THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 63 



in the first place I did not think I could write as I did not 

 know enough about plants ? Now I find so manj^ interest- 

 ing things that I believe I could write the whole paper." 



Would that there were many more in the same position ! 



* * 



This journal counts itself fortunate in having several 

 friends who take enough interest in its welfare to frequent- 

 ly suggest new ways for making it valuable or advise us 

 in regard to the course it is pursuing. One of these recent- 

 ly wrote : "Did it ever occur to you that some who might 

 subscribe will be afraid they are putting their money into 

 a sinking ship if you say too much about needing more 

 subscribers? I, for one, have had awful luck, and the 

 Botanist is the first plant journal that did not fail the 

 minute it got my money." As to this, we must say that 

 if we have given anyone the impression that we need more 

 subscribers, we have given him an impression far from the 

 truth. This journal was launched with the definite under- 

 standing that it was to fight its own way and not to ex- 

 pect something easy in the way of subsidies. Thus far it 

 has paid its own way and more, for it has twice enlarged 

 in size. No; to keep the journal running at this size we 

 do not need a single additional subscriber but we want 

 about ten times as many. It is our ambition to make this 

 a much larger publication and we must have more sub- 

 scribers to do it, for under our rule the magazine must pay 

 as it goes. The publication that starts out with a flour- 

 ish is usually heavily subsidized. If the subsidy holds out 

 until it becomes established, well and good ; if not there is 

 an immediate crash. On the pay-as-you-go plan we do 

 not see how a publication can come to ruin. Therefore 

 the sooner those hesitating plant-lovers realize this and 

 send on their dollar, the sooner wnll this magazine be able 

 to rival Harper's in size. We don't increase the size every 

 time we get a new subscriber, but we do whenever we get 

 enough new ones to warrant it. Moral : Now is the time 

 to subscribe ! 



