118 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



rapidly after the third or fourth year. The Norway and sugar 

 maples and the ash are also very desirable. Of the fine lawn 

 trees any of the following are excellent and should grow well 

 in this State : horsechestnut, linden, sycamore, tulip tree, 

 hackberry and I cannot recommend too strongly the use of 

 evergreens such as the Austrian pine, the hemlock and the 

 white and Norway spruce." — Illinois Agriculturalist. 



The Spindle Tree. — In many parts of America there is 

 a small shrub, related to the well-known bitter-sweet {Celast- 

 rus) which, like it, bears in autumn and early winter, numer- 

 ous pink capsules that early split open displaying the brilliant 

 red aril which surrounds each seed. With us it is usually 

 called burning bush, strawberry shrub or wahoo, but allied 

 species in England go by the name of spindle trees. This last 

 name is a very ancient one and according to most writers has 

 been given to the plant because its wood w'as once used for 

 skewers. History does not say what property of the wood 

 caused this species to be singled out for the purpose and there 

 seems to be less reason for the use of the name than there is 

 for the application in a similar case of ironwood or lever-wood 

 to our species of Ostrya and Carpinus. But there is no ac- 

 counting for common names. 



Sago. — The name sago is derived from Sagii an East 

 Indian name for a granular starch obtained from various spe- 

 cies of palm. A similar material may be obtained from certain 

 of the cycads close allies of the pines. One common cycad fre- 

 quently seen in conservatories is often called sago palm on 

 this account. While the true sago may have been derived 

 from palms the name nowadays is applied to a variety of 

 starches. Even tapioca may be said to be a kind of sago. The 

 so-called "Portland sago" was made from the corms of the 

 European cuckoo pint or lords-and-ladies. a sort of arum 

 closely allied, and similar in appearance, to our familiar Jack- 



