1877.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



3G9 



money in importing extensively the Japan form. 

 Of this Lacquer tree in Japan, a correspondent 

 of the Gardener's Chronicle says : 



" Six species of Rhus have been observed in 

 Japan, though two of them, R. succedana and 

 R. venicifera, are only cultivated, and originally 

 introduced from China. The cultivation of R. 

 vernicifera and the collection of the Lacquer is 

 one of the principal industi'ies of Japan. Some 

 of the villages are completely surrounded by 

 forests of this small tree. Like R. Toxicoden- 

 dron and some other species, this is venomous 

 to some, in fact, to most persons on first touch- 

 ing it; but it is averred that the same person 

 suffers only once. Contact with the plant, or the 

 Lacquer it produces, or even inhalation of the 

 vapor, causes the softer parts of the hands be- 

 tween the fingers, the tips of the ears, margins 

 of the eyes, cheeks, scrotum, (fee, to swell and 

 inflame, and during four or five days the effects 

 are very painful." 



Aralia papyrifera, which is now being used 

 80 freely in our country for ornamental pur- 

 poses, is the tree from which in the island of 



Formosa only, the Chinese make a choiGe kind 

 of paper. The most common tree for paper- 

 making is the Paper Mulberry, so common in 

 many Southern towns, Nashville especially, as a 

 shade tree. All American trees have been appar- 

 ently raised from one separate tree, as they are 

 all male plants. In France the writer of this 

 saw female trees covered with immature fruit, 

 and thousands of seedlings are annually raised 

 in the nurseries. 



A Valuable Oak. — The Monarch Oak, the 

 largest in Herefordshire, was sold the other day 

 by auction. The reason for cutting down this king 

 of the forest was because it has been three times 

 struck by lightning within the last seven years, 

 but though these repeated attacks have shattered 

 a great part of its top, it still contains upwards of 

 1,000 cubic feet of timber, and its girth is 66 feet. 

 With this tree two smaller Oaks were included 

 (one of them a dead tree), and the three together 

 realized the reserve price of £200. 



Matu 



RAL MiSTORY AND fSCIENCE. 



C0M31UNICA TIONS. 



RESTORING DEAD SEEDS. 



BY SEEDSMAN. 



What is dead is dead, and cannot be restored 

 by any human power. Many seeds fail to grow 

 that are really good. The shell or outer cover- 

 ing of the seed becomes so hard, that ordinary 

 influences fail to break it. In the meantime the 

 seed itself rots, by the very influence that should 

 make it grow. Whereas, if artificial influence 

 can be brought to bear to break the shell, in time 

 to allow the germ to shoot forth, the seed will 

 grow. 



It sometimes happens with new seeds in ripen- 

 ing, the shell may become so hard as to prevent 

 growth without artificial aid. In the case of 

 Osage Orange seed, it is questionable, if under 

 favorable circumstances, they ever lose their 

 vitality. Yet it is frequently necessary to soak 

 the seed in warm water, or mix it with sand satu- 

 rated with warm water, to make it grow. To 

 seedsmen there is nothing new developed by the 

 experiments of Professor Lazenby. 



NOTES SUGGESTED BY THE "TUMBLE WEED." 



BY MR. VLADIMER DE NIEDMAN, 53d AND 

 DARBY ROAD, PHILADELPHIA. 



Having noticed several queries about "Tumble 

 Weed " in the Monthly, and taking the queries as 

 a common rule for a sign of people interested in 

 the subject, I offer a few words in general about 

 plants of the same genus. It may be of interest 

 to some. 



Tumble Weed, as already rightly remarked by 

 a California lady, is a Chenopodese, where 

 nearly all other " Tumble Weeds," and the Cyclo- 

 loma platyphylla and Amarantus albus belong 

 also. The representatives of this large fixmily, 

 shrubby or herbaceous, are, as a rule, only of the 

 intermediate zone of the northern hemisphere. 

 In tropical countries they are replaced by 

 the Amaranthacete, of which the Amarantus 

 caudatus, Celosia cristata (the so-called Cocks- 

 comb), Gomphrena globosa, and many others, 

 are found in our gardens as ornamental planta. 

 The Chenopodese, preferring a ground rich in salt, 

 — a nutritious substance, — to any other, will be 

 found growing chiefly in the Western prairies, 



