CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
93 
gatus, self colours of rose, crimson, deep orange, 
and scarlet, whereas their ground colours only 
vary from pale cream to deep orangy yellow; 
their foliage also indicates no relationship to 
the cardinalis species. I shall conclude, hy 
referring to the result of three years' experi- 
ments : for two seasons, I in vain tried to 
hybridize M. Moodiana with McLainii and 
cardinalis : last summer I determined to 
devote more care and attention to the subject; 
for which purpose I potted off several plants 
of M. Moodiana and its varieties, and placed 
them in a cold pit, where they grew most 
vigorously. Having noticed that this kind 
of Mimulus opened its stigma, and that the 
anthers became dusty before the flower ex- 
panded, I cut each bud open to the base, and 
removed the anthers before the bloom was 
half-matured. At the proper time, farina 
from McLainii was applied, and the seed-pods 
swelled off and ripened, and I pictured to 
myself some most magnificent hybrids; but to 
my great mortification, I found that what 
ought to have been seeds, were mere empty 
skins. I next hybridized the same plants 
with varieties of their own species, and have 
obtained abundance of fertile seeds. I em- 
brace the present opportunity briefly to ex- 
press my surprise at the limited attention that 
florists are giving to the extension of varieties 
by hybridizing, of Achimenes and Thunbergia. 
I can promise, from experience, that if they 
will cut open the flower of the former, and 
take out the anthers in good time, this most 
interesting and beautiful tribe of plants will 
be most surely, though probably at first, 
slowly improved. If Thunbergia be subjected 
to similar treatment, it seems most probable 
that great additions might be expected to our 
present collection. Why not attempt to pro- 
duce a free blooming T. chrysops, by crossing 
it with the older varieties ? — A. C. Leeds. 
Natural Means of Propagating Plants. 
— That propagation by seed is a natural me- 
thod of multiplication is doubtless true ; but 
to say that no other natural means exist is 
absurd. The sugar-cane ( Saccharum ojfiri- 
ftarum) is rarely propagated by seeds ; its 
natural mode of propagation is by the stem, 
which when blown down by the storm emits 
roots at every joint ; and man has availed 
himself of this natural property as a means of 
artificially extending the plant. The tiger 
lily (Lilhim tiyrinuni) naturally propagates 
itself by bulbs, formed in the bosom of its 
leaves ; we never saw it form a seed. The 
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuber'osnx) 
naturally multiplies itself by its tubers, which 
are bodies of the same nature as the so-called 
root of a potato ; no one ever saw it produce 
seed in this country. And Achimenes are 
principally multiplied by little scaly bodies 
resembling tubers, and formed in such abun- 
dance as to render seed unnecessary — G. C. 
Vegetable Wax. — In the Proceedings of 
the Boston (U.S.) Natural History Society, 
Mr. Teschemacher remarks that, in the pro- 
vince of Massachusetts there are very exten- 
sive palm-leaf manufactories, in which the 
sweepings and dust, arising from splitting the 
leaf, accumulate to a large amount, and are 
thrown away as useless. He had presented 
specimens of vegetable wax, extracted from 
these sweepings, one of which had been melted 
in hot water. Also the two proximate ingre- 
dients, cereine and myricinc, into which he 
had separated it, to prove its identity. The 
cereine is originally deposited in a white 
gelatinous mass: this he had melted. That 
this wax is the glossy covering which is spread 
by nature over the surface of the leaf and 
stem, may be seen on inspecting the two 
specimens of leaf, one previous to, and the 
other after the operation to deprive it of the 
wax. The so-called wax of the common 
Myrica cerifera, as is well known, is a vege- 
table tallow, containing stearine and the other 
ingredients of fat. He is of opinion, though 
without having made any detailed and exact 
experiments, that from these sweepings suf- 
ficient wax may be extracted to pay a good 
profit ; from what he has tried, he does not 
imagine the expense -would exceed 40 or 50 
per cent, of the value of the wax made. It 
can easily be made of a pure white colour. 
Balsam Seeds. — A correspondent of the 
Gardener's Chronicle, states that the case in 
which the seed of the balsam is enclosed, 
yields an orange dye of a beautiful colour. As 
the balsam seeds freely, this could be produced 
extensively at a cheap rate, so as to become an 
object of commerce. 
Late Pears. — The apartment in which 
these are kept should be of a uniformly low 
temperature, and quite dark, and should be 
submitted to but few changes ; but when they 
are wanted for use, it will be advantageous to 
submit them to an increase of temperature — 
about 60 degrees will be sufficient, and this 
will have the effect of thoroughly ripening 
them, and removing the grittiness which 
detracts from the merit of some otherwise 
excellent kinds ; it will heighten the flavour of 
all. Few, however, should be submitted to 
this treatment at one time, as they should be 
used within a few days afterwards. — M. 
Aloysia citriodora. — There is a speci- 
men of this plant (the lemon-scented Verbena) 
at Bretton Hall, in Yorkshire, growing in the 
conservatory, that is upwards of twenty feet 
high, with a clear stem of ten feet, forming a 
tree with a fine branching head. 
Dwarfed Trees. — The passion of the 
Japanese for dwarfed plants is considerable; 
