44 
writer is the after-effect on the plants themselves. It will be 
noted that all the plants affected are early bloomers, among the 
earliest in the gardens. This is to be expected, for it takes but 
little additional heat to start plants of this kind, their ower-buds 
and leaf-buds being already well developed. If the final result 
is only the destruction of the bloom for next spring, no permanent 
injury hee have been done. 
What the general effect will be of the open warm weather, 
a if followed by severe weather later, is a matter of 
much concern. While this weather persists the wood cannot 
properly ‘‘ripen”’ and be in a condition to withstand severe cold. 
A gradual increase of cold would probably avert the difficulty. 
It is to be hoped that this is not prophetic of the destruction of 
our evergreens, aa not until the warm winds of March and April 
come can this be determined. The winter of 1911-12 was 
especially severe on them, and this followed by equally or even 
ore severe weather the present winter, is not a condition to 
be looked forward to with much confidence 
GrorGeE V. Nasu. 
FURTHER BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS IN 
PINAR DEL RIO, CU 
rR. N. L. Britton, DrRECTOR-IN-CHIEF, 
Sir: Embarking from New York, Saturday, July 20, 1912, 
avana was reached on the following Wednesday and the city 
of Pinar del Rio next day. Here I looked up Mr. S. T. Holmes, 
whose acquaintance I had formed on my first trip to Cuba in 
9 M olmes gave me helpful information concerning the 
region in which I was to operate. He also introduced me to a 
local banker, Sr. Ricardo Cuevas, who gave me a letter to the 
proprietors of ‘‘La Central” in Sumidero. 
Sumidero was reached by “‘guagua”’ on a macadamized road 
traversing over clay and mica-shist hills and oe Cerro de Cabras 
n Friday evening. The next day was spent in securing suitable 
quarters and arranging my equipment. 
