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SHORTER ARTICLES 



" The Fringed Gentian. — Gentiajia crinita Froel. — Much has 

 been written about this beautiful but elusive American wild 

 flower, and information about its life history and peculiar habits 

 and habitats is being acquired, so that it will be possible to 

 cultivate it and bring it back to the places where it used to be 

 native and abundant. It has been well-established that it is 

 a biennial and there seems to be some ground for the statement 

 that it thrives best where there is lime in the soil, and sufficient 

 moisture so that the seedlings do not become too dry. It has 

 also been definitely shown that early frosts often kill the plants 

 before they can scatter seeds, so that it disappears or becomes 

 scarce for several seasons, but if a few plants remain to form seed, 

 it will reappear in the same locality after a year or two of absence. 

 It ranges from Quebec to Georgia along the Atlantic coastal 

 plain and westward to Minnesota and Iowa in the Mississippi 

 Valley, and grows in wet meadows on the borders of streams and 

 lakes where the soil is moist but not too wet or swampy. 



Perhaps the most successful replanting has been done by 

 Dr. George F. Norton of Pleasantville, N. Y. In October, 1906, 

 he collected seeds near Stanwich, Conn, and sowed them at 

 once near his home in Westchester County. Some of the seed 

 he kept over the winter but has reason to believe that the fresh 

 seed germinates more readily. Having established the plant 

 near his home, he has continued to plant it in different places 

 from Bedford Hills to Valhalla and from Danbury, Conn, to 

 the Hudson and distributed seeds to many other places. 



Mrs. Caspar T. Sharpless of Camden, N. J. has established it 

 at her summer home near Mt. Pocono, Penn. and grown plants 

 three feet high with over 100 blossoms. Miss E. R. Kennaday 

 of Mendham, N. J. has sown seed in Bergen Co., N. J. and 

 Dutchess Co., N. Y. The former director of the Buffalo Bot- 

 anic Garden — John F. Cowell — had grown fringed gentian 

 successfully for six years and sent some to the N. Y. Botanical 

 Garden. We have tried growing it in pots and sowing it 

 braodcast in favorable localities. The plants sown in pots 

 quickly become pot-bound, and when transplanted, the roots 

 are injured so that the plants are stunted and rarely grow 



