2l6 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY, 



[July. 



there sufifused with pale yellowish-green. Being 

 of free growth, and having a boldly marked 

 variegation, it will be an ornamental object in the 

 tropical plant stove, where it will find itself at 

 home in clothing walls and artificial rockwork." 



From which it appears that it will attach itself 

 to walls as well as to trees. 



A New Kp:ntucky Coffee.— One of the most 

 interesting botanical facts is the close relationship 

 of the Flora of the Eastern United States with 

 that of Asia, a fact first brought prominently to 

 notice by Dr. Asa Gray, and which receives new 

 strength from botanical discoveries from year to 

 year. A Kentucky coffee allied to one in America 

 is now among the most recent of these. The con- 

 venient name Kentucky coffee, is widely applied, 

 though the tree is not by any means confined to 

 Kentucky. It has become a mere name without any 

 of its original geographical meaning — and in this 

 light perhaps Chinese Kentucky coffee will do as 

 well as any other name. This is what the Garden- 

 er's Chronicle says of it: 



" In the last number of Hooker's lames Plan- 

 taruin are figures and descriptions of some re- 

 markable new plants from various parts of the 

 world, among them a few of more than passing 

 interest. First, there is a species of Gymnocladus 

 from China — G. Chinensis, Baillon. This is the 

 second species of the genus, and it is quite distinct 

 from G. Canadensis, which is cultivated, though 

 not very commonly, in this country. As Professor 

 Oliver remarks, Gymnocladus is the second 

 arboreous genus recently discovered in China, 

 previously regarded as homotypic, and peculiar to 

 Eastern North America ; the other being Lirioden- 

 dron, collected in Kinkiang, by Dr. Shearer and 

 Mr. Maries. The Chinese Gymnocladus differs 

 from the American in the more numerous and 

 much narrower leaflets, which are not acuminate, 

 and in the thick but slightly compressed pod. 

 The seeds are almost spherical, and about three 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. The pod is three 

 to four inches long, and hard and horny in the 

 dried state, but capable of swelling up greatly in 

 water. Mr. F. S. A. Bourne, of Her Majesty's 

 Consular service, who sent specimens of it to Kew 

 from Fokien, states that the fruit is used for wash- 

 ing purposes. The outer shell is steeped for two 

 days in water, and the liquid resulting is used as 

 soft soap, or it can be dried into hard soap. 

 Whether the seeds have the same saponaceous 

 property we do not know, but it would seem that 

 they have some economic application, as they 

 are figured in the late Mr. Hanbury's " Notes 

 on Chinese Materia Medica " (Science Papers, 

 p. 238, fig. 5). Then only the seeds were known. 

 Mr. Maries collected flowering specimens of the 

 Gymnocladus Chinensis at Kiukiang, and he may 

 have collected seeds also. Possibly, too, Messrs. 

 Veitch have living plants of it at the present time. 

 We should think the tree would be hardy in this 



country, though our summers are probably not hot 

 enough for it to produce fruit." 



Bees and Honey. — Mr. Thomas Meehan, in a 

 note in the Bulletin, of the Torry Botanical Club, 

 says : " I find that the behavior of bees is governed 

 by circumstances. When flowers are abundant 

 they visit those only which they prefer; at other 

 times they examine anything which comes in their 

 way. At the time I am writing. May 18, there is 

 a dearth of garden flowers. Those of the early 

 spring are gone, and the later ones are not well 

 formed. But Columbines in many species are in 

 bloom. The humble bee bores the end of the 

 nectaries and sucks the honey stored there ; and 

 the honey bee follows and sucks from the same 

 hole what may be left, or what may be afterward 

 generated from the honey gland. I have often 

 watched closely to learn whether the honey bee 

 bored for honey. Its quick motions are unfavor- 

 able to correct observation. I thought once I had 

 caught it boring lilac flowers, but I afterward 

 counted all the flowers that had been bored by 

 the humble bee, and then watched the work of 

 the honey bee on the cluster, and there were no 

 more bored afterward than before. The colum- 

 bines (Aquilegia), with curved nectaries, such as 

 A. vulgaris and A. olympica, are very favorable for 

 observation, as the slit is made on the upper side 

 of the curve, and the honey bee can be easily seen 

 following after the crumbs that may have been 

 left on the strong one's table. I have no doubt, 

 however, that it would bore for itself if it had the 

 power, and perhaps it sometimes does. The hum- 

 ble bee and the honey bee are evidently not the 

 insects for which the columbine had its beauti- 

 fully contrived nectar cup provided to induce cross 

 fertilization ; and what particular insect was de- 

 signed to be the favored one, so that it, and no 

 other, could turn its tongue around these twisted 

 spurs to get at the honey in the end, I think no 

 student has yet discovered." 



Failure of the Maple Sugar Crop.— A 

 correspondent writes : " I see by the papers that 

 the failure of the maple sugar crop in Delaware 

 County, New York, is the completest for years, 

 and will damage the farmers some hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars. What is meant by the 

 failure of this crop ? I thought there was always 

 sap in trees in the spring of the year ? Will some 

 one in the sugar making districts please explain?" 



The Discoverer of Beet Sugar. — On the 

 7th of last August a century had elapsed since the 

 death of Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, the dis- 



