THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
and must illustrate. We do not care especially for illus- 
trations that cannot be explained as well by the text. 
Photo-G:rai>hs of fine specimen plants or g-roups of plants 
are desira]>le and so are drawin-s of interestins^ flowers, 
frnits. etc. In makino^ such illustrations due reg-ard should 
be had fi^r the ^ize anrl shai)e of our frontispieces. The 
text accompanyin.g the illustration should follow the same 
ireneral treatment we have g-iven in previous issues. 
\rticle- on how to distingfuish the various species in group'^ 
of -howy wildfln\vers. articles on single plants of interest 
:md similar subjects will be welcome. 
Tt -ecms curi'^u- t!int in rogii-n^ where Nature is most 
la\-ish with lier botanical treasures, students of the plants 
are most difficult to find. Evidently the people at large take 
\'ery little interest in the siihject, for it is noticed that books 
on the botany of the South, whether technical or of a more 
popular nature, find most of their purcliasers in the North- 
ern States. It would l>e interesting to know just why this 
section of our country is so lacking in an interest in the 
plants. Possibly it is because botany is not given much 
prominence in school and college work there. When one 
considers the abundance of available material ready to the 
hand of the botany teacher during the very season when 
scIk^oI is in session, he wonders that every school has not an 
enthusiastic class in b'lany. and every town a botanical 
club. '- 
BOOKS AND WRITERS. 
A f e\v years ag. > the study of lx>tany was supposed to 
begin and end in pulling flowers to pieces and learning their 
nair.es. Xow-a-da}-s all this is changed, and the well-regu- 
lated icxt-l>.(4- for scliool use invariably begins with seeds 
and f<-'llou'S the development of the young plant through 
stems, roots and leaves to the flowers and fruits. Such 
