122 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



The Chairman — Close observers are continually exploding the 

 theories of botanists. 



Mr. Fuller — We have had the theory advanced here that every 

 branch of a tree is connected with a corresponding root, so that 

 neither can live without the other. But the facts explode that 

 theory; for, if we take a limb of a tree and cut away the bark 

 so as to prevent the continuous passage of the sap, by tenoning 

 out pieces in two rings, the upper openings being opposite the 

 uncut portions of the lower ring, the sap will pass sideways and 

 the limb will continue to grow. The reason why plants some- 

 times fail to be fertilized in the greenhouse, is the absence of the 

 wind. 



FLOWERS. 



Mr. Fuller exhibited specimens of the gladiolus, remarking 

 that they are so easily grown, and so easily kept through the 

 ■winter, that they will probably to a great extent take the place 

 of the dahlia. 



COMMUNICATION FROM CALIFORNIA. 



The Chairman read a communication which had been sent to 

 the Farmers' Club from Mr. Bruce, dated at Mariposa, in Cali- 

 fornia, June 24, 1861; as follows : 



To the Secretary of the Farmers^ Club: 



Dear Sir : I promised to write to you from hence, and to com- 

 municate such information from time to time as I considered 

 either new or useful for the benefit of the members of the Ameri- 

 can Institute, of which, though absent, I still consider myself a 

 member. This promise I now proceed to fulfil. 



To give any detailed account of my voyage would be interest- 

 ing to but few; I will, therefore, say nothing on that subject, 

 further than to state that the passage to Aspinwall, on the Atlan- 

 tic, was all that any one familiar with sea life could desire ; and 

 our trip by railroad, over the Isthmus, exceeded in comfort that 

 of any railroad I ever rode on. It was through a country of 

 tropical luxuriance, excelling all I had previously beheld. The 

 inhabitants along the road, as we passed, crowded out to take a 

 look at us. They were composed of every hue and color human- 

 ity has yet assumed — the majority of them dressed, as I should 

 suppose, were earth's earliest inhabitants, while the children were 

 destitute of all covering whatever. 



