SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



April 9, 1927. 



Mr. Walter Deane, 



29 Brewster Street, 



Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



My dear Mr. Deane: 



Your letter of April 6, with my copy of the evidence taken at the 

 pricklypear trial, has come to hand. 



With regard to the word "pricklypear" written as a solid word: I 

 wish to say that it is so used in "Standardized Plant Names," a cata- 

 logue of approved scientific and common names of plants in the American 

 Commerce, based on Bailey's Cyclopedia of Horticulture, published in 

 1923, and prepared by Olmstead, Goville and Kelsey. I am quite aware 

 that the name is used differently in most botanical publications, 

 like those enumerated by you, but for my purpose it seemed veil to 

 quote the latest authorities on this subject, especially as it made 

 my case stronger. Page 17 was omitted because it applied to something 

 not related to my testimony. 



I have just had a charming 4-page letter from the Judge who pre- 

 sided at this trial, among which things he says, "your whole scientific 

 evidence was not only interesting, but convincing, as the jury's finding 

 showed." 



Some time ago Doctor Bailey sent me a very interesting memorandum 

 regarding herbaria, some points of which I ¥/ant to quote to you: "?/e 

 are making good progress in botanical science and yet there are certain 

 important phases in which v;e are greatly deficient and to which the 

 imagination of botanists themselves has not been sufficiently directed. 

 We have as yet no beginning of records to enable us to study mutations 

 in epochs of one hundred years, and where are these records t o be pre- 

 served? Some of these will be kept in universities but we need a na- 

 tional depository for valuable, special, and amateur collections. Cer- 

 tain of such collections on which critical monographs are founded, or 

 that represent particular regions or botanical groups should be pre- 

 served intact by themselves. Contact should be kept with growing con- 

 ditions to the end that those with no direct or natural designation may 

 eventually be gathered as parts of the National archives. ^ know of the 

 great value of the collections there (in the National Herbarium) and of 

 the excellent contributions that are making by competent and devoted 

 workers. Some parts of the collections are outstanding in the ¥;orld, 



