28 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[January, 



A new edition of the ' Stiuctiii al liotany ' has 

 just appeared. This has been ahnost entirely 

 rewritten ; much matter has been dropped, much 

 added, and the book brought up to the times. 

 He has omitted most that pertains to the anatomy 

 and physiology of plants, and also the illustrated 

 accounts of the prominent natural orders. The 

 work is adapted to advanced students, and it is the 

 best work we have in the English language on the 

 subjects on which it treats. 



" In 1842, he was elected Fisher Professor of 

 Natural History in Harvard University, and has 

 occupied that chair ever since that time — a period 

 of nearly forty years. Until within about five 

 years, he taught the classes in botany at Harvard. 

 It may not be generally known that his name ap- 

 pears as first among the list of Professors appointed 

 in the University of Michigan. This position he 

 never filled, but soon resigned to go to Harvard. 

 As a teacher his greatest forte is in directing the 

 studies of his special or advanced students. He is 

 extremely fond of plants and everything that per- 

 tains to them. He admires their beauty ; he likes 

 to study all of their adaptations to the rest of the 

 world. It is almost impossible for any person to 

 work under his direction and in his presence, with- 

 out catching some of his inspiration. Nearly all 

 the leading Professors of Botany in the colleges of 

 the United States have been students of Dr. Gray 

 for a greater or shorter period. 



" By many he is known for his valuable text 

 books just enumerated, but these constitute but a 

 small part of his work. He has described and 

 named a vast number of flowering plants which 

 have been collected in numerous exploring expedi- 

 tions. These descriptions appear in numerous gov- 

 ernment and state reports which need not here be 

 enumerated. These are very valuable contribu- 

 tions to science, but they are almost lost sight of 

 by the mass of people. One of his greatest contri- 

 butions was a work on grasses, sedges and the like, 

 the former of which are of such great value to the 

 farmer. One of his greatest works is ' The Flora 

 of North America,' begun in 1838. The first two 

 volumes were prepared jointly with the late Dr. 

 Torrey. They extended over the Compositae. Dr. 

 Gray has lately renewed the work and alone printed 

 part first of a third volume. In 1848 appeared the 

 the first volume of his 'Genera of the Plants of the 

 United States.' The object in this work was to de- 

 scribe a prominent species of each genus of plants 

 in North America. These were accompanied by 

 detailed drawings by Isaac Sprague, the best bo- 

 tanical artist in this country. These drawings are 

 marvels of accuracy and have never been excelled 

 in any land, and probably they were never equalled. 

 The text was prepared with great care. The work 

 only passed through two volumes. It is now rare 

 and costly. Dr. Gray was ready to continue the 

 work, but the artist could not be induced to do so. 

 He thought his drawings were not appreciated. 



"In connection with his other work, Dr. Gray 

 did considerable towards maintaining and increas- 

 ing the botanic garden, greenhouse, etc., at Cain- 

 bridge. In the early part of his studies, he was an 

 industrious collector of plants, and he laid the 

 foundation for tht? great herbarium at Harvard. 



He has made valuable contributions to botany in 

 a host of miscellaneous papers and reviews con- 

 tributed to the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, to the American Journal of Science and 

 Arts, North American Review, Atlantic Monthly, 

 Transactions of the American Pomological Society 

 and to the numerous Journals of Agriculture and 

 Horticulture. 



"In 1837 — 45 years ago — appeared the first con- 

 tribution we find in the American Journal of 

 Science and Arts. This was a paper read before 

 the Lyceum of Natural History in New York, 

 October 24, 1836. The subject was "Vegetable 

 Fecundation." Then soon follows other valuable 

 papers — one on synonymy of several plants of the 

 orchid tribe, notes on European herbaria, and a 

 botanical excursion to the mountains of North 

 Carolina. In 1853, Dr. Gray appears as associate 

 editor of the journal last named, and has held this 

 position up to the present time — a period of 28 

 years. One of his ablest articles was that in which 

 he points out the relation of the Floi-a of Japan to 

 that of Eastern North America. Almost every 

 work of any merit on botany that has appeared in 

 any country within the last twenty-five years, has 

 been ably reviewed by Dr. Gray in the American 

 Journal of Science and Arts. His own works were 

 reviewed by others. He has taken up many 

 knotty problems in botany, and has lived long 

 enough to see most botanists fall in with his con- 

 clusions on the subjects investigated. 



"Asa Gray was born in Paris, Oneida county. 

 New York, November 18, 1810. He graduated as 

 Doctor of Medicine at Fairfield College in 1831 ; 

 received the degree of LL. D. from Hamilton Col- 

 lege in 1861. For some years he was president of 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and 

 in 1872, president of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science. He is honorary or 

 corresponding member of any number of leading 

 foreign scientific societies. His name stands above 

 that of any other American botanist, and ranks 

 with the best of those in Europe." 



TiTHE.s IN Canaua. — It is not generally known 

 that tithes are collected by law from the Roman 

 Catholic cultivators of the soil in Quebec. The 

 Illustrated yournal of Agriculture says that one 

 twenty-sixth of the grain the farmer threshes, by 

 law goes to the church. The only way by which 

 he can escape the tithing process is by a written 

 declaration, signed and sealed, that he has ceased 

 to regard himself as any longer a member of that 

 church. 



Thk T.\nvah and Abo. — Wm. Bartram, in his 

 "Travels" published in 1791, notes that on the 

 plantation of "Jonathan Bryan, eight miles up the 

 Savannah River," he observed the "Abo, or Arum 

 esculentum in a low, wet place in the corner of the 

 garden. It is much cultivated in the maritime 

 parts of Georgia and Florida for the sake of its 

 turnip-like roots, which are excellent boiled or 



