EDITORIAL. 



In subscribing for a new publication, one must always take 

 into consideration the amount of value to be gotten out of it. If 

 one desires mere paper and ink he is recommended to buy a New 

 York Sunday paper ; if he wants general literature he should try 

 some of the big magazines ; if he wants technical articles on 

 abstruse subjects there are various botanical journals ; but if he 

 wants information on flowers and flower-lore we are sure there 

 is nothing better that The American Botanist. There are 

 many of us in the position of the man who said he liked every- 

 thing about flowers except Botany. It is our intention to keep 

 out of our publication the particular kind of botany he had in 

 mind. We are making no advances to the dry-as-dust scientist, 

 being engaged solely in offering to the lay reader entertaining 

 and reliable matter about our plants. It is, however, a pleasure 

 to find the names of many scientists (not the dry-as-dust kind) 

 among our subscribers and we hope ultimately to get all who are 

 alive to the beauties of plant life on our lists. Our present read- 

 ers will therefore pardon an occasional word for ourselves in this 

 column, and perhaps themselves help on the work of securing 

 subscribers by speaking of the journal to others. 



The prices charged for the early volumes of many botanical 

 journals seem to indicate that from a merely speculative stand- 

 point, the purchase of these when issued is a very good invest- 

 ment. In two years Vol. i of Rhodora has appreciated fifty per 

 cent. ; the first five volumes of The Pern Bulletin are quoted at an 

 advance of from thirty-three to one hundred and seventy-five per 

 cent., while certain volumes of The Forester have increased in 

 value four hundred per cent, in half a dozen years, single numbers 

 of some issues being quoted at $1.00 each. Few investments in 

 the business world can show better returns. 



One of the best ways to get thoroughly acquainted with a 

 wild plant is to set out specimens in your garden. You may 



