1892. ] Open Letters. 165 
one that proposes to fight not only its own battles but also those of 
all ancient neglected worthies. : 
THE THING TO OBSERVE is that we are slipping rapidly away from the 
time when a few persons or a few places represented the concentration 
of botanical authority, and are upon the-threshold of a new order of 
things in which the voice of authority is to come from “the people.” 
There may not be greater rivalry in feeling, but there will be far more 
" Successful rivalry; and the botanical landscape will represent a uniform 
forest rather than a cluster of sequoias towering in the midst of their / 
lowly neighbors. Everything wrought out will have to run the gaunt- 
let of the many instead of the few. 
THis conpiTION of things has been brought about by the wonderful 
Spread of scientific training and the consequent development of inde- 
pendent thinking. Ina general sense this is a far more desirable state 
of affairs, for it develops hundreds of efficient workers where there 
Was only one before. It also has certain disadvantages common to all 
democracy. While it brings individual freedom it permits follies 
which a strong central power would have repressed. The new order 
of things, therefore, must be expected to be more of a“‘lo here” and 
State of affairs, full of “fads” and erratic movements, and 
abounding more in worthless than worthy literature, but there is in It 
more of hope and promise for the rapid development of botanical sci- 
€r the former régime, for an aristocracy is always in- 
ultra-conservative. It is only rebels who are apt to be 
extremists, and when there is nothing left to rebel against they usually 
Settle down into staid and comfortable citizens. 
OPEN LETTERS. 
i The pollination of Orchis spectabilis. 
in the spring of 18 : te nat ilis, I was sur- 
91 while examining Orchis spectabilis, I was st 
breed to see the pollen masses, which i had withdrawn on the pee 
Pa ; 
on the matter ?—Jane H, NEWELL, Cambridge, Mass. 
