THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 101 



Ferns as Weeds.— Accorning to The Gardening World 

 the directors of the Highland Agricultural Society in an 

 -endeavor to eradicate the common bracken {Pteris auqil- 

 ina) from grazing lands, has offered prizes of $100 for the 

 l)est horse-power machine designed for cutting the fern, 

 and $50 for the best hand implement for the same purpose. 



Water-cresses and Disease, — Two recent outbreaks 

 of tj'phoid in Great Britain have been directly traceable to 

 the use of water cresses froin streams polluted by sewage. 

 Water-cresses can be grown in moist soil instead of in 

 water, but the plant has been so abundantly naturalized 

 in waste places in America that almost the entire suppty 

 for American markets comes from these naturalized plants. 

 Those with a fondness for this plant would do well to as- 

 <:ertain where it w^as grown before purchasing. 



Hybrid Lobelias. — Mr. Oakes Ames descril^es in Rho- 

 dora for December certain hybrids between the great blue 

 lobelia {L. syphilitica) and the cardinal flower {L. cardin- 

 <a /is) produced by cross-pollination at North Easton. Sim- 

 ilar hybrids have been reported as growing wild in locali- 

 ties inhabited by the parent species. It is probable that 

 when our flora is better known many other plants now" 

 •considered species will turn out to be hybrids. 



Seed Dispersal in the Basswood. — An interesting 

 method of seed dispersion is exhibited in the case of Tilia 

 Americana^ the basswood. Attached to the peduncle (stem 

 of the flower-cluster and later fruit-cluster) at its base is a 

 membranaceous bract in the shape of an elongated Aving. 

 While many of the fruits drop off the peduncle early in the 

 season, many remain long after the leaves have fallen. 

 When a strong wind blows, the peduncles are broken off 

 at the base and away goes the cluster of fruit and its at- 

 tached bract. But instead of falling to the ground at the 

 foot of, ornear the parent tree, the bract revolving rapidly 

 round and round keeps the cluster suspended in the air 

 while the wind carries it away, often to distances of two 

 hundred feet and over. — Guelph Herald. 



