6o8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



For the propagation of barberries gardeners often take advan- 

 tage of those adventitious shoots or " suckers " before mentioned 

 which spring from near or beneath the surface of the ground. 

 These, separated from the parent and planted in suitable soil, 

 strike root after the manner of a willow twig and develop into a 



shrub. With wild barberries, 

 if the main part of the shrub 

 happens to be fatally injured, 

 suckers proceeding from parts 

 of the root even remote from 

 the stem may continue to live 

 and thus perpetuate the stock 

 in the same locality. 



In Nature, however, it is 

 upon seedlings that the chief 

 Fig. 12.-BERBERTSVULGABIS Transition forms dependence is placed for the 



connecting foliage leat with bud scale. -^ . i: i j> j. i 



continuance and spread ot the 

 species. Having now considered, as fully as present limits will 

 permit, the phenomena connected with the barberries' vegetative 

 life, we will next turn our attention to the special peculiarities 

 of flower and fruit which contribute more or less directly to the 

 production and care of offspring. 



[To he concluded.^ 



COMMERCIAL POWER DEVELOPMENT AT NIAGARA. 



By EENEST a. LE SUEUR. 



AS many of the readers of The Popular Science Monthly are 

 aware, there is a great engineering project on foot at Niagara 

 Falls, looking to the development of a part of the water power at 

 present running to waste over the gigantic cataract. A company, 

 or rather an association of companies, working for a common end, 

 is at present occupied at the falls with the object in view of util- 

 izing the power commercially. 



That this situation is the finest in the world for developing 

 mechanical power has long been realized, but the local demands 

 at Niagara were comparatively trifling, and only lately have our 

 facilities for transmitting power over distances become suffi- 

 ciently developed to warrant such an undertaking as is now in 

 hand. The power company does not, however, look entirely to 

 distant points for consumers of their output ; on the contrary, a 

 very large amount will be used almost on the spot by manufac- 

 tures which are now moving to Niagara. The variety of pur- 

 poses to which this power will be put may be gathered from the 



