340 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY, 



[November, 



unless we except the P. excelsa. In England it 

 has proved reliable, and with us the small plants 

 show evidences of success. 



[This interesting contribution to botanical ge- 

 ography, was made to the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, of Philadelphia, recently. — Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Common Names ov Plants. — The English 

 magazines continue to discuss this subject, evi- 

 dently misunderstanding the essential point of the 

 question. Eor instance, in a recent issue of the 

 Garden a correspondent triumphantly inciuires if 

 it would not be very absurd to say Pyrus dump- 

 lings, Vitis pudding, or Cerasus pie, instead of 

 apple dumpling, plum pudding, or cherry pie? 

 No one is urging such an absurdity. Everybody 

 knows what is meant by apple, grape and cherry ; 

 these names are really common names. It is the 

 coining of names and pushing them out as com- 

 mon when they are not common. For instance, 

 in a recent issue of the proceedings of the London 

 Biological Society, one M. Delauny communicates 

 a paper on the instinct of animals in selecting 

 medical plants, and talks of "the dog-tooth grass" 

 as being a valuable emetic and purgative. We 

 will venture a guess that even our good friends of 

 the Garden do not know what the writer means, 

 though they are right on the spot. Let us empha- 

 size the point, that we have no objection to com- 

 mon names, but with the very uncommon ones. 



Hogs and Health. — A curious lawsuit recently 

 occurred in England. Some one wanted the hog- 

 pens of the poor removed, and the usual certifi- 

 cates of the doctors were to hand that hog-pens 

 were very unhealthy. Legal advice was obtained 

 for the poor people, and statistics brought out to 

 show that that particular spot was the healthiest 

 in the whole place. To clinch the case, a carload 

 of chubby children was dumped down in the 

 court room to show that they were the pictures of 

 health. But the hard-hearted court ordered the 

 pig-pens abolished. 



Ravens in Alaska. — While collecting plants 

 on Wrangel Island, the Editor was surprised at 

 the tameness of the shore ravens of that part of 

 the world. They would sit on stumps and enjoy 

 their meals of stale fish entirely without concern. 

 On one occasion, to test their tameness, he walked 

 quietly towards one, and approached within five 

 feet before the bird flew away. It was afterwards 



found that these birds are held sacred by the 

 Alaska Indians. The children are taught never 

 to kill one, and are punished when they do. They 

 believe in a kind of purgatory, where the souls of 

 the imperfect suffer the pain of hope deferred, in 

 their endeavor to reach the nice, warm place 

 which is the Alaskan Heaven. Many of these 

 souls arc detained in ravens. That is. a raven 

 may have a detained spirit for its essential being, 

 and hence, naturally, they receive Indian protec- 

 tion. Their \oice is often marvelously like that of 

 some scolding human beings; and more than 

 once the writer has started "as if shot," when in 

 these wild woods, by supposing some Indian was 

 yelling at him from behind. 



The Linn.ea. — Possibly no plant could more 

 worthily commemorate the great Botanist than 

 this modest little flower. Up to the time of Lin- 

 naeus it was supposed to be a campanula, but on 

 his tour through Sweden, when still a young 

 man, he saw the distinction, and his friend Grono- 

 vius, the Dutch botanist, named the plant, in his 

 honor, Linntea. In the writer's library is a pic-, 

 ture of the young botanist, clothed in his travel- 

 ing clothes, and with a branch of the Linnasa 

 ready to put into his botanical box. As the fame 

 of Linngeus is so universal, so seems the growth of 

 this little plant. It not only is common in North- 

 ern Europe, but over the northern part of the 

 American continent. It was among the first to 

 catch the eye of the writer of this on his first en- 

 trance, recently, into the Douglas spruce woods of 

 Washington Territory ; and all through British 

 Columbia, and high northward in Alaska, it was 

 rare to make an excursion without walking over 

 Linnaea borealis. It is not by any means a showy 

 plant ; but as emblematical of the universality of 

 the modest genius of Linnaeus, no better could 

 have been taken. 



The Earthworm. — It would be interesting to 

 know just where everything made its first appear- 

 ance on the globe. We only know that all things 

 play the role of travelers. The earthworm is no 

 exception. It has not got to Manitoba yet; but it 

 soon will be. It is not so many years since they 

 were not in Minnesota ; but they are very abun- 

 dant about Minneapolis now, and possibly through 

 most of that State. 



Ferns of the United States. — Mr. Geo. E. 

 Davenport has recently issued a table showing 

 the distribution of ferns in the United States. 

 The number of species so far described is 155. 



