786 MISCELLANEOUS. [April 



shandana marks are used as caste characteristics by the natives — 

 ill Soutli India more especially. The wood enters largely into the 

 religious ceremonies of the Hindoos. An emulsion of the wood is 

 given as an offering to the gods, while the wood itself is often used, 

 partially or totally, in the funeral pyres of the more well-to-do 

 classes. Sandal-wood carving is an established industry in some 

 parts of the country. The boxes, and other elegant articles made 

 with the wood, are too well known to need description. Nor do 

 the uses of the tree end here. The wood has always occupied a 

 prominent place in the Hindoo pharmacopceia, and the oil is largely 

 prescribed by European physicians in a peculiar class of diseases. 

 The paste is used as a local application in cutaneous eruptions. The 

 effect internally is said to be cooling, and is therefore prescribed 

 largely by the hobiraj or halcim for " fever, thirst, and heat of the 

 body." 



Trees for Avenues. — One of the greatest mistakes made by 

 corporations of property is to plant too many varieties of trees along 

 the side-walk. One kind only should be selected for each avenue 

 or street, and this should possess the requisites of rapid growth, 

 shapely head, compact form, and freedom from diseases and injurious 

 insects. Each of the leading trees adapted to this purpose has its 

 advocates, but the one most highly in favour near our large cities 

 at present is the Oriental Plane. When grown quickly, nursery trees 

 of this species have a straight stem, which may be trimmed high, 

 another important feature to be always observed. For very rapid 

 growth, combined with other good qualities, the American Lindcii 

 may very safely be recommended for avenues, although it does 

 not form a compact head. The. Norway Magpie has made hosts of 

 friends everywhere, but it has one serious fault when used as a 

 street tree — an inclination to droop its branches, no matter how 

 high it may be trimmed. On the lawn it has no superior, however, 

 and is the perfection of beauty in outline and colour. 



The Larch. — In his extremely interesting work. La Flore de la 

 Suisse et ses Origincs, Dr. H. Christ gives a good deal of useful and 

 interesting information about the larch, which is the characteristic 

 tree of the central Alps. Thanks to its foliage of fine delicate 

 needles, which fall at the approach of winter, it supports better than 

 any other tree the excessive dryness and the severity of winter 

 frosts. Its rough thick furrowed bark bears some resemblance to 

 that of the oak, but it is a brighter colour, a more decided red. 

 The Evcrnia vulpina, a beautiful citron-yellow lichen, clothes it with 

 a more brilliant covering than any furnished to other Swiss trees by 

 any other lichen or moss. Wlien young, the Swiss larch has a 

 perfectly straight stem, and it is only at an advanced age that some 



