Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1897.  J 
Editorial. 
EDITORIAL. 
MINERAL  STATISTICS  FOR  1896. 
The  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal,  of  New  York,  in  its  issue  of  January 
2,  1897,  presents  the  statistics  of  the  mineral  and  metal  production  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  for  the  year  1896.  These  statistics  are  gathered  from  official  sources, 
or  from  reports  of  producers,  and  -will  be  found  to  be  very  close  to  those  which 
are  made  up  later  in  detail.  From  these  statistics  we  glean  some  facts  of  inter- 
est to  pharmacists. 
Non-Metallic  Products. 
1895. 
1896. 
Metric 
Tons. 
Value. 
Metric 
Tons. 
Value. 
68,025 
$2,225,000 
72,900 
$2,225,000 
179 
102,662 
249'5 
143,074 
6,126 
742,850 
6,886 
759,094 
12,805 
•  69,846 
10,796 
53  112 
20,412 
1,350,000 
20,412 
1,350.000 
270,804 
974,219 
241,900 
867,071 
6,420,742 
42,547,701 
5.73i,92o 
42,116,184 
1,539.178 
5,844.348 
i,39L349 
5,432,105 
Salt,  rock  
173.662 
518,740 
146,998 
138,840 
1.724 
47,5oo 
167,000 
3,841,000 
3,500,000 
1,676 
126,950 
1,524 
100,000 
Metals. 
408 
49  "5, 000 
589-3 
520,000 
393 
68  847 
579 
83,440 
175.294 
36,944,988 
205.853 
48,786,080 
70,470  kilos. 
46.830,200 
85,773  kilos. 
57,000,000 
9.597,449 
108  632,542 
8,909  000 
87,688,690 
142,298 
10,132,768 
i59.4io 
io,472,733 
150  ozs. 
2,250 
150  ozs. 
2,250 
1.179 
1,313.589 
1,160 
1,222,444 
Silver  (commercial  value)  
1,441,087  k. 
30,254,087 
1,414,148 
30.461,665 
74  245 
5  942,890 
74,925 
6,074,219 
S.  P.  s. 
FIELD  BOTANY  IN  WINTER. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  in  its  issue  of  January  2,  1897,  says  the  wild 
flowers  most  likely  to  be  found  in  blossom  in  England  during  the  early  part 
of  January  are  Capsella  Bursa-pastoris,  Ulex  Kuropaeus  and  Senecio  vulgaris, 
This  leads  us  to  speak  of  the  winter-blooming  plants  in  the  United  States, 
where  in  the  latitude  of  Philadelphia  one  does  not  need  to  await  the  arrival  of 
spring  to  pursue  outdoor  botanical  studies,  since  there  is  probably  no  month 
in  the  year  in  which  plants  cannot  be  found  in  bloom  in  this  latitude.  It  is 
also  of  peculiar  interest  to  observe  the  winter  habits  of  a  great  number  of 
plants,  even  if  they  are  not  in  flower. 
A  walk  of  four  or  five  miles  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  011  November 
26,  1896,  revealed  the  following  eighteen  plants  in  bloom  ;  they  were  not 
unusually  protected,  although  many  of  them  were  found  on  banks  having  a 
southern  exposure :  Sisymbrium  officinale,  Lepidium  virginicum,  Stellaria 
media,  Cerastium  viscosum,  Malva  rotundifolia,  Trifolium  pratense,  Daucus 
carota,  Solidago  serotina,  S.  nemoralis,  S.  rugosa,  Taraxacum  officinale, 
