i88s.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



27 



see better now than they did on the former occa- 

 sion, that it would be to their best interests to sell 

 at their own figures, than to trust to the uncer- 

 tainty of a jury of award. 



The Quassia Tree.— Dr. Baillon has just pre- 

 sented the Horticultural Society of Paris with a 

 specimen of Quassia excelsa, a very rare tree, and 

 at present, perhaps, the only one in Europe. The 

 history of this solitary individual is curious ; it 

 was reared from seed in 1868 by the late Dr. 

 BarilletDeschamps, who gave it to the garden of 

 the Faculty of Medicine ; and it is highly proba- 

 ble that the seeds came from Martinique under 

 the name of Bittera febrifuga. Hence it was not 

 easy to determine the real nature of the young 

 plant, its only characteristic being the extreme 

 bitterness of all its parts, the leaves especially. 

 As it was supposed to require great warmth, it 

 was kept in a hot-house, where it got on very 

 poorly, until a Prussian shell fell into the place 

 (January 20th, 1871). The following night being 

 excessively cold (it may be remembered that the 

 winter of that year was one of the severest on 

 record), all the plants cultivated there perished 

 except this. Its terminal bud having been lopped 

 off by one of the splinters of the projectile, it was 

 picked up and examined, when it was found to 

 contain a flower presenting all the characteristics 

 of the family of Rutaceae. The plant was now 

 transferred to an Orangery, where it recovered and 

 throve well; it put forth a quantity of leaves in 

 the following spring, and since then it has been 

 growing and producing female flowers every year, 

 so that, to propagate it, a male specimen has to be 

 found. It is a common tree in Jamaica, where it 

 attains a height of 60 feet, and goes there by the 

 name of "Bitter Ash." It is exported in logs 

 known in trade as "yellow quassia;" they are 

 made into goblets on the turning-lathe, and these 

 are sold under the well-known name of "bitter 

 cup." The shavings are also much in demand for 

 infusions exceedingly beneficial to weak stomachs. 

 They are used in the manufacture of beer ; and, 

 as for the wood itself, it is also made into boxes 

 for preserving furs from moths, which shun such 

 receptacles on account of their bitterness. — The 

 Garden. 



Mortgages on Farmlands. — A Georgia paper 

 thus describes the peculiar operations of a mort- 

 gage company : "The Freehold Land and Mort- 

 gage Company, of London, sues Walter A. Base- 

 ley, Jr., of Greene Co., for $2700. This indebted- 

 ness was created in June, 1882, at which time the 



defendant borrowed $2500 and gave his notes for 

 the principal and interest. This money was pay- 

 able at the Corbin Bank of New York, and by the 

 terms of the agreement the notes were to be de- 

 clared due at the pleasure of the holder in case the 

 interest was not paid within thirty days after it was 

 due. The notes have interest coupons attached, 

 like the coupons on bonds. It seems that in this 

 particular case the $200 of interest became due 

 November 15, 1883, and was not paid. The debt 

 to the company is secured by a mortgage on 520 

 acres of land in Greene county. As the company 

 is a foreign corporation, it has the privilege of 

 bringing the suit in the United States courts, which 

 it has done. The above suits make the beginning 

 of an era of untold misery for the people of the 

 State. About three years ago these companies 

 set up business in Georgia, advertising most ex- 

 travagant inducements to make farmers borrow 

 money. Thus, on $3000 worth of property per- 

 haps Jiooo could be borrowed. From this $1000 

 would be deducted $200 by the agents for commis- 

 sions, etc., and upon the nominal $1000 8 per cent 

 interest had to be paid, and the money had to 

 bring in five years' interest, no matter whether the 

 borrower wanted it that long or not. The real in- 

 terest paid is 14 per cent. Having got the money 

 and lost it, the borrowers now find themselves in 

 the hands of sharks, who will mercilessly push 

 them to the wall in the Federal courts, to attend 

 which many of the victims will have to travel 100 

 miles. Thus within another few years there will 

 be witnessed a wholesale eviction of farmers, with 

 scenes rivalling some of the stories coming from 

 Ireland." 



A Native of North America.— This is the 

 description of Helenium pumilum in an excellent 

 English serial. This is about on a par with saying 

 that a fern which is found growing only by Lake 

 of Killarney, is "a native of the Northern part of 

 the Eastern Hemisphere." We often wonder at the 

 hmited notions of North America which prevail in 

 otherwise intelligent English circles. 



Why Magazines Live or Die.— The Boston 

 Herald has an article on the death of The Conti- 

 nent. The why and the wherefore puzzles it and 

 other people. Its editor thought its struggle was 

 because it was published in Philadelphia, and so 

 the publication office was moved to New York ; 

 but even this salt did not save it. To us the life 

 or death of a magazine is a simple problem. If 

 you offer people what they want, and what they 

 ■ can get in no other way so well, the magazine will 



