THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 117 



crimson. Day by day new flames burst out, and then they 

 spread and coalesce, until the entire tree is ablaze. H(»\v 

 the landscape is lighted up by these masses of solid color! 

 In another tree such gaudiness of attire would seem vulgar. 

 Here it is regal. Gold and crimson belong of right to this 

 queen, for whom it is right, too, that the ground beneath 

 should have its thick-piled carpet of the unfaded petals. 

 There are other plants equally embued with a passion for 

 brilhant color — the cardinal flower of the meadow, the 

 Zeuchneria of California hillsides, the Atamasco lily, the 

 scarlet salvia, the rose and carnation of the gardens, but 

 where among them all is one who can pour forth her pas- 

 sion in any such lavish creation? Well is the tree named 

 Poinciana rcgia. 



THE FIGHT AGAINST THE POTATO 



T A 7 HAT would we do without the potato? None is so poor 

 '' ^ that he cannot afford to eat it. None is so rich that he 

 can afford to disdain it. If all the potato plants of Europe 

 should perish and prove irreplaceable a large part of the popula- 

 tion would have to starve or emigrate. Yet people fought the 

 potato as though it were the plague when it was first introduced 

 into Europe. They were used to the plague and regarded 

 it as proper punishment for their sins, but the potato, coming 

 from the wild west of America, was new and therefore to be 

 feared. 



Sir Francis Drake is supposed to have brought the potato 

 to England in 1586, having perhaps taken the tubers, in the 

 course of one of his privateering cruises, from some Spanish 

 vessel, together with other less valuable booty, such as gold 

 and gems. Anyhow, he is credited with it by the Germans 



