6o 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[February, 



"Alluding to the circumstances of my father's 

 death and connecting them with his farming oper- 

 ations, Mr.' Pell says , ' the result was not a suc- 

 cess.' I beg to state distinctly that my father's ruin 

 was attributable solely and simply to the failure 

 of the Unity Bank, in which, as a shareholder, he 

 lost more than every shilling he possessed. To his 

 successful farming, among other causes, he owed 

 the delay of a catastrophe which had for some 

 time been inevitable. It must remain a question of 

 taste whether Mr. Pell has done wisely in affixing 

 a stigma of ' agricultural loafers ' to the many high- 

 minded and honorable men who from all ranks of 

 society have attended the Tiptree gatherings and 

 witnessed the experiments conducted at them. In 

 conclusion, I may add that during the last suffer- 

 ing days of my father's life liis thoughts were not 

 so much with himself or his troubles, not so much 

 with family or friends, as with the cause he had 

 long served faithfully and loved so well." 



Giant Horse Tails. — When some geologists 

 tell us some sorts of coal may have been formed 

 in times when there was little wind by the falling 

 on the ground of the spores (the analogue of pollen 

 in flowering plants) of cryptogamic plants, we 

 naturally think of our small ferns, horse-tail and 

 similar plants, and wonder as to how such things 

 should be. But the plants were large, and prob- 

 ably the spores sized accordingly. The Gardeners' 

 Chrotiicle aptly remarks : 



"Representatives of the marsh vegetation of the 

 ancient coal period would appear still to exist in 

 South America ; at least specimens of Equisetum 

 giganteum from Brazil, which is said to have aerial 

 stems of thirty feet, were exhibited by Mr. W. T. 

 Thiselton Dyer, at the Linnean meeting on June 

 1 5. A forest of these would certainly carry the 

 mind back to the time when our now coal beds 

 were luxuriantly flourishing in the marshes of the 

 period." 



Sub-Tropical Plants for Industrial Culture 

 or Naturalization — by Baron Ferdinand Von Muel- 

 ler, has been translated into the German language. 

 It shows alike the interest of the German people in 

 all that relates to industrial improvement, as well 

 as their appreciation of the work of the distin- 

 guished Austrahan botanist. 



The London Journal of Botany — announces 

 that unless better supported it will step out at the 

 end of another year. In contrast with this is the 

 support given to the two American magazines, the 

 Botanical Gazette and the Bulletin of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club, which though a long way from 

 being gold mines, add to the number of their 

 readers from year to year. With botanical taste 

 growing continually, it is amazing to hear of poor 

 support to botanical magazines. But the fact is 

 that there is so much new in the " New Botany," 

 that readers expect more than a mere chapter or 



two, in the old style. The advanced botanist in 

 these days, can scarcely go to the fields or woods 

 for an afternoon jaunt, or take up a dried specimen 

 without seeing something new and worth telling, 

 and this is what the modern subscriber expects to 

 read about. 



Varied Tastes in Food. — A reporter of the 

 Philadelphia Press called on Mr. Murrey, the chief 

 cook of the Continental Hotel of this city, and 

 gives us the following sketch of taste in cookery : 



" Mr. Murrey is an enthusiast in this matter. He 

 has read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, 

 and carefully conned every word written therein 

 about food ; Shakspeare is his constant companion, 

 and he has collated over three hundred extracts 

 from his writings referring to different dishes, prin- 

 cipally salads ; agricultural I'eports, which are too 

 often to others a waste of paper, he scrutinizes with 

 anxious eye to discover whether the tomato has 

 be^n successfully grafted on the turnip, or if 

 the carrot could not in some way be combined 

 with the succulent cucumber ; farmers' journals, 

 giving the latest discoveries in the cultivation of 

 fruits and vegetables, are to him precious presents, ■ 

 and, in a word, any book bearing upon food is of 

 more value in his eyes than if it were on finance. 

 And so, when the Press reporter approached Mr. 

 Murrey with a request to be allowed to look at his 

 collection, that gentleman, with evident pleasure, 

 willingly agreed to submit it to inspection. And, 

 in truth, it is a remarkable collection. He has, in 

 one series of volumes, over ten thousand bills of 

 fare, and in his library over five hundred books on 

 cookery, and on matters appertaining to that sub- 

 ject. ' You are quite an enthusiast in this matter,' 

 remarked the reporter. 



"'I am,' was the ready response. 'I have been 

 fifteen years making this collection, and if 1 live 

 eighteen more it will be the finest in the world. 

 May I ask you if you are interested in the subject.' 



The reporter stated that he was — practically. That 

 settled it. Instantly Mr. Murrey opened his book 

 cases, emptied one shelf after another, piled up 

 English, French and German works on cookery 

 and pastry making, and so forth, and then to cap 

 I the climax he ordered up the reserves in the shape 

 ! of the ten thousand bills of fare above referred to. 

 'There,' said he, with honest pride, 'there is a col- 

 lection of which I am proud — where is its equal?' 

 "The writer gave the conundrum up and then 

 I went to examining the bills of fare. 

 ' "There were menus from Philadelphia, New 

 York, Boston and Chicago ; from Paris, from Rome 

 and from Berlin ; from St. Petersburg, from Vienna 

 and from Copenhagen ; bills of fare printed on 

 white satin ; on plain commercial note; on delicate 

 tints, with letters of gold. There were bills of fare 

 where royalty had sat at the table, where states- 

 I men had dined, where heroes had wined ; there 

 were bills of fare which recalled the days when 

 ' Daniel Webster was entertained at the great dinner 

 in the Revere House, Boston, on January 18, 1856; 

 I when John Welsh departed to England as the 

 American minister; when the Grand Duke Alexis,. 



