. . EDITORIAL 



Dr. B. D. Halsted's report for last year of the botanical depart- 

 ment of the New Jersey Experiment Stations is just at hand. It 

 contains much valuable information regarding the study of plant dis- 

 eases and the general improvement of garden and farm products. 



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" The Poisonous Plants of New Jersey," by Dr. Halsted, is the 

 subject of Bulletin 135 of the New Jersey Experiment Stations. It 

 contains careful descriptions of all the species and illustrations of the 

 more important. It should do much toward decreasing the number of 

 cases of poisoning within the State. 



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The size of White Oak and other trees in Pennsylvania is made 

 the subject of an interesting little note by Dr. J. T. Rothrock in the 

 April number of Forest Leaves. He mentions a number from six to 

 eight feet in diameter, and one that was twenty-seven feet in circum- 

 ference, or about nine feet in diameter. He also speaks of Sassafras 

 trees four feet in diameter. We would be very glad to publish notes 

 from such or the readers of The Plant World as may have noted 

 extraordinarily large examples of our trees As Dr. Rothrock says, 

 it is not necessary to go to the Sequoias of California for trees of nota- 

 ble size. 



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It may be recalled that in a former number of The Plant World 

 we directed attention to the development of school gardens, especially 

 in and about the city of Boston and in many foreign countries, notably 

 France and Russia. We then expressed the hope that the establish- 

 ment of such gardens might become general throughout this country. 

 The following extract from the March Forester shows that the subject 

 is engaging the attention of those whose authority inay carry it to a 

 successful issue: "Governor John Lind, the new chief executive of 

 Minnesota, expresses the opinion in his message to the Legislature 

 that public opinion in that State had been educated up to the point of 

 supporting a system of forest culture on a large scale. He made the 

 novel but meritorious suggestion that each country school district 

 should have a plot of ground connected with it in which the children 

 should be taught to plant and rear trees, and that horticulture and 

 forestry should be made regular studies in our normal schools." May 

 the day soon come when each school has its garden. 



