EDITORIAL 
j7 
•D 
We are inclined to believe that during the past half year 
the numbers of this magazine have been a distinct improvement 
over any that have preceded them, and the complimentary 
expressions with which correspondents frequently favor us, 
show that they too appreciate the efforts we are making to 
produce a good magazine. We should like at once to make 
this magazine as big as any dollar literary magazine on the 
market, but an experience of many years has shown that a 
successful botanical magazine is of slow growth. It takes 
time and discrimination on the part of the public to distinguish 
between a mere picture book and a magazine of solid in- 
formation. As between any of the literary magazines and 
ours there can be no comparison. It all depends upon what 
you want. If it is botanical information, fifty dollars invested 
in the big magazines will not bring the returns that fifty cents 
will, if invested in The American Botanist. But until 
we accumulate subscribers enough to warrant an enlargement, 
we purpose continuing in the usual way making the magazine 
as good as its patronage deserves and looking forward to the 
time when it is sure to have a much wider circle of readers 
and a greater number of pages. As it is, the amount of 
actual information we offer in a year is, we think, worth the 
price charged and with the certainty that the numbers for 
1907 will be better than ever, we earnestly invite all whose 
subscriptions expire with this number, not only to renew, but 
to help us toward that much-to-be-desired increase of circu- 
lation, by sending us the names or subscriptions of others 
interested. 
As usual, we send out with this issue bills to all who 
are in arrears for subscriptions. In order to make subscribing 
as easy as possible, we allow subscriptions to be paid during 
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