THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 33 



taken over by the Ecological Society of America and will be 

 merged with a new publication called Ecology which will be 

 the official organ of the society. The Plant World was 

 founded in 1897 by the editor of the American Botanist in 

 conjunction with two other scientists, but the publication long 

 ago went west to seek its fortune and has thus come to an 

 untimely end. When the first issue of the American Botanist 

 appeared, the Plant World informed an expectant public that 

 it was doubtful if the new publication would live. Subsequent 

 events, however, have indicated that such apprehensions were 

 quite unfounded. Like all other botanical publications, with 

 one exception, the Plant World has been financed by clubs, 

 societies, or wealthy individvials. The American Botanist, 

 alone, jogs along on its individual income. It has never been 

 subsidized by anybody and never expects to be. There are 

 now but two botanical publications in America that are older. 



* * * * 



The demise of the Plant World once more emphasizes the 

 straits in which the botanical publications find themselves. 

 In order to keep in the race, the Guide to Nature has recently 

 increased its price from $1.00 to $1.50, the Gardener's Chro- 

 icle has increased from $1.50 to $2.00, Torreya hasi become 

 bi-monthly at its former price which is equivalent to an 

 increase of 100%, Science has increased to $6.00, Torrey 

 Bulletin has increased to $4.00 and the Journal of Botany has 

 increased from $4.00 to $5.00. In recent years the Botanical 

 Gazette has increased to $7.00 or more. These advances have 

 been made necessary not only by the increased cost of materi- 

 als and labor, but because students of botany are not support- 

 ing botanical publications as they should. The problem of 

 continuing such magazines is not one in which the editors and 

 publishers are alone interested. If the income of any publi- 

 cation is not sufficient to pay its bills, it is only a matter of 

 time when it will cease to appear. Subscribers who do not 

 wish to see the field of their chosen science left without publi- 



