1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



255 



lessness, tlie State should not wait for prosecu- 

 tions for damages by injured individuals, but 

 heavily fine all companies on whose roads such 

 accidents occur. 



Rotten Fruit. — As the season has arrived for 

 submitting fruit to the editor for names and opin- 

 ions, we would suggest the propriety of always 

 paying the express charges, and marking on the 

 box " paid in full," or "paid through." Fifty or 

 seventy-five cents for express charges is not much 

 to each sender, but it is a good deal for the editor 

 when they come in a dozen or two at a time. Gen- 

 erally all unpaid parcels are absolutely refused, 

 but once in a while in the Editor's absence, a 

 box creeps in. We write feelingly just now, as 

 thirt}' cents have just gone out of the door, and 

 six rotten peaches out of the window. 



Report of the U. S. GEOGRAPHicAii Sur- 

 veys, — In charge of Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, 

 Vol. VI., Botany, by Dr. J. T. Rothrock, 

 Washington, 1878. The work and the publica- 

 tions of our Government surveys are acknowl- 

 edged in Europe to be far superior to anything 

 undertaken by foreign governments, and are 

 such as to make every American feel proud of his 

 country. Of this particular volume we can say 

 that it is especially one that will sustain this 

 eminent reputation. The plants collected by 

 Dr. Rothrock, who was surgeon and botanist to 

 the expedition, give us a good idea of the flora 

 of Jfevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and 

 Arizona. Man}" of the plants found are entirely 

 new, and in this respect the expedition was un- 

 usually fortunate. The volume is a good com- 

 panion to Watson's Botany of the King Expe- 

 dition, by Sereuo Watson, which hitherto has 

 been regarded as one of the best works of the 

 class ever issued in the United States. 



Report of Connecticut State Board of 

 Agriculture for 1878, — From T. S. Gold, 

 Secretary. This volume is full of interesting 

 matter. Professor Brewer discusses " the vari- 

 eties of cultivated plants." He shows the diftor- 

 ences between varieties and species, and how 

 the former may be produced to the improve- 

 ment of our fruits and vegetables. Prof. D. C. 

 Eaton has a similiar paper on " hybrids and hy- 

 bridism." The distinguished botanist speaks as 

 if it has been actually proved that the cucumber 

 and melon hybridize when growing near each 

 other, and the whole discussion in which numer- 

 ous speakers evidently well informed, engaged, 



was conspicuous for assumptions without anyone 

 evidently having experimented on these simple 

 things. They expressed unbounded faith in 

 wonderful results, with but the slightest possi- 

 ble modicum of works to prove them. Fortu- 

 nately the very practical address of Mr. J. J. H. 

 Gregory in "vegetable" seed raising comes to our 

 relief, and he tells from his own experience 

 that the crossing of the Cucurbitaceai is not 

 after this wild fashion ; not only will cucumbers 

 not mix easily with melons, but oven closely 

 allied varieties do not trouble themselves much 

 with the aftairs of their neighbors. Mr. G., says 

 that "crooked-necked squashes, Yoko-horaa ex- 

 cepted, will not cross with any other variety, 

 and water melons will not cross with musk 

 melons." Mr. Gregory showed that while some 

 closely related varieties as corn and so forth, 

 mix easily when side by side, this was not true 

 of distinct species. Professor Brewer also gave 

 an able address on " the causes which aflect the 

 vitalit}' of seeds." He shows that very few 

 seeds will retain vitality over fifty years, and 

 the stories of wonderful vitality he concludes, as 

 the readers of the Gardeners' Monthly have 

 already been told, are fabulous. The main 

 point he brought out is that though some seeds 

 may keep many years, in all cases there is a 

 deterioration of the vital principle according to 

 age. Besides these addresses of horticultural 

 interest, there is much valuable agricultural in- 

 formation. 



Noel Humphreys. — Death has been partic- 

 ularly busy among European botanists and hor- 

 ticulturists lately. Among the recently deceased 

 is Noel Humphreys, well known as a horticultu- 

 ral artist. Many of the illustrations in the 

 works of the Loudons were from his pencil. He 

 was seventy-two at the time of his death. 



Dr. David Moore. — This distinguished gar- 

 dener died on the 9th of June, full of years and 

 of honors. He served his horticultural appren- 

 ticeship in the gardens of the Earl of Camper- 

 down at Dundee in Scotland, and had for many 

 years past been Director of the Glasnevin Bo- 

 tanical Garden near Dublin. Besides his skill 

 in gardening he was noted for his many contri- 

 butions to those sciences which may be said to 

 be born of or grown out of gardening. From a 

 study of the genus Nepenthes alone he evolved 

 the law that it required a greater effort of vital 

 power to produce the female than the male sex 

 in flowers ; precisely the same conclusions as the 



