242 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Tribute to a Lover of Naturt. 



Louisville, Kentucky. 

 To the Editor : 



I am sending you herewith a tribute 

 from one friend to another, both lovers 

 of nature. The writer, Reverend J. W. 

 Lynch, now resides in Athens, Georgia, 

 but formerly lived in Danville, Ken- 

 tucky. Mr. Sandifer was a resident 

 of Danville, and one beautiful day last 



month was spending the day alone on 

 the river, where he died suddenly of apo- 

 plexy. Mr. Lynch's beautiful tribute to 

 him seems to me worthy of preservation, 

 and I am sure will be appreciated by 

 every true lover of nature. I send it to 

 you and hope you may be pleased to 

 publish it. 



Very respectfully, 



Dr. L .S. McMurty. 



He died in Nature's lap. All his life he loved her as a mother, ano 

 in death they were not divided. He went to sleep on his play ground, 

 like a tired child in the midst of its toys. I know the spot and love it — 

 more now than ever. The plash of gentle waters; the glint and glory of 

 Autumnal tints; the balm of rural solitudes; the unsullied breath of 

 maize and meadow, Kentucky's little orchestras — all these he loved and 

 were the favored witnesses of his translation. I am glad I was not with 

 him, friend and lover though I was and am. My presence would have 

 been a profanation. Nature was jealous of her son, and wanted him all 

 to herself in the sacred moment of death. I could wish, however, to 

 have seen his entrance into the Happy Hunting Grounds. He was not 

 long alone. 



Faithful churchman, high Mason, courtly gentleman, true sports- 

 man, appreciative listener to all high things, Good Bye ! 



Comrades of the rod, our lines are black today, and Kentucky's beau- 

 tiful streams are brackish with the salt of human tears. 



J. W. LYNCH. 

 Athens, Ga., Oct. 16th, 1912. 



Yellow Columbines. 



Cheney, Washington. 

 To the Editor : 



In The Guide to Nature (August, 

 1912) Mr. John A. Davis of Baltimore, 

 Maryland, mentions two yellow colum- 

 bines that are in his possession. He 

 asks if you have seen a yellow colum- 

 bine. Does he mean yon. the editor, 

 or me, the reader? If he means me, I 

 am pleased to tell him that we have 

 two species, both western, that have 

 yellow flowers. In seedmen's catalo- 

 gues he will find Aquilegia chrysantha, 

 the golden columbine, or Arizona col- 

 umbine as I have heard it called. 

 Coulter's Manual of Rocky Mountain 

 Botany gives the locality of these 

 snecies as "Colorado and southward." 

 The same authority gives Wyoming, 

 Montana and Idaho, as the home of the 



other yellow species, Aquilegia fla- 

 vescens. I have not seen this, but the 

 Arizona columbine has long been a 

 favorite. 



I have produced some interesting 

 hybrids by crossing different species. 

 One of my hybrids has blue sepals 

 tipped with yellow, and yellow petals. 

 The long spurs are blue. 



I had noticed that columbines were 

 red and yellow or blue and white, and 

 was therefore much pleased when my 

 first efforts at hybridizing produced a 

 flower differing in color from any that 

 I had ever heard of or seen. Have 

 you ever seen a blue and yellow colum- 

 bine? 



Another hybrid, having A. chrysantha 

 for one parent and a red and yellow 

 columbine for the other, has large, 

 bright, copper-red sepals, and butter- 



