1879] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



281 



give them a cherry tree to study in. It is stated 

 in the American Naturalist that there is no chair 

 of geography in any American college, while in 

 France the State has endowed seven. Some of 

 the German universities are also provided with 

 professors of the sciences, and three in Switzer- 

 land. America has thus something to do. 



Perpetual Felicity. — The writer noticed some 

 five years ago a brilliant description of a rose 

 named Felicite perpetuelle, and ordered it from 

 London. The "felicity" has not arrived, for it has 

 bloomed this season for the first time, and very 

 sparsely. 



It is asserted that only those birds which live 

 upon fruits, or the mixed nectar and insects ex- 

 tracted from flowers, usually possess brilliant 

 colors. 



Suspension of life is a topic of discussion. 

 This is produced by Mandragora, and extends 

 over several hours. Its use was continued pro- 

 bably till the thirteenth or fourteenth century. 

 From its action comes the Shakesperian legend 

 of Juliet. The wine of Mandragora has the 

 power of suspending without destroying active 

 life. This wine was the Morion of the ancients. 

 The plant from which Morion was originally 

 made, the Atropa belladonna, has similar 'pro- 

 perties to the Atropa Mandragora. Nitrate of 

 Amyl has the power to suspend animation, and 

 so have other things. Thus there is nothing new 

 in this matter. 



Cinchona Culture in British India., is the title 

 of a useful pamphlet by Sargent-major G. Bidie, 

 of the Madras Museum. 



W. G. Farlow, Assistant Professor of Botany 

 at the Bussy Institution, Harvard University, 

 has been appointed Professor of Cryptogamic 

 Botany in the University proper. This is the 

 first professorship in this important and difficult 

 department established in the United States. 



Things to Remember. — Borage is a useful plant 

 for bees and produces much honey. TheScillasor 

 Squills once bought, and planted from two to four 

 inches beneath the soil in Autumn, will multiply 

 rapidly year by year. No better use of a small 

 sum can be made. There are some three dozen 

 specimens of various and effective colors. The 

 Laburnum, L. vulgare, is poisonous, both seeds 

 and juice. A few seeds eaten by children will 

 soon cause death. Hard-shelled almonds come 

 to perfection in the climate of Philadelphia; the 

 Pecan nut does not always, though one in Ger- 

 mantown matures every year. 



Lost and Found. — Many curious things of lost 

 and found are told. The following is assuredly 

 true. A ring was lost. Mrs. B., while dibbling 

 holes for small plants of celery, dropped her 

 ring into one of the holes. A plant was' duly 

 inserted, and doubtless through the lost ring, 

 and as the root grew the ring must have become 

 imbedded in its substance. Long given up, this 

 ring made its appearance the following "Winter 

 among the soups at dinner in a portion of the 

 celery root. 



In flowers there are the most varied contrivan- 

 ces for the preservation of their organs against 

 the attacks of animals of all kinds. In some 

 we find the result obtained by the secretion of 

 distasteful substances, such as alkaloids, resins 

 and etherial oils. It is remarkable that as a rule 

 herbivorous animals have a distaste for flowers. 

 Anyone may observe how carefully cattle and 

 sheep avoid plucking most of the flowers which 

 abound in their pasturage. The beauty of the 

 blossoms have no attraction for them ; the rich- 

 ness of the odors seem only to repel them. It 

 is only when the flowers are fresh that they are 

 thus carefully avoided by ruminant animals. 

 When their work is done and they are dried up 

 the chemical compounds change; they are 

 now readily eaten mixed with hay. 



The Government Council of the Canton of Berne 

 have issued a very wise ordinance. The beauti- 

 ful Alpine flower, the "Edelweiss," has, it ap- 

 pears, almost disappeared in many mountainous 

 districts. Its sale has been used as an excuse 

 for beggary, and so the council is determined to 

 put a stop to the extinction of the beautiful 

 plant. Persons plucking "Edelweiss" up by the 

 roots will be fined from five to fifty francs. In 

 future only the full blown flower may be taken. 

 This is evidence of paternal government turned 

 to good account. 



The Strawberry.— A correspondent who notes 

 that Shakespeare missed nothing, and who is a 

 student of the great author, remarks that in 

 Richard III, Act 3, Scene 4, the following pas- 

 sage occurs : 



" My Lord of Ely, when I was last at Holl)orn, 

 I saw good strawberries in your garden there. 

 I do beseech you send for some of them." 



But in those times the delicious berry as we 

 have it was unknown. Dependence was had upon 

 the Alpine, just as we see it now brought by 

 children in Switzerland. In 1824 the Botanical 

 Society of London instructed James Barnet, of 



