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research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who has been 

 spending the winter at the Desert Botanical Laboratory at Tuc- 

 son, Arizona, came east early in April to attend the Franklin 

 bicentenary in Philadelphia. During June, July, and August he 

 will be occupied with his mutant-cultures at the Garden. 



Professor Hugo de Vries, of Amsterdam, arrived in New York 

 on April 10. He gave an address in Philadelphia, April 18, on 

 " Elementary Species in Agriculture " in connection with the 

 celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of 

 Benjamin Franklin, and on April 21 lectured at the Garden on 

 " The Correlation of Characters in Plants." He will visit various 



ried on and in June and July will deliver a course of botanical 

 lectures at the summer session of the University of California. 



The Torrey Botanical Club has announced a special meeting 

 for Wednesday, May 23, at 3:30 P. M. in the lecture hall of the 

 museum building. This meeting is in commemoration of the 

 tenth anniversary of the commencement of work in the develop- 

 ment of the Garden. Dr. Henry H. Rusby will deliver an ad- 

 dress on " The History of Botany in New York City," which will 

 be followed by a reception in the museum halls, library and labo- 



The golden bells, or forsythias, have been unusually fine this 

 spring, the large group near the fountain and that at the entrance 

 to the elevated railroad being especially conspicuous in their rich 

 yellow color. The two species, Forsythia Fortunei and F. viri- 

 dissima, represent the two extremes of the flowering period of this 

 desirable shrub, F. viridissima being the later bloomer. A 

 hybrid between the two, named F. intermedia, has an interme- 

 diate flowering period. 



In the conservatories, perhaps the most interesting plant at 

 present is Queen Victoria's agave, Agave Victorice-Reginm, from 

 Mexico. Several specimens of this species will be found in the 

 central part of house no. 6, but the plant of special interest just 

 now is the one that is sending up its large flowering stem — a 

 stem out of all proportion to the rest of the plant ; this is the 

 first time the species has bloomed with us. Of especial interest 



