Domestic Notices. 115 



Cambridj^e; and nothing could possibly exceed the happy and elegant 

 taste with which every ornament was executed. The sides and ends of 

 the room were beautifully decorated with evergreens, wreaths and dah- 

 lias. At the head of the grand stand was an immense orange tree, thick- 

 ly studded with dahlias, to represent i\\^ fruit in its various stages of 

 •rrowth, backed by a beautiful Fiichsiiu muitiflora, 12 feet high, from the 

 Botanic Garden. At the end of the room was a prettily variegated 

 crown entirely composed of dahlias. But the grand attraction of all 

 was a splendid balloon, wholly formed of dahlia blooms, suspended 

 from the ceiling, the car of which appeared to be illuminated, from being 

 placed over a gas chandelier. This serial machine had a strikiiiir effect, 

 the flowers being arranged in stripes to represent variegated silk; and 

 we were told that more than 2,300 dahlias were required to complete 

 the balloon, exclusive of the car, from which two flags were pendent. — 

 The afternoon show was attended by a numerous and respectable com- 

 ])any; but the evening exhibition was crowded beyond all former prece- 

 dent, owing to its being on the eve of the horse-fair, which irave the 

 neiijhboring country people an opportunity of witnessing the finest dis- 

 play of dahlias ever seen in Cambridge. Upwards of 700 well-dressed 

 persons were in the room at one time, and from eight to half past nine 

 o'clock, the number amounted to little, if any, short of 3000 persons, 

 all with happy countenances, highly delighted with the fairy scene; ad- 

 ded to which were the musical strains of the Cambridge Military Band, 

 who played several new and difficult pieces, with a precision and taste 

 that would have done credit to veteran performers. After the ladies 

 had withdrawn, more than 200 members and their friends sat down, 

 with the s|)lendid flowers before them, and enjoyed the scene with mu- 

 sic, song and toast. 



We have pre|)ared some account of the best dahlias which gained 

 prizes, which will appear in our next. — Conds. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 



Maclurn aurantiaca, — We have received from some of our correspon- 

 dents more information respecting this plant. From this we are con- 

 vinced that it is a dioecious plant, and that Mr. Nuttall was right in 

 placing it in Dioe^cia tetrandria. One of our correspondents writes as 

 follows: — "The Macluro is, unquestionably, a dioscious plant. I have 

 both the male and female growing on my grounds, which have flowered 

 freely for several years. It belongs, as stated by M r. Nuttall, to the or- 

 der tetrandria, but I am unable to describe, from memory, the staminate 

 flowers accurately at this time, further than to say they are very small 

 and white, and depend in loose racemes from the axils of the leaves. 

 The pistillate plant is a year or two older, and consiflerably larger than 

 the staminate; and, according to my observation, 1 should say the latter 

 WHS not necessary to the former, for the production of fruit or berries; 

 but that it is indispensable to the fertilization of the seed. The berry is 

 composed of several hundred ackii or pulpy grains, each of which should 

 contain one seed. Owing, however, to the disparity in size and ase, be- 

 tween the two trees, and the consequent partial fructification of the pis- 

 tillate organs by the pollen of the staminate flowers, I have not noticed 

 one of the berries to contain more than fifty seeds; and until two or 

 three years past, they perfected none." The Madura will undoubtedly 



