THE PLANT WOELD 37 



The Agricultural Department gives some interesting statistics show- 

 ing the surprising growth of the cut-flower industry in recent years. 

 The retail value of cut-flowers sold annually is now $12,500,000. Of this 

 no less than $6,000,000 is paid for roses, $4,000,000 for violets and 

 $500,000 for chrysanthemums. 



The recent researches of Overton on the red cell-sap of plants shows 

 that its occurrence is conditioned upon the presence of sugar, and that 

 the depth of the tints depends upon the concentration of sugar. Low 

 night temperatures induce the development of such colors, which the 

 author believes accounts for the reddish coloration of alpine species, 

 and to the same cause are due the yellowish-red tints of evergreen 

 leaves during the winter. If two plants of the ordinary bladder-wort 

 (Utricidaria) are grown in separate dishes of water containing different 

 proportions of sugar, the relation of this substance to color production 

 can be verified. — Jour. N. Y. Botan. Garden. 



On January first the long established Botanisches Centralhlatt became 

 the property of the Association Internationale des Botanistes. This 

 journal, as is doubtless well known, was established for the purpose of 

 furnishing abstracts of current botanical literature, but there had been 

 no organized effort to make these abstracts promptly or thoroughly. It 

 has now been entirely organized with corps of editors in various coun- 

 tries, who will see to it that botanical papers are noticed promptly. The 

 American editors are D. H. Campbell, C. J. Chamberlain, D. T. McDon- 

 gal, G. T. Moore, D. P. Penballow, H. von Schrenk and Wm. Trelease. 

 The abstracts will be published in the language in which they are written. 



The February number of Forest Leaves contains two fine, full page 

 plates of the crab apple {Pyrus coronaria), and a short account of it as it 

 is found in nature. 



Mr. J. B. Hatcher has recently published [Annals of the Carnegie 

 Museum, A^ol. I., 263], a short account of a supposed new fossil palm 

 {Sabalrigida) from the Laramie (Upper Cretaceous) of Converse County, 

 Wyoming. It was found in association with the huge horned dinosaurs 

 which are so abundant in the region. 



The examination of the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve, Washington, 

 together with the Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, by Mr. 

 Fred. G. Plumer, forms part of the report on Forest Reserves, by Mr. 

 Henry Gannett, Geographer, in the Twenty-first Annual Report of the 

 United States Geological Survey now passing through the press, but not 

 yet published. 



The Mount Rainier Forest Reserve includes the crest of the Cas- 

 cade Range, in southern Washington, with its slopes upon the east and 

 the west. Of the the total of 2,146,600 acres, 41.4 per cent, lies on the 

 eastern slope, and 58.6 per cent, on the western slope of the mountains. 



