352 



The Horticulturist. 



tions should surround their homes with a 

 profusion of the most odoriferous flowers. 



A Carnivei'ous Plant. — A remarkable 

 plant was exhibited to the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, by Dr. 

 Hooker, who gave the inaugural address as 

 president of the biology section. The address 

 was upon the subject of carniverous plants, 

 and Dr. Hooker explained and demonstrated 

 by experiment some extraordinary discoveries 

 of Mr. Darwin's. Among other things, says 

 a Liverpool paper, he showed a plant called 

 "Dionial," the leaves of which were open. 

 A fly was captured and put upon a leaf, which 

 instantly closed, and on reopening it was 

 found that the fly was completely dissolved. 

 A bit of beef was afterward consumed in the 

 same way. The leaf was then fed with 

 cheese, which disagreed with it horribly, and 

 eventually killed it. Dr. Hooker explained 

 that the plant's action was precisely similar 

 to that of the human stomach. The leaf re- 

 jected a piece of wet chalk. Professor Hux- 

 ley, in moving a vote of thanks, said these 

 phenomena formed a wonderful problem. 

 The plant had certainly a nervous system of 

 its own. 



Curious Trees. — Just beyond the Dar- 

 bonne or Calcasieu river, in the parish of 

 Calcasieu, is a white oak tree, about two-and- 

 a-half feet in diameter. There are no 

 branches for twenty-five or thirty feet up. 

 About twelve or fifteen feet up, a pine limb 

 or top part of a pine tree, six or eight inches 

 in diameter, and twelve or sixteen feet long, 

 runs at right angles through the center of the 

 tree, sticking out about the same distance on 

 either side. It tapers a little to one end, 

 where there are two or three knots, giving it 

 the appearance of a tree top. The oak, 

 where it passes through, is grown closely 

 around it. The pine is rich in turpentine 

 and will not decay. There is no fork or 

 hollow in the oak ; but it has the appearance 

 as if a hole had been made and the pine 

 struck through, after which the oak closed on 

 it by growth. The question is, how did the 

 pine get through the oak, or the oak round 

 the pine ? 



In Mallet woods there is another white oak, 

 of considerable size, that divides into two 

 prongs about one-and-a-half feet from the 

 ground, which after running up like a pair of 

 bowlegs, about fifteen feet, unite in one round 

 compact stem. The prongs are about one- 

 and-a-half feet in diameter ; and where they 

 unite above, the tree is larger than either of 

 them, but smaller than both together. A 

 man can walk between the two prongs, and 

 the tree stands on a land bouifdary line. 

 Forked trees are very common ; but the 

 question here is, how did the two prongs 

 unite so perfectly into one stem above ? 



Victorian Wine, — Another successful ex- 

 periment, says The Melbourii Argus, with 

 Victorian wine has been reported. Some 

 white Metario wine of the vintage of 1868 

 was placed on board the ship Superb by Mr. 

 Leplastrier when she was last here, and made 

 the voyage to England and back. It was 

 tried recently, and was pronounced excellent. 

 It is a first-class wine, fullbodied, and of 

 delicious flavor, and it shows the degree of 

 excellence to which Victorian wines may 

 attain when well handled and properly cared 

 for. It is Mr. Leplastrier's intention to send 

 a rather large quantity of colonial wine home 

 by the Superb on her present trip, and have 

 it brought back again, in order more fully to 

 determine what Victorian wines are really 

 capable of. 



The Ascent of Saj> in Plants. — Prof. 

 McNab has presented to the Royal Irish 

 Academy a memoir on the ascent of water in 

 the stems of plants, to investigate which point 

 very many experiments were made. He 

 finds in the privet the rate of ascent to be 

 about 6 inches per hour, in the elm 16.6 inches 

 per hour ; in the cherry laurel the rate varied 

 from 24 to 13 inches. Experiments were 

 also made as to the influence of sunlight and 

 darkness, the influence of the bark, the in- 

 fluence of the leaves, and the influence of 

 pressure. 



The Duke of Buccleugh grape is a new vari- 

 ety, which is considered one of the best and ear- 

 liest under glass. It is reported as very robust. 



