278 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



Nature, says that bees which feed on the Passion 

 Flower become stupefied; and this accords 

 somewhat with our observations. They do not 

 become actually stupefied, but they are so en- 

 thused that they will often remain a couple of 

 hours at work on one flower. 



Origin of Wheat. — The College Quarterly 

 says : " Since the days of M. Fabre, our leading 

 botanists have admitted that it was most proba^ 

 bly derived from ^a;ilops ovata, a grass native 

 to the plains of India." We do not recall the 

 name of any leading botanist who admits this. 

 As we understand it is generally believed that 

 M. Fabre had been in some way imposed on. 

 The writer of this grew the ^gilops for two suc- 

 cessive years, without noting the slightest ten- 

 dency to become wheat ; and he concluded 

 wheat would as soon turn to chess as this grass 

 to wheat. 



The Doctrine of Morphology. — It is 

 almost wonderful that the doctrine which 

 teaches that all parts of a flower are modified 

 primary leaves, should have such universal as- 

 sent, when but a comparatively few years ago it 

 was laughed at by the most intelligent men of 

 the day. Speaking of the theory, an editorial 

 article in Paxton's Magazine for 1844, says : 



" There is something so monstrous, so degrad- 

 ing in the idea, that the mind which contemplates 

 all things as beautiful and perfect in their crea- 

 tion, revolts at it." 



Growth of Eoots in Autumn and Win- 

 ter. — It has often been placed on record in 

 American publications dm'ing the past thirty 

 years, that in this country the fibrous roots of 

 trees grow during the Winter. By the follow- 

 ing from the Gardener''s Chronicle, it appears 

 that they also grow in this way in France, 

 though it is not generally believed to be a fact in 

 the experience of planters in England : 



" M. Resa, as quoted by M. Micheli, says that 

 the roots of deciduous trees grow in Autumn 

 after the fall of the leaf till the growth is check- 

 ed, but not altogether stopped by Winter frosts. 

 In the case of Conifers the growth of the roots 

 ceases in Winter, to be resumed in Spring." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Poverty in Science. — A Correspondent 

 says: "That is all wrong (in Gardener's 



Monthly page 254,) about Agassiz. He did not 

 ' leave quite a large estate.' He cannot be said 

 to have left anything of his own making or sav- 

 ing. His son's wealth was made entirely by his 

 own energy, skill, and good fortune." 



[We are thankful for the correction, which it is 

 due to the facts should be made. At the same 

 time the point may be reiterated that it is not 

 for the good of science that the poverty of 

 its devotees should be commended, and the 

 utter disregard of the means o? subsistence 

 held up to the young as worthy of imitation. 

 While we all despise the person who makes the 

 pursuit of truth wholly subservient to what he 

 can coin from it, we see no necessity for a total 

 abandonment of all thought for one's material 

 interest. We see no reason why Agassiz' son's life 

 may not be as prolific in benefits to science be- 

 cause he has taken a little time to make wealth 

 by ' his own energy and skill,' as his father's 

 was who really seems by our correspondent's 

 note to have thought he had ' no time to make 

 money.' It may once in a while occur that 

 the scientific man, who neglects his mate- 

 rial interests, succeeds in benefiting humanity; 

 but as a general rule there is no being so pitiably 

 useless as a poor philosopher. — Ed. G. M.] 



Plurals of Plant Names. — M. J. B., West 

 Philadelphia, writes: "Reading the London 

 Garden recently, I learned that Mr. Elwees 

 showed an interesting collection of cut flowers, 

 consisting of Calochorti, Brodises, Alliums, and 

 Gladioli. Will you please inform me by what 

 rule in botan}^ we are to give a Latin form of 

 plural to Gladiolus and Calochortus, while 

 Allium and Brodiaj are to have an English 

 one ?" 



[We have asked the same question ourselves 

 in the past, but never heard the answer. Our 

 conespondent should address those papers in 

 which the differences occur, if he really seeks 

 an explanation. — Ed. G. M.] 



Morphology of a Peach Flower. — Mr. 

 J. W. Kerr, Denton, Md., sends, August 13th, a 

 peach branch with six leaves and terminal flow- 

 ers. It is an excellent illustration of morpho- 

 logical law. An ordinary peach bud is an arrest- 

 ed branch. The little brown scales covering the 

 petals are arrested leaves. In this case the 

 " arrested branch " has grown a little after hav- 

 ing been partially on its road toward a flower. 

 The branch grew after the petals were formed 

 and before the bud scales were established, and 



