504 



IV IN D FALLS. 



may be of interest to you to know that at the rose and 

 strawberry show of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety, June 26, 1883, Charles Amory of Boston, exhibited 

 specimens of this fruit raised by him at Sanford, Florida. 

 I tasted it and found the flavor excellent. The dry, dark 

 colored pulp of the dried fruit is, when fresh, a light 

 colored gelatinous pulp. — Robert Manning. 



A Recuperative Plant for the Pine Barrens of 

 the South. — On a recent visit to the piny woods sand 

 hills in Moon county in this state, I notice growing all 

 through the open piny woods, on the poorest sandy 

 soils, large masses of a handsome blue lupin {Lupinus 

 dijfiisiis, Nuttall). The dense succulent growth of this 

 plant and its handsome appearance in bloom struck me 

 very forcibly, and the fact that it grows so rankly on these 

 sands, when all other plants look stunted and starved, 

 suggested the idea that here we have a plant adapted to 

 the improvement of poor sandy soils in the south. Such 

 a growth as I saw in these scattered clumps, if it were 

 uniform over a large surface, would give a great mass 

 of vegetable matter for plowing under. The plant 

 would perhaps have no value as stock food, because of 

 its bitter and unpleasant character, but for furnishing 

 humus on poor sand it seems to me to be excellent. The 

 fact too that it is a leguminous plant, and grows so 

 rankly on the poorest soils, shows that it too has the 

 power of accumulating nitrates in the soil. I suggest 

 this plant as worthy of experiment on sandy soils 

 throughout the south, and should endeavor to get seeds, 

 which it makes in great profusion, and experiment with 

 it in the piny woods country of North Carolina. — W. F. 

 Massey, N. C. College of Agriitilliirc. 



Preserving Plants. — Mr. J. Sauer has made known 

 a process for preserving plants in the form and with the 

 flexibility that they possessed in the fresh state, and also 

 for coloring or bronzing the plants thus prepared. 



The plants, having been perfectly freed from dust, 

 and washed, are immersed for two or three days in a 

 strong solution of crystals of soda. The strength of the 

 solution usually employed is eighteen ounces of crystals 

 to one quart of water. Sometimes it is advantageous to 

 add a little caustic lixivium. 



The plants are dried between cloths for three or four 

 hours, and are then greased either by immersing them 

 in melted lard or by gently rubbing them with the hand 

 with olive oil. 



To color the plants thus prepared, they are painted 

 with a solution of dextrine containing a proportion of 

 about five per cent of solution of aloes. To this coating 

 are applied the proper colored powders. — Mouiteur Scien- 

 tifique. 



Primula Japonica. — At present, one of our most 

 showy perennials is the Japan primrose. In our borders, 

 it has stood for several winters, and has proved to be 

 quite hardy. It should be planted in a sheltered and 

 shady position ; and if put in a good rich loam, it will 

 throw up flower stems from 12 to 18 inches high, which 

 will last for several weeks in flower. There are several 

 forms ; the only difference in them are the colors in their 



flowers. The original form is the best one, it being of a 

 crimson color. This beautiful primrose can be raised 

 very easily from seed ; but it is very important to have 

 fresh seed. In fact, the seed should be sown as soon as 

 gathered, if not, it lies dormant for some time after sow- 

 ing. It was discovered by Mr. Fortune in 1861, but he 

 was not successful in introducing it into England until 

 ten years later. — R. Cameron, Middlesex Co., Mass. 



A Japanese Paeony. — Six differently colored single Ja- 

 panese pa!onies adorn a Kearney street, (San Francisco) 

 flower store to-day. They are grafted ; the one I sketch 

 is nearly white, each petal with a deep stain of magenta 

 at its base, the yellow stamens showing beautifully ; the 

 flower nine inches across by a rule laid under it without 

 spreading down the petals, the plant only six inches high. 

 The cherry colored one was the prettiest ; there were 

 two flowers on the plant resembling Pieonia decora, elatior; 

 another looked like P. anemoiictjloi-a, but the labels bore 

 only Japanese letters. Pseonies, by rights, should grow 

 on a big bush and there should be lots of them, weigh- 



A Japanese Peony. 



ing it down. Now I know where the pattern of my great 

 grandmother's white linen curtains, embroidered with 

 apparently impossible Kensington wool colored flowers, 

 came from ! Of course, the Japanese had their ridiculous 

 looking plants ages ago, and her cousin, the captain, 

 drew her the patterns in China or Japan ; yet we think 

 these single pseonies are the result of modern civili- 

 zation ! 



A tiny grafted Japanese plum tree lived and bloomed 

 for four years, and a friend has one a dozen years old, 

 that was like a white tent in March last. 



An Australian acacia that grows finely in gardens in 

 Oakland, is the most aesthetic plant I know for deco- 

 ration ; its bluish gray-green foliage dries and keeps its 

 color and drooping grace for a year, on the wall. Its 

 flowers are brilliant orange-yellow. — K. P. S. B., Cali- 

 foriiia . 



The German Irises are now, June, in their glory. I 

 have 15 varieties, in the most gorgeous combinations of 

 rich colors. I have lost the names of most of them, and, 



