Vol. XXII. No. 10.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 



151 



l^ome, iFarm, anD Garten. 



ORCHIDS. 



The orchid family of plants is very large 

 and widely spread. Nearly all the species 

 are distinguished by some striking peculiarity 

 of form, color, or fragrance ; and the great 

 beauty and brilliancy of certain varieties have 

 caused them to bring enormous prices. A 

 varietj- of Catleya — quite a common 

 species — was recently- sold at Paris 

 for about two thousand dollars ; the 

 only reason for this enormous price 

 being, that the corolla was of a blue 

 color, slightly tinted with violet, in- 

 stead of the usual reddish violet. A 

 rare variet}' of Cypripedium — the 

 common lady's-slipper or moccason- 

 flower of this country — brought at 

 a sale in Ghent the sum of twelve 

 hundred dollars ; and numerous other 

 similar instances have been noted, 

 recalling the days of the tulip mania 

 in Holland. 



We copy from La Nature an en- 

 graving of a bouquet of these flowers 

 arranged b^- a French florist, which, 

 however, gives only an imperfect 

 idea of the beauty of the living 

 flowers. They do not fade quickly, 

 and are well suited for bouquets 

 and decorative purposes. One of 

 the most remarkable varieties is the 

 Oncidium papilio, the flower of 

 which is borne at the end of a long 

 stalk, and exactly resembles a bril- 

 liantl}- colored butterfly with out- 

 spread wings. 



Not all the orchids are sold at as 

 high a price as those mentioned 

 above. Many equally beautiful ones 

 can be procured of the florists at 

 very reasonable rates. Some species 

 belong to the class of air-plants, and 

 onl}- need a piece of wood or bark 

 to attach themselves to, with plenty 

 of moisture, and will flourish with 

 little care. The cultivation of orchids 

 is rapidly becoming a favorite pur- 

 suit with amateur gardeners and 

 horticulturists, and we may expect 

 to see them more common and plen- 

 tiful every }'ear. 



Although the most showy and 

 orchids are inhabitants of tropical 

 there are many interesting species growing 

 in our own fields and woods. The pretty 

 lady's-slipper and graceful arelhusa belong 

 to this famil}-, as well as the showy-orchis 

 and the less conspicuous coral-root and putty- 

 root. A very common orchid is the little 

 flower known as lady's tresses, which grows 

 abundantly in damp places. The small, whitc- 

 ish flowers are arranged spirally around the 

 stalk like a curl of hair, and are very sweet- 

 scented ; in fact, if any flower has any re- 

 markable peculiarity of shape or color, it is 



quite probable that it may i)rove to be an 

 orchid. 



The botanical relations of this familj' are 

 very important and very complicated. The 

 stamens and pistils are united together, form- 

 ing what is known as the column. The pollen 

 grains usually, cohere together into masses, 

 and the ditferent arrangements of the flower 

 by which cross-fertilization, or the deposition 

 of the pollen of one flower upon the pistil of 



theory. Why cross-fertilization is of benefit 

 to the plant is unknown ; but such seems to be 

 the case, although there are a few instances, 

 as in the case of the common blue violet, 

 where only the self-fertilized flowers, or those 

 where the pollen of the same flower is de- 

 posited upon its pistil, produce fully developed 

 seeds. So important is cross-fertilization in 

 some cases, that in Australia it was found im- 

 possible to raise clover-seed until the farmers 

 introduced bees who could insert 

 their long tongues into its deep tubu- 

 lar corolla, and carry the necessary 

 pollen ft-om one flower to another.' 

 The cultivation of orchids pre- 

 sents no especial difficulties, and 

 can be recommended to the atten- 

 tion of both the scientific botanist 

 and the amateur horticulturist. 



brilliant 

 forests. 



another, are extremely wonderful. This is 

 usually etfected by the aid of bees and other 

 honey-loving insects, which, attracted by the 

 appearance or odor of these conspicuous 

 flowers, enter the corolla, and bear away the 

 sticky pollen masses upon their bodies. When 

 the next flower is visited, the insect is obliged 

 by the shape to enter it in such a way that 

 the pollen on his body is brought iu contact 

 with the stigmatic surface of the pistil, to 

 which it adheres. 



This interesting rnatter of cross-fertilization 

 is treated of at great length in the works of 

 Darwin, Gray, and other naturalists, and has 

 an important bearing upon the evolutionary 



[Original in Popular Science News.] 

 TIIK OAK-PRUNER. 



BY W. J. CHASE. 



t 



The attention of many of the readers 

 of the Popular Science Ne-wx has un- 

 doubtedly been attracted recently to 

 the ravages of some insect which causes 

 the tips of the branches of the oak-tree, 

 and oftentimes large branches them- 

 selves, to fall withered to the ground. 

 The insect which is doing this mischief 

 is the oak-pruner (Sletwcorus pulator), 

 the most interesting of all the thirty- 

 five or forty insects -which prey upon 

 the Northern oak. The larva of this 

 beetle, which is itself not more than 

 two-thirds of an inch in length, dis- 

 plays in its methods of destruction an 

 ingenuity and judgment wonderful to 

 see. 



About the last week in June the 

 female deposits its eggs, one at a time, 

 at the axil of a leaf-stalk or near the 

 end of a small twig, and sometimes in 

 the bark of the larger branches. When 

 the grub hatches, which occurs very 

 soon, it eats its way to the centre of 

 the twig or branch on which the egg 

 was placed. 



Up to this time it has shown no espe- 

 cial genius, but its M-ork is all before 

 it. The feat that it has to perform is 

 to cut off the limb in which it \x located, 

 and with which it wishes to be carried 

 to the ground, without being crushed 

 at the moment the limb breaks away 

 from the tree, or being shaken by its 

 fall from its hole in the branch. To do this suc- 

 cessfully would seem to require a very considerable 

 knowledge of the force of the winds, and the size 

 and weight of the part to be sundered. Yet, work- 

 ing from the inside, and in the dark as to all of 

 these seemingly necessary data, it must never- 

 theless calculate just how far it can sever the wood 

 so as to allow itself time before the fall of the 

 branch to retire within its hole, and clo.se the open- 

 ing with a wad of woody fibre. This, thanks to 

 the many trials, mistakes, and failures of its an- 

 cestors, which have their fruit in what we term its 

 instinct, the little pruner seems enabled to do; and, 

 having dene it to its satisfaction, it takes its ea.^e, 

 and grows fat upon the pith of the branch, extend- 

 ing its burrow ten or twelve inches beyond the 

 point at which it has been cutting. 



