6 



THE PLANT AVORLD 



Inexpensive outfit for determining grasses. 



the object examined iuto strong relief ) for an operating table, you are 

 ready for the fray. 



Grasses, unlike carices, are in best condition for working up when 

 they are in flower, and if collected then, you may use your pleasure 

 about studying them at once or laying them aside until a more conve- 

 nient time, as, for instance, \^dnter time. Wlien ready to examine the 

 specimen, break off a spikelet or two, and lay them on the slate under 

 the field of the tripod lens ; then applying your eye to the lens, and 

 with a dissecting needle in each hand to manoeuvre the spikelet, you 

 will have little difficulty in dividing part from part and noting thor- 

 oughly all the characteristics. A pocket lens will, of course, be the 

 readiest means of examining other characters than those of the flowers. 



Admirably arranged keys to genera and species are given in Brit- 

 ton and Brown's Illustrated Flora, which reduce to a minimum the 

 difficulties of hunting down the name. Students will also find much 

 that is helpful in F. Lamson-Scribner's illustrated publications on 

 American Grasses, issued as Bulletins No. 7 and 17 of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Division of Agrostology. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



The botanical department of the Iowa State Agricultural College 

 and Experiment Station suffered severely from the effects of a disaster- 

 ous fire a few weeks ago. More than two-thirds of the general collec- 

 tion, including many valuable duplicates, was burned, and most of the 

 microscopes and other laboratory apparatus were destroyed. Fortu- 

 nately the herbarium of the late C. C. Parry, which is of great import- 

 ance to botanists on account of the types which it contains, was saved. 

 Dr. Pammel will have the sympathy of all scientists in the loss of so 

 much material, accumulated after years of hard work. 



