NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
BOTANY. 
RE-SPINDLING OF Corn.—I cannot send you a specimen, but I 
can give you a fact in reference to tassels at the end of the ears of 
corn. 
In the year 1863 I lived about seven miles from Chippewa Falls 
in this State. There was an acre of corn directly before our cabin 
door. On the night of the 11th of July of that year a severe frost 
killed all the tassels which were then just shooting distinctly above 
the leaves. Though checked in growth the corn finally set for ears, 
put out its silks (pistils), and also sent forth a new tassel or spindle 
from the end of the ear. This spindle at the end of the ear was a 
common thing over the whole acre. Mrs. C. and myself often 
remarked about it at the time as a curious effort of nature to 
repair damages. The early frosts.again in the fall cut off the corn 
before it matured, but there were cases which we thought would 
have fructified and matured from this attempt had the season been 
longer. In most instances, however, the silks were dry before the 
spindle at the end of the ear shed its pollen. — CHARLES CAVERNO, 
Lake Mills, Wis. 
Tue Eartiest Known Contrerous Tree.— Allow me to say, 
with reference to a notice copied in your May number from the 
“ Academy,” that the opinion respecting the plant above named 
attributed to Mr. Carruthers is an entire mistake. Prototaxites 
Logani is an exogenous tree, with bark, rings of growth, medul- 
lary rays and well-developed, though peculiar woody tissue; and, 
if Mr. Carruthers has made such a blunder as that attributed to 
him, this can only be excused by defective observations or imper- 
fect specimens. —J. W. Dawson. 
Tur Curstnut Tree. — Have we two species of Chestnut here 
in New England? Irefer to the common Castana vesca, Var. 
Americana. My friend F. J. Kingsbury Esq., informs me that 
lumbermen distinguish two very marked varieties by the wood. 
One white, the other red and less hard and strong. I conjecture 
that this difference depends solely upon the manner of growth, 
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