280 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^September, 



As she justly save, both sexes exist in this 

 country in the common Ailnnthus, hut nre 

 there two species, each with its two distinct 

 sexes?— Ed. CM.] 



Bees and Clover. — M. N. B., Chicago, 111., 

 writes : — " I have been very much interested in 

 your paper on fertilization by insect agency, and 

 yet I think you put the matter too strong, for 

 I have just been reading Mr. Darwin's recent 

 work, and I see he does not regard insects 

 generally as essential, but that cross fertilization 

 is useful in the long run. My impression, after 

 reading this note is, that you have misunder- 

 stood Mr. Darwin. His position seems to be 

 that, when insects do not visit plants, the fiowers 

 fertilize themselves." 



[We will briefly say to this that, if we have 

 misunderstood Mr. Darwin, we are by no means 

 alone in our misapprehension. We give below 

 an abstract from the American Agriculturist, 

 whose editor, Prof. Thurber, is not one to mistake 

 the meaning of language. The only remark 

 we would make is, that Mr. Darwin does not 

 say " bumble," but humble bees : 



" It is one of the most important late dis- 

 coveries, that the yield of red clover seed 

 depends upon the bumble bees. These insects 



fertilize the bloswoins, conveying the pollen from 

 one blossom to another by means of their long 

 proboscis, and no other is known to do this 

 necessary work. Without the bumble bees 

 we can have no clover seed. The natural ene- 

 my of the bumble bee is the farmer's boy, who, 

 when he tunjblcs over a nest, and geta stung, 

 never forgives or forgets it, but becomes a life- 

 long enemy to this busy bee. Give these in- 

 sects a wide berth, and let them live to increase 

 the yield and to reduce the price of clover seed, 

 which is getting higher every year." 



We are not sure that this note is from Prof. 

 Thurber's pen, but it passes without comment, 

 and is in accordance with nmch that has 

 appeared under distinguished names there, and 

 shows a popular apprehension of Mr. Darwin's 

 meaning, in accordance with our own. iSee also 

 the following from the Scientific Farmer: ' In New 

 Zealand and Australia, the common English clo- 

 ver, which has been introduced, has not produced 

 seeds in proper quantity, due, as is supposed, 

 to the fact that there were no insects there 

 which performed the duty of fertilization. In 

 1875, Mr. Frank Buckland successfully trans- 

 mitted two nests of bumble bees, the insect 

 supposed to perform this duty for the English 

 fiirmer.'— Ed. G. M.] 



ITERATURE, ^^RAVELS & ^ERSONAL ^ff OTES. 



PROTECTION FOR NEW VARIETIES. 



BY EUGENE GLEX, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Eesponding to your courteous invitation to 

 write more on the subject of horticultural copy- 

 righted names, I will at this time trespass upon 

 your columns only to say, that when writing my 

 recent essay, I endeavored to have it appear 

 plainly that an extension of patents to horticul- 

 ture (using the term patents in its commonly re- 

 ceived sense) is unpracticable; that it would be 

 attended with evils greater than any benefits that 

 could result from it and that I am opposed to 

 such extension under whatever name or form it 

 may be presented. But recent correspondence 

 satisfies me that my ideas have been misappre- 

 hended by some, and that by such I am believed 

 to be advocating patents under another name. 



The only way in which I can account for this 



mistake is, that I proposed that certificates of 

 protection should be issued through the Com- 

 missioner of Patents. I will therefore explain 

 that under existing laws, in addition to granting 

 patents for inventions, this officer is charged with 

 the registration of all trade marks, and copyrights 

 other than those relating to literature and the 

 fine arts. To protect the public from duplication 

 of names from different varieties of the same spe- 

 cies, and from merely ad captandum or otherwise 

 improper names, it would be important that ap- 

 plication for protection should be passed upon 

 by some officer before they are granted. Mani- 

 festly an examiner of the Patent Office delegated 

 for the work would be a proper person to make 

 these examinations. 



A patent creates, during its existence, a mo- 

 nopoly in the production, sale and use of any 



