Editorial Misidlany. 181 



remember with pleasurable emotions, my visit to the Louisville 

 Fair, and the many kind friends I found to make my stay agreea- 

 ble. I was especially thankful for the kindness and hospitality 

 of the gentlemanly president of the Louisville Railroad, Mr. Ed- 

 ward D. Hobbs, whose place I visited, twelve miles from Louis- 

 ville. Mr. Hobbs is an enthusiastic admirer of fine fruits and 

 flowers. He lives in princely style upon his farm of about 800 

 acres, upon which his enterprising partner, Mr. Walker, is estab- 

 lishing a fine fruit nursery. His house is built in a chaste Gothic 

 style, is ample and commodious. It is embowered in rare orna- 

 mental deciduous and evergreen trees, comprising a variety from 

 the graceful Deodar to the classic Cedar of Lebanon. Louisville 

 can boast of some fine hotels, among which are the Gait House, 

 Owen's Hotel, and last, though not least, a new hotel called the 

 National. This is a fine new building of great architectural beau- 

 ty, situated corner of Fourth and Main streets. I was introduced 

 to mine host of the National by my friend Johnson, editor of the 

 Ky. Statesman. This hotel, in point of size, will compare with 

 the Prescott House, of New York. Its fittings and furniture are 

 of the most costly and gorgeous description, nearly equaling that 

 of the Metropolitan or St. Nicholas. The room allotted me con- 

 tained rose\vood furniture of the most costly description, and a 

 Turkish carpet, which returned no sound of the footfall. Its bril- 

 liant figures stood forth in such bold relief, that it seemed as if 

 live roses had been scattered over its surface. 



Altogether, my ramble has been very -agreeable in various re- 

 spects. I have been gratified with a view of this garden state^ 

 its hospitable people, and lastly, I have done something towards 

 making the New York Horticultural Review a permanent institu- 

 tion in Kentucky. D. W. Ray. 



Luminous Lycopodium. — They have at Kew a most curious Lyco- 

 podium, lately come from Jamaica (not, I believe, sent on account 

 of its property). It is a common looking species of the Helveticum 

 group ; green as others by day^but as evening comes on, gradual- 

 ly appearing Avhite to the eye — not pure white — but the sickly 

 white of a bleached plant, distinguishable at once by this circum- 

 stance when it is too dark to see the form or outline. Mr. Smith 

 detected this property, which can have nothing to do with the ef- 

 fect produced on the so-called Lycopodium caesium by the rays of 

 light making that plant iridescent, like shot-silk. H. R. 



