244 THE PIvANT WORLD 



Briefer Articles. 



A MORE OR LESS MORALLESS FABLE. 



It chanced one day in a far corner of the Earth that a traveling 

 Horticulturist came upon a magnificent and useful Plant ; said he joyfully, 

 " This must needs be a Good Thing and therefore I will take it to all 

 other corners of the Civilized World and the People shall know it to be 

 a Valuable Introduction." So he secured of the Plant many seeds and 

 with much care he sowed them, but of all the seeds there came only three 

 Plants, of the which two soon died and the other was dwarfed and sickly. 

 Roaming wide again, the Horticulturist came to a New Country and 

 found there a Tree without which the Natives in that Country could not 

 Exist ; then he took seeds and young plants of the Tree with him and 

 returning to his People said, "Behold! here have I brought you a new 

 Food which will make you both fat and glad ! ' ' But the Soil and the 

 Climate were inimical, so that the Tree was not introduced ; and the People 

 said Nothing. 



Learning of a Fine Fruit, the Horticulturist after much Effort and 

 vain Attempts, brought it to his own Land and lo ! it grew and year by 

 year reached its Normal Size ; but of the Fine Foreign Fruits, it bore 

 not one, neither did it show any Flower at all. At last, when he had gained 

 much Experience and lost as much Hope, the Horticulturist succeeded in 

 propagating a Rare and very Economic Species of the Vegetable King- 

 dom, and he spoke to his People in Triumph, saying, "Now have I given 

 unto you a Great Gift ; with this Crop shall your Fields be made richer 

 and your Storehouses be filled, and you shall eat thereof and bless me 

 and my Work." But the People replied thus: "The Fodder of our 

 Fathers fills us fully. For the Grub of Barbarians we hanker not yet." 



And the Horticulturist continued with his Work and waited, not 

 vainly nor in vain. O. W. Barrett. 



Mayagiiez, Porto Rico. 



SOME ABNORMAL FLOWERS OF THE WILD COLUMBINE. 



While examining recently a lot of wild columbines planted in a bed 

 close to the north side of the house, my attention was attracted by several 

 blossoms that were erect instead of being pendulous. Closer inspection 

 showed that they were all incompletely developed and were not as brightly 

 colored as the others near them. The five sepals were more pointed than 

 usual, and of a rather greenish red, but appeared to be normal in other 

 respects. All the other parts of the flowers were much stunted in appear- 



