21 
alive, some appeared to have decayed and some not devel- 
oped. At the same time each year I examined 1,500 wild 
specimens where two plants grew together, and more than 
five inches from any other plant, and found that in every 
case of the three years’ observing two plants grew 
from one burr. A hand force pump carefully used played 
an important part in the last experiments. 
The ground in which | planted the 1,000 burs each 
year was taken from the banks of the creek where they 
naturally grew; sifted through a one-quarter inch mesh 
wire sieve and carefully examined with hand glass. Taken 
to a part of the farm where they did not grow, the burs 
were then planted and left to the weather as the self- 
seeded plants. 
The only point I wish to make is that the two seeds 
in the same bur can be made to grow at the same time in 
my locality. The reason why | had such a widely different 
result from Prof. Arthur I cannot tell. Perhaps locality, 
climate or physical conditions of which we know nothing— 
perhaps another variety—I cannot tell. 
[| Note.] Much discussion followed. Upon sugges- 
tions of Professors Kellerman, Moseley, Schaffner and 
others, I shall continue experiments next year on several 
other lines and report at next winter’s meeting.—E. E. M. 
piu Oh Oh iCOrLOGie Me sitiDy Ol BiG 
SPRING PRAIRIE: 
THOS. BONSER AND W. A. KELLERMAN. 
In the autumn of 1899, we began the investigation of 
the ecological factors of the plant life on Big Spring Prairie, 
which is situated in the counties of Wyandot, Seneca and 
Hancock. This prairie is about ten miles long and from a 
quarter of a mile to a mile wide. Its shape is almost that 
of a horse-shoe. 
Our investigations were conducted along the following 
lines: 
