74 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



intensely foetid. The exQeedingly minute spores are im- 

 bedded in this substance, which is greedily devoured by 

 various kinds of insects, mostly flies, who thus uncon- 

 sciously^ diffuse the spores, as it has been shown that these 

 are not injured by passing through the alimentary tract 

 of an insect. It is interesting to note that in certain of the 

 fungi the same advertisements in the guise of colour, sweet 

 taste and smell, are used for the purpose of unconscious 

 dispersion of the spores by insects, as are used by many 

 flowering plants for the purpose of securing cross-fertiliza- 

 tion, also through the agency of insects. — From an article 

 by George Massee in Knowledge. 



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Wanted. — Short notes of interest to the genei'al bot- 

 anist are always in demand for this department. Our 

 readers are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



Squashes Fed on Milk.— Apropos of Dr. Bigelow's 

 query in a recent number of this journal whether squashes 

 can be fed on milk, it is of interest to quote a professional 

 opinion on the subject by a grower of squashes who has 

 tried it. The man who grew the mammoth scjuash that 

 took first prize at the World's Fair in Chicago says that 

 he has experimented with feeding squashes on milk and 

 that, as might be supposed, there is nothing in it. His 

 method of raising big squashes is this: He makes the 

 ground very rich and digs it over several times before the 

 seeds are planted. As soon as the vines are three feet long, 

 the earth in a circle ten feet from the plant is heavily 

 mulched, and the vines staked down partly to keep them 

 from being blown about b^^ the wind and partly to make 

 them root at the joints. As fast as fertile blossoms appear 

 they are cut off until the last of July when a few fertile 

 blossoms are selected and carefully hand pollinated. When 



