108 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



In this connection it may be noted, that on May 31st of this 

 vear, the editor of this magazine found more than an acre of 

 maple, ash, and oak forest thickly strewn with this plant, at 

 Sieger's Lake, near V^alparaiso, Indiana. A ground fire had 

 recently swept through the wood destroying the herbaceous, 

 vegetation and the clumjxs of flowering" shoots of Conopholis 

 were very noticeable. This by the way was the editor's first 

 sight of the living plant, another indication, as he regards it, 

 of the rarity of the species. 



Vinegar Bees — Those curious combinations of bacteria 

 and yeasts known as vinegar bees, have at last come to the at- 

 tention of the United States Department of Agriculture. The 

 Government experts, however, do not seem to think very much 

 of them. Thev report that the bees are also known as beer 

 bees, wine bees, and Australian bees. Specialists from the 

 Bureau of Chemistry say vinegar bees are only wild yeasts, but 

 had they investigated them with a microscope instead of a test- 

 tube so much of the wild would have not entered in their 

 statements. It is stated that the primitive process for making 

 vinegar bees was to expose a mixture of corn meal and molas- 

 ses to the air until it became lilled with yeast and bacteria. The 

 significant thing about the bees is that they appear to be able 

 to turn sweetened liquids to vinegar much more rapidly than 

 other yeasts and bacteria can. As to the vinegar produced, it 

 is certainly (juite usable, but not as acid as cider vinegar. This 

 defect may be remedied, however, by concentration of the 

 product. 



lliciii Priced BelbekuiES — When blueberries are (juoted 

 at fifty dollars, each, the announcement is likely to give a shock 

 even to those accustomed to increases in the high cost of living. 

 This, however, is the i)rice that is offered for blueberries! 

 Some time ago, V. V . Coville of the United States Deparlnient 

 of Agriculture discovered that llie blueberry can be cultivated 

 as readily as other plants if care is taken to grow it in acid 



