EDITORIAL. 



The editor of this journal is spending the autumn moil ths in 

 New Orleans. If correspondents do not receive answers to their 

 communications as promptly as usual this note will explain the 

 delay. 



We note with considerable amusement the solicitude for the 

 success of this journal expressed in the July number of the Plant 

 World. The editor of that publication has grave doubts of our 

 finding favor with the public for a magazine like The American 

 Botanist, which consists "of only sixteen pages of reading mat- 

 ter composed largely of extracts" and "without illustrations.'' It 

 is quite probable that the editor of the Plant World is not alone 

 in his opinions regarding such a journal and we therefore take 

 the opportunity of setting forth somewhat more fully the policy 

 cf our magazine in order to lay further doubts at rest. In our 

 opinion the number of pages has nothing to do with the case. It 

 would be a queer reader that demanded a large number of pages 

 quite irrespective of what was printed upon them. The value of 

 the goods in small packages has passed into a proverb. We .hold 

 that sixteen pages of really interesting matter fully equals twenty- 

 eight pages in which almost anything is used as "filler." Every 

 line in our magazine is selected for its value to the general reader. 

 We make no apologies for clipping from other journals since we 

 are concerned solely in selecting matter of interest to the flower 

 lover, and must take material when we find it. Indeed, this very 

 feature relieves the reader who cares not for technical articles, 

 from subscribing for numerous botanical journals. The pith of 

 all valuable articles will be found in The American Botanist. 

 We also hold that illustrations which do not illustrate are worse 

 than none, since they take up space which might be devoted to 

 reading matter. When any of our articles need illustrations, we 

 shall not hesitate to use them. We disclaim all attempts to 

 "popularize science" and reiterate that we publish this journal for 

 the flower lover and not the scientist, although the contents of 



