THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 63 
When I first noted this irregularity, I thought it was mainly 
clue tO' the terrible onslaughts the plant receives when in bloom, 
for I had noted several times that every plant in sight had been 
gathered, but a florist friend thought it was because the plant was 
a biennial. 
As no plant can stand such treatment and not be exterminated, 
I decided to^ transplant a few to some secret place. 
This was done three years ago. My transplanting was a suc- 
cess and the plants ripened their capsules and disseminated their 
seed. The next year, (two years agO'), I visited the spot, hoping 
tO' find plants that had grown from the disseminated seed, but 
I did not find a single one. Thinking that my transplating had 
been a failure, I decided to try again, this time with about a dozen 
plants. The plants were planted on the same hillside, but in three 
sections, one above the other, and about twenty feet apart. 
Unfortunately my first section was planted close to the spot 
where the plants of the preceding year had stood. This I recog- 
nized the next year when I visited my ''Gentian Place," for far 
down the hillside, where I had transplanted the plants two years 
ago, stood as beautiful a plant as one would care to see, with six- 
teen fine blossoms. It was not discovered by any one and ripened 
its seeds. I examined the spots where the other sections had been 
planted, but no other plants were found. I was now in a cjuand- 
ary for I could not tell if my plant had grown from a seed dis- 
seminated last year or from one disseminated twO' years ago. You 
may be sure that I anxiously awaited results this year. 
Early in August I was on the look-out for plants, and the dis- 
covery of seventeen pretty little plants at the foot of the hill, was 
hailed with delight. In the middle of September the plants were 
in bud and two weeks later in flower. 
Again, the hillside is examined for I now thought of the spots 
where I had transplanted the plants two years ago. In a few 
minutes, I, full of expectation, reached the first spot. What a 
pleasant treat was there awaiting me— eighteen fine plants in full 
bloom ! I stopped only long enough to count the plants, and then 
hastened to the other spot higher up the hill and here again were 
the Gentians— ten more fine plants. 
I think my experiments show almost to- a certainty that the 
