96 



The Horticulturist. 



chiefly Anemones, wild Tulips and Poppies. 

 Of all the ordinary aspects of the country, 

 this blaze of scarlet colors is perhaps the 

 most peculiar, and to those who first enter 

 the Holy Land, no wonder it has suggested 

 the tempting and significant name of " The 

 Saviour'' s Blood Drops.''"' 



* * * The "hill country," as it is called, 

 of " Juda " in earlier, or " Judea " in later 

 times, is the part of Palestine which best 

 exemplifies its characteristic scenery. The 

 rounded hills and broad valleys ; the scanty 

 vegetation; the villages and fortresses, some- 

 times standing, more frequently in ruins, on 

 the hill top; the wells in every valley; the 

 vestiges of terraces, whether for corn or wine 



* * * Here, more than elsewhere are to 

 be seen on the sides of the hills, the vineyards 

 marked by their watch-towers and walls, 

 seated on their ancient terraces, the earliest 

 and latest symbol of Judah. The elevation 

 of the hills and table lands of Judah is the 

 true climate of the vine. Stanley. 



Botany Made Easy. — An excellent 

 specimen of the crack jaw tongue is found 

 in the (English) Charterhouse examina- 

 tions for 1873, under the head of botany, 

 where the scholar is told to explain the 

 following terms : " Malva has a gamose- 

 palous calyx, a polypetalous hypogynous 

 corolla, polyandrous monadelphous epipeta- 

 lous stamen, and a superior syncarpous 

 pistil." 



Botany Misapprehended.— The Nor- 

 ristown (Pa.) Herald says that a man 

 in Lower Merion wrote to the editor of 

 a horticultural journal and asked "What 

 are the most advantageous addition to dried 

 grasses, for winter ornaments ?" The editor 

 replied — '■'■ Acroclinium roseum, A. alba, 

 Gomfhrena globosa, and G. globosa caimea" 

 When the Lower Merion man read this he 

 fairly boiled with rage, and immediately 

 sent a note to th#-editor ordering his paper 

 to be discontinued. He said no editor who 



swore that way, just because he asked a 

 simple question, should have his support. 



Pet Toads.— The Rev. J. G. Wood, that 

 excellent naturalist and charming writer, 

 has a trough fitted up for his children full 

 of tame toads, each of which answers to his 

 own particular name, and comes when called. 

 The children carry them round the garden 

 and hold them up to any insect they may 

 chance to fancy, to enable them to swallow 

 it, which the}' do by a lightning flash of 

 their glutinous tongues. Even more, their 

 tender care for these unlovely pets is so 

 great that they bathe and kiss them daily, 

 just as they themselves are treated by the 

 nurse. 



Upon one occasion, one of the children, 

 who had received an orange, was seen with 

 her own special toad seated on her hand 

 partaking with his mistress of the orange, 

 in alternate sucks and bites. From the ex- 

 perience so gained, Mr. Wood declares the 

 toad to be more quickly and easily tamed 

 than most other animals. So that its dis- 

 position seems to be as devoid of venom as 

 its physique. 



A Happy Custom. — In Switzerland 

 there is a law which compels every newly 

 married couple to plant six trees imme- 

 diately after the ceremony, and two on 

 the birth of every child. They are planted 

 on commons and near the road, and being 

 mostly fruit trees are both useful and 

 ornamental. The number planted amounts 

 to 10,000 annually. 



"Wanted. — The address of every person, 

 having a greenhouse or conservatory, in the 

 United States ; also, the name of every 

 gardener and florist. 



Will our readers send us list of any 

 names of their acquaintance. We wish to 

 send a specimen copy of The Horticul- 

 turist to all such. 



