108 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



of course, very primitive: one or two benches, a couple ot 

 " maguey " hammocks made from the fibre of the century 

 plant, a rude table, perhaps a shelf or two, and a small 

 trunk. And yet it is a comfortable dwelHng; and, i;er- 

 haps, it shelters fewer "family skeletons" than the aver- 

 age Fifth Avenue mansion. 



When on a recent tour of inspection of the Public 

 Lands in the very mountainous Luquillo district, I stop- 

 ped at one of these palm houses away up in the hills and, 

 while waiting for a rain storm to pass, was served with 

 an exceedingly good cup of coffee; and here agciin was 

 the palminess of it all in evidence, — for the coffee was 

 served in the half shell of a cocoanut. 



Alvyaguez, Porto Rico. 



NATURE EVER WITH US. 



BY DR. WILLIAM WHITMAN BAILEY. 



THEREis no time of year when the plant-lover is wholly 

 deprived of material for stud3\ Even it gross mate- 

 rial is wanting, there is memory and sentiment. Nor, by 

 sentiment is designed "gush," though the two things are 

 often confused. There is far too much of the mock-heroic 

 of the "sposhy" in articles written about nature, who is, 

 herself, most modest and retiring, except perhaps, in her 

 angry woods. If anything would excite her righteous 

 anger to hurricane or tornado pitch, one might fancy it 

 would be some of the things said in her name ! 



To return from a perhaps uncalled-for digression, 

 spring delights us with the ever joyous renewal of life; 

 summer affords a bounteous display of floral beauty in 

 meadows, woods, mountains and fields; autumn is gorge- 

 ous with perfection of foliage and fruit. Even winter, at 

 first though forbidding, offers a myriad charming mosses 

 and lichens, the frozen cascade, the broad, dark expanse of 

 crystal-covered river or lake. Again, at all times, nature 

 yields her sea-v^eeds in ocean, bay, river or even in fresh- 

 water streams; for algae are not necessarily marine. 

 Diatoms and desmids, for instance, are fresh-water forms, 



