276 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September^ 



and Darlingtonias, they decayed the pitchers, for 

 I have had a number of large plants spoiled for 

 the season from this cause. 



LEAF ABSORPTION. 



BY JAMES M'PHEESON. 



You sometimes have 5'our say about the En- 

 glish journals discussing matters easy of solu- 

 tion, self-evident, and long ago proven to the 

 satisfaction of every one on this continent at all 

 interested, etc. Now I find you devoting con- 

 siderable space to a question of little practical 

 importance to anybody, viz., whether leaves ab- 

 sorb moisture — which they sometimes do, of 

 course — or whether the presence of moisture in 

 the atmosphere checks evaporation — which is 

 equally a matter of course. 



I agree in the main with Peter Henderson's 

 logic, but think the absorption question could 

 have been more practically settled by his taking 

 a well-wilted plant, weighing it after divesting 

 it of every particle of soil, immersing the leaves 

 alone in water, and then weighing it again after 

 recovery by such immersion. A gain in weight 

 will be found in the case of nearly all plants ex- 

 cept aquatics, whose leaves frequentl}'^ repel 

 moisture. 



As for the question whether such moisture 

 enters the circulation, that is not so easily an- 

 swered ; the professors interested must use water 

 colored by some very finely triturated pigment 

 if they wish to settle that question. The Brom- 

 eliad business settles something. Their struc- 

 ture enables them to withstand severe droughts, 

 as does that of Cactese, and even of many Or- 

 chidese, Nepenthete, Cycadeaj, Filices, etc., etc. 

 They can wait quite a time without either roots 

 or leaves for the moisture which will encourage 

 them to put forth what stands for both, and they 

 will unquestionably absorb it throutrh their pores 

 without, any roots at all in the soil, and often 

 without any discernible ones out of it. I need 

 give no instance beyond the cutting of a Den- 

 drobe, the stem of a Cycad or an Oleander, 

 any of which will begin to grow suspended in an 

 atmosphere constantly at the point of saturation. 

 Nay, I cannot omit a more remarkable instance. 

 I have frequently seen that pest of the coffee 

 estate, Ageratum Mexicanum, grow for weeks 

 when accidentally thrown by the weeders among 

 the branches of the shrubs during the mon- 

 soons. 



GIFT DER SCHEEZE A SCHANSZ. 



BY GEO. rOUST, BARNEGAT, N. J. 



An American citizen of Teutonic proclivities 

 went into a prominent lager beer saloon and 

 called for one beer and some of the best Lim- 

 burger cheese. The flavor of the cheese not 

 pleasing him, he called the proprietor and de- 

 nounced him for not keeping a first-class article. 

 First-class in this case means the loudest smell. 

 The proprietor — a German who has had his eye 

 teeth cut — took in the situation at a glance. 

 Casually looking up, he observed the American 

 citizen had a pair of vei'y large feet reclining on 

 the table in close proximity, to the cheese. 

 " Sherusalim I" exclaimed he, " takes dem feets 

 down and gift der scheeze a schanse." 



Now I would like to observe to Mr. Hender- 

 son, to give the leaves a chance. Don't putty 

 up one end of a cutting and throw it upside 

 down in water, and expect the cutting to carry 

 on its normal functions. A man can breathe 

 through his nose, but stop up his mouth so that 

 he cannot take food, and what is the consequence? 

 Why, the man will die. And this rule holds like- 

 wise in plant life. Why do we clean the leaves 

 of our plants ? Is it not for the purpose of keep- 

 ing the breathing pores open, so the plant can 

 perform its functions of exhalation and respira- 

 tion ? How is it that a cutting of Coleus, etc., if 

 thrown in a shady place, will root and grow 

 without its stem being covered? And what sus- 

 tains the cuttings in the propagating bed and 

 enables them to become callous and form roots? 

 Is not the plant sustained through its leaves^ 

 and thereby enabled to root and grow ? 



Now Mr. Henderson partly agrees that Brom- 

 elaceous plants do receive nutriment from the 

 surrounding atmosphere. And why not other 

 plants, too? Is not Mr. Henderson's argument 

 a Summer joke, of which he is the centre, and 

 intended to stir up his fellow florists from the 

 lethargy of the heat and dull business ? 



In conclusion, I would like to know why it is 

 you cannot grow cauliflower in Philadelphia? 

 Here, where I am, we can prow it as easy as 

 cabbage. Is it that in the former case you havts 

 not the saline atmosphere wliich it needs, while 

 in this place the air is full of it, and therefore 

 the plant breathes it and laughs and prows fat? 



SNAKES SWALLOWING THEIR YOUNG. 



BY D. F. \V., NASHVILLE, TENN. 



Snakes do swallow their young. When a boy 



