— ^Water-cliestnut family; some with a little imagination, or a very little assistance 

 from a knife, are very much in the shape of a bull's head, are much eaten. — Papaw 

 fruit, carica papaya, South American. The juice of the entire plant has the pro- 

 perty of making old and tough meat tender. — When we visited Kew, Sir William 

 was very desirous of procuring the Chinese rice-paper plant, and we see he has 

 lately succeeded. It is the pith of the aralia papyrifera, from Formosa, cut into 

 small sheets, and it is a great article of commerce with the Chinese. — Prepared 

 coffee-leaves, much used in Sumatra, instead of the berry. — Chinese insect wax, 

 or pela, with the insect ; this wax, is imported from China, and candles are dipped 

 in it, to render their exterior hard. — Gutta percha ; the tree, the juice ; numerous 

 manufactured articles from it ; in fact, the whole processes are before you. — The 

 tree that produces Cuba hast for tying up cigars has not yet been procured, and 

 is much wanted. — Jumping or moving seeds. Lobes of a capsule of some euphor- 

 biaceous plant, from the Pacific side of South America, which move by jerks, and 

 have almost a jumping property. This is found to be occasioned by the sudden 

 and peristaltic movements of an insect within, and of which the egg must have 

 been deposited in the state of the flower, for the shell has no perceptible aperture 

 or wound whatever. 



But we must not trespass too much, to-day, on our limited space ; next month 

 some still more remarkable things may find a place, with the history of our English 

 lady going down on her knees with parasol hoisted, fairly overcome with fatigue, 

 as, indeed, any one might well be who attempted to follow the indefatigable 

 "director" from one o'clock till a late sunset. 



Foreign Seeds and Roots. — Mr. Browne, who was sent out to Europe some 

 three months since, for the purpose of procuring seeds and agricultural informa- 

 tion for the use of the Agricultural Department at Washington, has returned. 

 He has travelled during his absence through portions of England, France, 

 Belgium, Holland, Prussia, Hamburg, and Denmark, having made arrangements 

 for the purchase of various seeds, roots, and cuttings suitable for the several 

 climates and seasons of the United States, some of which have already been 

 shipped, and will soon arrive. The seeds, it is understood, are principally to be 

 distributed among members of Congress and the different agricultural and hor- 

 ticultural societies of the Union. 



Second Crop of Blackberries. — Mr. Thomas Smith, of Chappaquiddick, 

 near Edgartown, Mass., recently exhibited in that town a quantity of dark red 

 blackberries grown on his premises, being the second crop this season. 



Vol. VI.— Jan. 1856. 



