314 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHL Y 



\Octoheri 



are regarded as resulting from a fungus, creating 

 nodules, which are the same as those within the 

 bark of the hazel, beech, and other trees. Let 

 dissection be made of one of the weevil galls on 

 the bulb of the turnip, and the second or third 

 slice will show the outer foliations to be exactly 

 similar to those of the root buds. When the 

 centre has been reached the maggot will be 

 found. All insect galls are in reality leaf-buds, 

 or fruit-buds, not mere excrescences. The vas- 

 cular lines which would form leaves can easily 

 be followed up in the structure of the oak-leaf 

 galls ; and in cases where the egg has been de- 

 posited in the tissue of a young branch, the cap 

 of the gall is sometimes surmounted by a leaf 

 two or three inches lona. 



WHAT MR. WIER HAS NOT DONE. 



BY EUGENE GLEN, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



In your September number, under the head of 

 "Plant Patents," you strongly commend the 

 good sense of Mr. D. B. Wier, of Lacon, 111., 

 in that " instead of writing long articles on what 

 might be done," he has proceeded to procure 

 trademarks or copyrights on the names adopted 

 by him to indicate certain seedling varieties of 

 cherries. As I am one of the persons who have 

 written several long articles on what might be 

 done, I have taken pains to ascertain what Mr. 

 Wier has not done, 



Mr. Wier sets out, in a sort of patent medi- 

 cine pamphlet issued by him, that he has made 

 a "new departure;" that he has, under the 

 copyright laws of the United States, secured an 

 exclusive property in the names, numbers, and 

 descriptions adopted by him in connection with 

 the cherries referred to ; and amidst a flourish 

 of trumpets and peculiar use of rhetoric, which 

 of themselves cast a strong suspicion on his good 

 faith, he offers to receive bids for territorial as- 

 signments of his "rights." 



The copyright laws of the United States are 

 all embodied in two or three statutes, in which 

 their scope is closely defined. If you will refer 

 to them, you will see that there is no provision 

 in them under which Mr. Wier could have pos- 

 sibly secured the rights he claims. He could 

 have copyrighted his pamphlet, but, as you and 

 every editor who has occasion to quote from 

 cop3Tighted books understands, a copyright of a 

 book or pamphlet is not infringed until such co- 

 pious extracts from it are embodied in a new 

 book or pamphlet published that the public are, 

 by reason of the extracts^ led to buy the new book 



or pamphlet, or led to believe that the latter 

 are identical with tlie original. 



However, in order that I might not be mis- 

 taken as to Mr. Wier's exact position, I cut from 

 his pamphlet a paragraph, in which his claims 

 are formally set .forth, and enclosed it to the 

 Librarian of Congress, who is by law charged 

 with registering all copyrights " save for labels 

 to be placed on articles of manufacture.^' I 

 asked him to point out to me under what pro- 

 visions of the copyright laws, if any, Mr. Wier 

 could secure such rights. He replied, under date 

 of September 8th, by saying, "Mr. D. B. Wier 

 has made no entry of copyright in this office." 



As Mr. Wier remarks, on page 11 of his 

 pamphlet, " they (the horticulturists of the 

 West) know I was always 'up to tricks,'" I 

 commend him to the tender mercies of yourself 

 and the public. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Editorial Traveling Kotes.— A brief 

 visit to the Bussey Institute, with which the Ar- 

 nold Arboretum is connected, gave me great 

 pleasure. The gardener in charge is Mr. Jack- 

 son Dawson, whom I found to be a lithe, active, 

 middle-sized man, but apparently very much on 

 the younger side of middle age, and whose 

 whole heart and soul seem bent on the suc- 

 cessful exercise of his professional duties. It is 

 rare to find a man who knows all about every- 

 thing he handles; who is alive to everything 

 that may add to his knowledge, and desirous to 

 make his knowledge serve the purposes of those 

 who employ him, and at the same time give 

 pleasure to himself. This is just, the person I 

 take Mr. Dawson to be, and I could not help 

 congratulating the Institution on its good for- 

 tune in having such a one. Understanding his 

 business well, almost everything committed to 

 his care is a success; and this is encouraging 

 to those who send things there. 



Among the instructors in Horticulture and the 

 kindred branches here, is Mr. Watson, son of the 

 well known nurseryman of Plymouth, Mass., 

 whom I did not have the good fortune to meet, 

 but of whose success as a teacher I was pleased 

 to hear of from several quarters. 



My chief point here was to see the grounds of 

 what is to be in future the great Arnold Arbor- 

 etum, which has hitherto been under the eye of 

 Prof. Sargent, of Cambridge, and who is to have 



