1877.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



253 



of the Proceedings of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, is a Hj'drophjilaceous plant 

 of which the well-known Phacelia is an example. 

 The new genus will be precious to botanists from 

 its association, but so for as we can gather from 

 Professor Gray's description, it will have few 

 charms for the lovers of gay flowers. 



Grasshopper Machines. — As we have recently 

 stated, the amusement which our suggestion of 

 some years since, that machines could be easily 

 invented to work successfully against grass- 

 hoppers, afTorded some of our Western friends, 

 leads us particularly to note how progress in that 

 line is advancing. We give this from the Boul- 

 der (Colorado) News: — Benj. Long has contrived 

 the simplest, least expensive and best grasshop- 

 per machine we have yet seen. It is a V shaped 

 pan about six feet apart at the points, the pan 

 being two inches deep, with little partitions a 

 foot apart. In the centre w'here the pans come 

 together is the axle, upon which the machine is 

 supported by two wheels, say two feet in diame- 

 ter. To keep the pan from fouling, a little ele- 

 vator skims from the surface of the oil and 

 water the dead 'hoppers and deposits them on 

 the groimd behind. The machine is pushed 

 from beliind, is nicely balanced and easily run 

 over rocks and rough ground. At the back of 

 the pans, extending upward, is a wire screen 

 about eighteen inches high, to prevent the 'hop- 

 pers from hopping over. This is all there is of 

 it, any boy can run it and its cost will not exceed 

 $20. Mr. Long has applied for a patent for the 

 machine, and will furnish them in any quantity 

 at $20 each. Persons interested can see at this 

 office, a full half-bushel of 'hoppers caught in 

 four hours' work, on about a half-acre of ground, 

 at Mr. L's. place, north of town. The lot' 

 weighed 35 pounds, or about 70 pounds to the 

 bushel. If the celebrated grasshopper commis- 

 sion would spend a little of their funds as bounty 

 money, many ingenious minds would be at 

 work, devising means for the extermination of 

 the pests. 



The Satin Flower. — Referring to the pretty 

 Californian bulb, Brodiaea coccinea. The Garden 

 uses " Satin Flower " for its common name. 



The Cactus in Upholstery. — The writer has 

 a distinctly unpleasant recollection of Cactuses 

 as " pillows " in past times, when unsought, they 

 were found beneath his head. But by the fol- 

 lowing from a California paper, it would seem as 



if they were now to find a legitimate use, if in- 

 deed Yuccas are not intended : — "An excellent 

 article of upholstery padding has been manufac- 

 tured by Mr. J. W. Findley from the bayonet 

 cactus. It is designed to take the place of curled 

 hair, and is far superior to the Eureka and other 

 filTngs. The process of manufactvire is very 

 simple and easy. Mr. Findley has applied for a 

 patent on his discovery, and with his partner, 

 Mr. C. F. Holman, will soon commence to make 

 up the material for market. Upholsterers of our 

 city who have examined Mr. Findley's specimen 

 pronounce it a first-class article, and have off'ered 

 from 10 to 15 cents per pound for it in quan- 

 tities." 



A New Forage Plant — Cynoglossum Mor- 

 risoni. — A formidable antagonist has been found 

 for " Prickly Comfrey," in the common Beggar 

 Ticks. Says Mr. S.W. Brooks, of Brooks county. 

 South Carolina : — " The yield of this plant is very 

 great. It may be cut three times in a season, 

 growing up repeatedly from the old stumps, and 

 yields many hundreds of pounds to the acre at 

 each cutting." The samples which Mr. Brooks 

 carried to Gainesville were of the second cutting 

 of this year, and he will certainly get one, and, 

 perhaps, two more cuttings. It is not a peren- 

 nial, but the seed must be planted each year. It 

 produces well on poor lands, but, of course, does 

 better on rich soils. Horses, mules and cattle 

 will eat it up clean, stalks and all, and thrive on 

 it. It is botanically allied to the Symphytum, 

 and we do not see w^hy it should not do just as 

 well. The only objection we see likely to be 

 made by those who have money to spend is that 

 it is not a "furriner." 



Bothered by the English Name. — The Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle gives it up. It says : — ''A cor- 

 respondent asks us to tell him of any means of 

 destroying the Wild Lily on a gi-avel path. We 

 know, or think we do, a Lily when we see one, 

 and are not altogether ignorant of the nature of 

 a gravel path, but a wild Lily on a gravel path is 

 indeed a puzzle to us. We may say at once that 

 a wild Lily, truly so called, on a gravel path, is a 

 myth of the Mrs. 'Arris description ; but, still, 

 what is meant by the word Lily? This is only 

 another illustration of the worthlessness of popu- 

 lar names. Speak to a botanist of a Lilium or a 

 Lily in its proper signification, and he knows 

 what you mean, but in popular parlance there 

 are African Lilies, Atamasco Lilies. Barbadoes 

 Lilies, Belladonna Lilies, Blackberry Lilies, Bris- 



