1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



91 



Treeclimber's Talks 



A CUEIOUS 



PLANT— THE 

 PLANT. 



ASIATIC PITCHER 



Plants ai'e often classed as useful plants and 

 ornamental plants. While this is for many 

 purposes quite necessary, still I think that the 

 true lover of nature finds beauty 

 in all useful plants, and use and 

 value in all plants, even such as 

 are merely ornamental. 



But there is another class, that 

 may well be called curious plants, 

 and among these none are perhaps 

 more so than the Pitcher Plants. 



Of what are termed Pitcher 

 Plants, there are a number of 

 different kinds, belonging to dif- 

 erent botanical orders. One of 

 these is an American kind, also 

 known as 



THE huntsman's CUP, 



and the Side-saddle flower. 0£ 

 this one, no doubt many of my 

 young readers have met specimens 

 growing wild, for it is found in 

 many parts of America thriving 

 in peat-bogs. The leaves, very 

 curiously, have the form of an 

 open cup, and are usually half 

 filled with water, much of which 

 may be rain. In this water many 

 insects find their way during the 

 season, only to di'own. 



But even more curious than the 

 common American Pitcher Plant, 

 is the Asiatic Pitcher Plant, of 

 which an engraving is herewith 

 given. It is over sixty years ago 

 since the first species of this was 

 met by Europeans, in China, and 

 introduced into their hot-houses. 

 Since that tune vai'ious other species have been 

 found, but none is more interesting than the 

 one here illustrated. This one is known botan- 

 ically as \epenflics Hookeriand. 



In the engraving the peculiar appendages to 

 the apex of the leaves, which give it its very 

 appropriate name, are conspicuous. This for- 

 mation is a veritable Pitcher, 



EVEN to the lid, 

 which is hinged to one side. When the Pitcher 

 is in a young, forming state, the lid in some 

 species is closed. As it develops, it opens, and 

 even then, water is found in the receptacle, 

 which proves that this fluid is a secretion of 

 the plant. After the lid is fully open, no doubt 

 additions are made to the water by rain and 

 heavy dews. In this water, insects and even 

 small animals are often di-owned. A very re- 

 markable quality of the fluid is that it 



HAS A CERTAIN DIGESTIVE POWER, 



and it is believed that the plant derives some 

 direct benefit to its growth bj' the consump- 

 tion of insects. Plants of this class have there- 

 fore been called Carnivorous or Insect-eating 

 plants. The Pitchere vary in size to hold from 

 half a pint to near a quart of water each. 



The Asiatic Pitcher Plants are no strangers to 

 American hothouses. The plants require in 

 cultivation, conditions of treatment not very 

 unlike those suited to the Orchids. When any 

 of my young readers have an opportunity to 

 visit a good collection of hot-house plants, no 

 doubt their eyes may meet some specimens of 

 these interesting exotics. 



THE DANDELION. 



From rare plants let us turn to this common 

 flower, which all youngsters of all lands hail 

 with gladness at its first appearing. I really 

 wonder if there is in creation another flower 



that turns up so many pretty posy-faces to the 

 sun as does this one. 



If each rod of lawn in our laud does not show 

 from a dozen to a thousand of the brilliant 

 double blossoms, it is, I presume, only because 

 a very close-cutting lawn mower has prevented, 

 or else that a systematic t-oursu of weeding has 

 expelled the plants, or by barest luck that none 

 ever got a footing. 



AT HOME IN ALL LANDS. 



The Dandelion is at home in many lands be- 

 sides our own. Indeed, wherever civilization 

 has extended, and even far beyond this, 



A CURIOUS PLANT.— THE ASIATIC PITCHER PLANT. 



throughout the globe, it has become natu- 

 ralized and comes forth to greet the sight of 

 man in the spring. It is supposed to be a na- 

 tive of Europe, but makes itself at home 

 wherever it has a chance, from equator to pole. 



Perhaps you have noticed that its bright 

 flowers open and close at about the same hour 

 each day. It was for this that Liuna?us selected 

 it as one of the flowers of his floral clock. 



Every flower now stands for some sentiment, 

 and so the DaudeUon has its own. In floral 

 language, one might easily guess that it should 

 signify coquetry. 



LIKE A TRUE COQUETTE, 



it smiles on all, and winning the admiration, 

 if it be but momentary, of every one b.y its 

 undeniable beauty. It maj' hardly be neces- 

 sary to say further that the globes formed by 

 its seed have in all lands and ages been looked 

 upon by 3-oung people as oracles, in matters of 

 the affections. I think all of my I'eaders un- 

 derstand about this. Still as I am on the sub- 

 ject, I may as well repeat 



THE LEGEND, 



as follows; If you are separateil from the ob- 

 ject of your love, pluck one of the feathery 

 heads, charge the little feathers with tender 

 thoughts, turn towai-ds the spot where the 

 loved one dwells, and blow, and the oerial trav- 

 elers, it is said, will faithfully convey your se- 

 cret to his or her feet. To ascertain if that 

 dear one is thinking of you, blow again, and if 

 a single tuft is left standing it is proof that you 

 are not forgotten. 



Timothy Treeclimber. 



true enough as regards the incident related. 

 But we desire here to say to the young read- 

 ers of Popular Gardening tliat there is more 

 fable than truth in the cui-rent notion tliat the 

 plant referred to flowers butoni'e in a century. 

 In Central and South America this plant 

 (properly .4 (/rnr Antrricand) in its wil<l state 

 has been known to flower in its eighth year. In 

 our hot-houses they perhaps rarely flower 

 under thirty or forty years of age, one rea.son 

 being, that they are pui-jio.sely grown slowly to 

 keep them as long as possible from getting un- 

 wieldly as to size. But here is the story: 



There was a man at the Central 

 vegetable market yHstiM'cla.v with a 

 small and sickly-looking Centuiy 

 Plant in a cheap pot, and lie was 

 mad. 



" Look-a-here : " he said to the 

 owner of each flower stand in suc- 

 cession, "did'tyou sell me this 'ere 

 plant five years ago?" 



Each one answered in the nega- 

 tive. Then he made sucli a row that 

 a policeman canii' up and told him 

 to hush, 



■'Haven't I got a riKlit to talk : " 

 demanded the man in high dudgeon, 

 "■\Vhenf have been swindled, clieated, 

 iciliheil and made a fool of must I 

 ki'e|) si], -nee in this free land?" 



" NN'liat is the cause of ,vour woe?" 



■■ i tiuii;^tit tliis plant of soinebodv 

 lieri' [ilniut the years ago. They told 

 me it wjis !!,■) years old, and that it 

 would bloom this spring, I've fooled 

 away enough time on the thing to 

 build a house I've set up nights to 

 nurse it, and I've gone home by day 

 to keep it from freezing," 



" Well, what's the mattery" 



"They lied to me I I've had two 

 ttotanists examine it. an<l they tell 

 me the plant isn't ten years old'r 

 Think of my fooling around for 

 ninety .years to see the infernal thing 

 flower out I" 



" But what can you do'^" 



" I want to find the hyena who put 

 up the job on me, I'll make him eat 

 the whole outfit or break his neck?" 



" Don't get excited. Take your 

 plant and go home." 



" Never I" 



He lifted the pot high in the air 

 and dashed tlie life out of the poor 

 plant, and then sat stiffly down on a 

 bench, folded Iiis arms, and said: 



'■ I'm going to sit right here till I 

 get eyes on the man who put up a 

 nmety-five-year job on a confiding 

 citizen!" 



The Century Plant: Too Long to Walt. 



The humorous story which follows below, 



clipped from the Detroit Free Press, might be 



PET BIRDS, ANIMALS, ETC. 



Do not keep Parrots always caged. 



Without fresh, clean water, no bird can be 

 healthy. 



The Carrier Pigeons are easily recognized by the 

 curious ring of llesb about the eye. and they usually 

 have a tlesliy wattle beneath the head. 



The dog i^ placed at the feet of woman on monu- 

 ments, in token of affection and fidelity, just as the 

 lion is placed at the feet of men to signify courage. 



Canaries in a wild state even surpass in loudness 

 and clearness the song of domesticated birds, but 

 lack the numerous acquired strains of the latter. 



Can Shepherds' Dogs Counts It would almost 

 seem si;i, the way the.v will gather every individual 

 of a large tlock of sheep from an area of several 

 square miles. 



Lady: "Have you given the gold-fish fresh wa- 

 ter, as I told you. Maria?" Maria: "No. ma'am: 

 and why should I? Sure, they haven't drunk what 

 they have yet!" 



"Who has not seen a dirty cat, that would have 

 been handsome btit for the discoloration. Such a 

 onemaj' be thoroughly cleaned by washing in warm 

 water and di',ving before the lire, eomliing and 

 brushing at the same tinu-. 



The Birds and the Bath. M T n writes to 

 the Neir York Tribune: ^Ve ]iut two large sau- 

 cers belonging to plant jars, about two inches 

 deep, in a shad,v place not far from the back porch. 

 These we fill with fresh water daily, and the birds 

 come regularly to perform their ablutions The 

 robins are espeeiall.v fond of it. One day wc saw 

 within ten minutes three robins, a blackbird and a 

 sparrow bathe. But woe to a plebeian sparrow if 

 he ventures to make his toilet at the same time that 

 an aristocratic robin is making his in the ad.itnning 

 saucer. He is at_ once taught to know his place by 

 iK'ing driven off. These bathing places were the 

 means of our catching a stray canary. Seeing him 

 bathing, we put a cage on the grass which he soon 

 entered." 



