proceedings: botanical society 211 



1 3 8th meeting 



The 138th regular meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, at 8 p.m., 

 November 4, 1919. Ninety members and five guests were present. 



An illustrated paper on The vegetation of New Zealand was read by 

 Mr. A. D. Cockayne, Biologist of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Industries and Commerce of New Zealand. 



The speaker described New Zealand as being composed of two main 

 islands located in the South Pacific between latitudes 43° and 33° S., 

 being about the size of the State of Wyoming. He described fifteen 

 principal botanical regions, noting in considerable detail the great varia- 

 tion in the vegetation. The temperate rain forests, the beech forests 

 and the grass lands are the most important vegetation types. The 

 rain forests abound in dense vegetation, including tree ferns; the beech 

 forests are dominated by a species of Nothofagus; the grass lands are 

 tussock lands and not prairies. 



The land presents every elevation from sea-level to over 13,000 feet, 

 and every rainfall from 14 inches to 150 inches. One-third of the area 

 of the islands is in farm lands. The agriculture centers around stock 

 production and animal products, because of the distance to outside 

 markets. 



New Zealand is preserving large areas of natural parks, containing 

 her most interesting vegetation, much of which is not open to tourists. 



139TH MEETING 



The 139th regular meeting was held at the Cosmos Club at 8 p.m., 

 December 2, 19 19. Fifty members and four guests were present. 

 Mr. W. S. Fields, of the Federal Horticultural Board, and Mr. C. C. 

 Thomas, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, were elected to membership. 



In a paper entitled Mycorrhiza, Cytrids and related fungi in the roots 

 of our common economic plants, Mr. E. G. Arzberger described, with 

 the aid of lantern slides, numerous organisms belonging to the little- 

 known group of endophytic fungi that are found abundantly in the 

 growing parts of the roots of all cereals, the important grasses, cotton, 

 tobacco, forage crop plants, hemp, flax and some truck crops. 



Mr. L. O. KuNKEL in a paper entitled Wart of potato gave the history 

 of the discovery of this disease in the United States and described the 

 great damage done by it to the potato crop in the British Isles and other 

 European countries. In his variety tests for resistance to this disease, 

 he found that our best commercial varieties seemed to be immune, 

 and that several varieties of tomatoes were quite susceptible to the 

 wart. 



I40TH MEETING 



The 140th regular meeting was held at the Cosmos Club at 8 p.m., 

 January 6, 1920. One hundred members and ten guests were present. 



In a paper entitled Parks and gardens of Buenos Aires, Prof. F. 

 Lamson-Scribner described with the aid of many beautiful lantern 



