1^8 THE PLANT WORLD. 



out of the colony. In 1825 Gen. Lafayette was entertained under it, 

 and after that there were frequent mentions in the Maryland Gazette 

 of Fourth of July celebrations taking place under its ample shade. 



About 1840 several youths were playing under this tree with that 

 very dangerous but frequent adjunct of juvenile sport — gunpowder 

 They had about two pounds of it. They placed it in the hollow of 

 the tree where it was ignited and exploded, setting fire to the grand 

 old tree. The citizens of Annapolis repaired in force for its rescue, 

 the firemen bringing out the city fire engine and deluging the tree 

 with water. The boys' escapade was no doubt greatly denounced, 

 but the juveniles had done better than their denunciators thought or 

 the juveniles intended. The tree had fallen into a state of decay 

 that threatened its life. The next year it put forth its branches with 

 its youth renewed. The explosion had destroyed the worms that 

 were gnawing away its vitals. 



" How long this monarch of a primeval forest has existed, none 

 can tell. An octogenarian tells me he remembers it in 181 2. It 

 seemed as large then as now. If in 1652 it was of such imposing 

 growth that it was selected as the scene of so important an event as 

 the making of a treaty of peace by the whites with their savage foes, 

 may we not infer it lived before Columbus discovered America. On 

 the thirtieth of July, 1886, it was, two feet from the ground, twenty- 

 nine feet in circumference and stood about 150 feet high. One-third 

 of the trunk is gone and is now boarded up. The body of the tree 

 is a mere shell — a marvel how its life can be maintained and thousands 

 of tulips bloom on its branches in their season." 



THE SCIENCE OF PLANT ECOLOGY. 



By TJios. LI. Kearney, Jr. 



NO branch of botany is being more industriously cultivated to-day 

 than is ecology, which treats of the adaptations of the or- 

 ganism to its environment. This term, which is still not 

 altogether familiar to many students of plants, was coined by 

 the zoologist Haeckel, and is now widely used in biological literature. 

 It embraces a great deal of that part of zoology and botany which 

 was formerly covered by the word "biology " in its narrower sense. 

 In the study of vegetable ecology every branch of botany must 

 be drawn upon. The physiologist, the anatomist, the morphologist, 

 the embryologist, the cytologist, the systematist, each contributes his 

 share towards the solution of ecological problems. Ecology requires 

 the most careful of study in the field — indeed it is field work,/ar^.r- 



