6 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



came initiated in the customs of the country I used to ride 

 my horse to the extreme edge at the top of some canon,, 

 on the side of which grew these cacti, and whose tops 

 were on a IcTclwith the summit, where I was able, by the 

 aid of one of the long cane4ike ocotilla poles^ to secure 

 some of the finest fruity which had perhaps an added 

 flavor Irom the fact of the dangerous position assumed,, 

 where an overbalancing movement, a bit of loose rock or 

 a miss-step on the part of the horse would send us both 

 crashing down the side of the steep canon to the river be- 

 low, and to eternity. 



One large Sahuara that we saw had been preempted 

 by a pair of crow-ravens who had built among the upper- 

 most armSy thereby securing for themselves and their off- 

 spring, a safe and secluded shelter. These cacti are also 

 frequently utilized by the woodpeckers who find in their 

 soft, pithy substance, easy carpentering and safety from 

 the numerous snakes that are a great source of annoyance 

 and danger to the bird world in this section. The many 

 spines on the column4ike growth prove a formidable bar- 

 rier against reptiles^ as well as other marauders. 



Ashtnbula, Ohio. 



PARTRIDGE BERRIES AND WINTERGREEN BERRIES 



BY WM. A. TERRY. 



In regard to the time of ripening of wintergreen {Gaul- 

 theria procumbens) and partridge berries {Mitchella re- 

 pens), my experience has been that they vary considerably 

 according to location and the season, but that here in 

 Connecticut the wintergreen may be said to ripen in Au- 

 gust and the partridge berry a little later. That is, they 

 take on their bright scarlet color, and have the flavor of 

 maturity, but they have by no means completed their 

 growth. They continue to increase in size during the au- 

 tumn and also more or less through the winter, and par- 

 ticularly in the following spring. 



This year, on the fifth of July ^ I was hunting for plants 



