dr. and Mrs. Britton and Miss Vail in 1892 collected also Picea australis Small, a species related to the red spruce, but with less hairy and more slender twigs, more slender needles, and smaller cones. Perhaps those specimens collected by me on Panther Mountain and referred to as Picea canadensis in my former instalment may belong to this rather than to the white spruce. The latter has not been reported from any place in West Virginia, Virginia, or Pennsylvania. .. Northern New York seems to be the southern limit of said species. The upper part of White Top and especially the grass- covered part is used for horse pasture. On this account and as the summer had been exceedingly dry, our trip was almost a failure as far as herbarium specimens were concerned. The only specimens of real interest collected were Cardamine Clemati-tis and Aster chlorolepis. The following morning young Mr. Hessinger and his cousin took us up a ridge halfway up the Iron Mountain, but it began to rain and we returned to Konnarock. After noon the sun began to shine and his car stopped opposite our camp. Mr. Hessinger had also joined the party. We drove up to the same place, where the car was parked. Mr. Hessinger led the way along a ridge. As we were ready to descend into the valley of the upper White Top River a sudden shower came down and soaked us thoroughly. In the valley we saw the most magnificent forests, which will be the field of operation of the sawmill next year. Only a few herbarium specimens were gathered. 38 At Abbington we were told that the road between Bluffs and Johnson City and between Bluffs and Elizabethstown was under repair and we were advised to go to Roan Mountain by way of Damascus, Va., Mountain City and Hampton, Tenn. Our informer had been as far as Mountain City and he said that the road was good. So far it was good, but at that place we were told that from there to Hampton the road could not be made by an auto and that none had gone that way for two or three years. We were told either to go back to Abbington or else cross over into North Carolina and go by Trade, Vilas, and Banners Elk. The mountain road was said to be fair at first and then bad for about 6 miles to the state line. To us the bad road seemed to be at least twice that long and indeed very bad and narrow. As soon as we entered North Carolina the road suddenly become twice as wide and excellent and remained so even after returning into Tennessee. We arrived at Roan Mountain station on July 5 and camped on the edge of the village. The following day we stayed in camp and attended to our pressing and mailed material to New York. On July 7th, we started for Roan Mountain, 14 miles away. On our automobile map the road to the top was indicated as a " good dirt road," and it had been so until lately. Eighteen years ago when I visited the mountain it was a fairly good wagon road, leading up to the hotel at the summit. Fifty or even a hundred years ago it was a rather noted place, and visited by many of the older botanists, as Buckley, Curtis, Chickering, Carey, Gray, etc. On my former visit there were more than forty guests at the hotel, most of them, however, persons afflicted with hay- fever seeking relief in the high altitude. Some years ago the hotel was torn down, after having been damaged by a fire and the road fell into disuse. We drove to a sawmill near the foot of the mountain itself. The road was rather poor but passable. At the sawmill, a farmer, according to a previous agreement, waited for us with two horses, one for packing tent, blankets, and provisions for two days, the other a saddle horse on which we were to take turns. At the next to the last house on the road we found a mule which was to be taken up to the mountain pasture. Mr. Perry rode it most of the way and I used the horse up to the gap near the top and two miles from our camp. Not having been on horse- 39 back for fourteen years, I became so broken up that I could scarcely walk. The flora of Roan Mountain is Alleghanian up to said gap. We did no collecting during the ascent. The forest consisted of oaks, hickories, yellow birch, maples, and chestnut; in the upper part, mostly maple and birch. We found a few trees of buckeye ( probably Aesculus octandra) even near the gap ( Carver's Gap) at an altitude of nearly 6,000 feet. Here one is met by a northerly extension of the grassland which covers the whole southern slope and in some places reaches the top of the ridge. This grassland was indeed poor picking ground for a botanist, as it is used as pastures for horses, mules, and sheep. At our visit it was exceedingly so, partly due to the exceptionally dry summer. At the gap the road turns west and passes north of the highest knoll and about 500 feet below the summit, which is 6,318 feet high and covered with evergreens, i. e., red spruce and Fraser's balsam. On the southern side, this grove is bordered by a fringe of alders. The road ascends gradually till it reaches the most northwesterly part of the ridge, where the old hotel was situated. Here the ridge swings south and is mostly covered by rhododendrons ( R. catawbiense). Here is found a field of this beautiful shrub, stretching about two miles in length and more than half a mile in width at some places. It must represent a gorgeous sight when the shrubs are in full bloom. We found only about half a dozen flower- clusters still remaining. The shrubs were a good deal taller than at my former visit and evidently had encroached on the grass field, but the flora was otherwise much poorer than in 1907. In the undergrowths we found among other plants, Sieversia radiata, Houstonia serpyllifolia, H. montana, Arenaria glabra, Viola blanda, Dendrium Lyonii, Veronica serpyllifolia, Alsine graminea, Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, etc. At the southern end of the rhododendron field is another knoll of spruce and balsam ending at the precipitous rock- ledges, forming a rim, from which in clear days the most magnificent view is seen of the Nolichucky Valley. In the spruce forest we found the mountain cranberry ( Hugeria erythrocarpa). The plant is so unlike a cranberry that I can not understand why that name and why Dr. Gray and others classified the shrub among the species now known as Oxycoccus. Our stay on Roan Mountain was not pleasant on ac- 40 count of the cold wind, the fog, and drizzly rain that we encountered. We stayed only one night and made our descent the second afternoon, I walking down the mountain proper and riding only two miles to the sawmill, where our car was waiting. We returned to Roan Mountain station about eight P M. P. A. RYDBERG. ORIGINAL EXPLORATION OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK1 Rumors of a geyser region in the Yellowstone, chiefly through the stories of hunters and trappers, had been attracting increasing attention. In 1871 a military reconnaissance into the region discovered that the rumors were based upon facts, and in 1872 the government sent the Hayden Geological Survey Expedition to study the region and report the results. In those days, the government sent expeditions to explore and map the unknown regions of our country. The Hayden Expedition included representatives of the various sciences, the purpose being to collect information not only as to the geography of the unknown region, but also its geology, mineralogy, zoology, and botany. The main outfitting camp was at Ogden, Utah. After the organization of the exploring party, with its scientific corps, and the necessary addition of guides, packers, hunters, etc., the party started by pack train north toward the Yellowstone country, following hunters' trails when possible. They first entered the Teton country and spent some time in exploring and mapping it. Then they proceeded northward to discover the geysers. They knew the general direction, but were confused in following it. Many days were spent in traveling over very rough country without finding the geysers. Finally, trees were climbed daily, and at last, on the edge of the horizon, dense volumes of steam were seen rising, as if coming from some manufacturing city. A hard march brought the explorers into the midst of this steam, and the hot springs and geysers were discovered. 1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture given in the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, November 21, 1925. 41 Each scientific member of the party was assigned a geyser for study. His duty was to time the period of eruption and measure the height of eruption. It was also interesting to decide upon the names to be given to the various geysers. This work continued through most of the summer, with numerous side trips into the neighboring country. Especially impressive were Yellowstone Lake and Falls and the Grand Canyon, with its marvelous coloring. The artist of the expedition was Thomas Moran, whose wonderful painting of the Grand Canyon now hangs in the Capitol building at Washington. In addition to the excitement of hot springs and geysers, the party had many experiences with the wild animals, which really congested the region. The Indians were afraid to enter it, and so the animals found it a park of safety for them. The experiences and incidents of this summer of exploration would fill a volume, but the result was that the Yellowstone National Park was established and mapped, and is now a great center of tourist travel. The speaker showed lantern slides illustrating the geysers, canyons, lakes, and characteristic plants of the Yellowstone National Park. JOHN M. COULTER. BOTANICAL FEATURES OF CEYLON1 The island of Ceylon consists of a central mass of mountains, surrounded by a rather narrow fringe of lowlands. The latter portion is chiefly in cultivation and the small remaining areas of wild land have also been greatly altered by cutting and burning. In the mountains as well, the lower slopes have been largely brought under cultivation. Rubber is grown extensively to an altitude of about 1,500 feet, above which it is replaced by enormous tea gardens covering the mountain sides to 5,000 feet, above which the land is reserved by the government for forests. The great botanical garden of Ceylon is located at Peradeniya, at an altitude of about 1,500 feet, and has long been famous for 1 Abstract of an illustrated lecture by Dr. H. A. Gleason, given in the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden on Saturday afternoon, November 28, 1925. 42 its beautiful and important displays and for its researches into various problems of tropical botany. It covers an area of 150 acres and the grounds have been developed for landscape effects, making it wonderfully attractive. There are spacious lawns, long vistas among the trees, gorgeous beds of flowering plants, and numerous specimen trees of great interest. Among the latter may be noted the huge tree of India rubber, the giant bamboos, the Kauri pines, the banyans, and the talipot palms. The latter bloom but once, usually when from forty to sixty years old, and then die. Their clusters of flowers project above the crown of leaves, are fifteen feet high and wide, and form a most magnificent display. The mountains which tower above the botanical garden toward the east appear from a distance to be forested, but a closer view shows that they are covered with tea gardens and with sorts of economic trees, and it is not until the forest reserves are reached at 5,000 feet that really natural vegetation is encountered. The forest on these high elevations is ordinarily known as a mossy forest, from the great development of mosses and epiphytes on the trunks and branches. Seen from across a valley, the crowns of the trees present a great range of shades and colors. Within the forest, the view is not so pleasing. The trees are seldom more than 30 feet high, with crooked gnarly trunks, while the floor of the forest is a tangle of many sorts of shrubs, among which a small bamboo and the erect Strobilanthus are most conspicuous. The latter is interesting from its habit of growth in dense patches, in which almost every individual blooms simultaneously and then dies, so that each patch is of uniform age and size. Periodic blooming of this type is known also for other plants, notably certain bamboos and orchids, and its cause is not yet fully understood. The mossy forest covers all the mountains to their very summits. The highest peak is 8,300 feet, so that a true alpine vegetation is not developed. A conspicuous feature of the higher mountains is the series of wide grassy plains, known as patanas, occupying many of the mountain valleys and extending a short distance up their slopes. The patanas are occupied almost completely by herbaceous plants, the only conspicuous exception being the isolated rhododendrons, 43 reaching a height of twenty to thirty feet. Whatever may have been the original cause for the development of patanas, their perpetuation is undoubtedly due to fire, which annually sweeps over them, doing no permanent injury to the herbs, but killing all seedling trees except a few of the rhododendrons. They seem remarkably resistant to fire, and the older trunks are almost invariably fire- scarred. If fires are prevented, as they are near some of the tea gardens, the rhododendrons multiply rapidly, soon cover the whole patana, and serve as shelters for many other species, so that the patana is soon completely reforested. H. A. GLEASON. NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton left New York for San Juan on January 21. They plan to devote two months or more to a continuation of their field studies of the flora of Porto Rico. Dr. H. A. Gleason, Curator, sailed on January 14 for Porto Rico, where he will undertake an ecological survey of the island in collaboration with Dr. Mel. T. Cook, of the Insular Experiment Station, and under the joint auspices of The New York Botanical Garden and the Department of Agriculture of Porto Rico. It is planned to publish the results of the survey as a part of the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico, to which The New York Botanical Garden has already made notable contributions. The work of Dr. Gleason and Dr. Cook promises to be of unusual interest to ecological science, since comparatively little survey work has hitherto been attempted in the tropics. As the outcome of a special hearing held in Washington in November, the Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. Wm. M. Jardine, announced on December 30 that the restrictions on the entry of Narcissus bulbs authorized by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace three years ago were to go into effect on January 1, 1926, as scheduled, without modification. In commenting on his action, the Secretary said that the information available in 1922 on the entry of pests on these bulbs undoubtedly justified fully the placing of the restrictions, and that the facts obtained since that time 44 have emphasized the menace to agriculture then indicated. However, the restrictions on the entry of eight other classes of bulbs transferred from the restricted to the free list in 1922 for a three-year period have been postponed by order of the Secretary to give more opportunity to determine the risk in connection with their entry. These eight classes, which may still be imported under special permit, are Chionodoxa ( Glory of the Snow), Galanthus ( Snowdrop), Scilla ( Squill), Fritillaria imperialis ( Crown Imperial), Fritillaria meleagris ( Guineahen- flower), Muscari ( Grape Hyacinth), Eranthis ( Winter Aconite), and Ixia. On Saturday afternoon, October 24, in the lecture hall of the Museum Building of The New York Botanical Garden, Professor H. H. Whetzel, of the Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, gave a talk on " Keeping Plants in the Gardens and Borders Healthy." Professor Whetzel has been interested for many years in the study of diseases of certain garden perennials, especially peonies. He has also studied the diseases of tulips. He said that the first thing to be kept in mind in keeping the plants of the garden and border clean is the necessity of observing certain sanitary practices. In the first place, no bulbs or plants should be put in the border or garden which show any evidences of diseases at the time they are being planted. All diseased plants and bulbs should be rigorously examined and discarded or if especially valuable should be put in a corner by themselves where they can be carefully watched during the growing season, and if disease appears they should be immediately destroyed. A careful watch should be kept of the plants and any which show diseases of any sort should be brought to the attention of a competent plant pathologist for suggestions as to what to do in the particular case. Plants which evidently are dying from disease should be promptly removed and destroyed. In the autumn as soon as the blooming season is over all tops of herbaceous perennials and annuals should be promptly removed and burned before mulching the beds for the winter. Such measures will go far to keep the plants during succeeding years free of disease. During the growing season the plants should be frequently sprayed, or better, dusted with some copper spray or dust mixture. Dusting has many advantages in that the plants are not dis- 45 colored by the mixture as they are when bordeaux is used as a spray. It is also more convenient and rapid. It is quite as effective. Sanders' copper lime dust is most satisfactory for general dusting. However sulphur dust is more effective for certain leaf spots and mildews. Nicotine dust should be kept on hand to apply when plants show sucking insects such as aphids and a spray or dust of some arsenical such as arsenate of lead should be used for insects that eat the foliage. Since most diseases of plants require special consideration the grower should keep in touch with some plant pathologist who can advise him regarding the different cases as they come up. The lecturer spoke without lantern slides but illustrated his talk with blackboard sketches. ACCESSIONS BOOKS PURCHASED FROM T H E GENEVA BOTANICAL GARDEN, AUGUST, 1923 ( CONTINUED) ROTH, AI. BRECHT WILHELM. Enumeratio plantarum phaenogamarum in Germania sponte nasceniium. 2 vols. Lipsiae, 1827. . Tentamen florae germanicae. Vols. J- 3, pt. 1. Lipsiae, 1788- 1800. SACHS, FERDINAND GUSTAV JULIUS VON. Traite de botanique . . . traduit de I'allemand sur la 3 edition et annote par Ph. Van Tieghem. Paris, 1874- SADLER, JOSEPH. Flora Comitatus pestiensis. 2 vols. Pestini, 1825- 26. SAVI, CAETANO. Observations in varias Trifoliorum species. Florentiae, 1810. SCHLECHTENDAL, DIEDERICH FRANZ LEONHARD VON. Flora berolinensis. 2 vols. Berolini, 1823- 24. SCHOUSBOE, PEDER KOFOD ANKER. Observations sur le rkgne vegetal au Moroc. . . . Paris, 1874. SCHOUW, JOAKIM FREDERIK. Grundziige einer allgemeinen Pflanzengeo-graphie. Berlin, 1823. SCHRANK, KARL MORITZ. Morpholgische Studien. Heft 1. Leipzig, 1892. SIBTHORP, JOHN. Florae graecae prodromus . . . cum annotationibus elab-oravit Jacobus Eduardus Smith. 2 vols. Londini, 1806- 13. SMITH, JOHN DONNELL. Enumeratio plantarum guatemalensium. Pars. 6, 8. Oquawkae, 1903- 07. SOMMERFELT, SJZJREN CHRISTIAN. Supplementum florae lapponicae quam edidit Georgius Wahlenberg. Christianiae, 1826. 46 SORET, CHARLES. Catalogue des ouvrages, articles et memoires publies Par les professeurs de I'Universite de Geneve, anisi que les theses presentees de 1873 a 18Q5. Geneve, 1896. SPRENGEL, KURT POLYCARP JOACHIM. Historia rei herbariae. 2 vols. Parisiis, 1808. • . Plantarum minus cognitarum. Pugillus secundus. Halae, 1815. THOMPSON, HAROLD STUART. Liste des phanerogames et cryptogames vas-culaires recueillis au- dessus de 8,000 feet . . dans les districts du Mont- Cenis, de la Savoie, du Dauphine & des Alpes- Maritimes ( Juin- Septembre, 1907). Paris, 1908. Tokyo botanical magazine. Vols. 15- 28. Tokyo, 1901- 14. Transactions of the botanical society [ of Edinburgh]. Vols. 1- 26. Edinburgh, 1841- 1915. TRIANA, JOSE JERONIMO, & PLANCHON, JULES £ MILE. Prodromus florae novo- granatensis; ou, enumeration des plantes de la Nouvelle- Grenade. Paris, 1862. VAHL, MARTIN. Enumeratio plantarum, vel ab aliis, vel ab ipso obser-vatarum. 2 vols. Hauniae, 1805- 06. VEI. ENOVSKY, JOSEF. Flora bulgarica. Pragae, 1891,— Nachtrdge 2- 6. Prag., 1892- 98. Verhandlungen des botanischen Vereins fur die Provinz Brandenburg und die angrenzenden Lander. Vols. 1- 59. Berlin, 1859- 1917. Verhandlungen der zoologisch- botanischen Verein in Wien. Vols. 1- 9. Wien, 1852- 59. WAHLENBERG, GORAN. De vegetationes et climate in Helvetia septen-trionali inter flumen Rhenum et Arolam observatis . . tentamen. Turici Helvetorum, 1813. WILLDENOW, CARL LUDWIG. Berlinische Baumzucht; oder, Beschreibung der im K. botanischen Garten bei Berlin im Freien ausdauernden Bdume und Straucher. Ed. 2. Berlin, 1811. WILLKOMM, HEINRICH MORITZ. Supplementum prodromi florae hispanicae. Stuttgartiae, 1893. WILLKOMM, HEINRICH MORITZ, & LANGE, JOHAN MARTIN CHRISTIAN. Prodromus florae hispanicae. 3 vols. Stuttgartiae, 1861- 80. MUSEUMS AND HERBARIUM 1,439 specimens of flowering plants from Ecuador. ( Collected by Professor A. S. Hitchcock.) 44 specimens of mosses from various localities. ( By exchange with the University of California.) 118 specimens of flowering plants from British Guiana. ( By exchange with Harvard University.) 3 photographs of North American plants. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) 15 specimens of flowering plants from Trinidad, West Indies. ( By exchange with the Department of Agriculture, Trinidad and Tobago.) 47 3 specimens, 2 plants, and i photograph of North American plants. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) 56 specimens of flowering plants from British Guiana. ( By exchange with the Field Museum of Natural History.) 3 specimens of sedges from Brownsville, Texas. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) JO specimens of flowering plants from Connecticut and Massachusetts. ( Collected by Dr. N. L. Britton.) 430 specimens of flowering plants from Long Island, New York. ( Given by Mr. W. C. Ferguson.) 2 specimens, Quercus Caput- rivuli and Tilia eburnea. ( Given by Mr. W. W. Ashe.) . . . \; ; 75 specimens bi; flowed rig'". plants from the low'er Hio Grande region. ( By exchangewith Mx; ' Robert Runyon.) 76 specimens of ferns and flowering plants from the local flora region. ( Collected by Mr. A. T. Beals.) 1 speciment of Rubus from New Jersey. ( Collected by Messrs. Beals and Bassett.) 4 photographs of North American plants. ( By exchange with the United States National Museum.) 26 specimens of flowering plants from the local flora region. ( Given by Dr. Arthur Hollick.) 97 specimens of flowering plants and ferns from the local flora region. ( Given by Dr. H. M. Denslow.) 600 specimens of flowerless and flowering plants from Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. ( Collected by Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton and Mr. K. R. Boynton.) 2 specimens of New England Hepaticae. ( By exchange with Miss Annie Lorenz.) I specimen of Spyridia filamentosa from Chesapeake Bay. ( By exchange with U. S. National Herbarium.) 1 specimen of Enteromorpha compressa from Patuxent River, Md. ( By exchange with U. S. National Herbarium.) 1 specimen of Tribonema utriculosum from Dutchess Co., N. Y. ( Given by Mr. Harrison Elliott.) 1 specimen of Hydrodictyon reticulatum from Ohio. ( Given by Mr. Harrison Elliott.) 64 specimens of miscellaneous algae. ( Given by Dr. W. C. Sturgis.) 1 specimen of Lithothamnium glaciate from New Brunswick. ( Given by Mr. Frits Johansen.) '•• 18 Hepaticae from Colombia, S. A. ( Collected by Dr. F. W. Pennell.) 1 specimen of Neomeris van Bosseae from Palao Island. ( Given by Professor Yukio Yamada.) 3 specimens of mosses and 2 of fresh- water algae from Alabama. ( Given by Miss Helen Blackiston.) 48 ADDITIONS TO T H E COLLECTION OF D A H L I AS 34 Dahlia roots, 32 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. Joe Robinson.) 28 Dahlia roots, 15 varieties. ( By exchange with Dr. Marshall A. Howe.) 25 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( Given by Dahliadel Nurseries.) 22 Dahlia roots, 18 varieties. ( Given by Mr. J. J. Broomall.) 20 Dahlia roots, 8 varieties. ( Given by Slocombe's Dahlia Gardens.) 18 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. Wm. F. Jost.) 16 Dahlia plants, 12 varieties. ( Given by Fisher and Masson.) 10 Dahlia roots and 6 Dahlia plants, 8 varieties. ( Given by Meachen and Sherman.) 16 Dahlia plants, 8 varieties. ( Given by R. Vincent, Jr., & Sons.) 16 Dahlia roots, 10 varieties. ( Given by Mr. W. H. Waite.) 15 Dahlia roots, 15 varieties. ( Given by the E. T. Bedford Estate.) 14 Dahlia roots, 8 varieties. ( Given by Mr. Alfred E. Doty.) 10 Dahlia plants, 5 varieties. ( Given by Mr. John Harding.) 10 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( Given by Babylon Dahlia Gardens.) 9 Dahlia roots, 9 varieties. ( By exchange with New York State Agr. Exp. Station.) 8 Dahlia plants, 8 varieties. ( Given by Fraser's Dahlia Gardens.) 7 Dahlia plants, 7 varieties, and I Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. Richard Collins Colt.) 7 Dahlia roots, 4 varieties, and 2 Dahlia plants, 2 varieties. ( Given by Mr. Andrew Lufkin.) 7 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( Given by Mr. Wm. Marshall.) 7 Dahlia roots, 6 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. L. B. Hulit.) 6 Dahlia clumps, 5 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. F. P. Quinby.) 6 Dahlia roots, 3 varieties. ( Given by Mr. W. L. W. Darnell.) 6 Dahlia roots, 3 varieties. ( Given by Rocky Edge Dahlia Gardens.) 5 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( By exchange with New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.) 4 Dahlia plants, 3 varieties, and r Dahlia root. ( Given by Mr. T. J. Murphy.) 4 Dahlia roots, 2 varieties. ( By exchange with Mrs. Chas. H. Stout.) 2 Dahlia plants, 2 varieties. ( Given by Dr. F. R. Waite, Jr.) 2 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. H. J. Allen.) 2 Dahlia plants, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. J. A. Kemp.) 2 Dahlia roots, 1 variety, and 1 Dahlia plant. ( Given by Flushing Dahlia Gardens.) 2 Dahlia roots, 2 varieties. ( By exchange with Mr. C. P. Brummer.) 2 Dahlia roots, 2 varieties. ( By exchange with Miss Rosalie Weikert.) 2 Dahlia roots, I variety. ( Given by Mr. L. N. Davis.) 2 Dahlia roots, 1 variety. ( Given by Mr. John W. Eierman.) 2 Dahlia roots, I variety. ( Given by W. W. Kennedy and Sons.) r Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. Gunther Ackerman.) 1 Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. M. H. Davidson.) 1 Dahlia root. ( By exchange with Mr. L. J. Manz.) MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION Dr. Robert Abbe Edward D. Adams Charles B. Alexander Vincent Astor F. L. Atkins John W. Auchincloss George F. Baker Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Edmund L. Baylies Prof. Charles P. Berkey C. K. G. Billings George Blumenthal George P. Brett George S. Brewster Prof. N. L. Britton Prof. Edw. S. Burgess Or. Nicholas M. Butler Prof. W, H. Carpenter C. A. Coffin Marin Le Brun Cooper Paul D. Cravath James W. Cromwell Charles Deering Henry W. de Forest Robert W. de Forest Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow Cleveland H. Dodge Benjamin T. Fairchild Samuel W. Fairchild Marshall Field William B. O. Field James B. Ford Childs Frick Prof. W. J. Gies Daniel Guggenheim Murry Guggenheim J. Horace Harding J. Montgomery Hare Edward S. Harkness Prof. R. A. Harper T. A. Havemeyer A. Heckscher Hon. Joseph P. Hennessy Frederick Trevor Hill Anton G. Hodenpyl Archer M. Huntington Adrian Iselin Dr. Walter B. James Walter Jennings Otto H. Kahn Prof. James F. Kemp Darwin P. Kingsley Prof. Frederic S. Lee Adolph Lewisohn Frederick J. Lisman Kenneth K. Mackenzie V. Everit Macy Edgar L. Marston W. J. Matheson George McAneny John L. Merrill Ogden Mills Hon. Ogden L. Mills H. de la Montagne Barrington Moore J. Pierpont Morgan Dr. Lewis R. Morris Robert T. Morris Frederic R. Newbold Eben E. Olcott • Prof. Henry F. Osborn Chas. Lathrop Pack Rufus L. Patterson Henry Phipps F. R. Pierson James R. Pitcher Ira A. Place H. Hobart Porter Charles F. Rand Johnston L. Redmond Ogden Mills Reid Prof. H. M. Richards John D. Rockefeller W. Emlen Roosevelt Prof. H. H. Rusby Hon. George J. Ryan Dr, Reginald H. Sayre Mortimer L. Schiff Henry A. Siebrccht Valentine P. Snyder James Speyer Frederick Strauss F. K. Sturgis B. B. Thayer Charles G. Thompson W. Boyce Thompson Dr. W. Gilman Thompson Louis C. Tiffany Felix M. Warburg Paul M. Warburg Allen Wardwell H. H. Westinghouse Bronson Winthrop Grenville L. Winthrop MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL Mrs. Robert Bacon Mrs. Miss Elizabeth Billings Mrs. Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Mrs. Mrs. N. L. Britton Mrs. Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Mrs. Mrs. Fred. A. Constable Mrs. Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Mrs. Mrs. John W. Draper Mrs Miss Elizabeth S. Hamilton Mrs Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Mrs. Mrs. Robert C. Hill Mrs. Mrs. Frederick C. Hodgdon Mrs. Walter Jennings Mrs. Bradish Johnson Mrs. Delancey Kane Mrs. Gustav E. Kissel Mrs. Frederic S. Lee Mrs. William A. Lockwood Mrs. A. A. Low Mrs. David Ives Mackie Mrs. Pierre Mali Mrs. Henry Marquand Mrs. Roswell Miller Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham Mrs. George W. Perkins Harold I. Pratt Wm. Kelly Prentice James Roosevelt Arthur H. Scribner Theron G. Strong Henry O. Taylor John T. Terry W. G. Thompson Harold M. Turner Cabot Ward William H. Woodin HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL Mrs. E. Henry Harriman Mrs. John I. Kane Mrs. James A. Scrymser Miss Olivia E. P. Stokes GENERAL INFORMATION Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden are: Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract. Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. Gardens, including a beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock-loving plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens. Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America and foreign countries. Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water-lilies, gladioli, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of greenhouse- blooming plants. A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families, local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York, and the economic uses of plants. An herbarium, comprising more than one million specimens of American and foreign species. ^ Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies, Central and South America, for the study and collection of the characteristic flora. Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified problems of plant life. A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 34,000 books and numerous pamphlets. Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing throughout the year. Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical scientific, and partly of popular, interest. The education of school children and the public through the above features and the giving of free information on botanical, horticultural, and forestal subjects. The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the City of New York, private benefactions and membership fees. It possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for membership are always welcome. The classes of membership are: Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000 Patron single contribution 5,000 Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000 Member for Life single contribution 250 Fellowship Member annual fee IOO Sustaining Member annual fee 25 Annual Member annual fee 10 Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable incomes. The following is an approved form of bequest: / hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated under the Lazvs of New York, Chapter 285 of 1891, the sum of All requests for further information should be sent to THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK CITY |
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