1879.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



285 



cal error has on change. It is a very natural 

 mistake to print spire for spilie, and in our expe- 

 rience we have to continually run our pencil 

 thi'ough the printer's r. In like manner, the 

 compositor is more familiar with scrubs than 

 shrubs, and unless the proof reader is versed in 

 technicalities, scrub is very likely to prevail. 

 We were reminded by a recent article on the 

 "Tropical Scrubs of Queensland," in The Sci- 

 entific American^ how often we meet with the 

 same expression in the public prints ; and even 

 first class agricultural journals are just as likely 

 to tell us of the spires of grass as of their 

 spikes. 



Lily Emblems. — Hulme says that the re- 

 ligion of many people in Ireland can be undei*- 

 stood by the lilies — Catholics planting the white 

 and Protestants the orange lilies in conspicuous 

 places in their door-yards. The white lily is 

 dedicated to the "Virgin Mary, and is used in im- 

 mense quantities in the Catholic churches on the 

 second of July. It was supposed in old times 

 that it was the white liiy that was alluded to by 

 the Saviour; but modern research has shown 

 that if a true lily was really meant, it was the 

 orange \\\y. 



The Bulb Season. — Mr. J. 11.. Krelage writes 

 from Haarlem that the committee of Dutch bulb 

 merchants have requested purchasers to give the 

 growers more time than usual in which to make 

 shipments, as the very rainy season has been 

 unfavorable to the rapid drying of the bulbs. 



Hon. Eli K. Price. — This distinguished gen- 

 tleman, who has given so much of an active life 

 unselfishly to the best interests of Philadelphia, 

 and to whom Fairmount Park owes so much, 

 recently passed his eighty-second birthday, oti 

 which occasion the inhabitants of West Chester 

 gave him a brilliant ovation. Referring to this, 

 a city paper incidentally says : 



"As a lawyer his ambition has been to elevate 

 that profession, and among his achievements in 

 legal literature was the production of a valuable 

 work on " Limitations of Actions and Liens 

 Against Real Estate." He is also the author of 

 the Real Estate Act of April 18, 1853, better 

 known as " The Price Act." As a member of 

 the Park Commission he has shown great inter- 

 est in that grand public resort, and it is partly 

 due to his interest in our city that Philadelphia 

 is soon to have a forestry museum established 

 in the park. He is an enthusiast on botanical 

 matters, and his residence in this city is sur- 



rounded by some of the choicest plants obtain- 

 able." 



Glasnevin Botanic Gardens.— It is be- 

 ginning to be a complaint in England, as well 

 as in our country, that favoritism and not merit 

 often fills good situations. The successor to 

 David Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Gar- 

 dens, is Mr. F. W. Burbidge, and it is pleasant 

 to know that if there were favoritism here, the 

 merit was at least its e(iual. 



CoL. Wilder.— Our readers will be glad to. 

 know that Col. Wilder has so far recovered from 

 his serious accident of some months ago as to be 

 able to walk to his greenhouses by the help of a. 

 man and a cane, and to walk about his library 

 wholly unaided. It is too much to expect that 

 he will preside at the meeting of the American 

 Pomological Society at Rochester ; but he will 

 at least be able to prepare the address, which 

 is more than was hoped for some time ago. 



Geological Survey of Indiana— Eighth,, 

 ninth, and tenth annual reports from Prof. John 

 Collett.— Under the lead of Prof. E. T. Cox, the 

 survey of Indiana progresses very satisfactorily. 

 There is one feature especially valuable in Prof. 

 Cox's reports: he not merely notes what is 

 found beneath the surface, but what is on it like- 

 wise, and hence Botany has some consideration 

 as well as other branches of science. It is strange 

 that this branch of science should ever be neg- 

 lected by any State survey — but it sometimes is» 

 In this particular volume we have a catalogue 

 of all the ligneous plants of the United States, 

 so that those into whose hands the report may 

 fall can check off those which are indigenous to- 

 the State. This is an excellent idea, and must 

 result in a very complete catalogue of Indiana 

 trees and shrubs, and with their geographical 

 ranges. 



Revision of the Xorth Ameru an Lili- 

 ACE^. — Mr. Sereno Watson, one of the most 

 devoted and hard-working of our leading bota- 

 nists, has just contril)Uted to the I'roceedings 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 

 an elaborate paper on the Xorth American 

 Liliacete, which includes the greater part of 

 North American bulbs. It is a very difficult 

 order to arrange, and the continual discovery of 

 new facts necessarily leads to new views of ar- 

 rangement. Sometimes we find the species in 

 the condition of a. befuddled individual who 

 hardly knows his own name. Prof. Alphonso. 

 1 Wood, for instance, describes a new genus which 



