THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 65 



Educating Wild PLANTs.--Those who attempt to intro- 

 duce wild plants into their gardens by means of seeds, often 

 find it difficult to get the plants established in this way. 

 Although they seem to grow well enough in their native haunts, 

 they are slow to germinate in cultivation or fail to come 

 up at all. It is likely that we unconsciously contribute to this 

 failure by treating the seeds differently than they are treated 

 in nature. For instance, we are likely to keep them in a dry 

 room over winter when they are accustomed to lie in the cold 

 and sodden ground through that season. It appears, however, 

 that when wildflowers are introduced into cultivation and prop- 

 agated by means of their seeds, the slowness to sprout wears 

 off and thereafter they grow readily. Mrs. S. B. Walker 

 writes that this is the case with Gillia aggregata, Salvia grandi- 

 flora, Lepachys, columbine and a number of others. The 

 plants seem to become educated to the different conditions in 

 which they are obliged to grow. A scientific explanation of 

 the facts seems to be that only those seeds which can grow 

 at all in such situations are likely to leave descendants and 

 since children are like their parents, there is soon bred up 

 from these a race of plants that is amenble to garden cultiva- 

 tion by the elimination of those less able to survive in such 

 situations. 



Tawny Day Lily. — The commonest member of the genus 

 Hemerocallis in the United States is undoubtedly that reddish- 

 yellow species knowni as the tawny day lily {H. fidva). It is 

 the most aggressive of its clan, thoroughly satisfied with our 

 soil and climate, and when thrown out of the garden for 

 crowding, thrives on rubbish heaps and along roadsides. 

 Notwithstanding its vigor and amiability, it is seldom held in 

 high esteem by the gardener, but N. M. Grier has discovered 

 a new characteristic which makes it worthy of attention. He 

 finds that this plant rarely if ever sets seeds. After a num- 



