cylindrical masses of a yellowish-brown.

Cephalanthera is thought by some to be parasitic, but is declared not to be so by Dr. D. T. MacDougal, who is most familiar with its habits and home life. It is, however, saprophytic, and possibly in a certain degree parasitic. A peculiar characteristic of this strange orchid is that it is self-fertilized.

Many other plants are on the verge of becoming beggar plants. Our Gerardias are slowly changing into parasites. The roots of Gerardia flava, recently examined, revealed the presence of sucker-like disks which were attached to the roots of Vaccinium vacillans. These plants have the power of developing these clinging disks whenever they come in contact with other roots. Often, however, they attach themselves to their own roots, showing that they have no power of distinguishing the roots from which they would steal nourish

ment.

IN

New York City.

OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES.

BY M. F. BRADSHAW.

IN studying plants we often note the struggle for existence and the various methods adopted, nearly every plant having a way of its own. The commonest and most approved is that of forming seed and for this end insects are attracted by many devices, to pollinate the blossoms.

I think there is no plant I ever saw that was able to make seeds in greater numbers than the common morning glory of our gardens. The plants, coming up every day in the year, in this climate, are a pest equal to the most persistent and insidious weeds. But we have one, Ipomoea hederacea commonly called the blue moon flower and not a moon-flower at all as it blooms in the early morning like any other morning glorythat forms no seed.

The blossoms are so numerous that the whole surface of the plant is nearly covered and they are the most heavenly blue with a hint of crimson underneath. As the day advances the blue grows purplish, then purple, and by afternoon the flowers are crimson. It is a favorite vine for an arbor or porch as it covers in a few weeks anything that stands in its way. Some of the vines stretch out on the ground for rods, others mount to the roofs, then reach to the tree branches, and when you look again they are to the top of the largest tree, fairly covering and bending it down.

To tell the truth, the vine, beautiful and cleanly as it is, is a perfect pest for it wants to possess the earth and it succeeds if you allow a root of it to retain a foothold.

I never thought much about this characteristic till I began to collect seeds; then to my surprise I could not find any though there had been millions of blossoms. In the three years I have been interested in seeds, I have succeeded in getting about a teaspoonful only. Then came the question, why were there no seeds when the pink morning glory a few feet away seemed to be wholly resolving itself with seed. A little observation and the story was told. The flower is very large, about the size of a large coffee cup and is frequented by humming birds and bumble bees. Now these fellows were never once seen to go into the cup of the corrolla in the polite and proper way, but always pierced the base of the tube, going quickly from one to another. This was a cute and quick way to get a meal of honey, but the moon-flower must perforce find a new method to perpetuate itself. And so for how many ages, who knows, it has evolved for itself a way to cover the earth and has grown robust and able to choke out anything that comes in its way-sans seeds.

Orange, Cal.

THE

BY DR. W. W. BAILEY.

HE chickory is a Composite, that is, of the same huge family as the dandelion, daisy, sunflower, aster and golden-rod. Most of our readers probably know that in all such plants the apparently single flower is really that kind of a cluster called a head. In other words, a large number of small florets, in the chickory and dandelion all strap-shaped, in daisy, etc., with tubular disk florets and big white rays, are aggregated together and surrounded by a calyx-like involucre. These Composites are high-class plants; indeed, the highest. In any lately arranged herbarium or flora or Manual they are found heading the system. Each individual floret shows marvellous adaptations to the special end in view and all work together in a republic or community where division of labor tends to the good of the commonweal. In their specialization, indeed they call to mind the extraordinary development of bees, ants and other similar creatures.

While the flowers of chickory are ordinarily blue, they are sometimes pink and of course, now and then white. Indeed, albinos occur among flowers of any color as one may see white cardinal flowers, gentians, self-heal or harebells.

Pretty as

our plant is when the flowers are open, it is a troublesome weed and unsightly, when, as in the afternoon they are closed. The old description of Asa Gray "stems twiggy" then hits it off very well.

Its leaves make a capital salad when young as was known to the Romans and is mentioned in Horace. It is said by Gerard in his quaint old "Herbal" that "the leaves of chickory are boiled in pottage or broths for sick or feeble persons that have hot, weak or feeble stomachs to strengthen the same."

In a paper by Maurice G. Kains, issued some years ago by the United States Department of Agriculture, we learn that "At the present day its young leaves are considered equal

as a salad to those of the endive to which it is closely related. In this form it is known as barbe de capucin. Under special cultural processes, accidentally discovered and long kept secret by the discoverer, M. Bresiers, the famous witloof of the Dutch is produced. The tender young roots, when boiled and served with butter and pepper are considered a great delicacy by many Europeans, especially the Belgians. The green leaves, when cooked in the same manner as spinach, except that two waters are used, rival the justly popular dandelion greens."

We learn also that in some parts of Europe a blue dye is made from the leaves, by much the same process as that followed in the manufacture of the still extant woad dye with which the ancient Britons stained their bodies in times of war. It is employed, also to impart a dark color to, and increase the bitter qualities of certain liquors, such as porter, "for which purpose it is less harmful than quassia which is also used extensively as a substitute for hops in many beers, ales and porters."

Popularly, chickory is best known for its employment as a substitute or adulterant of coffee. We are told that "during the great blockade of Napoleonic times, when coffee, tea and cocoa could not be easily procured, the demand for an infused beverage led to extensive adulterations and substitutions of various kinds, the principle of which, in the case of coffee was made of chickory. The people having become accustomed to the use of chickory, either pure or mixed with coffee, during the continuance of the blockade, still continued to use it in the succeeding times of peace. Its use as a beverage on the continent (of Europe) is now as well established as tea or cocoa and forms an unique example of the creation of a taste for an adulterant which afterwards demanded even a complete substitute."

To the true coffee-lover, the above statement seems in

credible for if there is one thing that its votary demands just right without foreign admixtures, it is coffee. He may use it according to fancy, with or without cream or sugar, but he peremptorily calls for coffee, not chickory, beans, barley or prepared saw-dust.

It will be a surprise to many to learn that chickory is quite largely cultivated in this country from Massachusetts to California and Oregon. For what purpose it is grown we do not learn, but a field of it, unmixed with weeds must be a delight to any lover of form and color.

Brown University, Providence, R. I.

THE STORY OF THE VEGETABLES.

AGE, which tinges with romance many of the commonest

things of life, invests even the vegetables of our kitchens with a certain dignity when we know something of their origin and history. I confess, when I think of the centuries during which some of these have contributed to the energy of the race, I feel that "a dinner of herbs" becomes indeed a symposium with the spirits of the time. Dainty romancers would feed their heroes on nectar and ambrosia, but as a matter of fact it is such plebeian fare as peas and beans, onions and cucumbers and buttered parsnips that enabled Alexander to conquer his world, and that have fed poets from Homer to Kipling.

If the esteem of man is to count for aught, no vegetable can boast of a more honorable history than the onion, which has probably been more widely grown for the table than any other plant that we know; for these sleek, rotund bulbs are the result of millenniums of persistent culture. Its native land. is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps it was Syria or India; but certainly it found its way to Egypt at an early day, for it is represented on monuments which show it to have been culti