THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 53 



it can do. The editor has usually been able to find seed where 

 the plants grow in remote woodlands. This is the time of 

 year when everyone can aid in settling the question. Does 

 Epigaea rcpens usually fruit when undisturbed or is its dimor- 

 phic flowers a hindrance to this process. Who will inform 

 us?— Ed.] 



Elder Seedlings. — It is a general rule in nature, to which 

 there are various exceptions, of course, that plants which have 

 efficient means of multiplication by vegetative shoots, seldom 

 produce fruit. This does not mean that they cannot produce 

 fruti but that they seldom do so. In some cases it is quite 

 possible that fruit is not produced because the proper insects 

 did not pollinate the flowers, or because a frost killed the 

 pistils, or from other causes, yet the fact remains that some 

 plants do not readily produce seeds under what appear to be 

 the most favorable circumstances. Such plants usually have 

 other means of multiplying as illustrated in the common 

 potato. The elder (Sanbuais Canadensis), however, is not 

 one of this number. Although it yields to none in the rapidity 

 with which its underground shoots take possession of new 

 territory when once it obtains root-hold, it is the equal of any 

 in the number of fruits it produces and the seeds are strong 

 and vigorous. A very high per cent will grow if properly 

 planted as has been proven by recent trials in the grounds of 

 the editor. 



The Struggle for Existence. — The effect of some 

 seemingly insignificant feature of a plant upon its success or 

 failure in life is often remarkable. A millimeter or two in 

 the length of the red-clover's corolla is sufficient to keep out 

 the honey-bee with a consequent loss of pollination, seed pro- 

 duction and plant distribution ; the possession of a root or root- 

 stock filled with plant food often determines the struggle be- 

 tween two plant colonists of a region, and so on. A writer 



