28o 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[September, 



the change ? Did you ever know of the like ? or 

 is it a common thing, though it may seem so very 

 strange to me ? You may say that 1 must be 

 wrong about the seed, but there is positively no 

 mistake, in the seed or otherwise. I would be 

 glad of an explanation." 



[The genus to which tobacco belongs, Nicotiana, 

 is very closely allied to Petunia^ndeed some 

 Petunias were once referred to Nicotiana by some 

 good botanists. Still, the change in the wholesale 

 way described by our correspondent is so very un- 

 likely, that, notwithstanding his certainty that 

 there has been no mistake, we should advise him 

 to try it again. Sow some of the petunia seed 

 and see if it go back to tobacco ; and sow some 

 tobacco and note if it changes toward petunia. 

 If there be no mistake about the wholesale change 

 this season, there will surely be some tendency 

 that way next year. — Ed. G. M.] 



Fertile Japan Yam. — Mr. Wm. Muir, Fox 

 Creek, St. Louis Co., Missouri, writes: '' I enclose 

 portion of vine of Dioscorea Batatas, with seed 



vessels and bulblets. I have cultivated the Dio- 

 scorea Batatas since about 1858, and occasionally 

 noticed a vine thus to 'sport.' Believing that it 

 is thought that we have only the ' male plant " in 

 this country, the tendency to variation is curious. 

 I have tried to vegetate the capsules, but some- 

 thing always interfered ; still I hope to have some 

 so perfect as to vegetate." 



[Thanks for the specimen — we have never seen 

 a fertile one before. The change of sex as it is 

 commonly called— that is to say, the appearance of 

 male or female flowers on plants wholly of the 

 opposite sex — is not of unfrequent occurrence, 

 though over a quarter of a century ago, when the 

 change of sex in the strawberry was before the 

 public, it was as much as people could do to give 

 credit to the fact, even when so able a botanist as 

 1 Dr. Wm. Darlington had to tell the Cincinnati 

 Horticultural Society he had some reason for be- 

 lieving it. It only requires an occasional glance 

 at some of these old issues to discover that the 

 world of intelligence does move.— Ed. G. M.] 



Literature. Travels and Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



OUR LADY'S GARDEN. 



BY R. A. OAKES. 



II. 



Virgin's pinch is so called because Our Lady 

 left the impress of her fingers upon it ; the rose- 

 mary flowers, in joy at the Passion of our Lord, 

 because she spread the infant's linen over ittodry. 

 Broom and chickweed are compelled forever to 

 rustle, because, in her flight with the infant Jesus, 

 they betrayed her to the soldiers of Herod ; and 

 she was rescued by the juniper opening its arms 

 and concealing her ; and, in honor of this act, the 

 Italians even now use the latter to decorate their 

 stalls at Christmas-tide. The Polypodium vulgare 

 is said to have sprung from the Virgin's milk. 

 The purple flowering lady's thistle had its leaves 

 beautifully diversified from the same source. She 

 blessed the sage, and it was call officinalis Christi. 

 The little star-flower, known as Our Lady's bed- 

 straw, has its romantic legend. When the differ- 



ent plants were summoned to form a couch for 

 the Mother and Child in the stable, they all made 

 various excuses, until this modest flower offered 

 itself and was rewarded by having its snowy 

 petals turned to gold. The Magyars believe that 

 every kernel of wheat needs only to be split in the 

 center to disclose the impress of the Virgin and 

 Child. 



The flowers that in classic mythology and Scan- 

 dinavian folk lore blossomed for Venus and 

 Holda, under monkish direction, were transferred 

 to the Virgin. The rose was sacred to the northern 

 maternal goddess ; she was affectionately termed 

 Frau Rose and Mutter Rose ; but when the Virgin 

 Mother usurped her place she became Marien- 

 roschen. Holda blessed and guarded the flax ; 

 but to the German maiden of to-day it is Unser 

 Frauen Flacks ; to the French peasant, lin de 

 Notre Dame. So Freyja-jargrass became lady's 

 tresses, and Niilrd's glove (Spongia marina) lady's 

 hand. The maiden hair fern, sacred to Venus, 

 became Mariengrass; the Matricaria parthenium, 

 devoted to Minerva, the herb of the blessed Mary. 



