179 



them. Loose in a letter, however, they were too 

 dry to analyze critically ; but we hope this curiosity 

 will be preserved for a better examination.) 



Kansas Prospects. — A correspondent at j¥an- 

 hattan, Riley Co., Kansas, says: I have not seen 

 a Cherry, Pear, Plum (except wild ones), or Quince, 

 for 11 years. I have had hard work to get started, 

 but now have them all growing. If you knew the 

 labor we had in building up this country the past 

 11 years, you would be astonished. 



The " iron horse is now snorting 90 miles fur- 

 ther west than where I used to kill fat heifer calfs 

 of the Bison Americana. The lots we were able to buy 

 in Manhattan for $5 are now worth $200. I won't 

 sell mine till they double. 



Then there were 4 little 'shanties,' that the wind 

 has since blown down. We had no merchants, mills, 

 factories, paper mills; no 2 printing offices, no dams 

 to drive machinery, no railroad bridge, no bridge 

 building across the Blue, and (no) another bridge 

 across the Kansas ; no twenty stores, mechanic's 

 shops, &c. Some have lots to sell for $1500. 



United States Experimental Farm. A 

 counterpart to the Experimental Garden has been 

 established at Washington. It consists, at present, 

 of about 25 acres. It has been placed in charge of 

 Colonel James Gleason,well known in Philadelphia, 

 before the war, as a popular Landscape Gardener. 

 Mr. G. commenced his career as a private gardener 

 here, before commencing business on his own ac- 

 count, and was alwa3's successful in whatever he 

 undertook to do. His promotion in the army was 

 well earned. Men who know how to make their 

 own business successful are just the ones for these 

 public positions, instead of the unfortunates who are 

 j)laced in office as "acts of charity." 



Large Crop of Potatoes.— Mr. Editor: Some 

 of your correspondents have been trying to tell some 

 large potato stories, but a friend of mine (Mr. E. 

 Graves, of Ashfield, Mass.), rather eclipsed them. 

 From one peck of Early Goodrich he raised, last 

 season, thirty- five bushels. 



Hctmmonton, N. J. W3i. F. Bassett. 



Name of Plant.— Tf. F. B., Ilammonfon, K 

 J- — Your pi .nt is Helonias buUaf a, spread generally 

 through New J ersey, though not common in any 

 locality. As you remark, it is well worthy of intro- 

 oduction into our hardy herbaceous borders. ] 



"GiMCRACKS. ' ' — We do not know any other word 

 to express the idea of people who are continually 

 ' 'trying to do something. ' ' Our English friends are 

 continually in this state of excitement. For many 

 years they have been in the habit of adopting Latin 

 names of plants as English ones, giving them even 

 English pronunciations, with the English rules of 

 rendering them plural. Gladiolus, all at once they 

 discovered they had'nt, or ought'nt to have, adopt- 

 ed as an English word, — that it should still be a 

 Latin word, and lo ! all the little imitators all over 

 the world talk about their Gladioli. 



We pointed out, at the time, a capital chance for 

 some other one to make a name for himself — that 

 Anemone, as it has been anglicized, is wrong, — as, 

 classically, it should be anemone ; but, no doubt, 

 some great man will yet arise to make the great 

 discovery. 



The latest whim of the Hngo-ists is, that we have 

 been all wrong in saying Orchidaceae, — they say it 

 should be Orchiaceae"; and another of them insists 

 that, as arhor and are feminine, the adjective 



terminations of all tree and plant names should be 

 feminine. He thinks, therefore, we should change 

 all our plant names at once, and commences by 

 making Taxodium distich um, Taxodium disticlia. 

 One time it was beheved that "custom gave laws to 

 language," but not now it seems. 



Seedling Verbenas from Mr. Purple, Colum- 

 bia, Pa. — Some of these have crimson, white, and 

 white and crimson wn the same heads of flowers. 

 This is characte istic of the new Sardinian race of 

 Verbenas. Mr. Purple's are very fine varieties of 

 this interestin": strain. 



Poofo, (Jahlogups, %t. 



Lippincott's Vapor Index. — In a recent num- 

 ber we gave a paper on " the Psychrometer in Fur- 

 nace-heated rooms, &c., " in which reference was 

 made to an apparatus for determining the quantity 

 of moisture indiiated by the observation of that in- 

 strument. We however neglected to notice the 

 " Vapor Index " or to state where it maybe found. 

 We will make amends as*follows : 



The apparatus denominated " Lippincott's Vapor 

 Index" is a device consisting of a rotary card 

 pierced with numerous aperatures, and affixed at its 

 axis to another card abounding in numbers. By 

 turning the card and forming certain conjunctions 

 according to the simple directions accompanying, 

 the least skilled can readily learn the measure of 



