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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



plant grows a foot or two in height, and requires 

 a light, dry, warm soil. Cold and heavy soil 

 kills it; and it cannot endure any disturbance of 

 its roots. It is propagated by division of the 

 roots in autumn or spring, but rarely produces 

 seed. It diffuses an aromatic odor, which being- 

 perceptible at a considerable distance, attracts 

 the flies from all the surrounding spots. Dar- 

 win, in a note to his poem, c The Botanic Gar- 

 den,' published at the close of the last century, 

 gave an explanation of the process by which the 

 Apocynum catches and destroys the flies. He 

 says it is the stamens that capture the insect ; 

 that it is attracted by the odors, and that in order 

 to suck the sweet fluid contained in the flower, 

 it is compelled to introduce its trunk between the 

 filaments, when it cannot withdraw it. Abetter 

 explanation was given in 1794, by "William 

 Curtis. He observed that the greatest number 

 of victims which one flower can make, is five. 

 He shows that the flies caught are of different 

 species, but more particularly the Musca pipiens, 

 the troublesome insect that so frequently attacks 

 ourselves in order to suck the blood. He says 

 the house-fly is never caught by the Apocynum, 

 an error which may be contradicted by any one 

 who has ever seen the plant growing in a room. 

 It arose, no doubt, from the observation of Curtis 

 being exclusively directed to plants in the open 

 air, where the true housefly, Musca domestica, 

 is never found. He has shown that the anthers 

 are united into a cone in the centre of the flower, 

 leaving between them five interstices, which are 

 narrowed from the base to the summit. In the 

 centre are two ovaries, surrounded by a gland- 

 ulous substance which secretes a saccharine 

 liquor. At the summit of the pistils are two urn- 

 shaped stigmas ,• the middle of each of which is 

 surrounded by a glandulous circle, also secreting 

 honey. On this point the anthers adhere with 

 tenacity, so that it requires some force to sepa- 

 rate them. When the flies, attracted by the 

 perfume of the flowers, come to settle on this 

 part, they discover the interstices where they can 

 introduce their trunk. Downwards, the entrance 

 is easily made, and the insect at first contents it- 

 self with sipping from the interior disk ; but it 

 soon discovers a more inviting nectar towards 

 the top of the passage ; and, as it is obliged to 

 re-ascend, in order to reach this with its trunk, 

 it finds itself caught. A plant of the Apocynum, 

 grown in a room, bears thousands of flowers, 

 and will catch numbers of flies everyday." — May 

 we live to see this in general use amongst us ! — 

 Humanitas, Overton, Hants. 



A Cheap and Novel Weather Glass. — There 

 is, Mr. Editor, in " Hone's Every-day Book," 

 page 491, a letter, giving an account of a 

 weather-glass, used for several years by a gen- 

 tleman on whose veracity the author could 

 depend. This strange barometer consisted of a 

 common eight-ounce phial, filled to within one- 

 fourth of its space with water, and having 

 therein a leech- worm; the water was changed 

 once a week in fine or summer weather, and 

 once a fortnight in cold or winter weather; the 

 mouth of the phial was stopped with a piece of 

 fine canvas, and hung near a window in the room 

 where the gentleman dressed. In fine weather, 



the leech- worm remained motionless at the bottom 

 of the phial, rolled together in a spiral form ; 

 and as long as he saw him in that position in the 

 morning, he was certain the day would be fine ; if 

 the day was to be wet or showery, he was sure to 

 find him creep up to the top of his habitation, 

 and he remained there till the weather cleared 

 up. If wind or storms were near, it ran and 

 galloped through the liquid, nor ever rested till 

 the tempest began to blow violently. If thunder 

 and rain were near, it generally kept out of the 

 water for two or three days previous thereto, and 

 discovered great uneasiness by throes and con- 

 vulsions. In frost, as in fine weather, it kept its 

 place at the bottom; before snow, it crept up to 

 the very mouth of the phial. Erom these ob- 

 servations on the leech-worm, the owner was 

 always able to foresee what sort of weather was 

 likely to be expected; and as the cost or trouble 

 of such a weather glass is so trifling, your 

 readers can readily make a trial, and then they 

 can judge from their own experience of the truth 

 of the statement. — J. T. D. 



Nightingales Jed on German Paste. — Do you 

 think it possible, Mr. Editor, to have fine night- 

 ingales, if they are fed upon German Paste? — 

 J., Stepney. 



[Certainly not. All old birds, caught on their 

 arrival here, must be fed on raw beef and egg. 

 If they chance to live on such food as German 

 paste, &c, they will not sing, nor thrive. Take 

 this for granted. " Branchers " and " nestlings " 

 may be reared on it ; but it is not their natural 

 food ; neither does it assimilate with their con- 

 stitutions. Brancher nightingales are good imi- 

 tative songsters, we admit; but of course not 

 equal to the old birds. If you will have a first- 

 rate bird, Avith purity of song, you must conform 

 to the rules of nature.] 



TOWN-OE COUNTEY? 



Give me the country. Country ! The 

 very word has music in it, it brings up thoughts 

 of the merry maypole ; the freshness of the 

 woods and fields, pansies and spring violets ; 

 shady lanes ; and rose-embowered lattices ; 

 the hum of bees, and the music of birds ; 

 the bleating of sheep, and lowing of cattle 

 at eventide. Clear skies, from which the sun 

 shines down among green leaves, and upon 

 grass land ; mossy banks, and gurgling rills, 

 while trout and minnow 



Taste the luxury of glowing beams 

 Tempered with coolness. 



Country, however, we cannot all have. "We 

 who live in towns and cities — the great ac- 

 cumulated deposits of civilisation, must ply 

 away at our several tasks, some with the 

 hammer, and others with the quill ; shopmen 

 at their counters ; lawyers in their chambers ; 

 needlewomen in their attics ; merchants in 

 their counting-houses ; laborers at their daily 

 work. But even here the love of country 

 shows itself as strikingly as ever. The 



