HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



67 



BOTANY. 



Michaelmas Daisy.— The common Michaelmas 

 Daisy of the gardens is very plentiful in a hedge 

 on the roadside between the village of Woolton 

 and Speke station, near Liverpool. Of course it 

 is an introduction, having probably been brought to 

 the field with manure ; but it bids fair to become 

 quite naturalized. 1 — Robert Holland. 



Home-grown Currants. — The plant of the 

 Currant-grape, imported two years ago from Cadiz, 

 has, for the first time, produced some fine bunches 

 of fruit of a singularly graceful and pretty form. 

 Should we succeed in drying them, they will pro- 

 bably be the first home-grown and home-cured 

 sample of "pudding currants" yet produced in 

 England, although large quantities are annually 

 imported from the Levant : this is another product 

 almost wholly confined to one district, the culti- 

 vation of which might be extended with advantage. 

 — Royal Botanic Society, Extract from Secretary's 

 Report, 1S70. 



Big Vines at the South. — The "Walter Ba- 

 leigh vine," on Roanoke Island, nearly three hun- 

 dred years old, covers one acre of ground ; the wine 

 from this vine last year sold for $3,000 ; auother 

 vine in Tyrrel County, N. C, in 1S69, produced 

 2,530 gallons of wine ; several other large vines in 

 tbe South produce each from 1,000 to 2,000 gallons 

 of wine per annum. — Boston Journal of Chemistry. 



Big Trees in Missouri. — It is popularly sup- 

 posed that California has the biggest trees in the 

 world; but Prof. Swallow, of the Missouri Geo- 

 logical Survey, claims the distinction for his own 

 State. He gives the following actual measure- 

 ment of trees in south-west Missouri : — " The 

 largest is a sycamore in Mississippi County, 65 feet 

 high, which, 2 feet above the ground, measures 

 43 feet in circumference. Another sycamore in 

 Howard County is 38 feet in circumference. A 

 cypress in Cape Girardeau County, at a distance 

 of one foot from the ground, measures 29 feet in 

 circumference. A cotton-wood in Mississippi 

 County '.measures 30 feet around at a distance of 6 

 feet above the ground. A pecan in the same county 

 measures 18 feet in circumference. A black walnut 

 in Benton County is 26 feet in circumference. A 

 tulip-tree (poplar) in Cape Girardeau County is 30 

 feet in circumference. There is a tupelo in Stod- 

 dard County 30 feet in circumference. There is a 

 hackberry in Howard County 11 feet in circumfer- 

 ence. A Spanish oak in New Madrid County is 26 

 feet in circumference. A honey-locust in Howard 

 County is 13 feet round. There is a willow in 

 Pemiscot County that has grown to the size of 

 24 feet in circumference and 100 feet in height. 

 Mississippi County boasts of a sassafras that must 



be king of that tribe; it 'measures 9 feet in circum- 

 ference. In Pemiscot County there is a dogwood 

 6 feet 'in circumference. In Mississippi County 

 pawpaws grow to a circumference of 3 feet, and 

 grape-vines and trumpet creepers to a circumfer- 

 ence of IS to 20 inches. — Boston Journal of 

 Chemistry. 



A Large Pear. — A friend has shown us a 

 California pear of almost incredible size. It mea. 

 sures around 13i inches, and lengthwise 17i inches. 

 It is now somewhat shrivelled, but it was said to 

 weigh three pounds when taken from the tree. The 

 variety we judge to be the Vicar of Winkfield, 

 although not quite certain. These pomological mon- 

 strosities are not uncommon on the Pacific coast, 

 but to us they seem wonderful. We should be 

 careful in venturing under trees loaded with such 

 fruit, as the effect of the blow resulting from the 

 fall of a specimen might prove decidedly unpleasant. 

 — Boston Journal of Chemistry. 



Wandering Weeds. — It is stated that there 

 are now no less than 214 weeds which have been 

 introduced into the United States from foreign 

 countries, and principally from England. As a 

 proof of the rapidity with which useless plants are 

 accidentally brought over the seas, it is said that 

 in 1837 there were only 137 foreign weeds known 

 in this country. As far back as 1672 a curious 

 little volume, called New England's Rarities, gave a 

 list of 22 plants which the author considered had 

 sprung up since the English had kept cattle 

 in New England. The author mentions the 

 " plantain," which, he says, the Indians call the 

 " Englishman's foot," as though produced by the 

 tread of the white settlers. The common " yellow 

 toad-flax," it is stated, was originally introduced 

 into the province of Pennsylvania as a garden 

 flower by a Mr. Banstead, a Welshman, residing in 

 Philadelphia, from whom it has derived the name 

 of " Banstead Weed." In 1758 this weed had over- 

 run the pastures in the inhabited part of Pennsyl- 

 vania, and was the cause of bitter complaints from 

 the agriculturists of that day. Chickweed, it is 

 stated, was introduced in South Carolina as food 

 for canary-birds, and in ten years spread for up- 

 wards of 50 miles, and now occupies the outposts 

 of civilization. The " Scotch thistle " is said to 

 have been brought to America by a clergyman 

 who carried with him a bed stuffed with thistle 

 down, in which some seed remained. Feathers 

 being cheap in the new country, were substituted 

 for the down which was soon emptied out, and the 

 seed springing up filled the country with thistles. 

 Another account says some enthusiastic Scot in- 

 troduced the thistle as an emblem of his country, 

 which soon made itself at home and became a 

 nuisance. — Philadelphia ledger. 



