FOREST AND STREAM. 



285 



gkketc atsJd latw Names. 

 These names and a few more, ate as old as the English 

 language; but from the conquesttq the sixteenth century bd 

 lanical inquiry ceased in England, and Ihe restoe our popular 

 names are little more than 300 years "Id. Most of these come 

 to us from tbe Greek and Latin. Any scholar will detect in 

 Acacia the Greek word for guilelessness ; iu the Amaranth, 

 With which Milton's worshiping archangels wreathed their 

 brows, the Greek for unfading; in the pen winkle Urn pemi/im 

 used to bind about the head ; in lettuce, the meaning of 

 milky; in geranium, the descriptive name, crane's bill. Iu 

 the plane he will see the ptataniu of the poets ; in the rose, 

 the rhodon of Homer and the torn of Virgil ; in the sycamore, 

 the wild fig of the Bible, transferred iu mediteval miracle 

 plays to the tree which now bears the name ; in the vine, 

 oinon and «/««/«, whose Sanskrit root is still present in our 

 words twine and twist. He will understand that the basil, 

 which poor simple Isabel planted in the pot which held her 

 murdered lover's head, was the reaal plant, used perhaps of 

 old in some royal bath or unguent ; that the Angelica, which 

 now flavors our soups, and was once a specific against, the 

 plague, was given to mankind by angels ; that the helladonua 

 was applied as a cosmetic to make ladies beautiful for ever \ 

 that the cyclamen, which still grows wild in Devonshire, 

 owes its name to its prominent'eircular tuber. He will not 

 so readily discover that the tansy of our cottage gardens is the 

 Greek athanasfa— immortality, administered to Ganymede 

 that he might become fit for his life in heaven ; that the com- 

 mon Milfoil yarrow is the Mera, or holy herb, pledged to heal 

 all herbs with its fragrant leaves ; that Nasturtium means 

 nose-twister, from its pungent smell ; that our Quantock 

 whortleberry is a corruption of myrtiUu.% myrtle-berry; thai 

 Eglantine, is aculenta, the prickly rose, or sweet briar ; that 

 the herb Bennett or avens, is the 'benedicta, blessed herb, kept 

 in houses to prevent the entrance of the devil ; that the hip 

 of the dog rose is a form of the Greek and Latin words which. 

 people afflicted with sore throats know as jujubes; that 

 liquorice is an Anglicism of the Greek Glycyrriza, sweet root; 

 that the larch is from the Latin hir, a house, in consequence 

 of its use in building ; that lavender, from the Latin lamre, 

 to wash, was in the twelfth century Scotch and northern Eng- 

 lish for washerwoman, because then as now its sweet spikes 

 were laid among fresh linen; that the service tree is the Latin 

 cereoisium, beer— its leaves having beeu used to flavor ale be- 

 fore the virtues of the hop were known; that the little 

 Squinancy wort was the ancient remedy for the disease 

 kynanche or dog-choker, which we know in its modern sound 

 as quinsy; that, the mushroom is the muscarius or flybane, be- 

 cause a particular Agaricus, pulverized and mixed with milk, 

 was used in Southern Europe as we now use the poison called 

 "Keating's Insect Powder." Least of all will our scholar be 

 quick to admit that the Narcissus owes nothing to the love- 

 sick youth over whom Ovid sung and Bacon moralized, but 

 is connected with the Greek narkodes. sluggish, a derivative 

 from nar&e, the torpedo, itself sprung from the Sanskrit nark, 

 hell; cited by Sophocles ((Ed., Col., 032). as crowning the 

 gods of Hades; gathered by Proserpine before her wedding 

 tour into the same dark region, because its heavy odor (for by 

 it the ane'ents meant the" hyacinth) blunts the nerves and 

 makes men sleepy and torpid. 



(To be Continued.) 



MUSHROOMS A.S FOOD. 



EMTOK FOBEST AND STREAM: 



Some years since, wtiile on a visit to my friend. Prof. J. T. Kirtland, 

 in looking throat'li bis extensive library, 1 came across a rare old book 

 written by a German naturalist on mushrooms. He stated that any 

 mushroom tltaf, had a pleasant odor and taste when, cooked was a per- 

 fectly safe mushroom to eat. I have tested f.Ms rule on a great variety 

 of mushrooms, and have found it invariably correct. I do not know 

 how many kinds of mushroom I have eaten, but very many, all good, 

 gome even better thau the A garicus vampi'slris (the common piuk-;rill 

 mushroom), wtiile I have found veiy many that were not only edible, 

 put delicious. There is no difficulty whatever in detecting a noxious 

 or poisonous mushroom by its odor when cooked ; its rank, narcotic 

 odor informs you at ouce and unmistakably of its noxious character 

 In making tne test by cooking, use no seasoning but salt; lay the 

 mushroom, gills uppermost, on a hot griddle or coals, sprinkliDg over 

 tbe gills a little salt; wlica cooked, through lift it with a fork to the 

 nose ; if it snieils good you need not hesitate t > gobble it at once. The 

 object iu using no seasoning but salt, is to avoid any artificial odor 

 caused by high seasoning. T. Uablick, Bedford, Ohio. 



[It is well, however, always to err on the safe side, and 

 though we know that immense quantities of many varieties 

 are used, more especially by the peasantry of Norway and 

 Sweden, Kussia and Austria, yet a paragraph like the follow- 

 ing teaches us to be very careful what unknown sorts we eat, 

 until, at least we have given them a very careful trial. Vv r e 

 believe our correspondent's method is a first-rate one. There 

 is a much larger number of species of mushrooms edible than 

 people imagine, but, unfortunately, few are intelligent enough 

 to distinguish them. — Ed.] : 



Poisonous Mu&hbgoms. — "The neighborhood of Agen 

 has," says a correspondent of the Garden, '-been placed in a 

 state of consternation by the death of eight members of the 

 same family through eating mushrooms. This fatal example 

 is a warning for those who" persist in the use of mushrooms of 

 doubtful quality." 



Keeping Roots.— To keep roots sound and plump, Mi- 

 Benjamin P. Ware, of Marblekead, a successful gardener, 

 cuts off the fine roots close to the body, and pates away the 

 crown of the turnip or beet sufficiently to destroy all buds or 

 rudiments of buds. The thus doctored roots are then placed 

 in barrels of sand or covered with earth in the cellar to pre- 

 vent willing. Removing the buts and rootlets prevents that 

 corkiuess so common with these roots when kept till late in 

 winter, which is caused by the support of sprouts and rootlets 

 using up much of the more tender and edible substance of the 

 roots. Turnips and beets thus treated are as nice for the table 

 in late winter or early spring as when first harvested.— Scien- 

 tific Farmer. 



W. Peters, Louisiana, Mo —We find the Bryophyllum, or life-plant, 

 offered by P. Henderson, N. Y., at 25 cents each. Its culture is similar 

 to any ordinary house plant. It ib really more curieus than beautiful, 

 yet its peculiar habit of making young plants at the serraturea In the 

 leaves gives it great interest.— Ed, 



The 0TPHE8S as a Skelter Tree. — In regard to trees for 

 shelter, the cypress is thus recommended by a writer in the. 

 Anaheim Gazette; •■ I am convinced that' for shelter and 

 windbreak there is nothing equal to Monterey cypress, planted 

 about twelve feet aparL, and left untrimmed after the first two 

 years. One near my house, twice changed in place, and not 

 four years from the seed, and closely trimmed each spring, is 

 now fourteen feet high and eight feet through. A line of such 

 trees would dispose of the sun and raise the 'temperature. For 

 beauty no tree can equal it. I recommend twelve feet apart, 

 for we do not want to destroy the refreshing sea breeze, but 

 only lo control nny undesirable blasts, whether from the sea or 

 from the desert." 



— The corn husks arc thin, indicating a hard winter; the 

 woods nre full of mast, an unfailing sign of a long, hard win- 

 ter; there are myriads' of spiders, mild winter; acres of cat- 

 erpillars, hard winter; the squirrels are idle and listless, mild 

 wiuier; the squirrels are noisy and busy, hard winter; goose 

 bone- is white and gray, mild and bard winter; the wood- 

 chuck has gone in, mild winter ; the woodchuck stays out, 

 hard winter. It is, indeed, only a question oflime, when the 

 system of weather prognostications will become one of the ex- 

 act sciences. — Burlington Hawkeye. 

 m> » < »» 



Notice to Spoktsmbn.— Having received so many communication 

 asking us for information in legard to our six-section bamboo trout, 

 black bass, grilse and salmon rods, we have prepared a circular on the 

 ubject, which we shall take pleasure in forwarding to any address. 

 We keep on hand all grades, the prices of which range from $15 to $130 

 We put our stamp only on the bett, in order to protect our customers 

 and our reputation, for we are unwilling to sell a poor rod with a false 

 enamel (made by burning and staining to imitate the genuine article) 

 without letting our customers know just what they are getting. 



P. O. Bos 1,291.— [Adv. Abbey & Imbiuk, 38 Maiden Lane. 



lafnml t§Morg< 



BRANT. 



"Still harping on my daughter." 



Editor Pocest ano Strkaji : 



Some months have passed since the brant question has been discuss- 

 ed m your columns. 1 have heard of many inland brant, and have re- 

 quested that such might be sent to me for inspection. None have been 

 received. Prom Dr. Coues' testers and other letters, I think she brant 

 may have been found on our northern lakes. Can we not establish tais 

 fact, it It Is a fact ? 1 1 any person will send me by express to Kensing- 

 ton, Ccolc Co., Il.inois, within the next three months, a specimen of 

 the true brant, BenviclaJirenta, killed iu its wild state, one hundred 

 miles from salt water, I will be responsible for the safe return of the 

 specimen, and accompany lis return with ten dollars, and pay all ex- 

 press charges. 1 trust that this article will not be regarded as pertain- 

 ing to controversy; but, as it is, intended to lead us to facts, which 

 every ornithologist -houlcl be desirous to reach. Gkesnis Smith. 



Peterbvru, X. }"., Out. 2Ttn, lSTf. 



[See Coues' Birds of N. \V\, p. 53T.— En.] 



Mr. Greene Smith's enthusiastic prosecution of this inter- 

 esting subject ought to be respected. We trust our Western 

 friends will comply with his request. We are personally 

 aware that the question is of great interest to them. They 

 have told us so. However, we have not conversed with a 

 single gentleman in Michigan, Wisconsin or Minnesota who 

 was prepared to say that the so-called brant of the West was 

 the true brant with which Mr. Smith would doubtless be glad 

 to identify it, — Kr>.] 



Breeding of the Wilson Snipe. — In his recently pub- 

 lished list of the birds of Connecticut, Mr. Merriam speaks 

 of a nest of this specie3 being found in that State. He 

 says : 



"Mr. W. W. Coe and Mr. J. IT. Sage inform me that they 

 took a nest containing three fresh eggs of this species at Fort- 

 land, Conn., May 13th, 1874. The eggs were fully identi- 

 fied, as the parent bird was found on the nest. It was not 

 previously known to breed so far south as Connecticut. The 

 nearest approach to it is a set of eggs in the Smithsonian, la- 

 beled Oneida Co., N. Y. Mr. Coe tells me that there was a 

 number of snipe in the field at the time, and he thinks there 

 were other nests which they did not find." 



Ruffed Gkouse, Pheasant and Paktkidge.— Mr. C. G, 

 of Ronceverte, West Virginia, a' well-known writer of inte'li- 

 gence, sends ih,e following excerpt from the Germanlown Tele- 

 grapli : 



We agree with the Sunbury Gazette that we should call 

 game birds aud game fish by their right names. What do 

 we want better or more distinctive than partridge, pheasant 

 and grouse? Why say quail, pinnated grouse and ruffed 

 grouse, when the pheasant is no grouse at all? 



C. C. asks : "Is it not a little ' rough ' on the grouse ? and 

 if so, what becomes of the statement that the pheasant is no 

 grouse at all ? I should say a ' roughed ' grouse most assured- 

 ly—wouldn't you ?" 



Wc can hardly believe that the editor of the Germautown 

 Telegraph endorses the nonsense in the Sunbury paragraph. 

 He knows better. We are all liable to slips ot pen and 

 tougue ; but one slip ought not to hang a man, although it is 

 apt to do so when the rope don't break.— Ed.] 



The Capercailzie at PlAx.— The Capercailzie, or " cock 

 of the woods (Tetras wo-gaUus— Linn.) is the largest bird of 

 the grouse family^ and inhabits the pine aiid spruce forests of 

 northern Europe. He performs his play in spring-time, at the 

 break. of day, oa some of the lower branches of a tree. Each 

 song or play consists of three different notes, the first express- 

 ed by the word "pellep," which is repeated a number of 

 times, and wound up by a single guttural note called the 

 "klunk," immediately followed by a hissing noise, which 

 may be imitated by opening the lips slightly and drawing the 

 breath through the closed teeth. During the first part of the play 



the bird is wide awake and looks sharp around to discover any 

 danger,' but after the "klunk," and while emitting the last 

 cadence he ^perfectly deaf and blind, giving the hunter an 

 opportunity, while it lasts, to take three or four rapid strides 

 forward, and thus gradually approach within range.— John 

 Swaimon, to F.and S. 



Shells in Red Head Duck's Ckaw,— Mr. J. R. Sutton 

 of the San Francisco Packet Line, 117 Wall Street, has kindly 

 informed us that the shells we have twice referred to are not 

 Forminijera as we supposed, but that they are Litiopabom- 

 bix, and inhabit the Gulf weed. During strong easterly gales 

 these weeds are blown toward our shores, so we cannot see 

 from these or the seeds whence came the ducks in whose craws 

 the shells and seeds were found. 



Arrivals at Philadelphia Zoolootcal Gardens for Week End- 

 ow Wkonesdav, Nov. fi, 1877.— Three ring doves, Turtur rinorius, pre- 

 sented; one kangaroo rat, Hypaiprymnuz rufeacena, born in garden; 

 three common marmosets, liapale jacchus, purchased. 



A. E. Brown, Gen'l Sunt. 



— Holabird, the shooting suit man, of well-known fame, 

 writes us that, notwithstanding the great competition in bus ' 

 ness, he is still as busy as possible. 



Meeting op Tub National Rifle Association.— The 

 Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association held a 

 meeting on Tuesday last, Judge Stanton the President, in the 

 chair. Treasurer Wylie showed the receipts for the past month 

 to have been $3,480 CI ; expenditures, $3,329 18 ; balance on 

 hand, $160 22. Col. Ward, on behalf of the Prize Committee, 

 submitted designs for a trophy to be presehted to the winning 

 team in the Inter-State Long Range Match last Fall, together 

 with a gold badge for each me Tiber of the winning team. The 

 design for the team trophy represents a large and handsome 

 silver urn. Col. Wingate, in behalf of the Range Committee 

 made a report in which grave charges were preferred against 

 the action of Gen. Millen, at the range on a certain occasion, 

 and a statement denying the charges was read by Gen. Millen' 

 The matter was then laid on the table until the next regular 

 meeting of the board. Col. Gildersleeve, on behalf of the 

 Committee on "Alias " Names, offered a resolution abrogating 

 the privilege to competitors in rifle matches at Creedmoor, of 

 iking assumed names in matches. The motion was adopted. 

 The report of the Committee on theAmerican team of 1877 in fa 

 vor of paying each member of that tcam$200,in accordance with 

 the resolution passed last spring, guaranteeing each member 

 of the team that amount to defray expenses, was adopted Gen 

 Woodward, the executive officer in the late Fall meeting nra- 

 sented a voluminous report, in which it was shown that the 

 receipts from all sources at the meeting amounted to $9 5Qo Ak 

 He recommended that in future prize meetings all matches 

 should be limited to seven shots, each shot to be fired with 

 in one minute, and that "ties "should be shot off between 

 competitors for first prizes. A motion to increase the saiarv 

 of the Assistant Secretary was referred to the Secretary and <i 

 similar motion reducing the salary of the Superintendent of 

 the range was referred to the Range Committee. 



Massachusetts— Worcester.— On Friday last a match was 

 shot at the Greenwood Range for a prize of a heavy trold 

 badge, presented by N. Washburn, Esq. Distances, 800 and 

 900 yards. Fifteen shots at each ranee. Heavy storm nre 

 vented the whole match being shot. The following are the 

 scores : ° 



GLRiee, " 67 S Clark" ' '« '" 



Boston.— The fourth contest in the third match of the fall 

 programme of the Massachusetts Rifle Association took place 

 at \v alnut Hill last week. The scores made at 300 600 anri 

 1,000 yards respectively were as follows : ' ad 



W H Jackson 29 47 4 , 



KS2"2 ' 3S « m 115 



Wmium c.emel, 33 4Q Ug 



At a friendly competition between the Attleboro' and Wal- 

 pole rifle clubs, the Walpole team won by 130 points. 



Boston, Saturday Nov. 10.-A match took place at the 



Walpole range, in Walpole, between the Walpole and Massa 

 chusetts Rifle Associations. The weather was bad with strong 

 head wind from the East, and, in the latter part of the con 

 test, rain. At the 800 yard range the Massachusetts led their 

 opponents 26 points, but at the 900 and 1,000 yard ran«vs the 

 \\ alpoles took a lead, and eventually won by two point's The 

 highest score at the three ranges was made by A. P Clark— 

 201. The shooting by both clubs was good, considering the 

 weather. Following is the score : 



W ALPOLH TBAM. MASSACHUSETTS TEAM 



A H tfebbara. 



C4555535455455 4-fiQ 



B 5 5 .1 1 J .4 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 I ft; 



Total m 



J Wemyss. 

 45545545555455 •;— 71 

 6 5 S 2 4 3 i & 5 5 .5 3 1 1 Lni 

 Total j^j 



A P Clark. 

 5425 B 425546554 5—65- 

 5io3456555554 5 5 3—119 

 3544U2 4 44D544 4 5—57 



Total i<^ 



. W H Jackson. 



5 5 5 5 5 5 3 4 5 5 5 4 5 5 4—70 

 28356554*54335 4-U« 

 ■1 2 :: 5 -1 3 5 5 5 5 2 5 3 5 5-40 



3 535445554555 4 4— 06 



4 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 3 4 5 3 c , -TO 

 54545525405 5 34 4—05 



Total 201 



N Washburn. 



55555 5 445454 4 5 5—70 

 4555443554455. 5 5— 6S 



5 2 5 4 5 4 4 3 3 4 5 5 4 5 4-02 



Total 200 



R S Gray. 

 55555555555344 5—71 

 B"4 5 4 3 * 4 S 3 5 6 4 5 4 5-00 

 •1 5 5 5 3 5 4 3 ■<! 5 4 5 5 5 5-65 



Total 196 



~~~ H P Blake. 



4455335A44432R 4—50 

 4 5344H454335 3 5 3— J7 

 54453553555 154 4-i;fi 



Total 173 Total ^ 



