1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



119 



part of the ovipositor reaches the longitudinal 

 cavity at the external base of the ovule, near the 

 fcrniculus, without, as a rule, penetrating or touch- 

 ing the ovule itself, and the delicate and extensile 

 oviduct then conveys the egg for some distance (the 

 length of six or eight seeds), along the cavity, the 

 terminal portion of the oviduct being furnished 

 with retrorse hairs which help to hold it in place 

 during the act. 



The paper concludes with some studies of the 1 

 internal anatomy of Pronuba and Prodoxus. | 



[It is proper to say that Mr. Meehan never ' 

 attempted to controvert Prof. Riley's observa- 

 tions. Mr. M. simply showed that what Prof. 

 Riley had found true in Yucca filamentosa, did 

 not occur and was not necessary in Yucca angusti- 

 folia. Unless it was assumed that what was true 

 of one species ought to be true of all, there was 

 nothing to reconcile. Mr. Meehan's observations 

 were accurate in every particular, and exhibition 

 of specimens to sustain his facts were made to the 

 American Association in several successive years. 

 Ed. G. M.] i 



ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. | 



BY W. H. P., CHICA(;0, ILLINOIS. i 



1 



Reflections after reading the extract from the 

 hidependeiit in the January number of Garden- 

 ers' Monthly. 



If the companions and successors of the doughty 

 Cortez, who penetrated to the interior of Mexico 

 in search of the precious metals, had taken a 

 course to the northeast instead of the northwest, 

 many things would have turned out very unlike 

 their present conditions. 



One very probable result would have been that, 

 in working their way along the great table-land of 

 Mexico, and over the dry plains to the northwest, 

 they would have adopted the style of building 

 practiced by the aborigines of that region, and 

 thus become accustomed to use earth and clay, 

 burnt or unburnt, instead of the combustible 

 materials the present North Americans use. And 

 so, if they had in course of a hundred years or 

 more (which they would have had before the 

 French arrival), reached this locality, the city they 

 would have built would have had no " Chicago 

 fire." 



They would also have had to cross thousands of 

 miles of prairie, first arid enough and then of lux- 

 uriant verdure, with grass above the saddle-bow 

 of the gallant " cabelleros," so that it would be quite 

 natural for them to think that grassy plains con- 

 stituted the greater part of the continent, and that 



it was made especially for horses and their riders. 

 And then, when they found at last, a limit to this 

 state of things, they might have complained sadly 

 that dense forests obstructed their way, and that 

 provender for their steeds had failed, and all on 

 account of that unnatural and unfortunate growth 

 of trees and shrubs, which seemed to be reaching 

 out long arms over the beautiful savannas, and 

 threatening to cover them. They would probably 

 have been disputing to this day about the "origin 

 of the forests." 



The emigrants from Northern and Western 

 Europe (itself largely a region of woodlands), 

 made their first settlements in a thickly wooded 

 country, and wherever they traveled they found 

 a boundless forest, through which the water- 

 courses were the only means of travel. But by 

 the way, according to the accounts of the earliest 

 settlers, these forests were in many places entirely 

 cleared of undergrowth by the intentional and 

 persistent efforts of the Indians, who burnt them 

 over every autumn, but did not destroy the forest. 

 These same early settlers asserted, and geographers 

 repeated for several generations, that North 

 America may be considered in general as one vast 

 forest. True, nowhere could vaster forests be 

 found, but the geographer of the present day, re- 

 membering the'vast plains of Northern Mexico, of 

 Texas, and our Western Territories, as well as our 

 "Prairie States," from Kansas to the British line, 

 and the almost boundless plains of grass from 

 thence to the Arctic Ocean, would hesitate before 

 saying that the forest is the chief feature of North 

 '\ America. 



I Why then assume that the forest is the natural 

 I covering of our mother earth. Think of the vast 

 regions of Siberia; of the great grassy plains from 

 the Black Sea to farthest Tartary ; of the pampas 

 of South America. It would seem that grass is the 

 material of the robe, and the forest trees are the 

 trimmings of the same. 



As you very well know, Mr. Editor, in certain 

 soils, and with certain conditions of moisture, the 

 tough and fibrous roots of the grasses will weaken, 

 yea, exterminate both grove and orchard. The 

 conclusion seems to be that man may break up 

 the prairie grass, and may plant groves of forest 

 trees, and with care and attention they will gen- 

 erally succeed. Or he may cut down the forest, 

 and grub up the tree stumps, and with hard labor 

 he will make good arable fields, and good pastures. 

 Thousands of smiling farms testify to his industry 

 and persistent care ; but let him abandon his work, 

 and in comparatively few years the soil will revert 



