Jan. 1'). 191-2 



far from correct, since the grasses and sedges 

 alone in this area include 705 species. 



Most wind-pollinated, or anemophilous 

 (wind-loving) (lowers are green or dull-col- 

 ored; but the sorrels are blood-red, and the 

 aments of the birches are golden yellow. Of 

 the 1046 anemophilous si)ecies, 1021 are 

 chietly green, 1 white, 11 yellow, 3 red, 12 

 purple. Thus there remain in eastern 

 America 21)72 species which are pollinated 

 chiefly by insects, or are self-pollinated. Of 

 this number 22o are green, 9")5 white, 790 

 yellow, 254 red, 425 purple, and ;>25 blue. It 

 is evident that bright coloration is correlat- 

 ed with insect-pollination, and dull colora- 

 tion, or inconspicuousness, with pollination 

 by the wind. 



Brilliant (lowers usually contrast with 

 green foliage. But in early spring I have 

 seen white and blue hei^aticas blooming 

 amid sere and brown leaves fallen from the 

 trees the preceding autumn; and contrast- 

 ing with the dark soil in dense woods I have 

 found the snow-white Indian pipe. In the 

 eternal twilight which prevails in the prime- 

 val forests of the equinoctial regions of both 

 the old and the new world there occurs a 

 group of parasitic plants called the Balan- 

 ophoraeea'. There are only about forty 

 species, and the whole plant is colored deep 

 yellow, blood red, or purple. Flowers which 

 rest upon the surface of the water are often 

 white or yellow, as the yellow and white 

 water-lilies. Nocturnal (lowers are also gen- 

 erally white or yellow, since purple or blue 

 would be invisible at night. 



In the absence of petals the calyx may be- 

 come bright-colored, as in the clematis, 

 aneome, marsh marigold, and buckwheat; 

 or both calyx and corolla may be colored, as 

 in the columbines, larkspur, and fuchsia. 

 The aments of the willows are rendered very 

 conspicuous in spring by the very numer- 

 ous yellow and red anthers, while in the 

 meadow-rue the white and blue filaments 

 are broad and petaloid. The small leaves or 

 bracts surrounding the flowers are also fre- 

 quently highly colored. In the painted cup 

 (Casfilleja) the bracts are bright scarlet; in 

 Monarda media the bracts are purple, and 

 in the bunchberry white, while in the Pro- 

 teacece of Australia the upper foliage leaves 

 are blue. 



Again, conspicuousness may be secured 

 by mas>ing small (lowers in large clusters, 

 or by their production in great profusion. 

 A single bluet is visible at a distance of only 

 a few feet; but when they whiten a whole 

 hillside they form a part of the facies of the 

 landscape. In the town of Wiscasset, Maine, 

 the dandelions when in bloom carpet the 

 whole fields; while in New .Jersey large dis- 

 tricts are white with daisy blossoms, but, 

 unfortunately, not for the harvest. On the 

 prairies of Nebraska the ground-jilum pre- 

 sents in spring a very striking api)earance, 

 the plants forming dense masses of reddish- 

 blue (lowers. In North Carolina, Rhodo- 

 dendriim fnaxh^ium and Kahnia lafifolla, 

 or mountain laurel, the two handsom.est 

 North-American shrubs, "are seen to cover 



tracts of great extent at one season, present- 

 ing an unbroken landscape of gorgeous 

 (lowers." They adorn the valleys all around, 

 says Asa Gray, in one of his letters, "in im- 

 mense abundance and profuse blossoming 

 of every hue from deep rose to white." Al- 

 most equally conspicuous in various parts 

 of the country are large areas brightlv col- 

 ored with yellow buttercups, goldeiirods, 

 sun (lowers, orange- ha wkweeds, purple 

 thistles, and blue lupines. The blue lupine, 

 or "blue bonnet," is the State (lower of 

 Texas, where, says Scholl, "it grows in great 

 profusion over the entire ground, making it 

 look like a solid ()lue carpet for miles 

 around." liut nothing in this world can 

 surpass in beauty or lavish abundance the 

 cloud-like masses of bloom displayed by the 

 great northern apple-orchards. 



Compare these brilliant landscapes of col- 

 or with Wallace's description of the tropics: 

 "I have never seen in the tropics such bril- 

 liant masses of color as even England can 

 show in her furze-clad commons, her heath- 

 ery mountain-sides, her glades of wild hya- 

 cinths, her fields of popiiies, her meadows of 

 buttercups and orchises — carpets of yellow, 

 purple, azure-blue, and fiery crimson, which 

 the tropics rarely can exhibit. We have 

 smaller masses of color in our hawthorn and 

 crab-trees, our holly and mountain ash, our 

 broom, foxgloves, primroses, and purple 

 vetches, which clothe with gay colors the 

 whole length and breadthof our land. These 

 beauties are all common. They are charac- 

 teristic of the country and climate; they 

 have not to be sought for, but they gladden 

 the eye at every step. In the regions of the 

 equator, on the other hand, whether it be 

 forest or savanna, a somber green clothes 

 universal nature. You may journey for 

 hours and even for days, and meet with 

 nothing to break the monotony. Flowers 

 are everywhere rare, and any thing at all 

 striking is to be met at only very rare inter- 

 vals." 



Waldoboro, Maine. 



FOUL-BROOD LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA. 



The Necessity of Co-operation between the North- 

 ern and Southern Portions of the State, 



BY HARRY K. HILL. 



On p. 552, Sept. 15, Mr. P. C. Chadwick 

 makes some suggestions about a new foul- 

 brood law for California with the intention 

 of bringing out a discussion. I fully agree 

 with him that the present law is of little 

 force, and that a new law creating a State 

 inspector is desirable. He makes some sug- 

 gestions about the details of the proposed 

 new law, which, in the main. I agree with ; 

 but there are some points upon which I 

 should like to make some remarks ; and 

 chief among them is this: He says, "My 

 idea would be to . . have a State inspec- 



