188-2 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



123 



or Means grass. The planting of this grass 

 lately gave rise to a hotly litigated suit in Mis- 

 sissippi — one farmer attempting to restrain his 

 neighbor from cultivating this grass. It is much 

 ■dreaded by planters, but as a pasturage plant it 

 has been much lauded by Mr. N. B. Moore, of 

 South Carolina, who claims to have made an in- 

 come of from seven to ten thousand dollars a 

 year, from a meadow of one hundred acres cul- 

 tivated in this grass." 



In addition we have the following from " H. 

 W. R ," Aiken, South Carolina : "The Coco grass 

 of your Arkansas correspondent (Feb. No., p. 59) 

 is Sorghum halapense. It is well known in our 

 State as Means grass, more westwardly as John- 

 son grass, besides several other aliases. The 

 underground stems (roots) are similar to those of 

 Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), but much 

 more stout. The root is perennial, the tops 

 dying off in autumn, and starts early in the 

 spring. It grows here five or six feet high, and 

 in rich lands even higher. It may be eradicated 

 by several ploughings in hot, dry weather." 



Old Trees.— It is now beyond doubt that the 

 annual rings of wood, in trees, do not guide us 

 safely in estimating the age of trees, and much 

 of what has been written of the enormous ages 

 of some trees will have to be gone over again. 

 It is by no means certain that any one of the 

 mammoth Sequoias is 4000 years old. The gum 

 tree of Australia, it is well known, now makes 

 two circles a year. 



Botany in California. — Mr. J. C. Lemmon, of 

 Oakland, California, the famous explorer, writes: 

 " We wish you could have been with us in Arizona 

 (Mr. and Mrs. Lemmon) when at last the Alpine 

 park was reached. A lovely retreat in the 

 mountain tops, high against the sky and the 



" We go again this season, but not until after 

 the midsummer rains. Our last excursion was 

 an autumn one and ' panned out ' well, as Cali- 

 fornians say. One new genus (a fine large Com- 

 posite), Plummera, and a dozen fine new species, 

 including a Woodsia, etc. We collected roots of 

 many good things ; especially we have sixty fine 

 plants of the little known Agave Schottii, a beau- 

 tiful yellow-flowered, sweet-scented Agave from 

 the Santa Catalina Mountains. I believe this 

 Agave will become immensely popular soon, as 

 it is new to cultivation and very desirable, both 

 on account of scent and color. 



" We contemplate getting out a complete illus- 



trated Manual of Pacific Coast Ferns, but the 

 work necessarily will be great and require much 

 time and expense. We think there is a general 

 and refreshing awakening of interest, on this 

 coast, on the subject of botany, and especially of 

 ferns. You may yet hear of a club here in Oak- 

 land, rivaling the justly famous Syracuse Botani- 

 cal Society." 



The Australian Bottle Tree. — A correspon- 

 dent inquires what is known of this curious tree 

 of which he sends us a sketch. There is no 

 account of it in standard works of reference. 

 Mr. Isaac Burk, of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, has kindly looked up the 

 matter for us and has given the note below : 



" In the catalogue of the Kew Gardens, page 

 42, 1 find Sterculia (Brachychiton) rupestris, Aus- 

 tralian Bottle Tree, remarkable for the shape of 

 its trunk, similar to a soda water bottle. The 

 natives refresh themselves with the mucilagin- 

 ous sweet substance atforded by this tree, as well 

 as make nets of its fibre. They cut holes in its 

 soft trunk, where the water lodges and rots them 

 to the centre, thus forming so many artificial 

 reservoirs. On their hunting excursions after- 

 wards, when they are thirsty, they tap them one 

 or two feet below the old cut and procure an 

 abundant supply. When I mentioned to ' W ' 

 what we had been looking for he remembered it 

 and brought me the catalogue fi'om which I ex- 

 tract the above." 



Absorption of Metallic Poison by the Roots 

 OP Plants.— Professor Phillips, of the Western 

 University, recently lectured in Pittsburg on the 

 " Absorption of Poison by the Roots of Plants." 

 If these poisons become soluble the roots will 

 absorb a little, but the plant will die after such 

 absorption. In that case the poison would be 

 found in the tissue. If it be not soluble the 

 plant may grow in the midst of poison and yet 

 have no poison in it, Paris green, for instance, 

 is not soluble, so there can be no poison in a 

 potato where Paris green has been used for in- 

 sects. 



Frost and Peach Buds.— A correspondent in- 

 quires what degree of temperature a peach bud 

 will stand without injury ? It is like asking 

 what degree of temperature will make a man 

 feel comfortable. We have known some people 

 to freeze when near a fire, and another to keep 

 warm in a snowstorm ; and besides, the man who, 

 to-day, can "stand any cold," to-morrow will 

 shiver in a warm south breeze. And so it is with 



