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Yellow Pine Cigars. — According to The Forester the 

 needles of the western yellow pine (Finns ponderosa) are now 

 being used as a partial filling for cigars, "imparting a flavor not 

 the least disagreeable, and calming to the nerves." Pacific Coast 

 "Havanas" may yet crowd the various cabbage leaf brands out of 

 the market ! 



Our Native Hawthorns. — Certain genera of plants in 

 which there is considerable tendency to variation have af- 

 forded the modern species-makers no end of employ- 

 ment. In these genera the segregation of "new species'' 

 has reached a point where it is extremely difficult, if 

 not impossible, for one not a specialist to perceive the 

 differences. Those who are fond of poking fun at this school of 

 scientists, assert that the differences between the species of violets 

 are now so small that in order to identify a plant one must not 

 only know when and where it was collected, but who collected it! 

 The hawthorns are the latest plants to receive attention of this 

 kind from the scientist. A decade ago our best botanists were 

 satisfied that there were about ten species of hawthorn (Cratae- 

 gus) in Eastern America. Now we are gravely assured that 

 there are no less than one hundred and twenty ! These additional 

 "species" are founded upon slight variations in the original ten, 

 but the wisdom of considering them of full specific value, equal 

 to the species first known, seems doubtful. Some of the charac- 

 ters depended upon are such trival ones as size of the calyx lobes, 

 whether they are rerlexed or spreading, a difference of two in 

 the number of stamens, the color of the anthers, size and color of 

 fruit, length of the fruit pedicels, etc. Those who have ever 

 closely observed plants under cultivation will be willing to sub- 

 scribe to the statement that differences like those mentioned may 

 be found in seedlings from a single plant. The June Plant JJ r orld 

 prints an article from which our facts are gathered, but the editor 

 wisely observes "the present tendency toward an inordinate mul- 

 tiplication of species will result some day in a violent reaction." 



