THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 19 



leaves of various species of sumac (Rhus) have the property 

 of expelhng their resin with noticeable violence when placed in 

 water, but like many another "it is said" nobody seems to have 

 looked into the truth of the matter. We shall be glad if any- 

 one can enlighten us. 



Survival of the Fittest. — Natures's ways are often 

 very grim and relentless. In the upbringing of her gentle 

 progeny, the flowers, she does not spare the chastening. Days 

 of fitful sunshine now alternate with lashings of icy blasts, with 

 deadly frost grips and pitiless numbing torrents. Great is 

 the slaughter among the innocents that the harvest of blooms 

 may be forthcoming in greater perfection. The law of the 

 survival of the fittest is as inexorable in the vegetable kingdom 

 as elsewhere and the graceful delicately-fashioned blossoms 

 that deck field and garden often come, like most things of 

 worth, out of great tribulation. — Gardening IV arid. 



Effect of Immature Seeds. — The majority of seeds 

 will not grow as soon as ripe, but demand or require a season 

 of rest before continuing growth. Some, however, not only 

 grow as soon as as the containing fruit is ripe but even before 

 this. The tomato plant is one whose seeds behave in this 

 manner. In general plants grown from such immature seeds 

 fruit earlier than others of the same species, but the fruit is 

 likely to be small. If the practice of growers is to be a criter- 

 ion, even the size of the seeds may indicate something of the 

 vigor of th.e crop they will produce. Cabbage growers always 

 reject the large seeds, holding that such seeds gi\'e rise to 

 plants that produce leaves rather than heads. The same belief 

 causes them to prefer old cabbage seeds to fresh ones and they 

 commonly use seed that is two or three years old. Growlers 

 of squashes, cucumbers and melons insist th.at the older such 

 seeds are. the better, so long as they will grow, since old seeds 

 produce more fruit of greater fleshiness. 



