The practical man of the N. Y. Independent thus criticises a communication from a poetical contributor whose botanical education had been neglected:

When you drew a picture of a forest haunt in summer, I tried to imagine and see what you described. I immediately got into confusion. It sounded well; but, botanically, it was all awry. You drew it from your imagination, or rather from the poetry of your reading, and not from nature. I don't know scenery in your region very well; but (1) I doubt somewhat if the "firs," "willows," " aspens," "oaks" and "dogwood" grow together. (2) I doubt those "daisies" in "summer" on the "slope." But it is possible. (3) There is no "heather" in the United States, except a very little at Tewkesbury, Mass. (4) If there were heather on that "side-hill" it would be a dry hill, and it would be "brake" and not "fern." (5) "Daffodils" do not grow on side-hills or anywhere else except in gardens. (6) Of all green, "emerald" is the very last to describe "willows," which are a very light, whitish green. "Dogwood" blooms in "snow bowers," never in summer, only in early spring. (7) Your "woodbine's golden bell " may be right if you mean what is -commonly called honeysuckle. (8) What the "amber" dropped in summer by the poplar is, I cannot tell.