liU 



TllK GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



U"h\ 



the '(iarainl>iill«),' the only (linVrtMicc l)(Mn<^ in 

 the si/.i", tliis liciiiL^ a littli' laiiicr. It is iialfan 

 iiu'li in Umij^IIi and a (juartt-r of an iiuli in width, 

 a little more or less. The bark of the shrub is 

 jvsh-eolored,and the leaf is perfectly j^recn during 

 all the seasons. Hy merely stlrriui^ eotreo, or 

 any drink, with a small braneh of it, it acts as 

 anaetive ca'.iiartie. Takm in larije doses it is an 

 active poison, speedily eansini; death unless 

 counteracted by an antidote." 



Mr. Itiloy stated that the seed of Tnmnriscus 

 was known to be moved by a Coleopterous larva 

 {Nnnodes tamarisci) that fed witliin it; and he 

 conehided i)y descri'bini^ and exhibiting a still 

 more wonderful jumpinLr property in a seed-like 

 body which may be observed in our own woods. 

 It is a little spherical seed-like gall produced in 

 larjjje numbers on the underside of tiie Post and 

 other oaks of the White Oak group. This gall 

 drops in larije quantities to the ground, and the 

 insect witlun can make it bound twenty times 

 its own length, the ground under an infested tree 

 being sometimes fairly alive with the mysterious 

 moving bodies. The noise made often resem- 

 bles the patttu'ing of rain. The motion is im- 

 parted by the insect in the pupa and not in the 

 larva state. He presented the following descrip- 

 tion of the gall, which may be known by the 

 name of Quercus saltatorious, the black tly which 

 issues from it having been described as Cynips 

 saltatorious by Mr. H. Edwards, of San Francis- 

 co, addressed to the Academy of Sciences, St. 

 Louis, Dec. 6th, 1877. 



Gall of Cynips saltatorius. — Formed in 

 summer on the underside of the leaves of Quer- 

 cus obtusiloba, Q. mncrocarpa, and Q. alba, often 

 to the number of 1,000 on a single leaf: each 

 gall inserted in a deep cavity which causes, on 

 the upper surface, a bulging of a straw-yellow 

 color, irregularly sub-conical, with the top Hat- 

 tened or concave, and with a minute central 

 nipple, sometimes obsolete ; the galls becoming 

 detached and falling to the ground in autumn, 

 leaving a pale, fulvous, circular disc at the bot- 

 tom of the cavity. The gall has an average 

 diameter of 1 mm., and the color and 

 general appearance of a miiuature acorn — 

 the base being paler than the sides and conically 

 produced to the central point of attachment. 

 The apical portion is slightly constricted into a 

 deep purple-brown rim, and the top within this 

 rim is flat, with a small central nipple. 



Received at difTerent times from M. W. Har- 

 rington, of Ann Arbor, Mich. ; from Irvin Arm- 



strong, ofVevay, Tnd. ; froni X. B. Baldwin, of 

 Klgin, Ills., and from Win. II. Howard, of For- 

 svth. Mo.; also siillicicnlly ciminion in St. Louis 

 county. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



TiiK Pini.dsonn ok a Fiuitkil Stkaw- 

 I5KKUV. — Every one knows that some strawber- 

 ries bear more abundantly than others ; but few 

 could give any intelligent reason why. The 

 1 leading reason is, the capacity of a plant to stool 

 j or make crowns. When a strawberry plant goes 

 1 to rest in the Fall, it generally seems content with 

 ! one good terminal eye ; but some varieties will 

 . make half a dozen or more. These nuiltiplied 

 j eyes seldom make good, strong stalks, throwing 

 ; the fruit well up from the ground, ])ut have 

 j generally a number of smaller ones. 



The Crescent seems one of this class, as we judge 

 by a plant sent us by Mr. Ezra Stokes. Mr. S. 

 says it is a last year's plant. It had ten of these 

 sub-crowns on it, and the first crop was in propor- 

 tion. This is why it is such an abundant bearer. 

 Of course, the reason why these crowns are so 

 multipled is another question; but we generally 

 have to go down a good many steps to get to 

 the bottom of the well in which truth lies. It 

 is a gain when we have successfully made one. 



Geraniums AND Snakes.— AVe take the fol- 

 lowing from an exchange, but it would be \vorth 

 while en(|uiring how far away the snakes are 

 driven ? We have certainly seen the garter snake 

 within fifty feet of a Geranium bed : 



" We lately read an account of a mining 

 locality m Calaveras county being infested with 

 snakes. In this connection we may observe that 

 the report is that every species of snake may be 

 permanently driven away from an infested place 

 by planting Geraniums. In .South Africa the 

 Caffir people thus rid their premises of snakes. 

 A missionary of South Africa had his parsonage 

 surrounded by a narrow belt of Geraniums, 

 which efTectually protected the residence from 

 any kind of snake. A few yards away from this 

 Geranium belt a snake would occasionally be 

 found. It is well known that the whole Gera- 

 nium genus is highlj- redolent of volatile oils — 

 lemon-scented, musk-scented, and peppermint- 

 scented. What, therefore, is a very pleasant 

 nose-gay for man is repugnant to the serpent 

 tribe." 



It is hardly safe to take newspaper reports for 



