66 THE PIvANT WORLD 



The cluster so formed was made up of crystals extending in all directions 

 from the source of water, but nearly all the crystals were curved away 

 from the median line of the spot through which the water trickled, for 

 the current of water, slow as it was, was a little faster at its center than 

 at its edges," and as it froze as fast as it reached the air in either case, one 

 side became convex, as already explained. From the median line as a 

 center, the crystals radiated outward, forming complicated groups as 

 those from adjacent centers approached or overlapped in their develop- 

 ment. An effort to get a picture of the barrel showing the crystals was 

 unsuccessful, owing to the darkness of the interior of the spring, but 

 the effort will be repeated when the opportunity is afforded. The pres- 

 ence of considerable sediment in the freezing water made the crystals 

 nearly the same color as the surface of the barrel staves, between which 



they were formed. 

 College Park, Md. 



A NEW organization called the American Breeders' Association was 

 perfected at St. Louis December 29 and 30, 1903. It includes both animal 

 breeders and plant breeders, also scientists who are interested in the study 

 of heredity in plants and animals. 



To the Editor of The Plant World : 



Now that the late Mr. Henry E. Baum has given us a very interesting 

 history of the introduction of the breadfruit into tropical America, will not 

 some one give us a companion account of the origin of the cultivated 

 banana ? Surely there are few subjects of greater interest or importance. 

 Although some 200,000,000 of people are largely dependent upon the ba- 

 nana for their existence, and though it figures in the diet of about one-third 

 of the human race, its origin is still obscure so far as I can learn, and 

 perhaps no plant is less well known in respect to the taxonomic relations 

 of its hundred or more species and varieties. It is one of the four most 

 important food plants of the present day, and its importance will consid- 

 erably increase as we depend more and more upon the tropics to supply 

 our needs. As soon as we begin to eat things for their nutrient values 

 the day of banana flour will be postponed no longer. Let us hear how 

 this magnificent plant found its way to the remotest corners of the torrid 

 zone — we don't ask the author to attack the disheartening subject of the 

 synonymy of the varieties if he will only tell us whether we must regard 

 the plantains as of the same species as the true bananas. 



Mayaguez, Porto Rico. O. W. BARRETT. 



