June 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



7S 



cvenuess of tlii' climate causes fermentation 

 of the vine without artificial heat. For the 

 same reason, coupletl with the dryness of the 

 atmosiihere, promoting evaporation, the 

 wine matures rapidly— three or four years 

 enriching and mellowing it as much as eight 

 years do in Europe. 



Instinct in Vegetables. 



The root constitutes the plant's mouth. 

 It terminates in a little sponge. The sponge 

 drinks up the moisture from the surround- 

 ing earth. A simple experiment proves 

 that whatever an amputated hranch may do 

 for an hour, the mouth of the plant is nec- 

 essary to its permanent vitality. Two plants 

 are jdaced for this purpose, side by side, in 

 contiguous vessels. The roots of one are in 

 water or moist and fruitful eartli, while a 

 layer of dry .sand above surrounds the stem. 

 It llcHirishes. The roots of the second are in 

 dry sand, while the water or fruitful earth 

 surrounils its stem. It dies. Indeed, one 

 need not try such experiments. Nature 

 has demonstrations quite as striking. Every 

 boy lias seen in the woods the roots of some 

 tree planted by the birds or the winds in 

 the crevices of a rock, wandering down the 

 sides of the great boulder in search of nour- 

 ishment. Dr. Davy tells of a case in which 

 a horse-chestnut, growing on a flat stone, 

 sent out its roots thus to forage for food. — • 

 They pas.sed seven feet up a contiguous wall, 

 turned at the toj], and passing down seven 

 feet on the other side, found the needed 

 nourishment there, which their own barren 

 home denied them. Thus clo.sely does the 

 instinct of vegetation imitate the wisdom of 

 the animate creation. In another instance, 

 narrated by Malhtrbe, an acacia threw its 

 roots across a hollow of sixty-six feet, to find 

 its labors rewarded by the discovery of a 

 Well of water in which they plunged, and 

 from which they drew the food it so much 

 needed. What strange sense drew them to- 

 ward the water rather than toward the rock 

 or the sand ? 



A yet more singular instance of this search 

 for tood is narrated by Wallace in is " Ma- 

 lay Archipelago." 



if seed had been dropped by one of na- 

 ture's husbandmen, a bird, in the decaying 

 trunn of an old tree. It sprouted, put forth 

 roots, branches, a little stem. But its roots 

 in vain sought nourishment at the breasts of 

 the dying foster-mother. At length, aban- 

 doning all hope of support from lier, they 

 pushetl out from home to seek a living. — 

 They dropped to the gnjund, a distance of 

 sixty or seventy feet, and fastening there, 

 succeeded in securing an independent liveli- 

 hood. As time passed on, the old trunk 

 died, decayed, disappeared. The new tree 

 remained suspended, as it were, in mid-air, 

 the roots proceeding downward and the 

 branches upward from a point about equi- 

 distant between the two. 



It is not thus alone that the root exhibits 

 its intelligence. It displays equal .sagacity 

 in selecting from the soil only those ele- 

 ments which its own plant requires. Some- 

 times it errs, and drinks in a deadly poison. 

 But its native instict is more rarely at fault 

 than the supposed superior wisdom of man. 

 Trees rarely eat unwisely. They are never 

 guilty of gluttony. 



Yet if the root be the principal feeder of 

 the plant, the chief source of supply for its 

 marvelous circulation, it does not alone ful- 

 lill this office. The leaves al.so absorb mois- 

 ture. "In Ihe burning days of summer," 

 says M. Pouchet, " I have found carpets of 

 ieeplants on the most arid rocks of Greece. 

 Although it had not rained for a month, 

 tlie.se plants displayed a remiirkable fresh- 

 ness, and their leafage was none the less 

 covered with a coating of icicKs."— Harper's 

 MaQuzine. 



Of What Sponges Consist- 



The conuuon washing sponge is still con- 

 sidered b}' many naturalists as a vegetable 

 species, and in fact most people look upon it 

 as of vegetable growth. Still, it seems now 

 to be definitively established that it belongs 

 to those low forms of auimalculn? that are 

 comprised untler the term zoophytes. " Will 

 you make us believe," here you exolaim, 

 " that this fibrous net-work, in which one is 

 unable to detect the least indication of any 

 thing that reminds us of animal life, is not a 

 moss or something like it?" E.xactly so. 

 However, the sponge which you use in your 

 daily ablutions, and which forms one of the 

 most iudisiiensable articles of the toilet, is 

 not the animal as it lives and thrives, but 

 only its horny substance, its .skeleton, if you 

 like to call it so. When cut loose from the 

 submarine rocks on which it is found at con- 

 siderable depth, the spor.ge presents itself to 

 you as a black jelly-like mass, which, when 

 let) in the air for only a few days, will give 

 oft' a most disagreeable smell, originating 

 from the gelatinous part in question. In the 

 natural sponge, you have not one single in- 

 dividual before you, but a regular colony of 

 animaleula'. The elastic, horn-like net-work 

 of your toilet table is then impregnated to 

 its innermost parts ^^■ith a slimy substance 

 that is penetrated throughout by fine capil- 

 lary tubes, not visible to ths naked eye. Up- 

 im examining this curious being further, ex- 

 ceeding cilia (eye lashes) will be discovered. 

 They project around the entrances of the 

 pores, and by their motion produce a current 

 which, in passing through the numberless 

 tubes, leaves behind whatever they may need 

 as food. The horny net-work is probably 

 only their secretion, like the house of the 

 snail. But tliat the sponge is of animal 

 origin is now proven by the discovery of 

 S|:ermatoza and embroys in the interior, as 

 Well as by the composition of the fibrous 

 elastic part itself, which contains one of the 

 con.stituents of silk and spider's web. 



In order to prepare it for use, it is first 

 left in the air for a. short time, until the 

 gelatinous part is decomposed, then the mass 

 is washed in Imt water, and afterward in a 

 bath of dilute muriatic acid. The toilet 

 .sponges are bleached by means of chlorine 

 and hyposulphite of soda. The so-called 

 wax sponges, that are used by doctors for 

 dressing ulcers, are jnirified sponges dipped 

 into fluid wax, and then pressed between hot 

 plates. 



The French and Austrian governments 

 have lately commenced to rear sponges 

 artificiall3- — the former on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, the latter on the coast of 

 Calmatia. The cultivation is said to be per- 

 fectly successful, and to yield large profits. 

 Manufacturer and Builder. 



The J.\p.\n Plum. — A Louisiana coares 

 pondent of the Rural Carolinian, gives the 

 following account of this tree and fruit: 



"Throughout Southern Louisiana there 

 grows au evergreen fruit tree similar to the 

 green baj-, with long, thick, coar.se leaves 

 and grao body, resembling the maple orsour 

 wood of the atlaiitic States. 1 his tree bears 

 in clusters— from four to twenty on the ex- 

 tremities of its limbs — a pear shaped fruit, 

 averaging about the size of a 'lump of chalk,' 

 i. e., smaller than a guinea hen's egg, that is 

 perfectly yellow when ripe, ha3 tiesh more 

 resembling a yellow apple than a plum, and 

 in the center, two, three, or four small kern- 

 els, about the size nf hulled pindars, and ]ier- 

 fectly .slick. This tree blooms in November, 

 the fruit begins to rijien in March, and con- 

 tinues ripening until June, or even Jidy. 

 Through all these mouths the trees present 

 tempting baits to the lovers of good fruit. 

 The tree is a very hard one, and a sure and 

 prolific bearer. It is .sasd to have been in- 



troduced into Louisiana by Commodore 

 Perry, on his return from his famous Japan 

 expedition, and hence is called the Japan 

 Plum. The purpose of tl is inquiry is to 

 learn whether this fruit is known elsewhere 

 in the South, or whether it has ever been 

 transplanted into any other of the Southern 

 States with success. Once climatizcd into 

 the Atl.intic States, imrserymeu would find 

 it a valuable acquisition." 



Effect of Forests on Health. 



It seems to be geuerallj" understood among 

 scientific observers, that forests, and even a 

 few rows of trees, often have great effect in 

 checking the mia.smatic vapors. It has been 

 observed that a screen of trees in certain 

 localities in Italy, protected the inhabitants 

 fi'om fevers which were prevalent upon the 

 other side of them. Certain commissioners 

 in Tuscany advised the planting of three or 

 four rows of white poplars to intercept the 

 currents of air from malarious localities. 

 Lieut. Maury believed that a few rows of 

 sun ficiwers planted between the Observatory 

 at Washington and the Potomac marshes, had 

 saved the inmates of the Observatory from 

 the intermittent fevers to which they had 

 been liable, and large plantations have been 

 planted in alluvial soils in Italy with fevor- 

 able results in preventing tJie spread of 

 noxious exhalations from the marshes. 



The uniform temperature and humidity 

 of forests, except in tropicil climates, are 

 considered favorable to health. Even the 

 great swamps of Virginia are found to be 

 healthy both to black and whites until 

 portions of forests are felled, when by rapid 

 decomposition they become insalubrious, 

 and even dangerous. 



Upon the whole, it would seem that for 

 comfort, for fertility of soil, and for liealth, 

 as well as for convenience, economy, and 

 last, but not least, the beauty of the laud- 

 scape, we ought carefully to cherish our 

 native forests and encourage artificial plan- 

 tations.— .Sr. 



Hardy Apple Stocks. 



The season just passed has been very de- 

 structive to one and two year old trees by 

 root killing. The hardiest kinds, such as 

 the Crabs, and the Duchess of Oldenburg, 

 root-kill the worst. Why this is so does not 

 appear, but such is the fact ; probably ow- 

 ing to the engorgement of the cells or .sap 

 vessels in the root afttr the tophus gone to 

 rest. The tender kinds top-kill, while the 

 roots rrmain stuiud and .start from the collar ; 

 just the reverse is true of the Crab and 

 Duchess. Thousands of my yearling Tran- 

 scendants and Marengos have their roots 

 blackened and dead below the splice, and are 

 thus lost, while the two year-olds, such as I 

 send you, that have thrown out roots above 

 the splices from the crab scion are savcnl by 

 the hardiness of these roots which, though 

 near the surface, are perfectly sound, while 

 the roots of the stock, much stronger and 

 deei)cr in the ground, are frozen to death. 



Such facts show that the Wisconsin Hor- 

 ticul ural Society did a wise thing iii recom- 

 mending Siberian seedling .stocks for root 

 grafting. 1 hese stocks will doubtless be- 

 come a desideratum in avoiding such whole- 

 sale slaughter of young nursery trees as has 

 been experienced this winter all over the 

 West. 



The perfect hardiness of the roots of 

 young trees under the ordeal of last winter's 

 tVeez.ng, also shows the nece.s.sity of the Si- 

 berian sorts for the extreme North, as well 

 as th'ir reliability evervwhere for stocks, 

 and for fruit that will filfa large space, in all 

 seasfms for various purposes.^^6'. A. Maren- 

 go, 111., in Wentern Farmer. 



