TUE ELOIIAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
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precedent, the master and wardens of the company have precedence of all other 
guests, and the master has the privilege of escorting the Lady Mayoress to the 
dinner-table.” 
The International Exhibition of Fruits, Vegetables, and Autumnal 
Flowers, that will open at Manchester on Sept. 3 next, promises to be one of the 
most impoitant events that has ever occurred in connection with horticultural 
exhibitions. The subscription to the prize fund, up to the present time, amounts 
to £1300. 
The Blue Daisy. — The Botanical Magazine for February contained inter alia 
figures of a blue daisy, a charming plant from Morocco, of which amateur and 
professional horticulturists should take notice. 
Bath Exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society. — The total amount 
of the Local Special Prize Fund is .£1,096, so that with the grant from the general 
fund of the Society, about £1,800 will be offered in prizes, which is £200 in excess 
of the amount offered at Birmingham last year. At a meeting of the committee, 
it was resolved to devote £50 for cottagers’ prizes. 
Fertilization op Yuccas. — A remarkable case of instinct has been discovered 
by Professor Riley, of St. Louis, U.S., in the moth which produces fertilization in 
the yucca. The female moth collects the pollen and thrusts it into the stigmatic 
tube, and, after having thus fertilized the flower, she consigns a few eggs to the 
young fruit, which her larvae afterwards feed upon. The yuccas which have been 
introduced into Europe on account of their showy blossoms are infertile from the 
want of the moth. 
Importation of Pine- apples from the Azores. — Captain Godfrey, in a 
very interesting account of “St. Michael's and its Fruit Gardens,” recently pub- 
lished in the Gardeners' Magazine, gives the following particulars of the importa- 
tion of pine-apples from the Azores : — “ The pine-apple is a somewhat novel subject 
of Azorean industry, for though it has been grown on the islands time out of mind, 
it is only of late years attention has been given it as a profitable candidate for the 
favours of the markets of northern Europe. The pines are grown under glass, and 
are never cut until quite ripe ; and, as they can be carried from St. Michael’s to 
London in a few days, they stand before ail other imported pines, and are actually 
better than English-grown pines in the winter season. They are mostly carried in 
steam-vessels, and are very carefully packed for the purpose : the very best are 
enclosed in light cages or crates made of laths, every fruit having a few inches 
of stem left, which is thrust into a flower-pot filled with moist earth. Those ot 
second quality are fixed in flower-pots, and packed upright in boxes, inside which 
laths are fixed to keep them steady, and these boxes are covered with glass. Thus, 
while on their short voyage, they are actually improving for the table : were 
they packed closely, and shut up in the dark, they would be deteriorating. The 
average weight of smooth Cayenne pines from St. Michael’s is six pounds ; that of 
Providence pines eight pounds to ten pounds. About 2000 are sent to London 
atone, and are sold by auction in Pudding Lane, at prices that amply repay 
both producer and importer. It is now not uncommon for the vessel that takes 
pines away to bring back glass for the extension of the pineries, so surely is this 
branch of island enterprise extending.” 
Climate v. Dirt. — Robert Rawlinson, Esq., C.E., in a remarkably interesting 
letter, points out some striking contrasts between the efifects of climate and the 
effects of various kinds of preventible pollutions on the health of man. The letter 
merits careful perusal as a most important contribution to the science of hygiene, 
one of its most evident teachings being that, as a rule, bad climates owe their bad- 
ness much more to human folly, and ignorance, and wickedness, than to the action 
of what may otherwise be regarded ns the laws of Nature. 
Golden Rod Tea. — An American paper notices the arrival at Chicago ot 
thirteen bales of Blue Mountain tea, weighing 1920 lb., from Tower Hill, Schuylkill' 
county. This tea is composed of the leaves of a variety of the golden rod family, 
botanically known as Solidago odora, or sweet golden rod. It is gathered in large 
quantities on the Blue Mountain, and the mountains to the north of that range. 
The tea matures in the latter part of September, and it is gathered until late 
in October. It is then cured and put up in packages, selling on the mountains at 
from 20 c. to 30 c. per lb., but retailing in villages and towns at a dollar per lb. 
The tea has a very pleasant aromatic flavour, and is held by many persons in great 
esteem. 
April. 
