1878. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



J69 



exclude insects ; the other was left uncovered. 

 13}' about the middle of May, two months after 

 planting, the plants had begun to grow freely, and 

 the "feeding" process was begun with the plants 

 in the uncovered box. In this, I was assisted by 

 Mr. William Tait, one of my neighbors, a gen- 

 tleman of leisure, and one who is well versed 

 in many branches of natural science ; between 

 us, the one hundred uncovered Fly-trap plants, 

 were "• fed " almost daily for three months with 

 flies and other insects. In August, three months 

 from the time the feeding began, the operation 

 was stopped, and the most careful examination 

 and comparison failed to show the slightest 

 difference between the one hundred plants that 

 had been ''fed," and the one hundred (under the 

 wire netting) that had not been ''fed," both lots 

 had made a splendid growth, and were the ad- 

 miration of scores of visitors. I never omitted 

 an opportunity to ask professional horticulturists 

 visiting us for their opinion, and the verdict inva- 

 riably was that both lots were identical, as near 

 as could be. In this case, the "feeding " certainly 

 did not fatten. It may be that our American 

 flies were not so nutritious as the English 

 "meat," though certainly ours was the more 

 natural food of the two, but as corroborating the 

 test of Mr. Darwin, it completely failed. 



What we are all after is the truth in this mat- 

 ter, and in case my experiment may have been 

 in some way defective, or that the prejudices of 

 myself and friends against a theory that seems 

 to reverse the whole order of nature, may have 

 in any way influenced our judgment, I will be 

 most happy to furnish, without charge, to any 

 dozen readers of the Gardener's Monthly ,who 

 have the proper facilities to make the test, a suffi- 

 cient number of plants of Dionoea muscipula, to 

 further demonstrate the truth or falsity of Mr. 

 Darwin's conclusions on this subject. 



I had rather a ludicrous incident occur in rela^ 

 tion to this matter. My friend, Wm. R. Smith, 

 superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, at Wash- 

 ington, who is a thorough believer in the carniv- 

 orous plant docti-ine, being at my place last 

 Winter, after the above experiment had been 

 tried, we got into some controversy on the sub- 

 ject. Now, Mr. Smith is not only one of our 

 best botanists, but his knowledge of general 

 horticultui'e is perhaps second to none in the 

 United States ; moreover, he is a perfect Wilber- 

 force in eloquence and argument, and having 

 driven me pretty well into a corner, he almost 

 squlched me l)y taking a magnifying glass from 



his pocket and showing me beyond question a 

 minute species of shell-snails embedded in al- 

 most every one of the closed up leaf traps of the 

 Diomeas. "There," says he, "nature has 

 placed the food — the animal food — direct into 

 the mouths of these insect-eating plants. Can 

 you longer doubt the correctness of Darwin's 

 theory ? " I was staggered but not yet convinced, 

 and resolved to keep a close watch on the shell- 

 snails " that nature had placed in the mouths of 

 these insect-eating plants." Yery soon they 

 required no magnifying glass to see them; in 

 three weeks they had increased wonderfully in 

 "breadth and stature ;" in three weeks more the 

 biters were bitten, foi- the snails had eaten the 

 Fly-traps almost completely up I Mr. Smith 

 has, probably somewhat changed his base on the 

 subject of" carnivorous plants," particularly as 

 regards their iLse of shell-snails as an article of 

 diet. 



CURIOUS GROWTH OF POTATO. 



BY L. J. TEMPLIN, HUTCHINSON, KAN. 



While digging potatoes recently, I found a 

 large white potato of the "Ice Cream" variety 

 that had made a new or second growth ; it had 

 sent up a branching shoot about eight inches 

 high. On tliis shoot, about an inch above its 

 connection with the parent tuber, were tlu'ee 

 small new potatoes, about an inch in diameter. 

 These were a beautiful pinkish-blue color. I 

 have been intimate with potato raising, and 

 have carefully observed their growth for a third 

 of a century, but never observed a similar freak 

 before. How is it to be accounted for ? 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Andromeda arborea. — (See frontispiece). 

 We have chosen this to illustrate as a frontis- 

 piece for oui* annual volume, for four reasons. 

 Fu'st, because it is one of the most beautiful of 

 the many beautiful American shrubs when in 

 flower. Secondly, because, though a native 

 plant, it is seldom seen anywhere under cultm'e, 

 and yet it deserves to be an universal favorite as 

 a garden plant. Thirdly, it is so common to 

 paint plants in flower, and yet the seed vessels 

 are often of much interest; and fourthly, the 

 distinctly American characteristic of an Ameri- 



