THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 49 
alston, Mass., writes as follows regarding the term/ 'crackers" ap- 
plied to the huckleberry. ''We call the black huckleberry {Gay- 
lussaccia resinosa) 'black snaps.' Eat them and the seeds snap. 
They are now (Sept. 26) just passing their prime with us— the 
last of our edible berries except the cranberry and wintergreen." 
Without doubt ''crackers" refers to these" same snapping seeds. 
As to universe vine applied to the bearberry {Arctostaphyllos iiva- 
ursa) it is probably another popular attempt at making English 
out of the specific name. 
Nomenclature and Taxes.— There is in Erance a positive 
prohibition of the general cultivation of tobacco plants, the grow- 
ing and selling of tobacco being a Government monopoly. This 
prohibition applies to gardens and greenhouses, and no ornamen- 
tal uses may be made of the Nicotianas, notwithstanding that all 
are not used for the manufacture of "the weed." A curious result 
of botanical revision complicates matters. Nicotiana colossea of 
Andre is thus excluded from gardens, although not used in manu- 
facture. It was formerly known as Lehrnannia colossea, Spren- 
g-el. The question may be asked, could the plant be grown if the 
old time nomenclature had been maintained? The grouping to- 
gether of closely allied genera is responsible. — Indian Gardening. 
Which is the Lightest Wood?— Cannot someone settle the 
question as to which is the lightest wood? Lcitncria floridana 
stands .207 and Ochroma lagopus has been reported both as .25 
and as . 12. And is Condela ferria surely the heaviest— at 1.302? 
O. W. Barrett, Mayaguejj, Porto Rico. [The Elorida lightwood 
(Leitneria Floridana) has thus far been regarded as the lightest 
known wood. The wood of the roots is said to have a specific 
gravity of .151. Since it can not readily be imagined just how 
light this is, it may be added that common cork has a specific 
gravity of .24, the willows and poplars range from .37 to .60, the 
white cedar stands at .332, the white oak at. 747 and some of 
the hickories at .83— the latter four times as heavy as lightwood.— 
Ed.] 
Inaccurate Botany.— If one would have proof of how much 
the botanical manuals and even our popular books are made in 
the herbarium instead of the field, let him compare their state- 
ments about plants with the plants themselves. Take the berry 
