THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 61 



1,000 eccentric members — the Aracese. — O. W. Barrett, 

 Mayaguez, Porto Rico. [The editor's authority for apph'- 

 ing the name bleeding heart to the plant in question, is 

 Mr. Barrett's stand-b3^ — O. F. Cook, and since Mr. Bar- 

 rett also notes that certain forms are called bleeding heart 

 in Porto Rico, this makes a second good authority for the 

 statement. Colocasia and Caladium have often been com- 

 bined as one genus and their separation is a matter of 

 opinion. Therefore it looks as if it might also be a matter 

 of opinion whether the errors mentioned are really errors 

 or not. As to the Jamaican name, if the way it is printed 

 is am- criterion, it can be asserted that it is spelled coco. 

 Certainlj" both negroes and \vhites pronounce it as if 

 spelled that wa3^ — Ed.] 



How TO Hull Walnuts. — Hullmg walnuts, as usual- 

 ly performed, is a dirty and disagreeable task, for the juice 

 stains the hands a deep brown very hard to get off. There 

 is, however, a cleaner and easier w^ay of removing the 

 hulls to which Mr. W. W. Ashe has called the editor's at- 

 tention. It is simply to bore a hole slightly larger in 

 diameter than a hulled walnut, through a piece of maple 

 or other hard wood, and then drive the walnut through 

 it. This not only removes the hulls, but does it quicker 

 then scny other way with which we are acquainted. 



Age and Plants. — Old age comes slowly to some 

 plants or at least they are slow in appearing aged. Old 

 trees often show plainly the ravages of tiine, but for an 

 illustration of the phrase "a green old age" there is prob- 

 ably nothing better than the vine. According to The Gar- 

 dening World, there is a vine at Hampton Court in Eng- 

 land that was planted when George III w^as King, which 

 is still bearing. This year it will yield a thousand bunches 

 of grapes. 



