1883. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 97 
3- Panicle small or large, branches long: spikelets scattered or 
glomerate. 
PP. gymnocarpon, hians, barbinode, laxwm. 
‘4- Panicle larger, branches subdivided : spikelets pedicelled. 
PP. latifolium, clandestinum, viscidum, scabriusculum, commutatum, Neal- 
leyi, microcarpon and vay. 
anicle effuse, branches capillary and much subdivided. 
PP. capillare, proliferum, Hallii, autumnale, Buckleyi, miliacea, verru- 
cosum, 
. Tall grasses, with ample and diffuse panicle. . 
PP. anceps, agrostoides, virgatum, amarum, maximum, bulbosum, avena- 
ceum, Havardii. 
7- Frutescent: spikelets large and turgid; empty glumes loose. 
P. divaricatum Linn. 
8. Panicle diffuse: spikelets large; the glumes very silky-villose. 
P. Urvilleanum Kth.—Dr. GEorGE Vasey, Washington, D. C. 
EDITORIAL. 
Wnuar are the duties of the new experiment stations established at 
the state agricultural colleges by the national government, and recently 
made operative by congressional appropriation? The stations have two 
functions, as laid down by the law—“acquiring and diffusing ” knowl- 
edge—and it is well to notice the significant order in which they are — 
mentioned. The second section of the act specifies in what lines acqui- 
sition may be made, and it is our present purpose only to call attention 
to that part which relates to the study of plants. “It shall be the 
object and duty of said experiment stations,” so the law reads, “ to con- 
duct original researches or verify experiments on the physiology of 
plants and animals, the diseases to which they are severally subject, with 
remedies for the same,” etc. It can not be wholly accidental that the 
0 , * ad 
Subject being “ the analysis of soils and water,” although if hard driven. 
