187*7.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



83 



ing to the height of fifty feet and upwards. 

 Humboldt called America the " leafy continent." 

 Our government collected and exhibited four 

 hundred and nineteen species of wood at the 

 Centennial. He arranged woods in five classes, 

 as follows : first, woods for fuel and charcoal ; 

 second, for buildings and ships ; third, for furni- 

 ture and joiners' work; fourth, for various man- 

 ufacturers, such as spools, lasts, etc.; fifth, forest 

 products, such as maple sugar and tan-bark. 

 The lecture was full of instruction and was at- 

 tentively listened to. 



Sweet Ferx for Tanning. — The paragraph in 

 our magazine some months ago in regard to this 

 article, attracted considerable attention. Here 

 is an additional item about it : — 



"The Ellsworth American says that Capt. Eaton 

 made another shipment of two hundred barrels 

 of sweet fern extract to the Boston leather mar- 

 ket and with it his first consignment of extract 



of alder. This alder extract, like sweet fern ex- 

 tract, is new to the leather trade of this country. 

 The tanning properties of these new agents have 

 been thoroughly tested by practical tanners of 

 Ellsworth, and found to be equal to, if not supe- 

 rior to the best tannin material in use in this 

 country. Calfskins tanned with both the fern 

 and the alder are as mellow and firm as the best 

 tanned French calfskins, and much more beau- 

 tiful in color." 



Wood Pavements. — These have proved less 

 durable than their friends imagined. It was 

 thought at one time that a demand for blocks 

 would have an influence on forestry, but the 

 signs of the times, both in this country and Eu- 

 rope are, that this system of paving will never 

 come into general use. With all the objection to 

 stone, its comparative durability gives it an ad- 

 vantage which will always outweigh numbers of 

 good points in the wood. 



SaTURAL SiSTORY and &IENCE. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



BRODI/EA CALIFORNICA. 



W. C. L. DREW, EL DORADO, CAL. 



Of the many strange and wonderful growths 

 found in California, the botanist finds few of a 

 more peculiar habit, and none that I know of 

 deserves more attention. No other plant in the 

 vegetable world acts as does this one. 



The Brodifea Californica belongs to the na- 

 tural order Liliacese, and is known among the 

 mass of floral. people as the Twining Hyacinth, a 

 name which it well deserves, as will be seen by 

 the description given below. It has two near 

 relations, both natives of California, but of a dif- 

 ferent habit; they are — B. coccinea, bearing 

 crimson flowers, and B. grandiflora, bearing 

 blue flowers, both of which I shall describe at 

 another time. 



The B. Californica starts to grow early in the 

 Spring, it sends up from two to four leaves, the 

 latter very seldom, these are of various shades of 

 green, being very dark where exposed to the 

 sunlight, and light in the shade; they vary from 



one-half to one inch in diameter, and from one 

 to three feet in length. I have often gathered 

 them of over a yard in length, but they were al- 

 ways of plants in the shade, they have a deep 

 channel running the entire length, and nearly 

 always lie prostrate on the ground. 



The flower- stem starts to grow about the mid- 

 dle of May ; as soon as it gets to be five or six 

 inches long, it commences to twine, and twines 

 itself over any shrub or plant in its vicinity, 

 whether five or ten feet high, it keeps on twining 

 until it reaches the top of its support. 



It takes it from two to four weeks to reach the 

 top of its support, and all this time the flower-bud 

 remains dormant. After reaching the greatest 

 height it can get, it stops to take a rest for a week 

 or two. Then occurs the most singular phenom- 

 enon of all. The stem breaks off" close to the 

 ground, and keeps no connection whatever with 

 mother earth, which until this time has given it 

 nourishment; now the flower-bud begins to ex- 

 pand, and grows for about two weeks, when lof 

 the bud opens and exposes to view from six to 

 sixty other flower-buds, which up to this time 

 have been safely hidden from view. In about a 



