■^f^m/'ymr^ 



N©t@ GlFld. ©©FI^lHieieFlt. j 



Wanted. — Short notes of interest to the general bot- 

 anist are always in demand for this department. Our 

 readers are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



A New Sugar Producer.— According to several of the 

 •agricultural papers a plant has been discovered in South 

 America which produces a considerable quantity of sac- 

 charine matter. It is one of the thoroughworts and is 

 known as Eupatorium rehaudium. From experiments 

 made with it, it is said to 3'ield a sugar many times as 

 sweet as cane or beet sugar. 



Acorns from the Charter Oak.— Mr. Charles D. 

 Tumbull, 2 Park Terrace, Hartford, Conn., writes that he 

 has recently gathered a lot of acorns from a tree w^hose 

 parent was the famous Charter Oak of history and offers 

 them to any of our readers who will send postage. Many 

 w^ill doubtless be glad to obtain such relics of this historic 

 tree. The present tree was planted in Hartford in 1847 

 and is now a strong and sturdy specimen. 



Tobacco and Nicotin.— The alkaloids of plants are 

 usually considered in the nature of waste products, but an 

 Italian scientist finds that this does not hold true of nico- 

 tin and some others, such as colchicin, an alkaloid of the 

 autumn crocuses {Colchium). Nicotin is not found in the 

 seeds of tobacco but a substance similar to it exists in 

 them. It is found, however, that if one cuts off the flower- 

 ing part of the tobacco plant, there is at once an increase 

 of nicotin in the plant, and it is the scientists' belief that 

 this nicotin is a substance nourishing to the seeds w^hich 

 was designed to be transformed by them into other sub- 

 stances. Cutting off the flowering parts stops the move- 

 ment of nicotin in that direction and it therefore accumu- 

 lates in the leaves o the plant. 



