226 THK PI.ANT WORI^D 



no constriction, but the base of the commissure is extended into an auri- 

 cular sinus body of greater or less prominence. 



The spadix is invisible through the opening in the spathe, and indeed 

 it would seem that the spathe might just as well be hermetically sealed, 

 for I doubt that any insect would enter it and remain long enough to 

 effect cross-fertilization, on account of the odor which emanates there- 

 from. 



This poisonous perfume is the great blotch on the character of a very 

 interesting member of a wonderful family. Other Aroids possess fetid 

 (like Helicodiceros) or nauseating (like Colocasia) odors, but the effluvium 

 of the Guapa is positively dangerous, causing nausea and severe headache, 

 which persists several hours. Not only does this odor seem to penetrate 

 the whole respiratory system, but with a menthol-like persistency it can 

 be actually/*?// in the nostrils long after inhaling it. 



Wherefore we leave the Guapa alone in its glory when it blooms. 



O. W. Barrett. 



Mayagiiez, Porto Rico. 



THE BASKET WILLOW. 



The culture and manufacture of basket willow have not attained in 

 the United States the degree of perfection and profit that mark the in- 

 dustry in Europe. This is for several reasons, the most important being 

 the relative compensation of labor and the failure of the American grower 

 to adopt the most improved methods. The growing, harvesting, care, 

 and manufacture of willow require manual labor wholly unassisted by 

 machinery. The cheap labor of Europe has grown willow and woven it 

 into baskets at a profit impossible with us and our better-paid labor. 

 American ingenuity has still further complicated the issue by producing 

 a cheap split wood basket to take the place of the more expensive and 

 durable willow. Thus an industry of good possibilities is languishing. 



The Bureau of Forestry has taken up the matter and given it careful 

 study. Its expert has thoroughly investigated the methods of culture 

 and manufacture both in this country and in England, Germany, and Hol- 

 land. In addition the Bureau has established a willow plantation on the 

 Department's experimental grounds near Washington, D. C, where the 

 best species of basket willows were set out on different soils and spaced 

 in accordance with different methods of planting. The results of this 

 research will shortly be made known by the Bureau in a bulletin entitled 

 "The Basket Willow." 



The growing of basket willows was introduced into the United States 

 some sixty years ago by German basket makers, who settled in western 

 New York and Pennsylvania. They first attempted to use wild willows, 

 but soon abandoned these as impracticable and imported the purple or 



