THE y SA Y. 



309 



Women in Horticulture. — Foreign publications have 

 taken up the question of the work of women in horticul- 

 ture, which has been so strongly agitated by the horti- 

 cultural press of this country. A writer in the Loudon 

 Gardfii suggests that if women are to enter this field, 

 they be induced to don a costume to suit the occupation. 

 He contends, and rightly, that the habiliments of the 

 gentler sex are so constructed that few of the positions 

 of the body necessary to horticultural pursuits out of 

 doors can be assumed without positive pain to the wearer. 

 Here is evidently an opportunity for an advocate of 

 "dress reform." 



Economic Geology of Washington. — The soil con- 

 ditions of eastern and western Washington are quite as 

 dissimilar as the climate. When we contemplate the 

 influence that the Columbia river exerts, we are quite 

 apt to associate and limit them to Oregon, but in reality 

 the river dominates Washington far more than Oregon. 

 It is mainly some of its southern tributaries that exert 

 their influence over the latter. The major portion of 

 the Columbia valley lies in eastern Washington. On 

 first appearance that is a somewhat monotonous and 

 a very peculiar country, made so by the comparatively 

 recent origin of the surface strata. During a former 

 epoch, it has been the bed of a lake. The lake has been 

 filled and obliterated by a mountain, perhaps Tacoma, 

 then, of course, an active volcano. The output of the 

 mountain fills and overlies much of the valley resting 

 upon the sands and gravel of the old lake bed. The 

 mass is mainly basalt, whose prismatic columns are 

 seen in most of the hills. During the closing epoch of 

 the volcanic period, vast masses of volcanic ashes were 

 thrown out, and now aid in forming the rich potash- 

 laden soils of the valley, precious for wheat, vineyards 

 and orcharding. 



The economic geology of western Washington is 

 equally, if not more, interesting. Here the working 

 factor in soil formation was cold instead of heat. The 

 soils are older than those east of the Cascades. Mount 

 Tacoma was again the probable center of activities, this 

 time glacial. Puget valley had been the bed of a lake 

 in which the characteristic and prevailing gravelly soils 

 were laid down in very unquiet waters. Then the con- 

 ditions changed ; the climate became arctic, perhaps 

 like Alaska now, the icebergs finding exit into the ocean 

 through the straights of Juan de Fuca, plowing out the 

 ravines and complicated channels of the sound. The 

 whole surface of the county was changed by abrasion 

 and denudation. The country is now densely wooded 

 with mainly evergreen instead of deciduous forests. 

 One can .see but a few rods into these forests, the boles 

 of the trees seeming a solid mass of timber. The man- 

 zanita, a pretty evergreen shrub of six feet in Califor- 

 nia, here becomes a tree of twenty feet. The river 

 bottoms are rich and productive lands. The gravelly 

 prairies and uplands are better adapted to grapes, and 

 fruit culture than general farming. Nearly all the fruits 

 of the east do well and produce abundantly. — D. S. 

 Marvin, Tacoma, Washington . 



Loss at the Michigan Agricultural College. — The 



Botanical Laboratory of the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege burned on the night of March 21, the fire originat- 

 ing in the top story by a defective flue. This was 

 the first building erected in this country for the express 

 and sole purpose of a botanical laboratory. It was 

 built in 1880 at a cost of $5, 000. It was one of the 

 handsomest buildings among the many at this famous 



institution, and its equipment was large and invaluable. 

 The lower floor was devoted to a large class and micro- 

 scope room, office and herbarium cases. The second 

 and third floors contained a very large and unique mu- 

 seum, especially rich in instructive features of our 

 native flora and general agriculture. Very large collec- 

 tions of native woods, in novel shapes and arrangement, 

 were particularly prominent. This department was 

 more than the ordinary exhibit of woods, for it com- 

 prised manufactured articles, samples of lumber and 

 many things of direct economic value. The museum 

 also contained one of the best collections of Indian corn 

 in existence. This museum had been a life work with 

 Dr. Beal, the professor of botany. It was partially 

 saved, however, and all the microscopes and most of the 

 collections upon the first floor were saved. One of the 

 most lamentable features of the loss was the burning of 

 the entire Wheeler Herbarium, an immense collection 

 of Michigan plants. This herbarium represented twenty- 

 five years of unremitting toil by C. F. Wheeler, of Hub- 

 bardstown, Michigan, the senior author of Wheeler and 

 Smith's Flora of Michigan. Mr. Wheeler was last fall 

 called to the college as assistant in the botanical depart- 

 ment, and he gave his collection to the institution. He 

 had just spent eight weeks in overhauling it, and a few 

 days before the fire it was carried to the upper floor to 

 be permanently mounted. It was therefore impossible 

 to save any of it. The loss of this herbarium is one 

 which can not be replaced. The accompanying cut is a 

 good illustration of the building. 



