.885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



345 



fruits and flowers from his big picture book, gave 

 "Glory of Moses " as the name of his best moss 

 rose. 



I suppose we all appreciate a pretty and appro- 

 priate English name. When quite small I heard 

 some yellow Everlastings called "Golden Eternal 

 Flowers," and the beautiful name impressed me, 

 child as I was. I wish that all botanical names 

 were descriptive of the most prominent character- 

 istics of the plants or their habitats. Even we 

 who can only pick up here and there a crumb of 

 knowledge could learn a great deal about them. 

 I wish, too, that we knew the Indian names and 

 their meanirgs ; I suppose they are all significant 

 in some way. 1 have heard that the Indians of 

 this coast call the common Plantain by a name 

 meaning " White-man's-foot," saying that it always 

 follows his coming ; and this scrap of knowledge 

 gives a touch of poetic interest to the common 

 plant. Does not every new idea, in the words of 

 an old poet, " Give the soul sweet sense of larger 

 room ?" La Centre, Wash. Ter. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Postage on Monthly Magazines. — Just why 

 a weekly magazine should be carried by the United 

 States Mail for a less rate of postage than a 

 monthly, is not clear. It seems like one of 

 those unjust regulations that are the more repre- 

 hensible for being thoughtlessly made. 



If the excuse be oftered that the United States 

 could not afford to reduce both classes at once, 

 the monthlies should have had precedence of the 

 weeklies, it seems to us. They need more " pro- 

 tection," as the weeklies have the inside track 

 where matters of news are concerned. 



Watson's Nurseries, Brenham, Texas.— The 

 Texas Gazetteer gives great credit to this establish- 

 ment. It is one of the leading industries of Brenham, 

 occupies 200 acres, is the largest and the earliest 

 nursery in Texas. It was commenced in i860. 

 The establishment is pronounced a great success, 

 and its proprietor, Mr. WilUam Watson, receives 

 high praise for his excellent standing among his 

 fellow-citizens in every relation of life. 



John Thorpe. — It is announced that this well- 

 known gentleman will be one of the Editors of the 

 American Florist. 



Dr. Kegel. — This well-known gentleman, di- 

 rector of the St. Petersburg Botanic Garden, re- 

 cently passed his seventy-first birthday. He was 

 in early life but a poor garden apprentice, and the 



honors that have been showered on him are well- 

 merited tributes to the energy and industry that 

 have raised him to his great eminence. 



Andrew J. Moore.— The Gardeners' Month- 

 ly loses a very good occasional contributor in 

 Mr. A. J Moore, of Berlin Heights, Ohio, who 

 died on September 5th, within a few days of his 

 fifty. fourth year. He was a rare lover of nature, 

 and had just finished a home, which was to be 

 surrounded with some of the best specimens of 

 gardening. Though modest and retiring, he was 

 a rare illustration of all that is of solid value in 

 human character. 



George \V. Clinton. — .Vmong the recent 

 deaths botantists will regret, is that of Judge Clin- 

 ton, of Buffalo, N. Y., who died suddenly on the 

 7th of September, in his seventy-eighth year. 

 Notwithstanding his age, he continued his botan- 

 ical studies, and was found dead in a cemetery 

 where he had wandered in search of plants. His 

 father, Governor De Witt Clinton, was also a 

 patron of botany, and is commemorated in Clin- 

 tonia borealis and C. multiflora. North American 

 plants of the Solomon's Seal family, the name 

 having been given by Rafinesque. This was not 

 thought to be a good genus at one time, and the 

 plant was known as Smilacina borealis. Douglas 

 then founded another genus Clintonia on a pretty 

 blue Lobeliaceous plant from the Pacific coast, 

 still known in some seed catalogues as Clintonia 

 elegans. But when Rafinesque's name was 

 adopted by botanists, and, under the rule, the 

 later names have to be dropped, the Pacific plants 

 were re-named and are now Downingia, so named 

 by Torrey, after our famous landscape gardener, 

 A. J. Downing. Judge Clinton was one of the 

 most amiable of men, and beloved by all who 

 knew him. 



New Work in the U. S. Agricultural De- 

 partment. — Prof. Trelease has been engaged to 

 work up the diseases of plants, Mr. Scritiner to 

 Avork up the microscopic plants, and Mr. C. H. 

 Merriam will study birds — all in relation to agri- 

 culture. These are all steps in good progress. 



Materia Medica. — A lecture by Prof. W. 

 Saunders, before the Western University at Lon- 

 don, Ontario, is full of interesting matter connected 

 with the history of plants in their medical relation- 

 ships. It is curious to look back over the beliefs 

 of the ancients, and compare them with opinions 

 now. The following is an extract from Mr. Saun- 

 ders' lecture, and it illustrates the general scop; of 

 his remarks : 



