* 
1887. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 19 
PROBABLY no former report of the U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture 
has contained such a hopeful outlook for applied botany as that for 1886. 
Commissioner Colman deserves the credit of having brought this phase 
of agriculture into prominence as a subject of economic importance mer- 
iting development. His well chosen words in the report regarding the 
study of forage plants, the parasitic diseases of plants, and the biology of 
forest trees, as prosecuted during the past year, and the need of more 
ample provision for their continuance, will meet with the most hearty 
approval of every botanist who is interested in seeing the results and 
the methods of science turned to the service of the cultivator. 
OPEN LETTERS. 
Mr, C. G. Pringle. 
On the twenty-seventh of November for a few hours I had the 
pleasure of the company of Mr i 
He thinks it is a rough, dangerous way to live, some m 
ople who would not hesitate to kill him merely for his clothes, still he 
is full of enthusiasm likes ork. pe fascination 
in finding new things as well as in meeting with old friends among his 
plants. Mr. Pringle appeared in good health and spirits. The time 
d too quickly to hear all he had to tell of his journey and his 
acquaintance with botanists in various parts of America. 
Michigan Agricultural College. ( W. J. BEAL. 
Herbarium Case. 
In the herbarium case which was constructed for the Ark. Ind. Univ., 
, Maine. F. L. Harvey. 
Dr. Edward P<Imer. 
Dr. Edward Palmer has just returned from Guadalajara, Mexico, 
where he has made a large and valuable collection of plants, which he 
will proceed to distribute among his atrons as soon as possible. He has 
for cultivation in the arid districts of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. 
Washington, D. C. GEORGE VASEY. 
