618 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



from southern Maine to North Carolina and westward. 

 In favorable localities the common cat-tail may grow 

 to become nearly nine feet in height, the ribbon-like' 

 leaves passing beyond, or rather above, the russet brown 



ONE OF THE MOST CURIOUS PLANTS IN AMERICA 



This is the far famed Pitcher Plant (Sarraceia purpurea)^ which has 

 claimed the attention of writers and others for nearly two centuries. It 

 is named for Dr. Michel Sarrasin, wno first sent specimens of it to Europe. 

 He was a physician at the Court of Quel)ec in the early days of the 

 eighteenth century. This will account for his not having sent the Southern 

 form of the plant iS. flaz-a), which flourishes in the bogs of Virginia and 

 southward, usually flowering in early April. The flowers of the plant here 

 shown are on the wane, while perfect ones are presented in another cut 

 below. Another pitcher plant is found in the swamps in certain parts of 

 Guiana, South America. 



flower-heads. These latter have both staminate and pis- 

 tillate elements upon them ; and, curiously enough, not 

 possessing either petals or the ordinary parts of a true 

 flower, they are quite independent of fertilization by in- 

 sects. In the cuts here given, the upper part of the 

 flo\ver-si)ike is not shown that is, not fully ; it is only 

 in the double s])ecimen that its stem is, in part, seen 

 above. Stamens occur only in the superior part or half, 

 while the inferior moiety consists of the i)istils ; these 

 are the flowers that are fertilized by the yellow pollen 

 falling upon them from above. What we are most fa- 

 miliar with are the cylindrical, light snuff-brown heads, 

 which appear along in August and September (see cuts). 

 One of these is composed of a densely packed down, 

 made up of the pistillate flowers which are bractless. 

 The remainder of the flower essentials have withered 

 and blown away long ago. Specimens of these elegant, 

 pistillate parts may be over an inch in transverse diam- 

 eter and nearly a foot in length. 



Sometimes cat-tail swamps are of great extent, cover- 

 ing acres of marshy, or rather muddy shores of slow- 

 running rivers and inland bodies of water. As plants, 

 they seem to be just as well suited to salt water as to 

 fresh, and they thrive growing in either. Fifty or more 

 years ago there was an extensive cat-tail growth in a 

 salt water marsh, in an inlet not far from the steam- 

 boat landing at Stamford, Connecticut. In those days 

 our common barn swallow was extremely abundant, and 

 at nightfall a great many thousands of those birds used 

 to roost on the leaves and heads of the cat-tails in that 

 marsh, sometimes in such immense numbers as to crush 

 down the plants in masses. Many other kinds of birds 

 delight in making their homes in the cat-tail swamps, 

 and most of the species build their nests and rear their 

 young there. Among these species we are familiar with 

 the several species of rails and bitterns ; the red-wing 

 blackbirds, and various species of sparrows ; the differ- 

 ent kinds of rails and coots ; the cute marsh wrens, which 

 build curious ovoid nests; and sometimes a short-eared 

 owl and a pair of marsh hawks. 



A T the recent annual meeting of the Landowners' Co- 

 -'* operative Forestry Society in Edinburgh, Sir John 

 Maxwell made an address in which he stated that the 

 war has brought about a considerable change in the pub- 

 lic attitude toward forestry. With large tracts of wood- 

 lands throughout the country being swept clear of their 

 trees the importance of the whole question is being 

 brought home to the public as never before. Sir John 

 Maxwell pointed out that the cutting of trees should be 

 fairly distributed over the country and that poor and un- 

 derstocked woods should be utilized in preference to 

 flourishing plantations which are entering their period 

 of most rapid increment and which will be needed for the 

 period of reconstruction. The work of the Landowners' 

 Co-operative Forestry Society is along the line of far- 

 sighted organization of effort and resources, both as to 

 cutting and planting. 



A S an interesting example of the problems which a 

 -^^ forester has to work out, it is said that forest offi- 

 cials in India have undertaken to girdle undesirable trees 

 in order to kill them off and give more room to the Deo- 

 dar and other valuable species. Himalayan bears, how- 

 ever, have discovered that the sap from these girdled 

 trees is sweet and toothsome and have undertaken some 

 girdling on their own hook. They have caused a good 

 deal of trouble because they do not confine their opera- 

 tions to undesirable trees. 



CHIRLEY W. ALLEN, of the Extension Department 

 ^ of the New York State College of Forestry at Syra- 

 cuse University, has been appointed, temporarily, to suc- 

 ceed Victor A. Beede as secretary of the New York State 

 Forestry Association. Mr. Beede has gone into forest 

 fire insurance work at Portsmouth. 



