1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



311 



however, that any one ventures to tell the plain 

 truth to these well-meaning people. But Prof. 

 Goodale has recently had the courage to do so, 

 and this is what he says : 



"But, as this talk with you embodies merely the 

 expression of my personal views, for which 1 

 should not wish to hold others responsible, you 

 must allow me to state very frankly that, while I 

 do not see the slightest necessity for your preach- 

 ing about either the question or the answer, I do 

 sincerely believe that every preacher in these times 

 should be conversant with the methods of study 

 by which this surprising change (evolution) in the 

 attitude of hearers has come to pass. Instead of 

 thinking it your duty to study science for the sake 

 of preaching it, I should advocate your studying 

 it in order that you may have the wisdom and cour- 

 age to let it alone. In the half-hours to which you 

 are now restricted in your sermons you have 

 barely time to preach the gospel." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Double Peach Leaf. ^" J. W. K.," Denton, 

 Md., sends a leaf of a peach which is two-leaved 

 at the apex, and but a single leaf at the base. 



The manner in which nature goes about to make 

 these monstrosities is not very clear; and the 

 reason still less. All we can say is, that in making 

 things she seems to have no exact mould by which 

 everything is cast out, but sometimes goes a little 

 beyond or a little short of what is needful to make 

 the perfect thing. 



Geographical Range of the Bird's-foot 

 Violet. — Mr. Samuel N. Watson, Red Wing, 

 Minn., says : "I notice a slight inaccuracy in your 

 book 'Wayside Flowers,' and as I have so much 

 enjoyed your delicate thoughts, I venture to ac- 

 quaint you with a fact which comes within the 

 range of my observation. In speaking of the 

 ' Viola pedata,' ' Bird's-foot Violet,' you mention as 

 a limit of its Western range, Wisconsin, and also 

 that it does not occur in any quantity till you reach 

 the southern border of the State. I found them in 

 great profusion still farther west, and much farther 

 north, in Faribault, Rice county, Minnesota, dur- 

 ing the past month of May." 



Flowers out of Season. — " L. B. C," Rich- 

 mond, Ind., writes: "In my yard stands an old 

 dying cherry tree that has produced a few flowers 

 during the past two weeks. I have often seen 

 fruit-trees bloom in the fall, but in the middle of 

 summer, it occured to me, it was an unusual cir- 

 cumstance ; how is it ? I enclose you a single 

 flower I just picked for your edification." 



[We may get some clue to these curios by 



noting other things. For instance, if a large pear 

 tree lose its leaves early in the autumn, either by 

 caterpillars, or by leaf blight, it is almost certain to 

 bloom before winter and not wait till spring as it 

 should do. Again, if a horse-chestnut loses its 

 leaves in the same way, it will also bloom in the 

 autumn,, instead of waiting for its regular time. 

 We see that we are getting near the ability to 

 generalize, when we consider these things — but yet 

 we cannot quite reach the disturbing cause. We 

 can only say, when a flower appears out of season, 

 that it has been retarded or accelerated, as the 

 case may be. — Ed. G. M.] 



Tubers on Potato Plants. — " P. N. McI.," 

 Bookton, Ontario, writes: "I send you, by mail 

 to-day, the top of a potato plant in which part of 

 the stem has become tubers or potatoes. As this 

 is not a usual thing, a notice and description of it 

 might interest the readers of the Monthly." 



[This sometimes occurs, and is taken advantage 

 of by the teachers of Morphological botany to show 

 that a potato tuber is in reality only a thickened 

 branch. At the base of almost all leaves along 

 a branch there is a bud, known as an "axillary 

 bud," which, when it grows, becomes a branch 

 Uke its parent. In the case before us, the tubers 

 are in all stages, from a simple bud in the axil, in 

 some cases, to tubers as large as hazel-nuts in 

 others, with the axillary buds, and in some cases 

 leaves on them. The under-ground tuber devel- 

 opes in the same way from an axillary bud, the 

 only difference being that it pushes clear out from 

 its parent axil, retaining an attachment only by a 

 thread, or, technically a stolon. — Ed. G. M.] 



The Botany of Texas. — "J. W.," Houston, 

 Texas, says: "Can you recommend any work for 

 the south-western flora of Texas ? Mrs. Young's so- 

 called ' Botany of Texas,' is absolutely worthless." 



Mrs. Young's book served a good purpose in its 

 day ; but, like so many similar works, it has been 

 outgrown by the knowledge of the flora. As Dr. 

 Asa Gray has in hand a work on the whole flora 

 of the North American continent, it is not worth 

 anyone's while to issue a separate flora of Texas, 

 and so there is nothing to do but wait. Dr. Gray 

 has, some years now since, issued one part of this 

 work, and all the plants then known in Texas, re- 

 ferable to the orders that part treats of, gives, of 

 course, all the Texan plants. This, with Mr. Wat- 

 son's Bibliographical Index to tell us in what 

 scattered papers the descriptions of Texan plants 

 are found, are about all the guides to the Flora of 

 Texas which can be had at present. 



