1885. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



227 



produced three flower spikes the last season. 

 AmarylUs etoile, white with red stripes, Amaryllis 

 psittacina, Amaryllis fidelia, Amaryllis astrosan- 

 guinea, the best dark red Amaryllis, Prince of 

 Orange, and a host of others, most of which will do 

 admirably in the garden ; and the cultivation of 

 this plant ought to be more extensive, as there are 

 but few Lilies that will do in the South and the 

 Amaryllis takes naturally the place of the former 

 in the garden. Austin, Texas. 



[We welcome these efforts to encourage South- 

 ern gardening. In the Editor's travels through 

 the South at various times, the glorious capabilities 

 for gardening that laid unimproved were remark- 

 able. This suggestion of the great value of the 

 Amaryllis as a popular Southern flower should be 

 improved on. — Ed. G. M.] 



CAUSE OF BROKEN BRANCHLETS IN THE 

 NORWAY SPRUCE. 



BY PROF. W. A. BUCKHOUT. 



I blame the squirrels for the broken branches 

 found under the Norway Spruces in the spring — 

 note of which you made in last number of Gar- 

 deners' Monthly. 



Although I have never seen a squirrel cut a 

 branch, and know no reason why they should do 

 so, unless it be for sport, the facts are these : 



1. In and about our oldest Norway s, which are 

 close together, and intermi.^ced with other trees, 

 squirrels are often seen feeding upon the seeds, 

 and the cones are entirely cut up by them, the 

 fragments strewing the ground beneath ; and here 

 the broken branches are found in abundance. 



2. Isolated trees on the campus retain their 

 cones and their branches. I have never seen 

 squirrels here. 



3. I notice the same relation between broken 

 branches, cut up cones and feeding squirrels, 

 among our native Pines (P. rigida) all about us. 



4. The branches seem to me to be cut off by 

 squirrels' teeth. I send a few specimens by this 

 mail. State College, Centre Co., Pa. 

 ■ [These are undoubtedly cut by squirrels, be- 

 cause the cut made is the cut which squirrels 

 make in gnawing a branch. Those which we 

 received from New Hampshire were broken off at 

 a bud — disarticulated as it were — which a squirrel 

 could not do. We are now inclined to think that 

 after the rodent has cut the branch, and drying 

 commences, disarticulation of the side branchlets 

 results, and in this way their presence among the 

 evidently gnawed-off branches will be accounted 

 for.— Ed. G. M.] 



BEAUTY AND UTILITY IN THE SPIKE RUSH. 



BY G. 



Among the sedges of our wet lands there are 

 few plants more beautiful than some of the more 

 delicate species of Eleocharis, called " Spike 

 Rushes" by authors, and " Frog's Hair" by coun- 

 try people. A large patch ot low ground covered 

 by these sedges is often a very charming spot for 

 the eye to rest upon, though it often proves a 

 treacherous place for the foot. Strange so say, 

 these plants bear transplantation well, and with 

 moderate watering will grow even in dry ground. 



I think the broad-leaved Panic Grass, Panicum 

 latifolium, when growing vigorously is one of our 

 handsomest and most striking wild grasses. 

 Grown for its rich and dark green leaves, it would 

 be a very interesting plant in winter. I am in- 

 formed by an intelligent farmer that cattle eat the 

 hay of this grass greedily, though it is very 

 coarse. Would it not pay to utilize it as a forage 

 plant ? Merchantville, N. J., June 8th, 1885. 



[We have occasionally noted the avidity with 

 which cattle eat the Eleocharis, and regard the 

 hint thrown out by G. as a valuable one. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



AN OPEN LETTER TO A "FLOWER 

 SISTER." 



BY MRS. FANNIE E. BRIGGS. 



Mrs. Wellcome's letter in the June number has 

 touched so many chords of memory that I must 

 respond ; and as, doubtless, many of the readers of 

 the Gardeners' Monthly have the same associa- 

 tions, I trust our kind Editor may give me space 

 in its pages. 



Those " Hundred-leaved Roses," how well I re- 

 member them in the garden of my childhood's 

 home, among the hills of Vermont. I have never 

 seen any like them since. Some of the Hybrid 

 Perpetuals remind me of them, but they are not 

 the same. They grew in great thickets in that 

 garden, receiving no care save an occasional 

 cutting of the old wood, yet coming forth every 

 year in prodigal profusion, and all so perfect. My 

 recollection of their color is, that they were deep, 

 clear rose, like the deepest shade in "York and 

 Lancaster." 



We had a neighbor who had Damask Roses, 

 and her little daughter used to bring them to 

 school to exchange for mine, yet, though we both 

 loved them with our whole childish souls, we 

 never exchanged plants. I don't know why, un- 

 less it was the changeless condition of everything 



