Prof. J. C. Arthur, who has made a specialty of the study of the diseases of plants, and who has charge of the New York Experimental Station, at Geneva, New York, kindly writes to say that if any correspondent of the Gardeners' Monthly will send him specimens of diseased plants, he will respond with pleasure in the Gardeners' Monthly so far as he may be able to do so.

Mr. A. N. Curtis, of Sharon, Pa.: " Horticulture loses one of its most liberal and enthusiastic patrons, and Sharon, one of its best citizens, in the death of Mr. Alfred Curtis, which occurred at his home, in this city, on December 28th last.

" Sharon owes much to him for the prestige she enjoyed, as being the leading town in Western Pennsylvania in floriculture. Kind and generous almost to a fault, he endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact, by his many acts of kindness and charity. Possessed of abundant means, he was always on the lookout for new things in the floral world, but his great delight was in Orchids, of which he owned one of the most complete and extensive private collections in the United States. He will be greatly missed, not alone for his many acts of kindness, but the people will miss his merry face and genial smile with which he greeted all. The greenhouses will be kept up as usual under the very careful and efficient management of Mr. Isaac O'Brien, who has had charge of them the last seventeen years.

"Albert Williams".

A. W. Smith says: "The diseases of plants we plant growers have to contend with would be an interesting subject of value to the general reader of the Gardeners' Monthly".

[As our correspondent well says, this is one of the most interesting subjects that can employ the thoughts of the practical man, and we are much obliged to him for the suggestion. It will be a great pleasure to us to receive from correspondents accounts of their troubles and trials, and experiments and observations, that will enable the Editor to aid and assist them. In a magazine of this kind the Editor has to fall in with the wants and wishes of his subscribers. To-day it may be in the line of the practical value of steam over hot water; to-morrow the thoughts of the mass of readers may turn in the direction of the greatest amount of money to be had from an orchard that is in grass, or in an orchard kept in a clear surface. At one time the great mass of the readers seem to run into a desire to discuss facts and problems in natural history that may have a relation to gardening - and then again the Editor is overwhelmed with correspondence about the enormous value of the wine crop to the people of the United States, and the necessity of publishing everything possible that may tend to keep down the ravages of the Phylloxera. In short, the Gardeners' Monthly has to take those subjects into the most earnest consideration in which the correspondents themselves seem to take the greatest interest.

In this case we second the suggestion of our correspondent that the diseases of plants is one of great practical importance; and it will be a pleasure to the Editor to aid any correspondent during the coming season who may desire information. - Ed. G. M].