AGAIN THE FENCE. 



547 



exceedingly well with me for years. It is pink and 

 comes from Egypt, where it was held in sacred memory. 



N. striatitiii is a very beautiful lotus from India. It is 

 pure white, with crimson spots irregularly splashed here 

 and there over the entire flower. 



N. yoseuin comes from China, is darker than speci- 

 osum and a free bloomer ; it can be placed among the 

 finest flowers in the world, and would always be consid- 

 ered a queen among them. All lotuses are delightfully 

 fragrant — something like anise, both in leaf and flower. 



N. Ke7-mesiniim has a color somewhat resembling the 

 Cape Cod lily or N. devoniensis , and is at present rare 

 and much sought after. This lotus was brought from 

 Japan and is now thoroughly acclimated in America. 



N . album grandifloi uiii is a pure white variety, and has 

 received unstinted praise in my collection. 



N. Ittteiuii is a yellow American variety, and not unlike 

 the others except in color. 



All these lotuses are interesting to all who can appre- 

 ciate a beautiful thing when they see it. They have 

 many curious peculiarities ; for instance, in one variety 

 it looks as if boiling water were constantly bubbling up 

 from the leaves which lie flat on the water. If a little 

 rain or other kind of water is left on the leaves where 

 the sun shines at midday, air bubbles rise up all 

 the time. I suppose the phenomenon is due to the heat 



of the sun's rays producing an effect like that caused by 

 water poured on a hot stove, The cause has not been 

 explained, to my knowledge, and I would be glad to get 

 information on the subject. It seems that the roots 

 penetrate deeper at the approach of winter, as if nature 

 would provide against frost. Are plants gifted with in- 

 stinct like animals ? 



To enumerate and distinguish the best and most 

 popular water plants would be no easy task, for all are 

 fine. The hardy lilies are preferable for those who are 

 not disposed to bestow much care on their collections. 

 The four named first in this article are all very hardy, 

 and none can be finer. If only one were desired, I 

 would select Nyiup/ura alba caudidissima for white ; N. 

 odorata rosea for pink, and .\'. Marliciva ilnojiiatell' 

 for yellow. These are all good, the best tha<- can be 

 had. Fora lotus, it would be equally difficult to say which 

 is the best. Take anyone and you will be delighted. 



All the lilies and lotuses, as well as a great many other 

 water plants, not here mentioned, are doing so well with 

 me and are so necessary in my fish ponds, that had they 

 no flowers or any other charms to attract and please the 

 eye, I would place them where they are as food for fish 

 and an excellent spawning bed where the latter could de- 

 posit their eggs. 



Berks Co. Pa., S. H. Fegelv. 



AGAIN THE FENCE. 



iWENTY-FIVE years ago Ca^e- 

 novia had some seven miles of 

 street fence, a large part of it 

 costly and elaborate. The cost 

 averaged at least ^i,ooo per 

 mile ; annual deterioration, say 

 one-fourteenth — half a mile. 

 Annual renewal, apart from 

 painting and repairs, $500. 



Credit side. — Twenty street cows, of keen and eager 

 character, that would lift a gate, break a fence or toss a 

 child with neatness and despatch. The wayside grass 

 was fed into the earth, but weeds were mighty and 

 many. The sidewalks were highly enriched, and the 

 language of those who strolled by night was extremely 

 pronounced. No vine or tree could grow near the high- 

 way, while hedges were unknown. It cost the commun- 

 ity $25 a year to fence for each street cow. 



A good estray law was passed in New York State, and 

 your correspondent first enforced it, with the expected 

 result of curses and threats ; but the law eventually 

 won, and now there is hardly a fence in the village. 

 The weeds have gone before the lawn mower, and the 

 highways are bordered with fair sod. Some lawns have 

 a simple chain, with a partial screen of blooming shrubs ; 

 many have perfect hedges, others no barrier ; yet, com- 

 plaints are not heard of trespass or mischief. Grain 

 fields are open to the highways, and the losses of years 

 would not be a sum equal to the cost of simply setting 



up fences every month. Flower baskets are in the open 

 grounds and even in the streets, and now we are taking 

 in part of the business streets and replacing an excess of 

 dusty, heated highway with bands of sod and baskets of 

 plants, so that business men can stand in their shop 

 doors and enjoy well-kept grass and flovr-ers. 



The " business parts " of villages are quite too much 

 neglected, despite the fact that a large proportion of the 

 population pass the entire day in and about the shops. 

 Probably no single change has marked out as much of 

 beauty, safety and public refinement as shutting up the 

 refractory animals that once were forced to forage or 

 starve, with an ample chance to do both. Here, cows 

 are no longer dogged or stoned, but are halter-broken 

 and quiet at their tether pins, and are beautiful objects 

 on large lawns. 



The high fences that were welcome screens for tramps 

 and burglars, that challenged every active boy to feats 

 of lofty tumbling, and gave endless opportunity to the 

 bill-poster, are gone for good, and with them heaps of 

 fence-corner refuse — accumulations of years, dating from 

 the discarded hoop-skirt of the past, to the more recent 

 frameworks of fashion that will not burn up or go down 

 the drain pipes. These deposits of broken china, old 

 boxes, stove pipes, obsolete vegetables and obvious bones 

 were scenes of discordant dog fights and cat controver- 

 sies, while far more seriously were they to be feared as 

 breeding spots for diphtheria and typhoid. They were 

 the delight of the omnivorous rat, the prowling grounds 



