216 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July, 



and the ovarium (subsequently to be the 

 "pears,") had continued to grow, as in ordinary 

 cases, but the petals for some reason have been 

 held back till now, (June 12th). Growth is 

 always in waves, in this case the wave bearing 

 the petals has been more than usually retarded. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



Talinum teretifolium. — Dr. Peyre Por- 

 cher, of Charleston, S. C, and author of that 

 excellent work, the "Resources of the Southern 

 Fields and Forests," writes regarding the state- 

 ment in Meehan's " Flowers and Ferns of the 



United States," that the blossoms of Talinum 



teretifolium are open only for about an hour at 



noon : "the ladies of my house have been very 



much pleased with many of your descriptions, 



especially of a little plant we all recognised, 



the Talinum, having seen it growing at the 



j base and on the top of Glossy mountain, near 



[ Flat Rock, North Carolina. We made similar 



observations with regard to the ephemeral dura- 



; tion of the flowers. Specimens being planted 



in a box, were observed to open their flowers 



between one and half past one, and to close up 



at half past two in the afternoon." 



Literature, Travels I Personal Notes, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



NOTES AND QUERIES-NO. 2. 



BY JACQUES. 



English naturalists are speculating anew as to 

 rats gnawing lead pipes to get a drink; some 

 think they can hear the water running, while 

 others believe they gnaw the lead because their 

 incisors like to be employed. What is the fact? 



At the Cape of Good Hope it has been ob- 

 served that small acorns and thorns frequently 

 penetrate the skins of sheep. In one case a 

 fore-quarter of mutton was found so full of grass 

 seeds that it resembled a ham just unpacked 

 from a bag of chaft'. Many of the seeds had 

 their long thin tails drawn through the flesh like 

 threads interlacing each other in every direction. 

 Has this ever been observed in America? 



One of the shocking habits of citizens, es- 

 pecially young girls, on visits to a garden or a 

 park is to pull up all the flowers they see, and 

 too generally by the roots. The Epigsea 

 formerly abundant near Philadelphia, has now 

 disappeared from certain localities. The Kal- 

 mia too is gone. A lady was brought before a 

 magistrate the other day with her apron full of 

 recently planted Ivy, which had been replaced 

 on a wall, where it was much wanted, six times. 



Who speaks first for the formation of a society 

 to suppress cruelty to plants, and planters also? 

 The singing bird most to be prized in captivity 

 is the Bobolink or Reed Bird, whose song is per- 

 fection to the human ear. Poets have tried 

 their powers in describing his song : the best is — 



"Anacreou of the meadows, 



Drunk with the joys of Spring, &c." 



This is Byrant or who? The wonderful 

 American Mocking Bird is often too noisy. 



The delicious scent of the flowers of Magnolia 

 fuscata, with its compound of Strawberries, Pine 

 Apples, Yanilla, Bananas, &c., ceases in a mo- 

 ment at given hours ; the valve of the tube that 

 conveys it to the air is stopped as surely as wa- 

 ter is shut ofl" by a hydrant's spigot. Can any 

 one explain this curious phenomenon, and who 

 has observed the hour or hours when the change 

 takes place ? 



Again, there is a yellow flower that gives off 

 an explosive gas at sunset. What flower is 

 this; and who can discourse of it? 



What is a horticultural cat ? is thus answered : 

 It is a contrivance for utilizing cats as a police 

 force in the garden. A wire is stretched across 

 the vegetable or strawberry bed, and upon the 

 wire slides a ring. A cat is then caught and col- 

 land and a small wire attached by one end to 

 the collar of the cat, and by the other end to the 



