THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



117 



''easy marks." It must be that they consider us such or they 

 would not invite us to contribute from our own resources when 

 their own are so much larger. Still, they write that 'Sve are 

 receiving in this manner a large number of scientific publica- 

 tions" so we are either off in our reasoning or there are a lot 

 of other publishers that are in that condition. What puzzles 

 us is why we should send the magazine to any individual or 

 group of individuals without receiving an adecjuate return for 

 it. If we could only work the butcher and the grocer in the 

 same way, it would not seem so strange. Why, even the 

 printer who helps make the magazine expects pay for his work ! 

 Libraries must take the publishers of botanical publications for 

 millionaires. As a matter of fact they have to have some 

 means of their own or their publications w^ould not last long as 

 the support of the public goes at present. We believe it would 

 do the average New Yorker good to read this magazine regu- 

 larly, but we are deterred from providing this reading free by 

 the old adage that "Heaven helps those who help themselves." 

 We are sure he will remember wdiat he reads longer if he has to 

 give up a dollar for it now and then. W^e commonly do not 

 value highly what we get for nothing. We are therefore going 

 to forego the honor of having this journal on file in New York. 

 If the denizens of that benighted burg cannot spend a dollar 

 annually for two dollars worth of botany, let them read the 

 "large number of scientific publications" that other and more 

 generous editors are sending the library free. One of our sub- 

 scribers who went into one of New York's largest book stores 

 recently and asked for a copy of The Aincrican Botanist, was 

 informed by the young lady clerk that "we don't have no call 

 for them nature study things." We begin to suspect that New 

 York is too much engrossed with stocks and politics to get 

 much real enjoyment out of life. 



