THE 
HEW PHYTOhOGIST. 
Vol. VII., Nos. 9 & io. December 31ST, 1908. 
EDITORIAL. 
ITH the publication of the present issue the New Phyto- 
logist completes its seventh year. The journal has met 
with much kindly support and encouragement from many quarters 
during its existence (it has even received the honour of parody), and 
the Editor believes that it fills, even if at times unworthily, a 
distinct place in the periodical literature of Botany. 
But the hopes and ambitions expressed in the two editorial 
articles which appeared in the first volume (Vol. I., pp. 1, 221) have 
in many respects not been fulfilled. It has become clear, for 
instance, that British botanists will not carry on discussions on 
any subject in the pages of a journal. Whether this is a good 
or a bad thing for the progress of the science need not be 
discussed ; it is evidently a firmly planted characteristic. 
The Editor is also rather ashamed of his inability to obtain 
more than very occasional notices of important current literature. 
Such notices were originally intended to form an important feature 
of the journal, but no method that has hitherto been available has 
succeeded in securing them in sufficient number. The Editor is 
now, however, fortunate in being a member of a fairly large 
botanical staff, the personnel of which represents a number of 
different branches of the science, and he has been able to secure 
general assent to a scheme by which notices of current work 
