Hybrid Potatoes

Mr. Thomas Laxton, well-known as a successful hybridist, and the originator of some fine crosses among peas, has undertaken to cross potatoes with other species of the genus Solanum, and has already had some remarkable results. There is evidently a wide field for useful discovery in the hybridizing line.

Herbarium Of Mr. Howard Shriver, Wythe-Ville, Va

Mr. Shriver has published for free distribution a catalogue of his herbarium, "first, as I desire to sell the herbarium; second, that botanists may have some idea of the Flora." It will be a rare chance for some college, society, or enthusiastic individual to get a good start with such a complete collection.

Solanum Lemmonii

The French have decided that the new tuberous potato which Mr. Lemmon, in our columns last year, believed might be a new species, really deserves that honor, and Mr. Blanchard describes it in the February number of the Revue Horticole as Solanum Lemmonii.

The Jalap Root

Mr. Lester sends us a black root of the shape and form of a pear; - the Exo-gonium purga, well known in pharmacy for its purgative character.

Geography Of Cactaceous Plants

Dr. C. W. Greene notes: "A writer in your excellent Gardeners' Monthly for April, says that all cactuses are American. Le Maout and Decaisne, (Mrs. Hooker's translation,) say that one species of Rhipsalis is both Ceylonese and West African. Not long ago some writer (I think in the American Naturalist) stated that there were two probable non-American species, one strictly Ceylonese and one probably West African. I can not now lay my hand on this article".

Mr. James Morton

Our readers will remember interesting papers occasionally contributed by Mr. James Morton, formerly gardener to Hon. L. W. Coe, Torrington, Conn. We note by a Clarks-ville, Tennessee, paper that he has now taken charge of a commercial garden and florist's establishment known as Evergreen Lodge, owned by Captain Crussman, near that town. He has our best wishes for his success in his new vocation.

Parker Earle

This energetic and well known fruit grower of Southern Illinois was born at Mount Holly, Vermont, and settled in Cobden in 1861. This is now among the best known fruit growing centers in the West, and mainly through the efforts of Mr. Earle. He has the largest pear orchard probably in the West. As Superintendent of the Horticultural Department of the New Orleans Exposition he has won golden opinions everywhere.