Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/440

424. "The fruits are carried by the waters of the Gulf Stream into the Caribbean Sea, and either thrown ashore on the West Indian Islands or carried still farther, as in the case of many other similar fruits, across the North Atlantic and cast on the shores of western Europe."Of these other similar fruits, Mr. Morris mentions the Laodicea of the Seychelles—known as coco de mer—which was first found floating; the "sea apples" or "sea cocoanut"—fruits of the Bursa palm—which drift in the West Indian seas; the large brown beans of the Cocoon, or Entada scandens, which are cast ashore in various parts of the world; and a specimen of Cæsalpinia bonduc.

An Experiment in Irrigation.—The results of experiments in irrigation of garden crops are given by Prof. Byron D. Halsted in the report of the Botanical Department of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. The water was applied in the latter part of the season, and therefore only to the later crops; to the second crop of golden wax bean, and to pepper, turnips, egg plant, and celery. The yield of beans from similar plots was as 17 pounds and 1 ounce not irrigated to 45 pounds irrigated; of peppers, 717 fruits to 1,277 fruits. The peppers from the unirrigated belt, moreover, filled only six and a half peach baskets, with a total weight of 80 pounds, while those from the irrigated belt filled eleven and a quarter like baskets, with a total weight of 147 pounds. Further, the irrigated peppers were plumper and better colored and of far superior quality and brought much more in the market. In the plants themselves the leaves of the unirrigated belts looked wilted and limp, while those of the irrigated plants stood up fresh and strong. Irrigation prolonged the season of fruitage and the frosts caught the plants still blooming and bearing fruits in all stages of growth. With egg plants and tomatoes the experiments were made too late for the most satisfactory results. Those crops want midsummer rather than autumn irrigation. Irrigation of turnips caused vigorous growth of the plants, but increased the tendency to club. Better effects may be expected in land free from the club-root fungus. The crop of celery was increased in the irrigated rows to two and a half times that upon the rows not receiving the water. In marketable product, in pounds, the difference was three to one, and in marketable value about eight to one in favor of irrigation.

Significance of Morphological Botany.—The problem of morphological botany was characterized by Dr. D. H. Scott, of Kew Gardens, in his sectional address at the British Association, as a purely histological one, and perfectly distinct from any of the questions with which physiology has to do. Yet there is a close relation between these two branches of biology, at any rate to those who maintain the Darwinian position, for from that point of view we see that all the characters which the morphologist has to compare are, or have been, adaptive. Hence, it is impossible for the morphologist to ignore the functions of those organs of which he is studying the homologies. There is no essential difference between adaptive and morphological characters, but the physiologist is interested in the question how organs work; the morphologist asks, What is their history? The origin of the great groups of plants is perhaps an insoluble problem, but all that can be directly observed or experimented upon is the occurrence of variations. Such investigations can but throw a side light on the historical question of the origin of the existing orders of living things, and the morphologist must use other methods of research. In judging of the affinities of fossil plants vegetative characters must be made use of, and especially characters drawn from anatomical structure. In many specimens the anatomical features are the only ones known, and in cases where the reproductive structures have been discovered the conclusions drawn from anatomical characters have been confirmed. The study of fossil botany is thus likely to call attention to points of structure formerly passed over. Anatomical characters are being made use of in the classification of the higher plants, and thus an effort is being made to place the classification on a broader basis. They are undeniably adaptive, but it is a mistake to suppose that they are necessarily the expression of recent adaptations; on the contrary, there are examples of marked peculiarities which have become the property of large groups of plants. A given