
123 
which facts and arguments seem to render very doubtful the 
wisdom of the use of this method for our purposes. 
The second method has been in use in the Garden brook for 
some time with unquestioned success. ‘This consists in raking out 
on to the banks the green floating growths, using for the purpose 
a broad wooden rake; and hauling the mass away in a wheel- 
barrow after the surplus water has been drained off. The work 
has required so far the services of two men for about one day 
a week. The amount which accumulates in the pools and on 
the rocks during a single week of hot, muggy weather is trulv 
astounding. This method, if carefully applied, injures none of 
the flowering plants along the brook; the minute and microscopic 
animal and plant forms are allowed to survive in reasonable num- 
ers, so as to be available for study or collection at some future 
time; and the small amount of green which remains adds to the 
bed of the brook an indispensable touch of naturalness and soft- 
ness of color very pleasing to the eve. 
Epcar W, OLIVE. 
DOCTORATES CONFERRED IN BOTANY BY AMERI- 
CAN UNIVERSITIES IN ro14 
It is worthy of note that botany, in 1914 as in the previous year, 
is second in the number of doctorates conferred in the natural 
and exact sciences. According to the lists published in Science 
N. S. 40:256-264. 21 Au 1914, chemistry, as heretofore, leads 
with 71 degrees, botany being credited with 34 degrees, zoology 
with 25. The rapid rise in number in botany from II in 1908 
to 34 in 1914, is probably largely attributable to the rapidly grow- 
ing popularity of plant pathology. 
It will be noted that the following list comprises 41 titles of 
doctorate theses in botany, instead of 34, as indicated in Science. 
Iam unable fully to account for this striking discrepancy, although 
it is partially explained in the fact that in the article referred to, 
Cornell is stated to have granted 7 degrees in botany, while my list 
shows 10; Wisconsin is said to have given 6, while my list has 7. 
Perhaps these differences may arise in large part from a different 
view-point in regard to the sciences of agriculture and physiology. 
