part in the case of plant* 
as of animals. — Indian Planting and Gardening. 
WANTED.-Sho 
readers are invited tt> i^.iKL cwi- ir.. lace of ])uhlieation 
for their botanical items. It should be noted that the 
magazine is issued as soon as possible after the fifteenth 
of each month. 
Xectakless Flowers .vnd Beks.— Because most bees 
are fcmd of nectar, it is often hastily assumed that bees 
visit the llowers for this sweet liquid, only. The fact is, 
there are many bees as fond of pollen as others are of 
them as apples and oranp:es do to us. The honey-ix e 
might also be called the pollen-bee, for it is equipped \vith 
regular baskets (~>n its rear pair of legs for carrying h(jnie 
pollen. By watching the bees on the tlowers one may see 
them scooping the pollen from the anthers. 
PoLYPODiUM Fibre.— Growers of orchids often make 
use of a potting material made from the rootstocks of the 
bracken {Pteris) or the cinnamon ferns (Osmunda), and 
now, according to an advertisement in The Gardening 
World an enterprising inhabitant of Germany is offering 
polypodium fibre, made from the rootstocks of the 
common polypody {Polypodium vulgare) for the same 
purpose. The bracken and cinnamon ferns often grow in 
such quantity that the use of their rootstocks as potting 
material is scarcely likely to cause them to be extermin- 
ated, but if polypody fibre ever becomes the fashion in this 
country we may soon expect to place the common poly- 
pody among the rarities. 
