The New York Independent says of the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recently held in Philadelphia:

" In the regular sessions three of the most eagerly anticipated papers, on the identification of the plants and animals of the Greek authors, the influence of isolation on vegetation, and the immediate effects of cross fertilization on the strawberry, were not read at all. The last was to be by Professor Lazenby, who, it was understood, had produced the fruit of Sharpless strawberries on some pistillate form, by the direct influence of the pollen of the former variety. The inference would be, that a pistillate variety of strawberry has really no fruit of its own, the fruit being, in all essential points, that of whatever it may have had pollen from. It was very much regretted by many that such a very important physiological paper should not have been reached, in order to follow closely the professor's experiments. If they should be deemed conclusive it would be very strange that, in the past, when it was the custom to grow only pistillate varieties of strawberries, with any good staminate kind as a fertilizer, there never seemed any doubt anywhere, of the identity of the pistillate variety. Hovey's Seedling, for instance, was always readily identified anywhere, no matter what variety may have been used as the pollen bearing parent.

Still, as it is well known there is an immediate effect on Indian corn by crossing, no one can say how far this immediate influence may extend, and hence the desire to hear Professor Lazenby's paper".

To which we may add that it would be well worth while to go over the matter again with some kinds so very distinct that the eye as well as the taste could distinguish the difference. For instance, instead of such closely related kinds as Sharpless and Manchester, take Lennig's White and Manchester, - or take a long berry like the old Lady's Finger, with a regularly formed round berry, - or even a kind that almost always has a coxcomb form, to be used as a fertilizer, for one of regularly uniform outline. For ourselves, we know of scores of instances where certainly no immediate influence has resulted, while, with the exception of corn, there are few unchallenged facts on the other side.