bi 
parent, and is soluble in all proportions in turpentine, and when dis- 
solved in it may be applied to all the purposes for which lacquer is used. 
After its application it should be dried quickly at about 50° C. 
Freezing of plants——Professor Fr. Mohr, reasoning from certain 
observed facts, believes that the destruction of plants by freezing is due 
to the expansion of the fluid in the cells, thus bursting their walls and 
stopping the processes of vegetation. The destruction is effected prin- 
cipally in those plants which have large cells, and therefore containing 
a large amount of fluid, while those provided with small cells, and con- 
sequently containing but a small quantity of fluid, remain uninjured. 
If, however, the latter be attacked before the fluid has disappeared from 
them sufficiently in the fall, or after it has re-appeared in the spring, they 
will also be affected. He also states that it is impossible to determine 
the temperature at which plants (sprouts of vines, potatoes, &c.) are 
destroyed, since it is probable that they may become much cooler by 
radiation than the shining bulbs of the thermometer. 
BOTANICAL NOTES. 
By Dr. GEORGE VASEY, BOTANIST. 
INTERESTING EXAMPLE OF FASCIATION.—Several specimens, showing 
an abnormal vegetable growth of the variety called fasciation, have been 
sent by Dr. A. Schottman, of Texas, who gives the following history of 
the case: 
About twelve years ago a small shrub of a kind of sophora, growing in the moun- 
tainous region of Texas, was planted in my garden. It grew very well, and a few 
years afterward, in early spring-time, it became covered “with buds, promising an 
abundance of flowers. But the first year all, these buds dried and disappeared, but 
the peduncles increased, both in length and breadth. A few weeks later the shrub was 
adorned by handsome hangings of a silvery-gray color, like white cockscombs. The 
stipules of the aborted flowers were very numerous and somewhat aculeate. In the 
winter following, these hangings (malformed peduncles) fell off, and in the spring of 
the next, year new buds made their appearance, on new peduncles. Since that time, 
about six or seven years ago, my shrub has been every year very ornamental, bearing 
an abundance of violet flowers and handsome legumes. In the fall of 1871 the soil 
around my sophora was cleaned, manured, and plowed, and in the spring of 1872 the 
shrub anew failed to produce flowers; only the above-described hangings covered it. 
Last winter, although a long and hard one, did not kill these deformities, and now, in 
the middle of March, 1873, they are almost all covered with flowers. 
This kind of abnormal growth occurs in many herbaceous plants, as 
in celosia or cockscomb, and occasionally in woody plants. It generally 
consists of a flattening and expansion of the stem or branch, with an 
unusual development of buds produced without regular order. Several 
causes have been ascribed for this monstrosity. Professor Hinks ex- 
plains it on the principle of adhesion, arising in cases where, from su- 
perabundant nourishment, especially if accompanied by some check or 
injury, numerous buds have been produced in close proximity. It is 
stated that the means enrployed by horticulturists in the cultivation of 
the cockscomb, so as to insure the production of the very large flower- 
stalks for which this plant is admired, is the application of a large 
quantity of stimulating mannre and the ‘maintenance of a high temper- 
