THE PLANT WORLD 173 



BRIEFER ARTICLES. 



What Shall We Do About It? 



Some weeks ago the business managemeut of this journal sent out 

 mailing cards to all tlie former known subscribers to the Asa Gray Bul- 

 letin, vn\l\ the view of ascertaining whether sufficient financial support 

 to warrant the reprinting of Volume I. No. 1 of the Bulletin could be 

 secured. Those receiving the cards were requested to sign a promise 

 to pay twenty-five cents for such reprint, and to return the cards to the 

 office of the Plant World Company. At the present time we are 

 obliged to announce that the response has not been sufficient to justify 

 the expense of making the plates. 



The Asa Gray Bulletin was established as the organ of the Asa 

 Gray Chapter of the Agassiz Association — a small but earnest body of 

 amateur students who issued a small and unpretentious magazine. 

 There was at first no thought of attempting to secure a subscription 

 list beyond the Chapter membership, and hence the edition of this first 

 number of the Bulletin was very limited, and was almost entirely dis- 

 tributed among the members. Later the growing interest in popular 

 botany, and the need of some publication to represent this science in 

 the primary and secondary schools caused the editors to materially 

 enlarge the pages and scope of the Bulletin, which continued to grow 

 and gain in importance until the time of its absorption by The Plant 

 World. Since that time the sales of back issues have been quite exten- 

 sive, and most of the purchaser of these back volumes are naturally 

 anxious to complete their sets of Yolume I. The net proceeds from 

 these sales are turned over to the families of the late editors of the Bul- 

 letin, Gilbert H. Hicks and Thomas A. Williams, so that our own inter- 

 est in the matter is purely that of an agent. We do not therefore feel 

 warranted in reprinting the number in question unless the amount is 

 practically assured by subscription aside from the revenues now de- 

 rived from the sale of the Bulletin. At the same time it must be ad- 

 mitted that Volume I, if complete, could probably be disposed of to 

 much greater advantage, and the families of the deceased editors would 

 reap greater benefits. We wdll accordingly hold the question open for 

 a short time to await the effect of this public announcement to readers 

 of The Plant W^orld, many of whom were former supporters of the 



