scientific botanist, who has, perhaps, had to work at some of the least known or rare specie s 

 with scanty and imperfect dried material. In this botanical garden and arboretum there is a 

 remarkable diversity of habitat, from open water and an area of sphagnous bog to sandy 

 upland with all the intervening varieties of soil— rock, shady ravine, heavy clay, light loam, 

 sand, etc. — and I feel confident that a large proportion of our Canadian wild plants can be 

 grown and examined at leisure. It will be noticed that the two posts of entomologist and 

 botanist have been united. I consider this was a very wise arrangement, at any rate until 

 the work in connection with these two posts increases so much as to make the appointment 

 of two officers necessary. One of the most important things the entomologist will have to 

 attend to will be the injuries to plants from insects. It sometimes happens, however, that 

 it is difficult to tell at first the source of an injury to vegetation. The attacks of some of 

 the low forms of vegetable life and of insects being, in their effects, very similar, so much 

 so that instances sometimes occur when even careful observers, unless specially informed, 

 may make mistakes. Again, sometimes injuries due to other causes altogether are 

 attributed to either insects or fungi. During the past summer, there was great con- 

 sternation in the county of Prince Edward on account of a serious failure in the pea crop, 

 the complaint being that no seeds were formed. In this county peas are largely cultivated, 

 on some farms to the exclusion of all other crops, and the seed produced is of such high 

 quality that the best dealers in the United States and in England find it advantageous to 

 procure their seed from this district. Many suggestions were made to account for this 

 failure which was of such importance to a large proportion of the community, and insects 

 and parasitic fungi were at once accused. It seems probable, however, that the excessive 

 drought which prevailed during the whole summer was the sole cause. It is true that 

 mycelium of fungus was found upon the roots in some instances, but this was always 

 where the plant had been killed and was dead at the collar, the fungus only accompanying 

 the decay of the roots and their tubers. These tubers on the roots of the leguminosse are 

 very interesting. Through the kindness of Prof. W. G. Farlow, of Harvard University, 

 I have had my attention drawn to an excellent article by A. Tschirch, entitled " A Con- 

 tribution to the Knowledge of the Root Tubers of the Leguminosse." It is published in 

 the Transactions of the German Botanical Society of 2nd February, 1887. This, for the 

 first time, explains the use of these bodies, the nature of which had for many years been 

 misunderstood. It would appear that all legurainosas bear some kind of tubers on their 

 roots. These vary in shape in the different genera ; but they all have the same use, 

 namely, to act as reservoirs where, during the time of active growth, nitrogenous materials 

 are stored up until required to supply the large amount necessary to fill the seeds. These 

 latter then draw off from the tubers the nitrogenous materials, leaving them empty. 

 Now, on the plants in Prince Edward county which I had an opportunity of examining 

 on several farms, through the courtesy of J. M. Piatt, Esq., M.P., of Picton, the plants 

 presented the characters of having (i.) a living stem above, (ii.) a vigorous tuber-bearing 

 root, upon which, however, some of the tubers were in a state of decay, and (Hi.) a short 

 piece of dead stem at the surface of the ground effectually separating these two portions. 

 I feel now pretty well assured that this state of affairs was brought about much in the 

 following manner : Just about the time the peas were coming into flower, a period of 

 drought set in which caused the stems to fade and lie over at a time when there was not 

 sufficient foliage to protect them, in this way their bases were exposed to the direct heat 

 of the sun as well as that from the hot, parched earth, and they were thus injured to such 

 an extent that they could no longer act as channels for the interchange of materials from 

 the root to the stem and vice versa. If this be the correct view, the exceptional drought 

 of last year must be assigned as the cause for this shortage, and not any attack which is 

 likely to give trouble in the future. One noticeable feature about the plants examined 

 was the abundance and large size of the root tubers, and this might have been anticipated 

 had their nature at the time been understood. It points to the fact, however, that although 

 this year the crop in Prince Edward county is small it is from an exceptional cause, and 

 there is every reason to believe that with an ordinary season this district, so justly cele- 

 brated, will still show that it is without an equal in Ontario as a pea-producing county. 

 There are other injuries the nature of which is not apt to be understood. Amongst 

 these I would specially mention the "club root" in the cabbage, which is produced by a 



