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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ture. " The fruits are carried by the waters 

 of the Gulf Stream into the Caribbean Sea, 

 and either thrown ashore on the West Indian 

 Islands or carried still farther, as in the 

 case of many other similar fruits, across the 

 North Atlantic and cast on the shores of 

 western Europe." Of these other similar 

 fruits, Mr. Morris mentions the Laodicea of 

 the Seychelles known as coco de mer 

 which was first found floating ; the " sea 

 apples " or " sea cocoanut " fruits of the 

 Bursa palm which drift in the West Indian 

 seas ; the large brown beans of the Cocoon, 

 or Entada scandens, which are cast ashore in 

 various parts of the world ; and a specimen 

 of Ccesalpinia bonduc. 



An Experinieut iu Irrigation. The re- 

 sults of experiments in irrigation of garden 

 crops are given by Prof. Byron D. Halsted 

 in the report of the Botanical Department 

 of the New Jersey Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. The water was applied in the 

 latter part of the season, and therefore only 

 to the later crops ; to the second crop of 

 golden wax bean, and to pepper, turnips, 

 egg plant, and celery. The yield of beans 

 from similar plots was as 17 pounds and 1 

 ounce not irrigated to 45 pounds irrigated ; 

 of peppers, 'JIV fruits to 1,277 fruits. The 

 peppers from the unirrigated belt, moreover, 

 filled only six and a half peach baskets, with 

 a total weight of 80 pounds, while those 

 from the irrigated belt filled eleven and a 

 quarter like baskets, with a total weight of 

 147 pounds. Further, the irrigated peppers 

 were plumper and better colored and of far 

 superior quality and brought much more in 

 the market. In the plants themselves the 

 leaves of the unirrigated belts looked wilted 

 and limp, while those of the irrigated plants 

 stood up fresh and strong. Irrigation pro- 

 longed the season of fruitage and the frosts 

 caught the plants still blooming and bearing 

 fruits in all stages of growth. With egg 

 plants and tomatoes the experiments were 

 made too late for the most satisfactory re- 

 sults. Those crops want midsummer rather 

 than autumn irrigation. Irrigation of tur- 

 nips caused vigorous growth of the plants, 

 but increased the tendency to club. Better 

 effects may be expected iu land free from 

 the club-root fungus. The crop of celery was 

 increased iu the irrigated rows to two and a 



half times that upon the rows not receiv- 

 ing the water. In marketable product, in 

 pounds, the difference was three to one, and 

 in marketable value about eight to one in 

 favor of irrigation. 



Significance of Morpliological Botany. 



The problem of morphological botany was 

 characterized by Dr. D. H. Scott, of Kew 

 Gardens, in his sectional address at the Brit- 

 ish Association, as a purely histological one, 

 and perfectly distinct from any of the ques- 

 tions with which physiology has to do. Yet 

 there is a close relation between these two 

 branches of biology, at any rate to thoge who 

 maintain the Darwinian position, for from that 

 point of view we see that all the characters 

 which the morphologist has to compare are, or 

 have been, adaptive. Hence, it is impossible 

 for the morphologist to ignore the functions 

 of those organs of which he is studying the 

 homologies. There is no essential difference 

 between adaptive and morphological charac- 

 ters, but the physiologist is interested in the 

 question how organs work ; the morphologist 

 asks, What is their history ? The origin of 

 the great groups of plants is perhaps an in- 

 soluble problem, but all that can be directly 

 observed or experimented upon is the occur- 

 rence of variations. Such investigations can 

 but throw a side light on the historical ques- 

 tion of the origin of the existing orders of 

 living things, and the morphologist must use 

 other methods of research. In judging of 

 the affinities of fossil plants vegetative char- 

 acters must be made use of, and especially 

 characters drawn from anatomical structure. 

 In many specimens the anatomical features 

 are the only ones known, and in cases where 

 the reproductive structures have been discov- 

 ered the conclusions drawn from anatomical 

 characters have been confirmed. The study 

 of fossil botany is thus likely to call atten- 

 tion to points of structure formerly passed 

 over. Anatomical characters are being made 

 use of in the classification of the higher 

 plants, and thus an effort is being made to 

 place the classification on a broader basis. 

 They are undeniably adaptive, but it is a 

 mistake to suppose that they are necessarily 

 the expression of recent adaptations ; on the 

 contrary, there are examples of marked pe- 

 culiarities which have become the property 

 of large groups of plants. A given anatomi- 



