854 The American Naturalist. (October, 
BOTANY. 
Botany at the Rochester Meeting.—There was so much 
Botany at the Rochester meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science that the space here given will scarcely more 
than admit of a catalogue of the papers and their authors. The botani- 
cal work was divided into that of the section and of the club. Section 
F at the Rochester meeting included all papers which came under the 
broad head of biology, and of these the total was no less than fifty- 
seven, a large share being upon botany. At the Washington meeting 
there was a proposition made to divide the section into two, namely 
one for zoology and one for botany. After a thorough canvass of the 
subject in the Section the council finally voted unanimously to recom- 
mend such a division and it was made by the Association. The new 
Section of Botany takes the letter G, and hereafter botanists will be by 
themselves in Section G. 
The first two papers in the Section were by Dr. N. L. Britton apon 
“ Notes on Ranunculus repens and its Eastern North American Allies” 
and “ Notes on a Monograph of the North American species of Lespe- 
deza”. A large number of specimens were shown which enforced the 
position taken by the author. Mr. W. W. Rowlee instructor in 
Botany at Cornell University presented a paper upon “ The Root 
System of Mikania scandens, in which the strange development of a 
mass of fibrous roots was brought out. Specimens were shown of the 
bog water masses of roots. Prof. L. M. Underwood gave a “ Prelimin- 
ary comparison of the Hepatic Flora of boreal and sub-boreal regions ” 
gaa many points of difference. 
Dr. E. F. Smith gave two papers bearing upon his long prosecuted 
labors namely—* On the value of wood ashes in the treatment of peach 
yellows ” and “ On the value of superphosphates and muriate of potash 
in the treatment of peach yellows”. The genuine “ yellows ” is not 
cured by the use of plant food and is a specific disease. When asked 
for the cause of the trouble Dr. Smith replied that he wished he knew. 
Prof. Macloskie presented “Notes on Maize” and advocated this 
plant as worthy of becoming the “National flower ”—“ Spikes of 
wheat bearing abnormal spikelets” was a paper by Dr. Beal, as also 
the following—* A study of the relative length of the sheaths and 
internodes of grasses for the purpose of determining to what extent 
