186 



THE GARDENEIVa MONTHLY 



[t/a/itf, 



the iiir is nuiist, will endure a tenipcniture of 

 ^ero all Winter witluiut injury ; but if expo-scd to 

 the open iiir, are l<il!ecl by luilf that amount 

 of frost. The general impression, and we think 

 the correct one is, that the juices are dried out 

 by evaporation, frost ixa. well as heat being an 

 evaporator. — Ed. G. M.) 



i'liKi.LOOKNDKON. — F., Baltimore, Md., writes: 

 — " I have haul thePhilodendron growing in past 

 times, and know it as a very tender hot-house 

 plant, with leaves having holes as if torn through 

 theui, and it beai-s a fruit that is tolerably good 

 to eat. I see that you report a new one that is a 

 tree, and hardy. Will it bear fruit like the other 

 one, and is it not uncommon to have such hardy 

 plants and stove-plantsin the same family?" 



[Our correspondent misapprehends. It is Phel- 

 lodendron, not Philodendron. It is the ditlerence 

 between a " friend '' or " lover," and " cork." Bo- 

 tanists seldom tell why they name trees. They 

 take it for granted that those who are interested 

 enough in the meanings know Latin or Greek, 

 and can find out for themselves. Mr. Sargent 

 uays the bark of this tree is very corky, and we 

 suppose on this account it must have suggested 

 the name Phellodendron. The Philodendron 

 merely "loves trees. ' It is an arum that roams 

 and rambles over trees. By the way, why the 

 willow oak was named Quercus phelloswe never 



knew, unless from some distant resemblance of 

 the leaves to those of the cork oak. Perhapa 



some of our botanical linguists can tell Of Phi- 

 lodendron we give an illustration herewith. 



JTERATURE, SrAVELS & pERSONAL MoTES. 



CO MM UNICA TIONS. 



"PATENTED" FRUITS. 



BY X. B. MIN£R, LINDEN, N. J. 



There is but one feature of this proposed pro- 

 tection to originators of new varieties of fruits, 

 in my opinion, that is practical — patenting the 

 name — and this would be a great advance in the 

 ease sis it now stands. For instance, I have 

 spent twenty years in growing seedling grapes, 

 and have expended a great deal of money in my 

 experiments, and at last I claim to have origina- 



ted the best varieties of white grapes, of purely 

 native origin, in the United States. But to ask 

 a patent on the fruit itself I consider of no use 

 or benefit, because it would be impossible, in 

 case of infringement on such patent, to prove that 

 it existed. My grapes may be grown by others 

 under a new name, and it would be out of my 

 power to prevent it, because no description of 

 the vines, fruits, quality, &c., can be embraced in 

 a claim for a patent, that would enable any per- 

 son or persons to select my vines from others 

 when not in bearing; and when the fruit \a 

 mature the quality would be so various in difi'er- 

 ent places, owing to a difference in soil, climate, 



