A picture of a ditch and its surroundings. Which ditch is close, and parallel with, a bank of the Erie Canal, in the outskirts of Rochester. Picture taken on the spot:

From one side to the other of it the Sagittaria grows, S. variabilis, the upper points of its arrow-shaped leaves touching an unseen plane as much eight or ten inches above the water's surface. The vertical stem, or scape, and straight divergent branches, tipped with white flowers, of the water plantain (Alisma Plantago), right before me, are eye-catching. This is a flower panicle, and must rise thirty inches above the water, surpassing the leaves by nearly twenty. Its roots are with those of the arrow-head in the mud below. Around and amongst these two, like mere lines of greenness, surmounted with an oblong brown head somewhat broader than themselves, I notice the culms of Eleocharis palustris; and beyond, still in the water, bunches of the soft rush, Juncus effusus, reach a height of two feet above their fellows. Two species of duck's-meat float on the water, the many-rooted Lemna polyrhiza, and the slightly smaller L. perpusilla.

Sagittaria heterophylla may be here. I do not see it, but I know it is not far away. Much above all the preceding, even the Alisma, shoots Typha latifolia, the species of cat-tail that has the fertile and infertile parts of its spike closely joined.

A grass, Leersia oryzoides, with leaves and sheaths excessively harsh, and not yet in flower, gives a pale green edge to the ditch; whilst crowding upon it we see Agrostis alba perhaps, and higher, the dark bluish-green Poa pratensis, or Kentucky blue-grass. Here and there, growing in the ditch's muddy edge, we observe the bugle-weed - the European species with sharp angled stems and deeply sinuate leaves. Over the bugle-weed, and forming a border to the whole, rises Solidago Canadensis, a great array of it, suggesting indeed as many human onlookers.

Amongst the golden-rod, and extending still further back, the wild teasel, Dipsacus sylvestris, mingles with the rapidly-fading Canada thistle, C. arvense, the latter's woolly seeds at top, now offering themselves to every passing breeze.

The dry and yellow stems, and closely-appressed spikes of Festuca elatior, are conspicuous beyond, with Maruta cotula in flower; brown dark-and-dead-panicled Rumex crispus, Aster patens, and the young basket willow, with its upright branches and gray-green leaves. Sweet scabious, or Eri-geron annum, and mayhap E. strigosum, still flower there, but in faded dress; also flat-um-belled Daucus Carota, tall E. Canadense, not quite in bloom, with the yellow-racemed Meli-lotus officinalis, the brighter and biennial evening primrose, and a group of Canada thistles that are late in showing their handsome purple flower heads.

There I see a Solidago, apparently right in the ditch, and as it is in flower should be S. arguta or S. gigantea. But not to be forgotten, Asclepias Cornuti, now in fruit, stands before me. If a flower umbel surmounts its stem, it has lost color and is limp, for its blooming day is past. Not in sight, but certainly in the glen yonder, the handsome umbelled A. incarnata has taken its place. Daisy fleabane, previously mentioned as sweet scabious, is here in force to my right, but its stems look yellow and its flowers are not as bright as they have been. At my feet I have red clover, young stools of the wild teasel, bright looking leaf rosettes of the dandelion, black medick showing its yellow flowers and ripened fruit at once, flowering ox-eye daisies, and fresher looking and lower plants of the same, which will be the flower bearers of the season to come. Here too is a pretty group of wild carrot, and leaning over it, the long arms of the white melilot.

Many-branched Equisetum arvense humbly shows itself where a little of the less fertile undersoil has been turned up, and near by Ambrosia artemisiafolia is still flowerless, as is also the obliquely-bending Aster Miser by its side. Big-leaved burdock, broad-leaved plantain, ripe spiked Phleum pratense, a young Rubus villosus, self-heal with heads much lengthened and still exhibiting a trio of flowers and twice as many lips, complete the circuit of the green things in and about this still bit of fresh water. August 7th, i885.

Erigeron Pennsylvanicum is the handsomest of the fleabanes. It is not near so common in the vicinity of Rochester - notwithstanding Common happens to be its popular name - as is sweet scabious (E. annuum), but would probably correspond in frequency of appearance with E. stri-gosum. Its rose-colored rays are beautiful. The rayless-headed horse reed, E. Canadense, is just flowering, and may be seen on streets and roads, in fields and odd corners, everywhere.

As E. Pennsylvanicum is not mentioned by Gray as having noticeable root leaves, but really has them, and as the root leaves of E. bellidifolium are given by Gray with shape et cetera, I was at first, after a hasty analysis, in considerable doubt to which of these species the plant of this vicinity belonged. At this date the case is easily determined, without looking for the basal offsets, as E. bellidifolium is a May-flowering plant. The width of the rays, their number, and their color, ought to be sufficient, in each instance, to identify the species. I would, however, hardly term the flower heads of E. Pennsylvanicum, as we find them here, small, but rather medium sized to large, and the leaves thick rather than thin. The heads of all the plants seen by me, bore rays exceeding those of E. annuum : in fact, were conspicuous for size as well as their rosy tinting. August 10th, 1885.

The arbor vitae overhangs the edge of the rock platform below the lowest Genesee fall where the cliff descends beneath it nearly perpendicularly to the river's edge.

The linden, the ironwood, and a hawthorn are also there, with cow-clipped branches toward the flat. One forgets the trees on catching sight of this venturesome pruning. The particular cow that did this, we know, had no nerves. Perhaps she found better footing than appears to the passer a few feet away, but it seems there as if she might have taken very large risks in stretching her neck to browse over such a yawning abyss. She must love such food.

The arbor vitae's disposition to overhang streams must be ingrained, for I recollect noticing it along the upper Mississippi years ago, at just such oblique practice. Perhaps the tree may be vain and loves to see itself, reversed, in the liquid mirror below. August nth, 1885.

All bunches of grapes are double bunches. The two parts, forming the double bunch, are very dissimilar in size, but why this dissimilarity I do not know. The tendrils of the grape are forked, and as the bunch of fruit is but a modification of the tendril, the forked habit of the latter is continued in the former, the result being a double panicle of berries. This fact is more clearly illustrated in the tendrils and corresponding fruit panicles of the Virginia creeper, a member of the same order as the grape. August 11th, 1885.

How often you are asked why the May-apple was given so unsuitable a name, and at the same time told that it should have ripened its fruit in the merry month instead of keeping it green until August is just ready to leave us, or September has actually appeared.

The large, golden, egg-like or prune-shaped berry of this plant, which reaches maturity beneath two green umbrellas, and perhaps a whole tree of leaves still farther above, is pleasantly acid to the taste. But how happens it that the substantial stem and the dark deeply-lobed leaves will, about the first of this month, hastily fall to the ground, and within a week's time perchance pass from greenness to brownness and decay ? Except for the bright fruit this herb, which but a fortnight ago was conspicuous in the woods, would not now be discoverable. Why this sudden vanishing, without frost to cause it ? It must be because all the plant's life goes to the perfecting of the seed and its lively flavored and gay colored envelope.

The large, fresh leaves of the Podophyllum are as attractive to me, and doubtless to many others, as any of the flowers, or flowers and leaves combined, of the early spring plants. I remember enjoying them very much-as seen growing in your Fairmount Park on a certain grassy, half basinlike descent, amongst lingering brown leaves, and near the edge of a bit of woods into which they probably extended. As to the name of this plant it certainly seems appropriate enough when we remember that it flowers in the last spring month.

Rochester, N. K, Aug. 12th, 1885.

[It may be a matter of some interest why the Podophyllum got the name of May-apple; the flowering in May could hardly have suggested it. In Virginia the fruit of the Passion flower is also called May-apple, and there is some resemblance in the form and taste of the fruit. Possibly one kind gave the name to the other.

Those, botanically inclined, may find more than this question of name derivation in the May-apple. It is placed in the family of Berberries - Berberida-ceae. A careful examination of the flowers and fruit of the wild ginger, Asarum Canadense, and indeed the creeping roots, the whole habit and character will show morphologically a close relationship; and though Aristolochiaceae, to which the wild ginger belongs, is necessarily placed far away in the natural arrangements made by the botanists, we shall see how derivation will set at defiance even the best devised system of botanical classification.

This is a point the Editor hoped to work up some day for the edification of systematic botanists; but life is short and duties numerous. It is one of those things younger men may get interested in. - Ed. G. M.]