Secretary's Budget. 381 



mer time. If examined closely the bark will actually have the 

 appearance of being dried, showing wrinkles. Now if this same 

 twig be taken into a warm room it soon changes its appearance, the 

 bark becomes smooth, and the twig will bend short without break- 

 ing, and thus we conclude that the sap instead of having froze and 

 expanded, had actually contracted, and we have the lesson that the 

 sap does not freeze. The whole subject is curious, and it is sing- 

 ular that so much misapprehension exists, in view of the fact that 

 a continual flow of liquid through the plant all winter long is a 

 necessary condition of its existence. That there is a great amount 

 of evaporation going on we know, and that this evaporation 

 increases with the lowness of the temperature. That liquid is 

 turned into ice does not alter the fact. There is evaporation from 

 ice as well as from water. This evaporation must be supplied, and 

 is supplied during the winter by what is known as "root pressure. '' 

 In short, the tree would die from sheer evaporation if the circu- 

 lation was suspended by its liquids freezing. — Thomas Meelian in 

 ^Gardener's Montlily. 



We are sorry to see that even Mr. J. J. Thomas uses the word 

 " staminate " to designate the perfect (hermaphrodite, or bisexual) 

 flowers of strawberries. By "pistillate" is meant flowers with 

 pistils and without stamens. By "staminate"' is (or should be) 

 meant flowers with stamens and without pistils. By "bisexaual" 

 is va^wai perfect flowers, i. e., those with both stamens and pistils. 

 Horticultural writers and teachers, of all people, should not 

 encourage the use of ambiguous or erroneous terms. The words 

 " hybrid " and "cross" are also by many used as synonyms, or 

 interchangeably, and the word " superphosphate," which has a 

 very definite signification, is now freely used to mean merely a 

 commercial fertilizer, even though there is neither phosphate nor 

 superphosphate about it. All such teachings have to be unlearned 

 before readers can arrive at a clear understanding of the subjects 

 involved. The R. N. Y. has protested (alone, we believe,) for 

 years against the use of the word " staminate " for "bisexual," or 

 •"perfect," and "hybrid" for "cross," and vice versa, with some 

 effect, it may be hoped. We now protest against the use of the 

 word "superphosphate," except as applied to phosphates treated to 

 .sulphuric acid. — Rural Neio Yorker. 



