EDITORIAL . . . 



The poem "A March Ramble" printed in the last number was 

 reprinted at the request of a number of our subscribers. 





We have just received volume twelve of Sargent's magnificent 

 Silvci of NortJi America, which completes the conifers. It was 

 supposed that this would be the last volume, but the publishers an- 

 nounce that another volume will be necessary in order to record the 

 additions, changes and new data obtained since the first volume was 

 issued. This last volume will be distributed by the publishers without 

 expense to the subscribers. 



* * 

 The Washington Botanical Club was organized by a gathering of 



botanists held at the residence of one of its members November ii, 

 1898. The limit of membership was fixed at twenty, and it was deter- 

 mined that the meetings should be, for the present at least, of a dis- 

 tinctly social and informal nature, with free scope for discussion 

 and the general interchange of ideas. At a subsequent meeting, held 

 December 14, the organization was perfected by the election of Pro- 

 fessor Edward L. Greene as President and Mr. Charles L. Pollard as 

 Secretary. The club is to hold monthly sessions, devoting itself chiefly 

 to systematic and ecological work, the field of physiology and vegeta- 

 ble pathology being covered by the already existing Botanical Seminar. 



* 



Is THE code of scientific morals under which modern botanists are 

 working, the same as that which guided the leaders of three-quarters 

 of a century ago ? From hints we occasionally hear, and from things 

 we now and then inadvertently see, it would appear that some inno- 

 vations have been made! In this connection we take the liberty of 

 quoting from Dr Torrey's introduction to his "Account of a collec- 

 tion of plants made during a journey to and from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains in the summer of 1820 by Edwin P. James." He says: " Some 

 of the species discovered by Dr. James were found the year previous 

 by Mr. Nuttall. These I have omitted to describe, as it would be im- 

 proper to interfere with that gentleman's prior discoveries, especially 

 as he long since furnished me with almost a complete set of the spec- 

 imens collected in his last journey." In the modern mad race for new 

 species it apparently would not be possible to distribute a collection 

 until it was thoroughly described. Perhaps if more attention was 

 given to the study of life-histories of plants and less to searching for 

 new species, the real science of botany might progress faster. 



