56 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
and while not sufficiently familiar with the fruit of the former 
to venture an opinion, recollection, and personal observation of 
the latter since the note was read, do not confirm the statement. 
The berries persist through the winter and spring", but I recall 
that shortly before the flowering season, in July, they were few 
and badly shriveled. Early in September I went over the old 
grounds to ascertain if possible the time of ripening. Some of 
the berries were green and only half-grown ; others were parti- 
ally reddened, proving that not all wait for the snows to fall ; in 
a few places large, bright scarlet berries gleamed forth in pro- 
fusion. Of course I am not able to say positively that these are 
not old berries rejuvenated by the copious rains of the past sum- 
mer. Yet if memory serves aright they are now in greater 
abundance than in June. Numerous specimens partly reddened 
and some almost completely colored prove that not even frost is 
necessary for their maturity, consequently I still cling to my ori- 
ginal supposition that Mitchella ripens its fruit in autumn; that 
unless picked it is persistent until shortly before the blooming sea- 
son of the next year. Though berries and flowers are not uncom- 
monly found together, the shriveled appearance of the former at 
this time seems rather against the theory that any considerable 
proportion of the berries survive a second \t2iT.— Bessie L. Putnam 
Conneant Lake, Pa. [Observations of this kind are of much in- 
terest. It is probable we shall soon be able to settle this berry 
question.~ED.] 
The Ground-Xut in Cultivation. —Two years ago I took 
up two tubers of the ground-nut (Apios tuber osa) from the stony 
shore of Lake Champlain where there seemed to be no earth for 
food and where they were under water at the time of the spring 
floods. I placed them in ground that is under cultivation, and 
that is enriched each year by a top dressing in the fall. Last 
year I had two fine plants. The stems which must have been five 
or six feet long, clambered up over some brush put in for their 
support. The leaves were large and very dark rich green in col- 
or, while the blossom clusters, one for almost every leaf ^ axil, 
were all that could be asked for. One would have been obliged 
to hunt a long time to find any plants that equaled these. This 
year I have thirteen plants instead of two. One of the old plants 
