1882.J 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



188 



autumn by its red fruit which lasts with us 

 through the winter. 



I do not know whether it is commonly known 

 that the prickly succulent leaf is an unfailing 

 cure for a felon or whitlow. The leaf is carefully 

 scraped, and the spongy, juicy part beaten up 

 with a silver fork till it becomes light and soft. 

 This is used as a poultice, and.I have never seen 

 it fail to relieve the suflferer. 



The Scarlet Woodbine of our woods makes a 

 glorious show on some tall cedar posts up which 

 they run ; forming at the top umbrella shaped 

 heads from which again hang long festoons of 

 blossom. 



Our Bignonias (cross vine) improve by culti- 

 vation. Running along the eaves of our cottage 

 the great leaves and large scarlet blossoms are 

 very elegant. A straw-colored one has bloomed 

 for the first time since brought into the garden. 

 There is a wild Smilax here which growing up a 

 building, is far more graceful in its habit than 

 the one you value in your greenhouses. At first 

 the growth is depressingly slow, and we almost 

 despaired of our vine ; but now our Smilax has 

 repaid us for our patience, and it branches and 

 grows more rapidly than the Ivy. Its shining, 

 dark green leaves, summer and winter, are more 

 cheerful than I can describe. 



The Styrax have quite recovered their re- 

 moval from the damp vicinity of their native 

 swamps. My trees have bloomed profusely, and 

 their pleasant fragrance and pretty star-like 

 flowers ought to make them better known among 

 American botanists. 



Some two or three years ago I chanced on a 

 wild pepper (Solanum). growing just outside 

 our garden fence. I dug it up and planted it in 

 a similar spot under the shade of our magnifi- 

 cent Live Oaks. Now, I have more than I need, 

 for they seed and come up every spring. The 

 flower is small, but the berries are bright and 

 showy, even stfter frost has wilted the Chrysan- 

 themums. 



I must mention, before I close this paper, a 

 small tree I have succeeded in domesticating. 

 It is one of the numerous varieties of Whortle- 

 berry (Huckleberry, as we call them,) or Spar- 

 kleberry, perhaps a Vaccinium. The tree, or 

 shrub is from ten to thirty feet high. Bears its 

 myriads of snowy flowers exactly resembling in 

 shape and size the Lily of the Valley — without 

 a single leaf. You are startled by a white mass 

 in the woods, and on approaching it, are en- 

 chanted with the exquisite, delicate, dangling 



beauty of the plant. When the flowers com- 

 mence to fall, the round, tiny, shining leaves 

 appear; and when the first frost comes, the tree 

 is crimson, its brilliant foliage lasting a consid- 

 erable time. My little tree is now covered with 

 berries Avliich are not edible. 



AGENCY OF WATER IN CHANCING THE 

 CHARACTER OF FORESTS. 



BY PROF. P. W. SHEAFER, POTTSVILLE, PA. 



We find that water rather than fire 's the most 

 destructive element in obliterating our forests. 

 In a new valley among our mountains, a beaver 

 dam obstructed the flow of a stream and made a 

 large swamp or meadow quite surrounded with 

 a dense growth of pine and hemlock. When the 

 same creek was again dammed back by coal dirt, 

 it ruined quite a large area of large timber; the 

 same thing occurred on a branch of the Swatara 

 as well as the above instances on the Mahoney. 

 We find when the fires destroy our forests we 

 soon have a new growth of a different species of 

 trees, but none where water destroys the forest. 

 May not the same element have caused the tree- 

 less prairies? We are much interested in your 

 treatment of this question, as we need tree plant- 

 ing in the coal regions, more, perhaps than in 

 any portion of the United States, or else how can 

 we find cheap support for the roof and roads in 

 the mines, if we have not wooden props, espe- 

 cially pitch pine, (Pinus rigida) our favorite tree 

 for strength and durability. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Dr. Parry. — This botanist to whom we already 

 owe so many new discoveries in our country, has 

 just returned from another expedition, and with 

 some more novelties as we are informed. 



Early Bird.s which did not Find the Worm. 

 — Under date of April 13th, a correspondent from 

 Washoe Co., Nevada, says " Our season is pecu- 

 liar. We thought our spring was come, and the 

 spring birds were of the same opinion. They 

 had scarcely arrived before a deep fall of snow 

 caught us. It was a pity to see the poor things 

 as they flew against the windows as if begging 

 protection. Some orioles, meadow larks and 

 others we let in, and tried to save, but they all 

 died." 



It is remarkable how readily birds die under 

 strange conditions. The Editor was once riding 



