NOTES AND NEWS. ji 



The sad death, in Jamaica, of Dr. J. E. Humphrey, creates a va- 

 cancy in the lectureship in botany at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. 

 Humphrey was very popular with his students, and his loss will be 

 much felt. 



Among some violets recently collected in New Jersey were two 

 plants in which the scapes instead of bearing the usual solitary flower 

 and fruit, branched and bore three well-developed capsules, each on 

 slender pedicels. This is a most unusual occurrence, if, indeed, it 

 has ever been reported. The specimens have been placed in the Na- 

 tional Herbarium; they are typical plants of the species now distin- 

 guished as V. eniarginata (Nutt.) LeConte. — Charles Lojtis Pollard, 

 U. S. National Museum. 



I have for several years been the happy possessor of a bog garden. 

 It is a small affair, no larger than what is contained within the bound- 

 ary of a good-sized dinner plate, yet this diminutive thing has been 

 the means, from time to time, of affording me a vast amount of pleas- 

 ant watching, as well as affording the means for much instructive 

 study. My little bog is easily prepared. The excavations and cement 

 linings attended with annoying cracking and leakage are all dispensed 

 with. Nothing is required but a good-sized earthen plate, enough 

 suitable moss from the swamp to fill it and to hold the occupants in 

 place and retain sufficient moisture to keep them in a healthy growing 

 condition, adding more water occasionally to make up for the loss 

 through evaporation and absorption. If the plants are crowded for 

 room, another plate is added, prepared in the same manner. My bog 

 garden affords perpetual enjoyment, for it is alike indifferent to "sum- 

 mer's heat and winter's cold." In the former it finds a place in the 

 shade of a neighboring tree, and in the latter in a convenient window 

 by the kitchen stove. From ten to twenty-five families, according to 

 the size of their individual members, find ample room to develop in 

 it, and did it not take more space than is now occupied by the plants, 

 I would give their names. Many of them are "voluntaries," which 

 are even more interesting than many of those transplanted. It is 

 often the case, when only green sphagnum, fresh from the swamp, is 

 used and provided with plenty of heat, light and moisture, that young 

 plants will soon appear that often prove quite a surprise. Similar re- 

 sults may be obtained by securing before winter sets in, a large pan 

 full of rich earth mold from some neighboring woods. Cover it and let 

 it stand in a warm place for a few days, as the seed will germinate 

 quicker. I was never more interested than in studying the behavior 

 of a wood nettle ( Laportea Canadensis ) growing in such a pan of 

 earth during the winter, nor more surprised than to behold a seedling 



