very good kid glove from rat skin which 

 can be distinguished from the real article 

 only with a microscope. 



The tanner applies the term, skin, to 

 the smaller product taken from calves, 

 dogs, rats, cats, and small game, reserv- 

 insf the dignified name of hide for that 



of the full-grown ox or horse, while the 

 skin from a two-year-old steer is called 

 a kip. 



The highest use of skins is in the form 

 of parchment and vellum on which are 

 printed and engrossed the most valu- 

 able documents prepared by man. 



THE AZALEA. 



Fill soft and deep, O winter snow ! 



The sweet azalea's oaken dells, 

 And hide the bank where roses blow, 



And swing- the azure bells ! 



• Whittier. 



THE azalea is a genus of plants 

 belonging to the natural order 

 Ericeoe and to the sub-order 

 Rhodorece named in allusion to 

 the dry places in which many of the 

 species grow, and consists of upright 

 shrubs with large, handsome, fragrant 

 flowers, often cultivated in gardens. 

 The genus comprises more than a hun- 

 dred species, most of them natives of 

 China or North America, having pro- 

 fuse clusters of white, orange, purple, 

 or variegated flowers, some of which 

 have long been the pride of the gardens 

 of Europe. The general characteris- 

 tics of the genus are a five-parted calyx, 

 a five-lobed funnel-form, slightly ir- 

 regular corolla, five stamens, a five- 

 celled pod, alternate, oblong, entire, 

 and ciliated leaves, furnished with a 

 glandular point. Most of the species 



differ from the rhododendrons in hav- 

 ing thin, deciduous leaves. Some bot- 

 anists unite the genus azalea to rhodo- 

 dendron. North America abounds in 

 azaleas as well as in rhododendrons, 

 and some of the species have long been 

 cultivated, particularly A. ?mdiflora and 

 A.vtscosa, which have become the par- 

 ents of many hybrids. Both species 

 abound from Canada to the southern 

 parts of the United States. A. calen- 

 didcea, a native of the South, is de- 

 scribed as frequently clothing the 

 mountains with a robe of living scarlet. 

 All the American species are decid- 

 uous. In cultivation the azaleas love the 

 shade and a soil of sandy peat or loam. 

 Works on horticulture give specific and 

 elaborate direction for the cultivation 

 of the various species. 



C. C. M. 



COMMENDABLE BOOKS. 



\V. E. WATT. 



Chapters on the Natural History of 

 the United States. By Dr. R. W. Shu- 

 feldt. Studer Brothers, Publishers, 

 114 Fifth avenue. New York. 



The man who is able to go out into the 

 fields and see things is a good man to know. 

 Whether he has the g^ift of telling well what 

 he sees or not, we are glad to be with him, 

 for he is full of the things we desire much 

 to know, and we can get them out of him. 

 If he is a rare story-teller, with marked 



powers of description, so much the better. 

 But if he combines these elements with the 

 practice of an expert photographer and uses 

 all his arts to get the secrets of nature down 

 exactly as they appear, he is a prince of 

 g'ood fellows to all who worship at the 

 shrine of nature. 



Dr. Shufeldt has done all this, and his 

 enterprising publishers have brought out 

 the matter in a large octavo volume of about 

 four hundred pages, solidly bound, with 

 gilt tops. The price is only $3.50, net, and 



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