100 
BOTANICAL INDEX. 
now being distributed from Columbia College, N. Y., (see advertisement.) From 
her well known energy and painstaking in collecting, she certainly deserves a very 
liberal patronage, which we especially wish to impress upon the minds of readers. 
We take pleasure in calling attention to the letter of Prof. Jones, whose large 
collections of Utah plants will be found a great addition to any herbarium of Amer- 
ican flora. In fact, without some of his specimens no herbarium will be complete. 
He has now left Grinnell (Iowa) College, temporarily, and will devote his summers 
botanizing on the Pacific coast, and for the present at least will winter at Salt Lake 
City, Utah, where he divides his time as Professor of Botany, Geology and Chemis- 
try in the Salt Lake Academy, and studying up his immense collection of plants. 
? 
f 
£cci ffc l\> ai t b ps. 
r 
— 
Dyervilla Japonica, Snowball and other species with pithy shoots, will only root 
profitably where cuttings are taken with a heel of softened wood coming from just 
under the surface of the ground or with a with stub of older wood. Still, other sorts 
like Spirea prunifolia and Spirea opulifolia, need to have the cuttings calloused by 
tying a fine wire just below a bud, in June, or else by cutting or wringing and lay- 
ering them. * * Cuttings of Catalpa, Mulberry, Maple, Birch, Alder and other 
trees root more or less successfully, put out in autumn ; but in most cases the cut- 
tings must be so cut as to have attached the swell at the base of the shoot or a thin 
section of the older, firmer wood at the point of bifurcation. Cuttings should be put 
in very firmly at an angle of about 45 degrees with the upper bud near the surface 
of the ground; as cold weather approaches, a covering of prairie hay . — College Quar- 
terly , State Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. 
[See our our letter from Jean Sisley, page 106. It always gives us pleasure to re- 
ceive letters from this valuable correspondent, and although we have no permission 
to publish them we often find items in them of so much public interest that we feel 
justified in making extracts from them. The Postal Congress held in Paris, com- 
mencing October 6th, 1880, is a subject more particularly affecting Horticulturists 
than any other class of people, probably, and as there are so ni^any reasons why their 
efforts should be encouraged and assisted by National legislation, we hope the entire 
Horticultural and Agricultural press of the country will use its best endeavors to 
convince the member of Congress from each District that a postal reform is necessary. 
Let us look at some of the reasons. In every part of the world new varieties of 
grain, fruit or vegetables are being procured of inestimable value, oftimes to the 
whole human family. But some will not flourish in our climate or soil, hence in 
some localities they are really worthless. Now the enterprising dealer who imports 
them usually does so at a loss, which if they prove valueless is a total one, and it was 
incurred as much for a common benefit as for a personal gain. Again, no one ever 
imports living plants, trees or shrubs, without their loss will average thirty-three 
per cent., caused by their perishing on the road. These drawbacks prevent to a 
large extent the economic benefits we all should reap by a more liberal exchange of 
new fruits, plants, etc. We take great pleasure in recommending M. Sisley to the 
consideration and patronage of the American rose dealers, with the full assurance 
that his past dealing has been most eminently satisfactory to his American buyers. 
We were grieved to learn of the death of Louis Emile Jean Sisley, a son of our hon- 
ored friend, who died in Algiers, July 31st, 1880.] 
P nor AG ATTN ti Dll ACE X AS. 
Last autumn I had a good plant of D. Goldieana, the top of which I wished to 
strike without the loss of a leaf, and so tried the incision and Moss plan ; but after a 
trial of two months there was not a trace of any appearance of roots. I at once took 
the top off, which became well rooted in about six weks time. D. Cooperi, which is 
perhaps only a variety of D. terminalis, and the whole of that section may be propa- 
gated by the hundred by splitting ttie old stems down, cutting them in lengths of 
3 inches or 4 inches, and laying them on Moss, Cocoa-nut fibre, or any moisture-re- 
taining material in a propagating frame. I have seen a bit 2 inches long, of the stem 
of D. Cooperi with seven young plants growing out of it. — Z. B. in The Garden. 
