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THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



back filled with hop extract like a common laborer on pay-day. 

 We have seen a board walk, a horse fly, a tack hammer — but 

 an ant's head walking around by itself. Never ! All the trouble 

 comes from making the story bigger than the facts warrant. 

 We once wrote an article on insectivorous plants for one of the 

 magazines and it appeared under the title ''Plants That Eat 

 Meat," and we almost lost our reputation as matter-of-fact sci- 

 entists. We have since preferred plain facts to the most orna- 

 mental fiction. 



^ ^ ^ 



According to the prospectus of a new scientific publication 

 which is soon to appear, it will have four times as many pages 

 as this magazine and cost eight times as much. We have no 

 doubt that such a publication is needed, but we question whether 

 it is desirable to assume at once that nobody but a few scien- 

 tists will want it and to place the price beyond the reach of the 

 beginner. We really need cheap publications in all the sciences ; 

 otherwise the rising generation will think more of golf and the 

 movies than of useful knowledge. The advance of science is 

 not helped by an advance in the price of the literature relating 

 to it. If all the scientific publications are to cost from $6 to $10 

 a year, beginners will be discouraged and science lose in con- 

 sequence. 



BOOKS AND WRITERS 



During the week commencing September 6, the New York 

 Botanical Garden will hold a celebration in commemoration of 

 its twenty-fifth anniversary. The program for the week con- 

 sists of a series of excursions to nearby points of interest and 

 sessions for the reading of papers. Everybody botanically in- 

 clined is invited to be present and read a paper and since New 

 York is within easy reach of a majority of American botanists, 

 a very interesting and successful meeting is assured. 



