THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. Ill 



meclianisms for securing cross-pollination. Indeed, some 

 look themselves like insects or birds. Occasionally we 

 meet with some rare or unusual flower. Such are always 

 turning up in these days of national expansion. Here we 

 can look at them without fear of the playful Moro of 

 tricky Tagalog. 



Be gentle with the florists, reader, for they are gentle 

 men from their trade. No one can live among flowers and 

 not imbibe some of their purity. Approach these guard- 

 ians quietly — not with ostentation and you will find they 

 can teach you much. 



Brown University, Providence, R. I. 



NEW WORK. 



BY M. F. BRADSHAW. 

 (^ BEDS are never out of season in this part ol the world 

 ■^ and collecting goes on, though not so rapidly as in 

 the summer and fall. They do not lose their interest for 

 me in the least and I am getting more and more impressed 

 with the amount of knowledge hidden among them which 

 perhaps I never should have gained otherwise. 



Still new work seems to be one of the wants of the new 

 year, so for me, while leaving out nothing of the old work, 

 I have begun another — if indeed, it is not rather play. A 

 blank book 7V2 x 10 inches has been procured and I mean 

 to take one family of plants and make as thorough a 

 study of it as I can, beginning with the seedling plants 

 and going on to the matured seeds. I shall write it all out 

 even the most common and conspicuous aspects and illus- 

 trate with water color and pen and ink drawings every 

 step of the way. 



This ought to make a beautiful book and that depends 

 on my skill ; as to the usefulness of it, who knows ? 



At least / shall remember the arrangement of every 

 part of every genus and species. My choice of family for 

 this year is the geranium represented here by only four 

 genera: Geranium with two species, with only one of 

 which I am acquainted ; Erodium with three, all familiar ; 



