JSfotes and Gleanings. 347 



A Forest in Trinidad is thus described by a recent writer : — 

 " In Europe a forest is usually made up of one dominant plant — of firs or of 

 pines, of oaks or of beeches, of birch or of heather. Here, no two plants seem 

 ahke. There are more species on an acre here than in all the New Forest, 

 Savernake, or Sherwood. Stems rough, smooth, prickly, round, fluted, stilted 

 upright, sloping, branched, arched, jointed, opposite-leaved, alternate-leaved, 

 leafless, or covered with leaves of every conceivable pattern, are jumbled to- 

 gether, till the eye and brain are tired of continually asking, " What next ? " 

 The stems are of every color, copper, pink, gray, green, brown, black as if burnt, 

 marbled with lichens, many of them silvery white, gleaming afar in the bush, 

 furred with mosses and delicate creeping film-ferns, or laced with air roots of 

 some parasite aloft. Up this stem scrambles a climbing Seguine {Philodettdron), 

 with entire leaves ; up the next, another quite different, with deeply cut leaves ; 

 up the next, the Ceriman {Monstera perticsa) spreads its huge leaves, latticed and 

 forked, again and again. So fast do they grow that they have not time to fill 

 up the spaces between their nerves, and are consequently full of oval holes ; 

 and so fast does its spadix of flowers expand, that an actual genial heat and 

 fire of passion, which may be tested by the thermometer, or even by the hand, 

 is given off during fructification. Look on the next stem ; up it and down, a 

 climbing fern, which is often seen in hot-houses, has tangled its finely-cut 

 fronds ; up the next a quite different fern is crawling, by pressing tightly to the 

 rough bark its creeping root-stalks, furred like a hare's leg ; up the next the 

 grim little griffe-chatte plant has walked by numberless clusters of small cat's 

 claws, which lay hold of the bark. 



Color of Flowers grown in Darkness. — From some experiments re- 

 cently made by Dr.R. McDonnell, of Dublin, it appears that of a series of 

 hyacinths flowered in a perfectly dark cellar, the green leaves were thoroughly 

 blanched, wliile the flowers of the red variety came quite white ; those of the 

 yellow practically so, but those of the violet-blue sorts were unaffected. 



Florist and Penologist. 



Soil for Echeveria metallica. — Two parts light sandy loam, one 

 part leaf soil, one part crocks, and one part sharp sand. The drainage must 

 be efficient, and if watered sparingly, the plants will winter safely. 



English Journal of Horticulture. 



Lord Palmerston Peach. — If this new variety is as beautiful as the col- 

 ored plate in the Florist and Pomologist, nothing more can possibly be asked for 

 in that respect. It is a seedhng raised by Mr. Rivers, from the Princess of 

 Wales, which variety was raised by him from the Pavie de Pompone. It is de- 

 scribed as of the largest size, pale sulphur-yellow, the exposed parts being flushed 

 with dull crimson, over which was disposed in crowded blotches a deeper or 

 purplish-red tint, the whole of the highly colored part of the fruit thus acquiring 

 a marbled character. The flesh is firm and slightly adherent when not fully 

 ripened, but when fully matured it is melting and of rich and pleasant flavor. It 

 ripens late. The glands of the leaves are very small, roundish-reniform ; the 

 flowers are among the largest of all peaches, and afford quite a floral sight. 



