APRIL. 



193 



order Nymphaea, at least in the Linnasan Polyandria class. 

 Its seeds and seed capsule resemble the Camellia. Of Deutz/a, 

 althasa and a good many others I shall say nothing. 



From what I have said it will be seen that the Japanese 

 and Chinese plants are well adapted to this latitude, and why 

 might not the tea plant be cultivated with propriety ? Thea 

 viridis is growing in the neighborhood. In 1851 I visited 

 Dr. Junius Smith's tea plantation, in the vicinity of 

 Greenville, S. C, in hope to sse the tea plant in something 

 like perfection, but I must confess I was disappointed ; at 

 the same time what I saw was sufficient to prove the thing 

 possible. Mr. Smith had some plants about three feet high and 

 looking pretty well ; he said the drought was more injurious 

 to his plants than the cold or heat. His integrity and enthu- 

 siasm, for a gentleman of his age, were remarkable, but his 

 appliances and practical workings were insufficient for the 

 undertaking. Since his decease I have heard nothing of the 

 tea planting. 



NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF HICKORY. 



BY THOS. MEEHAN, GERMANTOWN, PHILADELPHIA. 



I was so much interested in some remarks you made last 

 fall in your magazine on " our neglected American trees," 

 that I could not resist the temptation of troubling you with a 

 note in relation to Celtis occidentalis. Beyond the " neglect- 

 ed," as you have them enumerated, the hickories may also be 

 mentioned, as especially worthy of note in both an utilitarian 

 and ornamental point of view, and, with your permission, I 

 beg to draw attention to them ; at least so far as to those with 

 which I am well acquainted. 



In Pennsylvanian forests the first change of color which 

 gives them such an interesting appearance in the fall, is due 

 to the hickories. Long before the sassafras appears in its 

 variegated hues, the hickories are brilliant with every shade 

 of yellow and orange. The first white frost, or unseasonably 

 cold night, changes their dark green hue in a few hours. The 



VOL. XXI. NO. IV. 25 



