di 



278 



ih4 #arda«r'B Pmilhlg. 



1^ 



of that variety, and it surpasses all other known 

 kinds by its neatness in growth, combined with pro- 

 fusion and size of flowers, grateful odor, and long- 

 continued succession of bloom. 



Weigelia Purpfrata.— One of the most dis- 

 tinct varieties obtained ; the blooms are large, pur- 

 plish red, and of much effect. 



Gynerium Argenteum foliis variegatis.— a 

 true variegated (xyneriura, which is the good vari- 

 ety sent out by Mr. Rendatler. 



Large Asparagus. — At the Exhibition in the 

 New Hall of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Socie- 

 ty, Mr. Mack exhibited 6 stalks of Asparagus, in 

 prime condition for the table, which weighed six and 

 one quarter lbs. Can this be beat? 



Large Apple Tree. — In July, 1865, we took 

 the measure of an apple tree on our father's old 

 homestead, one half mile south-east of Jefferson 

 Furnace. The seed was planted there about forty 

 years ago. The tree forked three feet above the 

 ground. Just below the fork it measured nine feet 

 eight inches in circumference, and the branches 

 spread from north to south fifty-four feet seven 

 inches, and from east to west fifty-two feet five 

 inches. The fruit is small and tasteless, and unfit 

 for use. — Jachso7i Standard. 



Composition of Marl. — This remarkable 

 mineral is found throughout a belt of country in 

 New Jersey, stretching obliquely across the State 

 from Sandy Hook to Salem. Its length is about 

 ninety miles, and at its Eastern extremity it extends 

 in breadth over fourteen, and at its South Western 

 termination over about six miles. Its area is about 

 nine hundred square miles; and as its benefits are 

 shared by a district extending much beyond its bor- 

 ders, the area benefited by its application to the soil 

 is much greater than the above named amount. To 

 the extensive use of this valuable fertilizer much of 

 the progress of New Jersey is to be attributed, both 

 directly as the material from which increased produc- 

 tiveness has resulted, and indirectly as the cause of 

 renewed enterprise and in awakening and fostering 

 a highly commendable spirit of agricultural improve- 

 ment. 



The composition of this mineral has been frequent- 

 ly determined by chemists, but its origin has not 



been clearly comprehended by the geologist until 

 quite recently. Composed of distinct green colored 

 grains, which, when freshly dug are so soft as to be 

 easily crushed by the nail, and which present under 

 the microscope not the angular forms of sand, but 

 a uniformly rounded outline, and of a chemical 

 composition quite complex, it bears no resemblance 

 to a true sand in any particular, except in its granu- 

 lar appearance ; and differs still more from the 

 material of other geological formations ; while from 

 its position and the remains of shell-fish, sea turtle, 

 and corallines, and similar relics, its origin is un- 

 questionably marine. 



Late researches have led to the interesting and 

 satisfactory conclusion that this deposit of green 

 grains, vast as it is, is but a bed or beds of minute 

 sea organisms, still found living along the coast of 

 the State, at the bottoms of our bays and inlets, as 

 well as at the greater depths in the open ocean. A 

 remarkable change has, however, come over the 

 original animal or its envelope, and in the green 

 sand these minute creatures occur as fossils. 



Ehrenberg, a distinguished raicroscopist of Ger- 

 many, was the first to point out, in 1854, (from a 

 specimen of green sand obtained in Alabama), that 

 these grains had resulted from the alteration of the 

 minute shells of marine animals known to the 

 naturalist as Rhizopods. These many-chambered 

 shells, sometimes known as Foraminifera, or pore- 

 bearers, in allusion to the numerous minute perfo- 

 rations in their shells through which protrude long 

 delicate threads, like the tender rootlets of plants, 

 which again has caused the name of Rhizopods, or 

 root-footed, to be given to them— have become filled 

 by a kind of petrifactive process with'solid matter de- 

 rived from the sea. Our readers will not be alarmed 

 at the high sounding pretentious names, nor be de- 

 terred from reading our paper because these words 

 sound like Greek to them. Rizd means root, in the 

 Greek, and pous a foot, poudos of a foot, and the 

 compound is an excellent handle for the tiny crea- 

 tures, though it must be learned by the English 

 student, and does sound strangely. Such terms 

 often repel the reader, but they ought to incite him 

 to learn their origin and meaning, which would in- 

 crease his interests in the inquiry, while it forms an 

 excellent discipline.* 



The observation of Ehrenberg was soon afterwards 

 corroborated by the late J. W. Bailey, an eminent 



* Note.— The "Comprehensive Medical Dictionary" of that 

 learned philologist, Dr. Joseph Thomas, of Philadelphia, is an ex- 

 cellent book to have at one's .side when reading, as it contains the 

 pr-immciation, etymology and signification of the terms made use 

 of in medicine and the kindred sciences, in a most happy manner. 



