JS78.] 



A ND HO R TIC UL T URIS T. 



:U' 



Kvery hood behind the horn. While doincj so, if ' 

 not careful, the hind le,"- will cet caught in the ! 

 slit between the hoods, and in the effort to i 

 extricate itself, the limb will often leave the leg 

 behind. 



I was fortunate at last to see a fly, one of the 

 former (the two latter do not seem apparently 

 to have any such diflficulty, but light and fly 

 away at pleasure,) light and I'arry oft' a pair of 

 pollen masses attached to its leg. It visited 

 several flowers before I was successful in cap- ' 

 tiu-ing it. The flitting from flower to floAver, 

 with the pollen, proves to my mind the man- 

 ner in which the plant is fertilized ; the slit is 

 an ingenious trap. The large green flies were i 

 Trtore numerous than the others. 



I see that Dr. G. F. "Walters, of Boston, has \ 

 found in the Juice of the Milkweed a remedy for 



suppm-ating wounds. The time of healing varied 

 from twenty-fom- to thirty-six hours, but in each 

 instance new skin formed completely across. 

 The Doctor states that the only essential point 

 is to dry the wounded surface gently and tho- 

 roughh^ with blotting-paper before applying the 

 Milkweed juice. After the juice is applied, and 

 while the healing is in progress, a piece of blot- 

 ting-paper is used to cover the surface. 



[The catching of flies, as referred to by our 

 correspondent, is alluded to by !N'uttall in one 

 of his works, written over fifty years ago, but 

 seems to have been forgotten. For what pur- 

 pose such traps are made is an interesting study. 

 Many Asclepiadaceous plants have the same 

 habit. Physianthus albens is a striking exam- 

 ple, quite large moths often being found hang- 

 ing from the flowers avS caught. — Ed. G. M.] 



Literature, Travels \ Personal Notes. 



EDIT^O RI AL NOTRS. largest commercial establishment, but also, it is 



believed, the most extensive miscellaneous col- 



MORITICULTURE IX Marylaxd, (concluded , lectiou of plants in the country, though of late 

 from page 285).— John Feast, the veteran florist, j years this has much diminished by his reduction 



I of the area of his houses b}^ sales of ground be- 

 1 coming too valuable to be retained for its former 

 purposes. 



He was not only an originator, as we have 

 seen, but a constant importer of new and valu- 

 ■ able trees; and it is to his credit that his love for 

 I them was not limited by his desire to profit 

 I from their sale. Although ambitious to make 

 his collection as complete as possible, his novel- 

 1 ties as soon as propagated were willingly divided 

 : or exchanged, and we believe his enthusiasm, 

 i which continues imquenched, was far beyond 

 I the influence of mere money-making. 

 j John Feast is by birth English, having been 

 ! born in Yorkshire. At the age of thirteen, 

 I showing a fondness for flowers, he was sent to 

 ' Lord Yarborough's, then one of the finest places 

 1 in England, and at nineteen was given the charge 

 I of the Botanic Garden then owned by Miss 

 ! Charlotte Pelham and devoted to the products 

 who is now (he oldest as well as still one of the ' of Flora. In 1823 he emigrated to the United 

 most enthusiastic lovers of plants in this commu- 1 States, joining his l)rother Samuel in business, 

 uity. Mr. Feast at onetime, had not only the . the connection continuing until 1830, when he 



