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Dr. E. D. Merrill, Dean of the California College of Agri- 

 culture and formerly Director of the Philippine Bureau of 

 Science has been made Director of the California Botanical 

 Gardens of Los Angeles. The gardens are being developed in a 

 sheltered valley to the west of the city where there was naturally 

 a fine growth of live oak, sycamore and other native trees and 

 shrubs. As it will extend up the hillsides for some distance and 

 back into the canyon, there is a diversity of environment that will 

 make possible a great variety of plants and make possible 

 unusual settings for them. The gardens are close to the new 

 site of the Southern Branch of the University of California and 

 that of Occidental College. 



Ellsworth P. Killip of the National Museum and Albert C. 

 Smith of New York have returned from a botanical trip to the 

 Eastern Cordillera of Columbia. The party, sent by the 

 National Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, the Gray 

 Herbarium and Arnold Arboretum, has obtained a fine collection 

 of specimens from a region little known botanically. 



During July and August the rainfall in the vicinity of New 

 York City amounted to 293/^ inches, about half the average 

 annual amount. This excessive rainfall has had a marked efifect 

 on plant growth. 



