28 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



leaflets have been removed, are fastened together bj 

 means of v^ooden pegs and strong twine in the form of a 

 boat. No attempt is made to match joints, but a false 

 bottom is built to the craft, and the mass of light mid-ribs 

 that lie beneath this bottom buoy the boat up out of the 

 water, so that the inside remains quite dry. Though in 

 the form of a boat, this curious date-leaf affair is really a 

 boat-shaped raft, for nothing but the fact that the bottom 

 stands high out of the water prevents the waves from 

 entering and flooding it. 



They are not pitched or painted in any wa^^, and " 

 would doubtless be short lived were they not dried out 

 carefully on the beach whenever the owners are not using 

 them. The paddles are the only parts of the boat which 

 are not made of the date palm, being crooked, irregular 

 poles with the sides of some dry goods box for blades. 

 They indicate the remarkable dearth ofwood in the region. 

 They are wierd little crafts, and add one more use to the 

 list of things which can be made from this remarkable 

 desert palm.— Z). G. Fairchild, in Botanical Gazette, for 

 December. 



THE ADVENT OF SPRING. 



The advent of spring is the result of a very complicated 

 series of changes, depending primarily upon the position of 

 the earth in its orbit, Avhich is made manifest to us by th^ 

 retrogression of winter, the increased temperature of the 

 atmosphere and soil, the awakening of plant life, and the 

 various movements of animals which are induced by mi- 

 gratory instincts. The sum total of impressions received 

 at this attractive period of the year is the effect of the con- 

 currence of many events between which we seek to trace 

 some correlation or to untangle the threads of natural 

 law which gives unity to all the phenomena of nature. 

 The endeavor to fix a date for an event so variable as the 

 advent of spring presents great difficulties. The civil divi- 

 sion of the year, in which spring comprises the months of 

 March, April, and May, suggests that astronomically the 



