92 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
tionized by a remarkable discovery in the use of ether. The dor- 
mant condition of plant life in winter is roughly analogous to the 
sleep of animal life and the florist simply wakes the plants up 
ahead of time. The plants, however, if awakened too soo do not 
readily take up active life again as many have found who have 
tried to force any of our native flowers at Christmas time though 
they bloom freely enough a month or so later when they have fin- 
ished their naps. The use of ether in the forcing process seems 
to put the plants to sleep not only earlier but so soundly that they 
are soon ready for another season of growth. If a quantity of 
€ther be liberated beneath the branches of a bush or shrub in ]u\f 
or August, the leaves will at once wither and fall, exactly as they 
do in autumn and the plants will soon be ready to bloom again . 
In the usual practice the plants to be forcd are placed in airtight 
Tx)xes when being subjected to etherization. Fifty-four hours of 
this treatment is sufficient and the plants may then be placed in a 
hothouse and treated as ordinary plants are. The important point 
is that these etherized plants developed so rapidly that they are in 
bloom before the buds have begun to swell on plants of the same 
species not treated thus. Twelve days of forcing has brought 
some of these etherized plants into full flower. 
Origin of Potatoes. — If botany was not so serious a business, 
the facetitiously inclined might be led to remark in view oi the 
many oflices that bacteria are found to have in the roots of plants, 
that bacteriology is rather being run into the ground. One after 
another, certain ferns, palms, pines, heaths and others have been 
found depending upon these minute underground organisms, 
much to the surprise of us all. But close after these discoveries 
comes one still more surprising to the effect that the common 
white or Irish potato is also due to the agency of bacteria. It may 
be said that this, as yet, can scarcely be regarded as absolutely cer- 
tain, but all the evidence points in that direction. The plant is a 
member of the nightshade family and like the other species able 
to reproduce itself by seeds. Then why these vegetative bodies in 
the earth ? It is also pointed out that potatoes are not produced 
