152 



THE OARDENEB'S MONTHLY 



[ May, 



oflFerthis apology in advance for the London Gar- 

 den, wliich has recently given amongst its col- 

 ored jilatos a sort of rock-loving i)lant with 

 pentanicrous floral parts, and gives it as p]clii- 

 nocactus Sinipsoni I It is seldom that we 

 notice the errors of our contemporaries, hav- 

 ing enough to do to look after our own, but 

 as this one will cause much confusion, we hope 

 our good neighbor will pardon us for noting it. 



QUERIES. 



ErcALYPTUS IN Philadelphia. — Letter from 

 Mr, Price. — Only this morning your short ar- 

 ticle, "Eucalyptus in our climate," caught my 

 eye. It strikes me as in a slight degree un- 

 charitable towards the American Philosophical 

 Society and Mr. Davenport. The latter in 

 speaking of the Eucalyptus of Australia that 

 might grow here, was not speaking of the tropi- 

 cal kind that has been transplanted into South 

 California and the North of Africa, but of a 

 mountain Eucalyptus that grows in South Aus- 

 tralia, outside the tropics, and several tliou- 

 sand feet in height. Mr. Davenport was the 

 very intelligent Commissioner at the Centennial 

 from South Australia, and only referred to the 

 Eucalyptus that grew on "Australian Alps and 

 Pyrenees," as worthy of trial in our climate. 

 The Society expressed no opinion on the ques- 

 tion as to whether there can be found a species 

 that will grow here. If the Society should 

 commit an error in botany it seems to me that 

 the blame should fall upon you and several 

 other botanists who are members, but seldom 

 attend its meetings, rather than ujion the geolo- 

 gists, zoologists, chemists, doctors and lawyers, 

 &c., who do attend. Of this I assure you, that if 

 Mr. Davenport shall send to me, as he promised 

 to do, the Mountain Eucalyptus seeds, I will 

 give them a trial in the Park. It will cost the 

 city nothing; and if they fail, you are welcome 

 to say, "I told you so," but if they succeed, I 

 expect you to be the first to commend the at- 

 tempt. 



Mummy Wheat. — A correspondent sends us 

 a specimen which proves to be a species of 

 Sorghum, which he raised from seed " un- 

 doubtedly " obtained from an "Egyptian mum- 

 my," and kindly offers to give friends who send 

 a stamp, some of the precious seeds. Under the 

 names of Egyptian corn, Dourra corn, and Up- 



land Rice, bushels and bushels of it already 

 exist in this country. It is sometimes grown aa 

 chicken feed, and is of little value for anything 

 else. We think our leaders may save their 

 stamps. We are sorry to be obliged to say to 

 our correspondent that though to him "un- 

 doubted," if he will examine closer he will 

 find he has been cheated by an Egyjjtian. These 

 people are at least no better than Christians, 

 and we know even these will inijoose on any 

 traveler who has a tendency to the marvelous. 

 No grain has been proved to keep vital any- 

 where near two thousand years — nor any vege- 

 table matter. It is surprising that people can 

 be so easily deceived. The good Lord Lind- 

 say tells us that, in the course of his wan- 

 derings amid the pyramids of Eg}-pt, he stumbled 

 on a mummy, proved, by its hieroglyphics, to be 

 at least two thousand years of age. On examin- 

 ing the mummy after it was unwrapped, he found 

 in one of its closed hands a bulb, which, when 

 planted in a suitable situation, grew and bloomed 

 a beautiful Dahlia. The Turk who unwrapt 

 that mummy must have felt that he had an 

 extra specimen in the case of his lordship; nnd 

 evidently made an extra effort to please. 



RoTTiN<3 OF Seeds in Spring. — S. S. S., Roches- 

 ter, writes : — Knowing you to be one of those who 

 see "sermons in stones" and "good in everything" 

 (save the U. S. postal laws), I send you an Apple 

 seed of peculiar formation — think it may 

 interest you in some way. In eating a Swaar 

 just now T found this double seed. I think I 

 never saw seeds grown together before. And I 

 seldom eat fruit of pear or apple without ex- 

 amining the seeds in an idle sort of way. I could 

 almost tell the sort by the seed, so distinct ar* 

 the seeds of different varieties. 



By-the-way, speaking of seeds, will you in a 

 note in the Monthly tell your readers wliy it is 

 that if they plant the Squash, Cucumber or Mel- 

 lon seed a day too early in the Spring, while the 

 ground is too cold and wet, the seed will rot; 

 and if this same seed becomes accidentally 

 covered in the Fall by some earth— as often 

 hapi)ens when a neglected Squash is buried in 

 the Fall — this seed comes up promptly in the 

 Spring. How' does it come that a little lack of 

 warmth in Spring will rot the seed; and yet it 

 will lay in the water, frost, &c., for months, and 

 grow. There must be some principle governing; 

 what is it? Is the vitality of seed weakened by 

 drying? Shed the "light of knowledge." 



