BOTANICAL, INDEX 
5 
surveying parties in the field during summer, and their reports on their collection, 
when properly worked up, are among the most valuable contributions to American 
botany. This year, however, there has been none so employed, hut this deficiency 
lias been well supplied by private individuals botanizing on their own account, pay- 
ing their own expenses and profiting by whatever good fortune they happened to 
meet with. First, perhaps, the tour of Prof. Asa Gray and party, consisting of Prof. 
Asa Gray, Mr. W. M. Canby, of Delaware, Mr. J. IT. Redfield, of Philadelphia, Prof. 
C. S. Sargent, of Harvard, along the Alleghany mountains as far south as North- 
ern Georgia, is the most important of all, and certainly must have been a most 
enjoyable trip to all. In Florida, A. H. Curtiss and Miss Mary C. Reynolds have 
continued their explorations and collecting, and have added much of value to our 
knowledge of the flora of Florida. In Colorado, quite a number of local collectors 
have added their full share of new things to the catalogue; foremost of which is 
T. S. Brandegee, a most indefatigable botanical collector. Utah Territory is also 
equally fortunate in furnishing several zealous collectors, among whom, A. L. Silver 
and J. E. Johnson lead the list. Nearly all our western botanists, especially the 
professors and teachers, have devoted most of their summer vacation (1879) to bota- 
nizing, and through them much valuable knowledge has been obtained. Prof. J. H. 
Carruth, of Kansas State University, has continued his annual tours of investigat- 
ing the flora of Kansas. Prof. M. C. Jones, of Grinnell College, Iowa, has also ac- 
complished an extended trip through Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, collecting a 
mint of knowledge, as well as herbarium specimens. But the Pacific coast states, 
however, appear to be the best supplied, in point of numbers, with local collectors 
of any portion of the country. First, California heads the list with Dr. A. Kellogg, 
J. J. Lemmon, W. C. L. Drew, S. B. Parish & Bro., W. D. White, J. B. Hickman 
and Mrs. R. M. Austin. Very much has been done by the above collectors, in ad- 
vancing our knowledge of botany in California, during the past year, and each day 
adds still more. In Oregon and Washington Territory, the brothers, Joseph and 
Thomas T. Howell, and W. Suksdorf, have made valuable collections, and Prof. Gray 
has immortalized their names in two new genera of plants of their discovery, i. e., 
the Suksdorfici and Howellia. Returning again to the eastern coast of North Ameri- 
ca, we find C. G. Pringle has continued his botanizing in Vermont and Canada, and 
has been rewarded by unlooked for discoveries. Edward Gillett, E. S. Miller, the 
Rust Botanical Club, and a score of other botanists and associations, are doing 
wonders in looking np new or little known botanical data. 
We have been compelled to rely mainly upon correspondence for most of the 
facts contained in this article, (which is a very unsatisfactory mode of collecting in- 
formation, particularly as so many public officers refuse to send the desired report or 
information, and entirely ignore our request.) As our correspondence with the offi- 
cials of the different State Governments has not added a single name to the above 
list, we must conclude that none of the States have any botanists looking after the 
Agricultural and Horticultural interests of their respective States in their employ. In 
the Dominion of Canada, however, we find a government fully alive to the benefits like- 
ly to be derived from a more general knowledge of the natural productiveness of a new 
country. Probably the most important botanical work accomplished during 1879, 
on the American continent, is that of the Canadian government in connection with 
the Geological Survey. It may be briefly summed up thus: Prof G. M. Dawson 
has devoted the summer to exploring in British Columbia, on the eastern slope of 
the Rocky mountains ; Prof John Macoun in the Peace River Country; and Prof. 
Robert Bell has continued his explorations of the Nelson and Churchill rivers, dis- 
trict of Hudson’s Bay. In an Agricultural and commercial point of view, these are 
the most important surveys probable now in progress in any portion of the world. 
Very few people seem to comprehend the importance of studying and noting the 
experience and observations of the individual members of societies, (under whatev- 
er name they may choose to work, either as agricultural, horticultural, scientific or 
botanical societies or clubs,) and usually recorded in their proceedings or, as is often 
the case, only preserved in the form of a local newspaper report of the meetings. 
These are so very important that they should be preserved as works of reference, to 
imitate or avoid as the case may be. We think the plan adopted by the Fruit Grow- 
ers Association, of Ontario, Canada, in issuing a monthly magazine ( Canadian Hor- 
ticulturist) the best of any, as it continually recalls to the members the fact that 
some one is busy in the interest of Horticulture. The Montreal Horticultural Soci- 
ety and Fruit Growers Association of Quebec, although only an annual publication, 
is a valuable guide to the fruit grower, and is a fit companion for the same class of 
publications issued by the different organizations of the United States. 
Our list of botanists in other countries, who are devoting their time to gathering 
facts and information, is far from complete, but such as it is we give below. Per- 
haps we should say that Baron Von Mueller and Sir R. Sehomburck are Directors of 
