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THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



There are no strings of any kind to this offer. No' term of 

 years through which the subscription is to run is named. It 

 simply means that we are willing to accept subscriptions at 

 less than regular rates from those who are interested in sustain- 

 ing the magazine by more extended subscriptions than ordinary. 



H« * * 



About the time the sun pauses over the tropic of Capricorn 

 preparatory to beginning a new journey northward, the seeds- 

 men are putting the finishing touches upon the spring cata- 

 logues. In a few more weeks the mails will be full of them. 

 In this vast annual output, one may find many varying degrees 

 of excellence. Some are clearly intended to serve only the 

 purpose of the moment and soon find their way into the waste 

 basket, but others are so well arranged and so carefully printed 

 that w^e hesitate to discard them and usually have a stock of 

 them on our shelves for reference. Such a catalog is the 

 Handbook of Trees and Hardy Plants issued by Thomas Mee- 

 han & Sons, Gemiantown, Pa. Besides giving sizes as well as 

 prices, it includes a large number of shrubs and other plants 

 that other dealers do not list. In a similar way the catalogue 

 of Thorburn, Barclay Street, New York, excells in the offering 

 of seeds of flowering plants. The honor of issuing the largest 

 catalogue lies between Sutton of England and Dreer of Phila- 

 delphia. We give our preference tO' Dreer, especially as his 

 catalogue lists many greenhouse plants. Farquahar's Garden 

 Annual from Boston is of special interest since it included many 

 of the new plants discovered by Wilson in various hitherto 

 unexplored parts of China. Probably the most artistic cata- 

 logues issued are sent out by the Biltmore Nursery, Biltmore, 

 N. C. There are four catalogues issued filled with fine illustra- 

 tions of plants. It is reported that this nursery, however, is 

 going out of business. The most extensive handbook of spring 

 flowering bulbs is probably that of Chester Jay Hunt, Mont- 



