THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



35 



coast region and throughout the cotton belt by the begin- 

 ning of April. The advent of spring occurs during April 

 throughout the larger portion of the United States, includ- 

 ing the Middle and North Atlantic States, the Ohio and 

 central Mississippi valleys, the eastern and southern slopes 

 of the Rocky mountain region and sheltered valle^^s in the 

 v^est, and is deferred to May onh^ along the northern 

 borderfromNorthfield, Vt., through the upper lake region, 

 and over the two most elevated regions of the west, the 

 Rockies from Denver to Helena, and the Sierra Nevada of 

 eastern California and Oregon. 



The change from winter to spring is of course pro- 

 foundly^ modified hy the larger topographical features of 

 the country, as well as by the influence of position in re- 

 gard to the pre vailing course of storms. There is a marked 

 trend northward of the lines both on the Atlantic and the 

 Pacific coasts, so much more pronounced on the latter 

 that spring has already commenced at Portland, Oreg., 

 and Tacoma, Wash., before it reaches Norfolk, 10° of lat- 

 itude farther south. — Charles F. Von Herrmann, in Pro- 

 ceedings of Second Convention of Weather Bureau Officials. 



Wanted. — Short notes of interest to the general bot- 

 anist are always in demand for this department. Our 

 readers are invited to make this the place of publication 

 for their botanical items. 



Profuse Blooming of the Sassafras. — Throughout 

 eastern Pennsydvania this year, the sassafras trees were 

 heavy with bloom, to find a tree without flower being the 

 exception. In other y^ears the reverse of this has been the 

 rule and, in this section, to find the sassafras tree in bloom 

 was rare indeed. Does this profusion of sassafras bloom 

 prevail elsewhere, or is it a difference due to peculiar con- 

 ditions of locality P—Er/iF/n C.Jellett, Germantown, Pa, 



