38 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



that has been sent them, gratis, by the pubhshers. This is 

 probably the gravest charge that can be brought against the 

 teacher. Who would employ a physician who did not keep up 

 to date in his information ? Who would take a case to a law- 

 yer who did not keep in mind the run of new laws and recent 

 court decisions. And yet, all too' frequently, we send our chil- 

 dren to be taught by persons who regard their college diploma 

 as a license to stop thinking. Before botany comes into its own, 

 we shall have to have better teachers, better books, better 

 methods, and outdoor laboratories. The study must be given 

 some vital connection with life. 



BOOKS AND WRITERS 



A new monthly botanical journal with the title of The 

 American Journal of Botany is announced. It will be the of- 

 ficial publication of the Botanical Society of America and will 

 be published in conjunction with that society by the Brooklyn 

 Botanical Garden. The Botanical Society of America contains 

 several eminent botanists and the magazine ought to fill^a place 

 in botanical literature not attained by other publications. 



One after another the flowers of the old fashioned garden 

 have been taken in hand by the florist and made to produce a 

 wealth of varieties undreamed of a few years ago. Sweet peas, 

 peonies, irises, phloxes, dahlias and many others have gone 

 through this process and at present the gladiolus is being de- 

 veloped in the same way. The original wild plant seems to 

 have been a red-flowered form of no unusual beauty, but the 

 modern flowers are extremely handsome and of every shade of 

 color save a ^pronounced blue and florists do not despair of 

 securing this, ultimately. Enough interest in these flowers has 

 developed to warrant the publication of a magazine devoted 

 especially to them. This is The Modern Gladiolns Grower, 



