248 



THE GAPDENER'S MONTHLY 



[August, 



were Mr. Wm. Saunders, the entomologist, and 

 Dr. Burgess, Professor Macoun and his son, an 

 energetic young man of twenty years. Some 

 other plants new to Canada were also found, 

 among these the Tulip Poplar, Red Mulberry 

 and tlie Nettle tree. The Tulip tree was very 

 abundant. 



Helianthus Maximiliani.— In the description 

 of (his pretty sunflower in Meehan's " Native 

 Flowers and Ferns of the United States," Law- 

 rence, Kansas, is given as about the most north 

 em point that the plant had been found up to 

 that time. Professor J C. Arthur, in his "Fifth 

 Contribution to the Flora of Iowa," now notes 

 that i}, has been found plentiful in Emmett 

 County, Iowa, 300 mibs north of Lawrence. 



Damage by Crickets. — A writer in the Ame7-i- 

 can Nahiraliat has noticed a common field-cricket 

 gnawing at a kernel of corn until it devoured the 

 germ, and early in the autumn he has found 

 them in cornfields, eating the crowns of kernels 

 or ears that had been blown to the ground, a re 

 suit formerly attributed to mice. Moreover, 

 crickets anni)y farmers by eating the bands ol 

 cord binding the sheaves of wheat. As Mr. 

 Webster t-ays : " Much of the harvesting is done 

 with self binding harvesting machines, using 

 cord for binding. Judge of the surprise and 

 chagrin of the farmer when, in drawing in hit* 

 stacks of grain, to find, instead of compactly 

 bound slieaves, only a mass of unbound grain, 

 the bands of cord having been cut in many 

 places by the crii-keis.'"— Independent. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Glutinous stigmas ik Akebia quinata. — "A 

 little boy" writes: "Father says you like to 

 know about things nobody knows, and he says 

 this is new and you will like it. It is about the 

 flower of the Akebia. In the middle of the 

 flower are five parts like five pins. I cut them 

 out with a scissors and stuck them all over my 

 face. They stood out straight, and father 

 thought warts had broke out all over me, and 

 he was scared when he looked at me. Father 

 says this is written right, but you will spell out 

 the big words for me." 



[The editor is very thankful to this "little 

 boy" for his interesting letter. The "pins" in 

 the centre of the flower botanists call the pistils, 

 the "pin heads" being the stigmas. Many flow- 



ers, when open, exude a sticky and generally 

 sweet substance from these pin-head points; 

 hut it is probably quite, new to observe that in 

 Akebia the liquid is so sticky that it will hold the 

 Distil out in a horizontal direction. "Little 

 boy" will do well to keep on taking notes of 

 such things. There is no education so valuable 

 as that which directs the eye. We understand 

 the little fellow is under eight years.— Ed G. M.J 



MoRCHELLiA ESCULENTA. — This is the name of 

 the plant sent to us by A. B C, Lebanon, Pa. 

 It is an edible fungus, and highly prized in some 

 parts of the world. 



White Herb Robert. — " T. W.," Newark, 

 Wayne Co., N. Y., writes: "Enclosed I send you 

 specimen of Geranium Robertianuin with pure 

 white flowers. There are a few plants growing 

 on the edge of a moss having the normal color, 

 on Islay Island, in Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario. I 

 have never heard of it, and is the first discovered 

 in this section." 



[We expect to find white flowering individuals 

 once in a while among all colored flowers; in 

 some families more frequently than others. In 

 the case of this geranium we have never known 

 (jf a white form being found before. Like most 

 albinos among plants, it seems to be more deli- 

 cate than the normal form. — Ed. G. M.j 



Purple Anemone nemorosa. — In botanical 

 works it is noted that this pretty species of w'ind- 

 Hower, so well known for its white or rosy flow- 

 ers in the woods of the Atlantic States, some- 

 times has purple flowers in Oregon Mrs F. E. 

 B treats us to a pretty dried specimen of this 

 color found at La Center, Washington Territory. 



Double Native Columbine. — " J. T. B.," 

 Tonah, Wis., writes : '' I send by mail a blossom 

 of wild Aquilegia. I sent a blo.ssom to Cam. 

 bridge, to Profs. Goodale and Watson. They 

 write me it is different from anytliing of the 

 kind the}"- ever saw or heard of. 1 lound the 

 plant while in bloom last season, and removed 

 it to my garden ; the blossoms are as large again 

 this season as last. Tlie one I send you is the 

 last on the plant, and is one-third smaller than 

 the first ones." 



[This is a double variety of Aquilegia Cana- 

 densis, and the first of this species we have ever 

 seen. The European species have often double 

 forms, as we see under cultivation. A double 

 Aquilegia is always interesting from the manner 

 in which the petals are fitted into one another 

 like a long string of empty flower pots. The 



