20 THE AMERICAN BOTAxXlST 



soil is poor, there are one or two spikes of a yellowish scarlet; 

 but all are beautiful. The plant has a sour clean odor like that 

 of a geranium. The tinted leaves are the bracts surrounding 

 the inconspicuous flowers and in good soil will show faintly 

 red half way down the spike. The plants resent transplanting 

 more than any other wild flower that 1 have tried. 



A cheerful and versatile bloomer of April is the wild 

 coreopsis. There are several kinds ; one a compact bushy 

 variety with small intensely yellow flowers, another a tall 

 variety with larger, handsomer blossoms that have a cultivated 

 look, and still another kind with maroon colored flowers. 

 Their stay is fleeting but their beauty is prodigal. They appear 

 as sheets of gold on uncultivated acres of prairie and when they 

 ripple into waves it is an unresponsive and thankless human 

 being who fails to be edified and uplifted. 



THE TRUE NATURE OF PLANT DISEASES 



By a. a. Erz, San Francisco, Cal. 



IN spite of increased protective measures against diseases, 

 insects, and other pests menacing our plants, the number con- 

 tinues to multiply. In many cases it seems impossible to find 

 a permanently successful remedy, and in most cases the 

 remedial measures must be periodically repeated. The general 

 belief is that the solution of the whole serious problem must be 

 left to technical scienc'e and chemico-mechanical means. 

 Without attempting to belittle, the gocxl work done by our 

 H(jrticultiu-al Department, how would it be if, instead of 

 relying on the chemico-mechanical measures of protection, 

 an attempt was made in an entirely new direction for the solu- 

 tion of the problem? 'I'bere are some indications that our 

 current ideas about combating the diseases and parasitic pests 

 are misleading, and that we nlu^t look for new*concei)tions 



