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foliage of fruit trees and of various herbaceous plants in the very 

 extensive fields and gardens of this region was apparently unin- 

 jured. Had the eruption occurred a month or two later, the 

 calamity would have undoubtedly been much greater. 



The botanical garden at Rome is simply a large grove, con- 

 taining several species of trees. It is situated just south of the 

 Coliseum and is used as a public park. An interesting floral 

 display, called the Battaglia di Fiori, took place while I was in 

 Rome, in a beautiful park adjoining the Borghese villa. Thou- 

 sands of people of all classes, armed with numerous roses, lilies, 

 tuberoses, pinks, pansies, etc., joined in the struggle, pelting each 

 other with flowers and leaving the ground strewn with the broken 

 remnants and the air laden with their perfume. 



Botanical work at Florence is largely under the control of the 

 Central Botanical Society. The museum, herbarium and labora- 

 tories, which are quite extensive and well equipped, are now being 

 enlarged and rearranged. Dr. Baccarini, the director, kindly 

 placed the fungus collections at my disposal and pointed out to me 

 various interesting specimens among the collections of living 

 plants. Florence abounds in beautiful parks and tree plantations, 

 in many of which the oriental plane tree has a prominent part. 

 At the time of my visit, about the middle of June, this tree was 

 just recovering from the attack of a fungus (Gloeosporium), which 

 kills the young twigs and renders the tree unsightly for a few 

 weeks, but does not usually appear to injure it seriously, unless 

 it is already weakened in some way. Little attention is paid to 

 the fungus by the Italian people, who are more distressed by the 

 -" Platanus cough," due to the irritating hairs that fall from the 

 young leaves, and by the glare of the hot spring sun, which the 

 tardy foliage of the plane tree does not serve to ameliorate. 



In passing through Italy in summer, one cannot fail to be im- 

 pressed with the high percentage of land under cultivation. Ex- 

 cept on the Campagna, where hay fields abound, and in the higher 

 parts of the Apennines, where the soil and temperature are forbid- 

 ding, the whole country is practically one vast garden and orchard 

 combined, with a succession of mulberry, olive, and cherry trees, 

 garlands of grapevines, rows of corn, plats of wheat and clover, 



