316 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



known of plants at that time. The eflforts of 

 these pioneers extended very little furtlier than 

 the reducing to something like order the scat- 

 tered masses of facts about the affinities of 

 plants. It could not be expected that learned 

 and acute as these men were, they could at once 

 reach the perfection of method. Thought, as 

 well as all other departments of nature, walks 

 on, but does not make great leaps. There must 

 be evolution by degrees intellectually as well as 

 in everything else; hence, in the science of 

 botany, as in all things else, its history has to be 

 written over again every few years. In these 

 modern times, instead of taking one or two pro- 

 minent features of a plant as the chief objects 

 of study, every portion is deemed important. Its 

 internal structure has to be investigated as well 

 as external appearances, before we feel that we 

 know it; and how it behaves is just as important 

 as a knowledge of its several parts. 



If we would know how we have advanced in 

 our knowledge of these things, it will only be 

 necessary to compare Professor Bessey's work 

 with similar ones published, say but ten years 

 ago. The necessity of such a work now will be 

 at once seen and its value fully appreciated. We 

 have read it very carefully through, and can 

 commend it as one well worthy of the times, ad- 

 vanced, indeed, as the times are. It will no 

 doubt become a standard work for study wherever 

 botany is to be intelligently pursued. 



If we were disposed to be critical we might re- 

 fer to some points we think weak. There is so 

 much of original observation going on in these 

 days, and so little, comparatively to what there 

 was in the past, of absolute dependence on the 

 experience of one or two observers, however 

 great they may be, that it cannot be expected 

 that any two close students will be disposed to 

 accept all the conclusions of any author in a 

 branch of science which all acknowledge to be 

 an unfinished one. We will merely content our- 

 selves by saying of this, as we said recentlj'^ of 

 Dr. Gray's Structural Botany, that we feel that 

 many matters here given as absolute truths, 

 would have been better presented as " prevailing 

 hypotheses." Instead, for instance, of saying 

 that " the peculiar structure of the flowers of 

 Asclepiadacese has recently been shown to be for 

 the purpose of securing the services of insects in 

 the process of pollination," it would have been 

 better to have said, " believed in some quarters 

 to be for the purpose." That pollination is as- 

 sisted by insects through the peculiar structure 



is a fact that one may safely teach ; but that it 

 was especially designed for this purpose is a dis- 

 puted hypothesis, which might be well taught 

 as such, but not among the things " shown to 

 be " truths. 



However, as we have said, these little weak- 

 nesses in a great work do no harm. They 

 rather do good. For in these days, when original 

 personal research is at the bottom of all instruc- 

 tion, slips of this kind strike the student, and 

 lead him on to become wiser than his teacher ; 

 and this is a result which the best leaders 

 in botanical progress, like Professor Bessey him- 

 self, heartily desire. 



We trust this book will have a wide sale. Cer- 

 tainly no one who wishes to keep up with the 

 progress of botanical knowledge, can afford to 

 pass it by. 



La Vigne Francaise. — To show how great is 

 the interest in France in all that relates to the 

 famous Grape vine insect, we may only observe 

 that we are informed that this is " a bi-monthly 

 magazine, devoted to the interests of Grape cul- 

 ture, and its defence against the Phylloxera." It 

 is published in Paris at 10 francs a year. 



The Marshfield Elm. — A new house is to be 

 built on the site of the old one ; but the great 

 Elm, which afforded its favorite shade to Daniel 

 Webster, is to be religiously preserved. 



How TO Tell Wheat from Cheat. — A Persian 

 poet, Jami, thus answers the question, " What 

 shall the harvest be ?" 



One was .asking of a teacher, 

 •' How a father his reputed 



Son for his should recognize?" 

 Said the master, " By the stripling, 

 As he grows to manhood, growing 

 Lilce to his reputed father. 



Good or evil, fool or wise." 



So the disregarded Darnel, 



With itself adorns the wheat-field. 



And for all the vernal season 



Satisfies the farmer's eye; 

 But the hour of harvest coming. 



And the thrasher by and by; 

 Then a barren ear shall answer, 



" Darnel, and no wheat am I!" 



The Lily of the Field.— John Ray, a dis- 

 tinguished botanist, who flourished at the end of 

 the last century, says that Tulipa was the name 

 of a peculiar hat worn by the Dalmatians on 

 some occasions, and which was of the form of 

 half an egg, and that the name was given to the 

 tulip from its resemblance to this peculiar formed 

 hat. He says the varieties are " inexplicable " 



