1882. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



57 



upper half the lobes become so much enlarged 

 that the margin is deeply pinnatified. This was 

 one of the twelve new plants with which Mr. 

 William Bull of Chelsea, near London, England, 

 gained the first prize at the Provincial Show of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, held at Preston 

 in 1878. 



A Lucky Botanist. — There is a great deal in 

 industry, but after all there is such a thing as 

 luck. " Only think," said recently to the writer 

 of this, friend Isaac C. Martindale, the well- 

 known banker and botanist, of Camden, N. J., 

 " I had all the known ferns of the United States 

 in my herbarium but five, and was wondering 

 where I could possibly procure them, when I 

 chanced to examine a bundle which had been 

 waiting some time, and which I did not consider 

 of great importance. Judge of my surprise and 

 pleasure when I found four of the five in that. 

 Now, when I get Adiantum tricholepis, I shall 

 have a dried specimen of all." And so we write 

 this paragraph, not merely to suggest to the lazy 

 that there may be " luck in old chests that have 

 long lain hid," but also that if any one has a 

 spare bit of the much desired treasure, they 

 could not do better with it than gladden the 

 heart of one who studies chiefly that his own 

 collections of intelligence and material may be 

 freely at everybody's service. 



The Candle Tree. — This Chinese tree, which 

 for a hundred years or more has been one of the 

 popular street trees of New Orleans and other 

 Southern cities, is creating some attention in 

 California just now. It is believed that tallow 

 can be obtained from these trees cheaper than 

 the illuminating oils now used in light-houses 

 and elsewhere. The colored candles used in the 

 decorations of our Christmas trees, are said to be 

 made from this wax. Can any of our New 

 Orleans correspondents tell us of any experi- 

 ments actually made there? The botanical 

 name is Stillingia sebifera. 



Sparrows in Australia. — The Sydney Mail of 

 of July 16 says : " On Wednesday a deputation 

 from the Agricultural Society and Chamber of 

 Manufactures interviewed jthe Chief Secretary, 

 to ask him to introduce an act for the destruc- 

 tion of sparrows, and pending this to appoint an 

 honorary Sparrow Board to prepare and distri- 

 bute poisoned wheat and give advice. Mr. Bray 

 would not promise to introduce a Bill until it 

 was known what action the other colonies had 



taken, but thought a board might be ap- 

 pointed." 



Odor in Butterflies. — Miss Mary E. Murt- 

 feldt calls attention, in the April number of 

 Psyche, to the fact that she. observed, while 

 spreading fresh male specimens of Callidryas 

 eubule, a delicate, violet-like odor emitted from 

 the specimens, and which was retained, to some 

 extent for several days ; the females being not 

 at all fragrant. 



•Double Broods of Insects. — At the Lansing 

 College Natural History Society, Professor Cook 

 spoke of the curious fact that many insects are 

 double brooded this year, such as were never 

 known to be so before. He mentioned particu- 

 larly the tent caterpillar, the tomato moth, and 

 the luna silk moth, although the latter is com- 

 monly double brooded farther south. 



Movement in Roots. — At the Cincinnati Meet- 

 ing of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, Dr. Beal presented a pa- 

 per on " The Movements of Roots in Germinat- 

 ing Indian Corn, of which the following is an 

 abstract : '' Mr. C. Darwin in his last book says, 

 'In whatever direction the primary radicle (or 

 root) first protrudes from the seed, geotropism 

 (or the attraction of the earth) guides it perpen- 

 dicularly downwards.' 



" Dr. Beal studied over 400 kernels of sprout- 

 ing corn, of seven or more varieties. These, 

 after starting a little, were pinned fast to a stick 

 and put in a dark place, over water. Most of 

 the roots went obliquely downwards, many mak- 

 ing one or more coils on the way, while some 

 went off liorizontally ; some went upwards, di- 

 rectly or indirectly. One of those which went 

 upwards made two coils, another made three. 

 All the experiments did not coincide with those 

 of Darwin." 



Flowers of South Carolina.— The following 

 extract from a letter of a lady living in a small 

 country village in South Carolina will please our 

 readers : " You must be aware how very difficult 

 has been in our State, the collection of wild 

 flowers ; for the deadly eflfects of malaria engen- 

 dered in our swamps deters the boldest from fre- 

 quenting their environs. Happily our village is 

 healthy, and from it we make long journeys 

 with a light rockaway and good horse, the 

 trip often lasting all day long. I doubt if any 

 spot (except California) in our country produces 

 more lovely flowers than our own environs." 



