H. BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. 285 



ORIGIN OF MAIZE. 



The claim that the maize, or Indian-corn plant, is indige- 

 nous to the soil of the New World,has lately been contested, 

 and recent investigations of certain Chinese records are cited 

 to prove that it was cultivated in China prior to the discov- 

 ery of America. Chinese authors maintain that it came orig- 

 inally from countries west of China, and that it was intro- 

 duced into that country long before the first arrival of the 

 Portuguese in 1517. 15 A, June 24, 1870, 841. 



USES OF THE " WATER-PEST" PLANT. 



Much alarm has been caused in Europe by the spread of a 

 certain plant, living in running water, called the water-pest 

 (Elodea canadensis), and said to have been introduced from 

 America. By its very rapid growth it speedily chokes up 

 the channel-ways, thus impeding the flow of water in mill- 

 races, and interfering also with fishing. A recent German 

 writer, however, finds consolation in the fact, which he thinks 

 he has ascertained, that this " water-pest" exercises a very 

 important function in purifying the water, and that, if planted 

 in streams which form the drainage of sewers, it will take up 

 entirely and destroy any disagreeable smell, as also the nox- 

 ious properties of ordinary sewerage. The composition of its 

 ashes is said to be extremely complicated, and the plant it- 

 self is recommended as furnishing a manure of the greatest 

 value. It has also been tried with success in paper-making. 

 There is no doubt of its value as food for the herbivorous 

 fishes, such as the carp, etc., and it will probably yet be cul- 

 tivated for this purpose. 16 (7, il, 28. 



THE COMPASS PLANT. 



Many travelers -and residents in the "West have called at- 

 tention to a peculiarity of the so-called " compass plant" (Sil- 

 phium laciniatimi) , of the Western prairies, which is alleged 

 to possess the remarkable tendency to have the plane of its 

 leaves directed north and south to such a degree that these 

 points of the compass can readily be determined from their 

 examination. This statement has, however, been contradict- 

 ed by others, who are unable to find any tendency of the 

 kind in question. In a recent paper by Mr. Meehan,of Phila- 



