THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
supervision of Cornell University. It is charged that the 
Universit}' at once purchased thirty- thousand acres of 
forest in the Adirondacks and began cutting the timber 
from it. Alost people understand forestry to mean con- 
servation and not destruction of the forests and a protest 
by those interested in preserving the Adirondack forests 
resulted. It is alleged that the University was induced to 
lumber the tract by a forestry expert to the end that a 
new forest might be planted. It is just such "expert" 
advice that brings scientific knowledge into disrepute. It 
will not go down with the hard-headed practical people 
that form the bulk of every community. Xo matter how 
wise in book-lore a man may be if he does not supplement 
his learning with common sense he cannot expect to gain 
the confidence of the public. 
Within the past few months there has been a tendency 
among the big magazines to increase their price. Several 
of the dollar magazines now charge for single copies at 
the rate of nearly two dollars a year. This will certainly 
result in greater popularity for the small scientific maga- 
zines. At present it is nearh- impossible to convince the 
ordinary botanical reader that he is not pa^nng too much 
for his scientific reading. He compares the number of 
pages with ,the number in the big magazines as if mere 
number is ever^'thing, and utterly overlooks the fact that 
twenty-four pages of one may give more information of 
the kind he wants than a thousand of the other. A rise in 
price by the big magazines must draw attention to the 
actual cheapness of the others. 
BOOKS AND WRITERS. 
" Ferns and How to Grow Them " is the title of a vol- 
ume in preparation by Doubleday, Page & Co. The same 
company have recently issued "Our Native Orcliids" by 
William Hamilton Gibson and Helena Leeming Jelliffe. 
This is said to be based upon an unpublished work left by 
Gibson at his death. 
