346 



THhJ GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[November, 



sweet-scented flowers has brought it back to 

 popularity. Equally remarkable is the number 

 of shrubs blooming here in October. The Tecoma 

 grandiflora, Viburnum nudum and Cercis 

 japonica are all in full bloom before us as we 

 write. 



The "Shittim" Wood of Scriptures. — Much 

 discussion has been had on what is the shittim i 

 wood. A new cedar has been discovered in the 

 Isle of Cyprus since its cession to the British, 

 which is believed to be the wood intended. It 

 differs from others of the genus Cedrus in its 

 longer leaves and small size of the cones. It is 

 nearer to the cedar of Lebanon than to the 

 Deodar cedar. It was found by Sir Samuel 

 Baker in the Cyprian Mountains, between the 

 monastery of Kyker and the town of Krysokus. 



QUERIES. 



Gentiana Andrewsii. — J. R. S., Rah way, New 

 Jersey, sends specimens which are both Gentiana 

 Andrewsii, and says : " I send by mail two 

 Gentians for name. The dark blue with closed 



flower I take to be Andrewsii. The skill shown 

 by the humble-bees in entering the closed flower is 

 very interesting. They accomplish it without 

 injury to the delicate petals, and while almost 

 concealed from sight, make the entire circuit of 

 the flower, thus becoming very efficient sowers 

 of pollen." 



Abnormal Buds. — Mr. Chas. Henderson writes : 

 " I mail you to-day a couple of joints of Stephano- 

 tis floribunda. You will notice that the bud in- 

 stead of coming out at the axil in the usual way, 

 has shown a disposition to experiment. I have 

 taken the liberty of bothering you to look at it, 

 as I have not seen it occur before, though doubt- 

 less in your wide experience the same, or a 

 similar freak has often been brought to your 

 notice." 



[This is a very interesting case. The bud in- 

 stead of being at the base of the leaf, in the axil 

 between the leaf and ihe stem, has been carried 

 up two inches, and to near the base of the leaf 

 stalk above. It shows that there is no necessary 

 connection between the leaf and the bud at its 

 base. Those variations from regular rule are 

 very interesting to students of botany. — Ed. 

 G. M.l 



Literature, Travels % Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICA 7 IONS. 



NOTES AND QUERIES-No. 18. 



BY JAi'QUES. 



Oorrection. — Notes and Queries was not favored 

 with proofs of his notices picked up from all 

 Bources, except the newspapers, else would Bam- 

 her wood have read Bamboo, and John Penn's 

 home in England would have appeared as Stoke 

 Park, not "State." 



The late meeting of the Society for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, it is encouraging to know, 

 was the largest ever held. Professor Asa Gray 

 read an essay on the Vegetation of the Rocky 

 Mountains, which will be published in Hayden's 

 report, and he entertained the members in the 

 Botanic Garden. He is now in England. 



The fiaioer beds around Horticultural Hall at 



the Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, have the past 

 season surpassed anything of the kind yet 

 seen, as we hear foreigners as well as our own 

 citizens, and again the editor of the Monthly 

 frequently declare. The richest carpets do not 

 equal what was here exhibited by the Landscape 

 Gardener, Mr. Miller, and surely they were 

 vastly more interesting as well as pleasing. 



Quinces.— The man who shall cure the quince 

 fruit from its knots, and give us a fair, equable, 

 preserving material as free from worms as a 

 good apple, will do the housekeeper a prodigious 

 service. Some cultivators conquer the curculio 

 enemy, why not the quince destroyer? 



Tin is said in Harpers' Magazine to be trans- 

 ported from England to Chicago, made there 

 into vessels of use, taken back to England in a 

 manufactured state, competing with English 



