104 THE PLANT WORLD 



This remarkable behavior of the peduncle of Taraxacum has an im- 

 portant biological significance. It remains relatively short during the 

 time of blooming and the early part of the seed ripening, and at this time 

 especially the peduncle in many cases reduces its height by bending, so 

 that damage by wind, rain, and other agents may be for the most part 

 avoided. Thereafter, just before the scattering of the fruits, the peduncle 

 takes again an upright position, grows with constantly increasing 

 rapidity until it is twice or three times its length at the flowering time, 

 so that the wind may in the most efficient manner scatter the fruits." 



A similar behavior in the flower stalks of other plants has been no- 

 ticed by several authors, but especially interesting are the observations 

 made on certain molds (^Phycomyces nitens, by Carnoy and by Errera, 

 and Mucor Mucedo and Pilobolus anomahis by Brefeld), from which it 

 appears that the aerial stalks which produce the sporangia are arrested in 

 their lengthening when the spores are developing, but elongate greatly 

 afterwards. 



Miyake's method was to measure at the same time each day the lengths 

 of the peduncle and to record his observations in tabular form. He used 

 also the familiar method of using ink markings to determine the zone of 

 growth. And his results are based on Japanese and American plants. 



It may be noted finally that there is very much of this kind of careful 

 observation which can be carried on by any earnest teacher who desires 

 to be also a student, without any apparatus. It is this accurate quanti- 

 tative method of studying common plants which contributes to efficient 

 education. 



THE MAPLE SAP FLOW. 



A REMARKABLE bulletin has been issued from the Vermont Agricultural 

 Experimental Station, entitled " The Maple Sap Flow," being Bulletin 

 No. 103, by C. H. Jones, A. W. Edson, and W. T. Morse. It appears 

 from an extensive note on page 51 that Professor L. R. Jones, of the 

 University of Vermont and Botanist of the Station, has had a very large 

 share of the responsibility for the planning and carrying out of the 

 extended investigations into the physiology of the maple tree connected 

 with the production of sap. The 184 pages of the pamphlet are crowded 

 with the data collected during five seasons of study, and the interpre- 

 tations based on them will certainly be of much value, both economically 

 and to science. We can do no more here than to indicate briefly some 

 facts and conclusions of general interest : 



1. The leaf area of a tree fifteen inches in diameter and fifty feet high 

 was estimated to be in one season (1899) 8,846 square feet, and in the 

 following (1900), 14,930 square feet ; or otherwise expressed, one-fifth 



