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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[t/un^, 



plied to other species.' " Like the Chrouu-h' we 

 do not see how we could ^et nlonj; without ho- 

 tnnicnl names, hnid iis some of them :uc. We 

 do all we can to show this, hut wc must make it 

 ns easy ns we can ; and wc cn)i at least do with- 

 out the long Latin names for garden varieties. 



Very Latk Black hkukiks. — The Placer Herald 

 Bays, " that high up in the mountains, near the 

 settlement of 'Yankee Pines,' there is a s))ecics 

 of black herry that ri]iens very late. We had good 

 fruit gathered in these hills on Christmas day. 

 The elevation is oiXM) feet." 



LEMMOiNiA Camkoknica is the name of a new 

 genus of plants, discovered by that excellent 

 working botanist, J. G. Lemmon. Dr. Gray will 

 80on publish the description. 



FinRE Plants.— The San Francisco Herald 

 says: — "The maiiufacture of two new kinds of 

 elastic fibrous materials for upholsterers' use has 

 lately been commenced in California — one at An- 

 tioch from Tule, and the other at Los Angeles 

 from Cactus — the former the product of the 

 Bwamp and the latter of the desert. Mean- 

 time, the dried and twisted fibre of the Amole or 

 Soap root keeps its place in the market as one 

 of the best substitutes for hair, which continues 

 to be preferred as the best stuffing for mat- 

 tresses." The Soap root is perhaps the Chloro- 

 galum. 



The Use of Feathered Aavns to Some Seeds. 

 — One of Mr. Darwin's sons has, during the past 

 two years, contributed some very interesting 





articles to scientific serials on the uses of feath- 

 ered and twisted awns to some seeds. He thinks 

 that the feathered portion helps to keep the 

 points of the seeds downwards, and that the 

 twisting helps to screw them into the soil, as it 

 were. The late Charles J. Wister, of German- 



town, told the writer of this that he had experi- 

 mented carefully with the Slipa pennata or fea- 

 ther gra.ss, (see <'Ut,) and that unless the point in 

 some way got pressed perpendicularly into the 

 earth, they would not germinate. Seeds laid 

 horizontally, and covered with earth as in ordi- 

 nary seed sowing, would not grow. The subject 

 will be interesting to plant lovers, and we call 

 attention to it now that seeds of this character 

 may be saved to e.\i)eriment with. 



Fleshy Fri'its. — The flesh of the fruit of most 

 of our cultivated fruit trees is analogous to the 

 enlarged roots of the Turnip and Beet, and sim- 

 ilar plants, and is simply the product of cultiva- 

 tion, which is much sooner lost again under 

 neglected circumstances than it was originally 

 artificially produced. One of the inost able 

 French botanists. Professor Lecoq, of Clermont- 

 Ferrand, who died only some few years ago, in- 

 stituted numerous experiments with various 

 wild plants to induce them to form fleshy roots, 

 and he was almost invariably successful. Just 

 as it is the task of the agriculturist to increase 

 the volume of his roots, so it should be the aim 

 of the fruit gardener to increase the flesh of pome, 

 stone, and berry fruits, and the substance stored 

 up in the cotyledons of nut fruit. — Karl Koch. 



Descending Sap. — It is not affirmed by any 

 one that we know of, that the elaborated sap 

 does not descend. The modern notion is simply 

 that it may, and does ascend — go horizontally, 

 or in any other direction, as well as descend, ac- 

 cording to time, circumstances, and the need of 

 the plant. Suppose, for instance, starch is to be 

 stored in a potato tuber, or wood to be formed 

 in a vine rod; the matter out of which that 

 starch or that wood is formed must in great 

 measure pass through the leaves, and, therefore, 

 it must descend to reach its destination. But 

 starch is likewise stored up in the grain of 

 wheat. In this case, then, it is obvious that 

 the nutrient and store-containing or store-form- 

 ing sap must ascend from the leaves; and the 

 same holds true of fruits and stones (seeds) 

 placed above the leaves. — Gardener's Chronicle. 



Light and Vegetation. — In observing the in- 

 fluence upon vegetation of the long duration of 

 light during the Summer months in high lati- 

 tudes. Dr. Muller foiuid that at seventy degrees 

 north latitude, pears grew at the rate of three 

 and a half inches in twenty-four h.'urs for many 

 days during the season, and that certain cereal* 



