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foot section to contain the main entrance and beyond that 

 another L-building similar to, and equal in size to, the present 

 building. The new building will house the library, offices, 

 staff lunch room, photographic department and give room for 

 some new laboratories. Rooms freed in the present building 

 will also become laboratories. This will increase the laboratory 

 space at least 50% and make room for an increase in the num- 

 ber of investigators in the same proportion. Work on the 

 arboretum has progressed in the building of roads and paths, 

 in the removal of underbrush and in the development of the 

 nursery. The first planting in place of the material now in the 

 nursery has been begun this fall. 



In the last issue of Torreya there was a note from Mr. 

 Torrey on Vagnera stellata in the sand dunes of Long Island. 

 Dr. Edgar T. Wherry, of the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, 

 Washington, writes that this plant is one of the commonest 

 herbs of its size in the sand dunes of Indiana. There the plant 

 acts as a sand-binder, the rootstocks holding the sand on steeper 

 slopes than would occur in the absence of vegetation. The only 

 restriction to its growth in these sand dunes is its demand for a 

 sterile but calcareous soil. It does not grow where the soil 

 has been rendered fertile by an accumulation of humus, nor 

 where they have become acid. Dr. Wherry suggests that in 

 the colony on Long Island soil tests would show some source of 

 lime sufficient to neutralize any acidity. The plant is a good 

 example of the principle of the dominance of chemical over 

 physical factors in controlling plant distribution. The plant 

 seems to be indifferent, within reason, to wetness or dryness, 

 but limited by the chemical charater of the soil. 



The Brooklyn Botanic Garden are offering this fall thirty- 

 eight courses in botany and gardening. Of these fifteen are for 

 children, eleven especially for teachers, eleven for the general 

 public and one for student nurses. For teachers, credit is granted 

 towards advanced standing in colleges and universities and the 

 courses satisfy the New York City requirements as to "pro- 

 fessional alertness." Among the courses are ones in greenhouse 

 work, field work in botany and nature study and advanced 

 work in mycology, plant pathology, genetics and systematic 

 botany. 



