124 



pletely arid land in the public domain which, by the establish- 

 ment of reservoirs for the storing of water and the irrigation of 

 the lands, may be made much more fruitful and productive than 

 the best lands in a climate where the moisture comes from the 

 clouds. Congress recognized the importance of this method of 

 artificial distribution of water on the arid lands by the passage of 

 the reclamation act. The proceeds of the public lands create the 

 fund to build the works needed to store and furnish the neces- 

 sary water * * * _ Jt would appear that over thirty projects 

 have been undertaken, and that a few of these are likely to be 

 unsuccessful because of lack of water, or for other reasons, but 

 generally the work which has been done has been well done, 

 and many important engineering problems have been met and 

 solved.' 



NEWS ITEMS 



At Leland Stanford George J. Pierce, associate professor of 

 botany, has been advanced to professor. 



Willis T. Pope, professor of botany in the College of Hawaii, 

 has been appointed superintendent of public instruction for 

 Hawaii, his position will be filled by Vaughan MacCaughey 

 (Cornell, '08). 



At the University of Missouri, assistant professor George M. 

 Reed has been appointed assistant professor in charge of the de- 

 partment for the coming year. Dr. E. J. Durand of Cornell Uni- 

 versity has been appointed assistant professor of botany. The 

 professorship in botany, made vacant by the resignation of Pro- 

 fessor C. Stuart Gager, will not be filled for the coming year. 



The illustrated public lectures at the New York Botanical 

 Garden, which were begun in April, will continue until early in 

 July. The coming lectures are "An Expedition to the Panama 

 Canal Zone " by Dr. M. A. Howe, May 28 ; " Summer Flowers " 

 by Dr. N. L. Britton, June 4 ; " The Rose and Its History " by 

 Mr. George V. Nash, June 1 1 ; " The Native Trees of the Hudson 

 Valley" by Mr. Norman Taylor, June 18 ; " The Extinct Flora 

 of New York City and Vicinity" by Dr. Arthur Hollick, June 

 25 ; and " The Fungous Diseases of Shade Trees " by Dr. W. A. 

 Murrill, July 2. 



