211 
poration of other species still in the trial grounds, it has been 
found necessary to rearrange during the past few weeks the col- 
lection here installed, and to provide a number of new beds. It 
has been found that the welfare of the plants in some of the plots 
could be better provided for by somewhat altering their position, 
and this has been done, but their relative places in the sequence 
have not been changed. The essential completion during the 
past spring of the brook and pond system which traverses this 
area has added much to its beauty, and has provided also the 
necessary requirements for the installation of a number of aquatic 
families not hitherto illustrated. 
The total precipitation in the Garden during October, 1902, 
oo to 7.31 inches. Maximum temperatures of 73° F. on 
he roth, 72° on the 13th, 67° on the 24th and 69° on the 27th 
were observed, also minima of 51.5° on the 3d, 34° on the 
1oth, 38° on the 15th, 27° on the 21st and 30° on the 30th. 
The first frost occurred on the roth when the registering apparatus 
showed a temperature of two degrees above freezing in the nursery 
on an eastern slope. Cold air settling in the bowl-shaped valley 
in which the herbaceous plantation lies produced a temperature 
sufficiently lower to produce frost on the above date. The last 
frost of the spring of this season occurred on April 25th, thus 
giving an open season free from frost of 168 days. 
The temperature of the soil at a depth of one foot (30 cm.) 
stood at 43° F on the st, falling gradually to 33° on the 18th, 
then rising to 36° on the 21st, dropping to 31” on the 23d. From 
the 23d to the 27th variations slightly above and below the freez- 
ing point occurred, and then on the 28th a gradual decrease set 
in which carried the temperature down to 29° on the 31th. 
Mr. Geo. Nicholson, F.L.S., formerly Curator of the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, England, was a visitor at the Garden during a few 
weeks in October and November. 
The U. S. Patent Office has granted Dr. A. P. Anderson let- 
ters patent No. 707892, dated August 26, 1902, upon the “ Art 
of Treating Starch Material.” The products resulting from the 
application of this method to seeds and other starch materials are 
