1878. j Botany. 625 
tent men. Mr. John Robinson, long and very favorably known 
in New England as an amateur cultivator of ferns, an enthusiastic 
collector, and a pleasing teacher, has initiated a series which ma 
supply the needed want. In the narrow limits of small pages and 
in an easy style, the author has brought before the reader a fund 
of information respecting ferns and their habits. There is little 
to criticise in the creditable accomplishment of this praiseworthy 
task. The volume is a timely contribution to a neglected portion 
of the field. Of late, we have been much favored by new books 
on Ferns: Prof. Eaton’s Ferns of North America, Mr. William- 
son’s Ferns of Kentucky, Mr. Meehan’s Native Flowers and 
Ferns, are all heartily welcomed. They admirably fill their several 
places, but are not one whit encroached upon by Mr. Robinson’s 
rns. His work, in a manner, supplements all the rest.— 
G. 
A TREE witH Two Stumps.—This would be nothing remark- 
able in the home of the banyan and mangrove, but in higher 
latitudes and especially in the dryer regions of the Mississippi 
valley it is strange enough to interest all observers. 
Near Tabor, ‘Fremont Co., Iowa, on the farm of Mr. John 
Rhodes, there ‘stands a Basswood: (Tilia americana), presenting 
the anomalous form of a vigorous trunk seventy-five feet high 
rising from two perfectly distinct stumps, about ten feet apart. 
The stumps are of nearly equal size, and are narrower seen 
from the north-east. About six feet from the ground the cross 
section is fifteen by eighteen inches. The centers of the stumps 
are about ten feet apart at the surface of the ground. The 
timber has been cleared from around the tree so that it has 
attracted more attention recently, but Mr. Rhodes informs the 
writer that when he came into the country twenty-five years ago, 
the features of this tree were the same as at present, except that 
the whole was smaller. The upright stem was then only four’ or 
five inches in diameter. Two smaller trees connected with it have 
been cut down. 
w may this strange growth be explained? The idea that it 
may have resulted from a seed sprouting upon a large log and send- 
ing roots down on both sides is forbidden by the height and breadth 
of the arched base. Logs of such size are not “known in this 
country. It could not have been produced by any washing away 
of the soil, for it is on a nearly even and uniformly sloping hillside. 
The idea of its being formed by the growing together of two 
trees is extremely improbable, considering the angle at which the 
stumps un ye There seems but one other supposition possible, 
viz: that a young tree was in some way bent over till its top was 
rooted in the earth, while one of its branches embodied the 
upward vigor of the tree. This theory is strengthened by the 
fact that the eastern stump sends out more prominent roots, Loss 
Mase 
