An Illinois correspondent writes : " In the Kansas Forestry Report, page 32, 1885, I. Horner, Emporia, Kansas, says:

"The hardy Mulberry, commonly styled Russian Mulberry, is a cross of several varieties of Mulberry, the chief of which are the Morus alba, Morus Tartarica, and Morus nigra. It was introduced into South Russia, by the Russian Czar about a century ago, and was imposed upon the tree planters by the Russian Government, as the tree to be most important on the list of trees planted.'

" He goes on with a great deal more of its history. Please give your views whether a mixture from different varieties can be grown from seeds, so as to preserve the best qualities of the different kinds".

[Varieties produced, whether by crossing between two or more varieties, or by the natural laws of variation common to all species, have hereditary characters; and, if the Mulberries were produced as stated, there is no reason why they might not reproduce their special characters from seed.

But the statement that this variety was obtained by the method referred to is evidently a reckless ! one, manufactured by the writer of the paragraph quoted, or by some one equally reckless. No elaborate attempts at crossing to get new varieties were made a century ago; and besides, the Morus tatarica, which is the Russian form of the White Mulberry, has been known as such long before the time of a " Russian Czar about a century ago".