THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 123 



then a scientist, after much labor may discover enough new 

 facts to make a long and imposing article, but most discoveries 

 do not warrant so much space. There is not a botanist of the 

 editor's acquaintance, however, that could not sit down and 

 write out dozens of such short notes and yet these very notes 

 for which all botanical publications are searching remain un- 

 written because their possessors cannot make a long article out 

 of them. Winter is a good time to write up such notes. Why 

 not begin another year by sharing your interesting experiences 



with others of similar tastes. 



^ ^ ^ 



The conventional idea of a botanical club, is an association 

 of botanists for the purpose of presenting and discussing 

 papers on their chosen subject. All too frequently, however, 

 the interest in such a club wanes for want of enough people 

 with the leisure and inclination to keep up the supply of papers. 

 Moreover, there are usually in such societies a number of peo- 

 ple who imagine they cannot write a presentable paper. Often 

 the only obstacle in the way of forming a good strong botani- 

 cal society is the feeling among those who ought to join that 

 they are not fitted to take part in the programs. To all such 

 we would suggest the scheme of taking up some single book 

 and discussing it, Chautauqua fashion. The editor knows one 

 society of this kind composed of people with no special pre- 

 tentions to being botanists but with a rather lively interest in 

 plants, that has finished one successful season and is starting 

 on a second. The plan is for each member to secure a copy 

 of the book decided upon, to read the assigned pages at home 

 and to take part in the discussion at the weekly or fortnightly 

 meetings. If there are any working botanists in the club, they 

 can be relied upon to present original papers. The book se- 

 lected for study would depend somewhat upon the attainments 

 of those forming the club. If without much botanical knowl- 

 edge, Vincent's "Plant World" (80c.) or Grant Allen's 

 "Story of the Plants" (40c.) would be good for a beginning. 



