121 



A case in point came under our notice recently in connection with 

 experiments made in using the Bird Cherry ( Prunus Pennsylvanica ) as 

 a stock upon which to grow cultivated forms. A number of varieties of 

 the Morello, or sour type of cherry, were budded upon this stock, with 

 every appearance of success the first year, many making a growth of 

 three or foui feet. The following season a few varieties made little 

 progress and showed a tendency to break short off, under very slight 

 pressure, at the point of union with the stock. Examination of the 

 broken surface shows that there was no union of fibre, the surface being 

 quite smooth, but merely by contact sufficiently close to admit the 

 mechanical passage of sap. It also exhibits numerous lines or rays of 

 fibre diverging regularly from the pith to the laburnum, and resembling 

 the ordinary medullary rays but curiously multiplied. Under favorable 

 circumstances, growth, or at least the life of the scion, might be main- 

 tained for some years by means of this connection, but vigour and 

 longevity could not be expected. Bird Cherry as a stock shows a 

 greater affinity for some varieties than for others. 



While on this subject it might be stated that lilacs grafted on green 

 ash ( Fraxinus viridis) will grow vigorously the first season, but invar- 

 iably die the second year. J. C. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Saxicava sands and gravels at Carp, Ontario. Macoma 

 fragilis, Fabricius and Saxicava rugosa, Linnaeus, both marine species 

 of shells which are at the present day found living in great abundance 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the Labrador and general North 

 Atlantic coast, were collected by me at Carp village station in the gravel 

 pit immediately south of the station. Some fifteen feet of stratified 

 sands and gravels are here exposed. The upper portion consists of 

 coarse sands and gravels, of the ordinary type in this formation, whilst 

 the lower portion reveals the presence of a considerable number of well 

 rounded and water-worn pebbles ; many of which vary in size from one 

 inch to five inches in diameter. They are imbedded in a coarse matrix 

 of sand and a number of accessories or impurities. These pebbles are 

 for the most part derived from the crystalline limestone series of the 

 Laurentian formations, probably of Archaean age, Pebbles of Chondro- 



