66 General Notes. [ January, 
high botanical value is evident to every scientific man, but it is a 
melancholy fact, which does not speak well for the accuracy of 
the experimenters, that very little of their work has been of use 
in scientific botany. In the experiments recorded in the third 
annual report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 
we have a notable exception to the rule. Many of the results 
obtained have a high value to the physiological and pathological 
botanist. Thus we find such topics as the following, viz: The 
hygroscopic properties of grains; Hybrid barley; Germinations 
of commercial seeds; The cross-fertilization of maize; A classifi- 
cation of maize, with a description of the species and varieties 
(with plates); A classification of the agricultural species of gar- 
den peas; The size and distribution of roots of various plants 
determined by washing away the soil; A classification of barley 
and oats ; Report of the botanist upon diseases of the pear, apple, 
quince, peach, tomato, oats, clematis and Canada thistle. Topics 
like these, treated as these are, command the respect of scientific 
men. We hope to see the time when such will be the rule, and 
not as now the exception. 
We hold that every agricultural experiment which has to do 
with plants must be sufficiently accurate to commend itself to the 
agriculture. Such an experiment which has no botanical value 
cannot haye a permanent agricultural value. The demands of 
scientific botany are in no wise more exacting than those of sci- 
entific agriculture. 
FERTILIZATION OF TEUCRIUM CANADENSE.—Of interest to Amer- 
ican botanists is the proterandry of the American germander, 
simulating that of T. scorodonia of Europe. The corolla here is 
not bilabiate as usual in this family, but the tube is split open 
above as far as the calyx and the five lobes are arranged on one 
—lower—lip. In the bud the lowest or middle lobe turns up 
over the stamens and style, serving as a protection to them. 
This lobe is embraced by the two lobes on either side, and these 
in turn by the two upper lobes, which usually form the upper 
lip in the Labiate, In their first state, as in almost all flowers of 
this family, the stamens are curved forwards so as to come into 
more ready contact with the body of the entering insect, in this 
case usually a bee. The stigma is bent forwards like the stamens, 
but the stigma lobes having not yet opened, cannot be fertilized: 
Later the stamens bend far backwards, and since there is n° 
upper lip to check this motion they actually recurve at times. 
The style in the meantime retains its position or takes a slightly _ 
higher position, while its stigma lobes open. The stamens 
themselves may be short and these are usually of almost equal 
length, or one or more of them may continue growth and 
even equal the style in length. There is no regularity, how- | 
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