1883. 



AND HORTICULTURIST 



25 



come barren in others. In our own country it was 

 shown, in the items which have been already given, 

 that the hazelnut or filbert often fails in this coun- 

 try, for this reason. It now appears that the same 

 law operates on the production of walnuts in Cali- 

 fornia. Mr. Gillett, of Nevada City, has recently 

 written an essay on this subject, showing that the 

 climate of that State advances the male flowers, 

 while the females remain quiescent. The male cat- 

 kins are all overblown and have fallen long before 

 the female flowers have been brought forward ; 

 and, hence, they are usually barren. In order to 

 secure successful walnut culture in California, they 

 have introduced a variety called the Juglans pras- 

 parturiens, which requires, both for the male and 

 female flowers, a higher temperature before the 

 flowers push. In other words, the variety blooms 

 later. With this they have great success. — Inde- 

 pendent. 



On Be.\ctv in Birds' Nests. — At a recent 

 meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Mr. 

 Meehan exhibited a nest of the wood pewee, and 

 remarked that, contrary to the statement of most 

 authors, it was evident that no glutinous material 

 was used by this bird in nest-building, but that the 

 structure was held together and bound to the sup- 

 porting limb by means of cobwebs. He com- 

 mented upon the adornment of these nests with 

 lichens, and considered the occurrence and uses in 

 such cases of mere decoration without any appar- 

 ent utilitarian intent. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Orangks .\nu the Weather ln Florida. — A 

 correspondent from Orange county says : " I have 

 seen nearly all the large orange groves in the State 

 and find the crop medium to fair, and in great 

 demand (a $3 to $\ per bo.x, ready for shipping. 

 The country is overrun with buyers, and commis- 

 sion merchants predict a great scarcity and very 

 high figures before spring. We have had two 

 sharp frosts, which singed the pine apples and 

 guavas a little ; bananas have their tops blackened." 



L.\wsoNiA inermis. — " J. W.," Houston, Texas, 

 writes : " I enclose a small branch of a plant I 

 found in a garden here, said to have come from 

 Havana. Will you please name it through the 

 Gardeners' Monthly. The plant is not hardy 

 here ; gets killed to the ground by the first white 

 frost, but would be apparently shrubby. The 

 petals are very curiously incurved and wrinkled ; 

 it has somewhat the appearance of Lythraceae, but 

 I have no works to refer to." 



[The reference to Lythraceae is correct. It is the 

 Lawsonia inermis, and is the Henna plant of the 

 Egyptians, and is known to have been a favorite 

 with them for possibly three thousand years. They 

 make from it a dye with which to stain the points 

 of their fingers a pretty pink. We have an im- 

 pression that the plant, from its fragrance, is known 

 in some part of the South as the " Mignonette 

 bush" or "tree." — Ed. G. M.] 



Literature, Travels and- Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



LETTER FROM M. MAURICE VILMORIN, 

 PARIS, FRANCE. 



It was my brother Henry who has received a 

 long deserved distinction by his recent promotion 

 to the Legion d' honneur, of which your most 

 devoted servant is not a member, and will not be 

 for a good many years yet, if he must earn as many 

 times the reward as his brother has, before he was 

 promoted. 



I will acknowledge your kind mention of my 

 name, by a piece of interesting intelligence for the 



readers of the G.a.rdeners' Monthly. Our French 

 National Society of Horticulture are studying the 

 project of an international show, to take place in 

 Paris in May, 1^84. The affair is not quite decided 

 upon yet, as the society is not wealthy enough to 

 take the necessary expenses upon themselves, and 

 co-operation from the Government, City of Paris, 

 &c., secured to them. Still there are a good many 

 chances that the scheme will result into the suc- 

 cessful achievement of the long thought of idea. 

 • Will you kindly insert a few lines in your exhaust- 

 ive paper, merely relating the fact as an on dit. 

 No international exhibition of horticulture is yet 



