22 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[January, 



markably favorable to vegetative vigor. The Pur- 

 ple Beech, Purple Peach, Purple Hazel and similar 

 plants, have larger leaves and a stronger growth 

 than their green leaved parents, — and this is true 

 of Dracaenas, and many other plants that we know 

 as ornamental foliage plants. 



Just the why of all this we don't know; yet we 

 feel that the why is not beyond human persever- 

 ance. Every day we meet with problems like 

 these, which if solved would be of vast practical 

 benefit. We of the sere and yellow leaf of life, — 

 full of zeal in behalf of problems we have already 

 taken up, anxious that the fruit may ripen before 

 our foliage falls, — can not undertake these things. 

 But it may be a help to the young to point out how 

 much there is to learn. 



Podophyllum in China. — One of the most in- 

 teresting facts in botanical geography is the cor- 

 respondence between the flora of the Eastern 

 United States and that of China and Japan. New 

 illustrations of this are being continually furnished. 

 Every one knows the " May Apple," " Mandrake," 

 or Podophyllum of our woods. One species, P. 

 Emodi, has been discovered in Asia, and we have 

 the further account from a correspondent of the 

 Gardener's Chronicle ; 



"In the higher regions of the mountains a plant 

 of great interest is found. This is a new species 

 of Podophyllum, a plant of the same genus as that 

 from which podophyllin, the principle of the cele- 

 brated podophyllin pills, is obtained. The natives 

 attach great medicinal value to the plant, and 

 probably with more reason than the value which 

 is often ascribed by them to innumerable plants 

 which they -so freely use for all manner of com- 

 plaints. Podophyllum peltatum, the source of 

 podophyllin, is an American plant. A few years 

 ago, Mr. Watters, H. M. Consul at Tamsui, in 

 Formosa, discovered one, which Dr. Hance named 



P. pleianthum. The Lo-fau species is the second 

 Asiatic one. Both of them are in cultivation here, 

 now ; two plants of the latter have just flowered 

 for the first time in our Garden, where they have 

 been growing for about two years. The larger 

 one of the two has leaves two feet in diameter, and 

 it is a striking and ornamental plant." 



Cracking of Fruits. — One of the most valu- 

 able exercises that the devotees of gardening can 

 indulge in, is to look closely into the causes of 

 every occurrence within their experience. On our 

 table some one placed a specimen of the common 

 Cydonia, or Pyrus Japonica. A couple of weeks in 

 a warm room caused it to shrink and become 

 wrinkled. A week afterwards there were two 

 cracks in it, just as in a fruit "cracked" as we 

 often see them, when in, as we all suppose, a 

 diseased state. Two bright youths came in and 

 had a discussion why that pear cracked. 



" Because it has shrunk," said the other. 



This was disputed by the party of the first part 

 "because the whole fruit has shrunk, and in the 

 shrinking the fruit has split." 



The answer to this was, " If the whole fruit has 

 shrunk, how could it crack ? If the fruit swelled 

 instead of shrinking, cracking could be under 

 stood." 



The reply seemed to stagger the other for a few 

 moments, but he came again to the attack : " Be- 

 cause the skin has shrunk more rapidly than the 

 pulp," and he evidently had the debate in his favor. 

 And we may apply this to the ordinary cracking 

 of fruits. They probably crack because the skin 

 contracts when the pulp does not. It is not a full 

 explanation, because we do not know why the skin 

 contracts, but the point gained brings us nearer 

 to the answer. 



Literature, Travels and Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



ERICACEOUS BEAUTY AT HOME AND 

 ABROAD. 



BY WM. T. HARDING. 



feels the sand under his feet, as he steps on shore 

 in some distant land, his searching eyes will be 



met with many novel sights, strange to his former 

 vision. And should he be a lover of nature, and 

 pause to gaze at the wonderful vegetation of South 

 When, after a long voyage, the adventurous .Africa, in the vicinity of Table Mountain, and be- 

 traveler, on leaving the deck of his vessel, first yond, he will be bewildered at the sight of so 



