THE PLANT WORLD 157 



makes sarcastic allusions to " dry-as-dust " scientists. It is the fashion 

 at the present time to decry the labors of the student in herbarium and 

 laboratory, and to indulge in high-sounding panegyrics upon nature. 

 There can be no popular knowledge of botany, or indeed of any science, 

 however, without the firm groundwork which has been built up by gen- 

 erations of professionals, and which is being strengthened and enlarged 

 by every individual research. 



The current number of the Journal of the Neio York Botanical Gar- 

 den contains an account of the re-discovery at a station in Georgia, by 

 Mr. Roland M. Harper, of that exceedingly rare shrub of the heath 

 family, known to botanists as Elliottia. This has been found in only a 

 few localities, and was thought to have been completely exterminated. 



Mr. Frederick V. Coville has recently published in the Proceedings 

 of the Washington Academy of Sciences a most exhaustive and inter- 

 esting account of the willows of Alaska, the species being illustrated by 

 beautifully executed drawdngs. The cold northern bogs are a veritable 

 paradise for the willows, and they vary in size from the diminutive and 

 exceedingly rare little Salix polaris, to the large bush of the Sitka wil- 

 low, S. Sifchensis. 



