383 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[October, 
and there, you can got all that you need without disfigur¬ 
ing the tree. The twigs should be laidaway with a board 
or moderate weight on them to keep them fiat, and when 
dry, the leaves will fail off or come off readily... Even the 
Stems or Canes of the Grape-Vine 
may be used for various purposes. When the vines are 
pruned this fall, there will be much cutoff that is too 
small for cuttings, but just what you can make use of. 
Those who have no grape-vines-and we trust they are 
but very few—can gather the stems of wild vines. Tie 
the stems in bundles to keep them straight. In collect¬ 
ing the vine stems leave on the tendrils, and as these add 
to the beauty of work made of this material, it is well to 
collect a lot of tendrils by themselves to be added in 
making up. When either these or the spruce twigs are 
used, they are first to be soaked in hot water until they 
bend readily, and when shaped as desired, they must be 
securely fastened until dry. when they will retain the 
form to which they have been bent. A frame made from 
vine-stems is given in figure 2; it may bo used for a leaf 
and fern design, or for a picture. It is well to bend the 
stems after softening them in water around a block of 
wood, to serve as a mould, or a dish, or some other arti¬ 
cle of the right shape will answer. In fastening such 
work, very fine copper wire and pins of various sines will 
be found useful. 
The Common Cat-tails 
of the marshes could be worked into a variety of forms, 
did they not shed their down and become useless : but 
the stems of the Cat-tails are long, straight, and light, 
while they have sufficient strength for some purposes. 
Figure 1, shows how these stems are used to build a 
frame ; the places where they cross may be bound by fine 
copper-wire, and this is hidden by small cones, acorn- 
cups, or other objects. The space between the stems 
may be backed with some colored paper; and those who 
know how to make leather-work, can ornament it with 
leaves of leather. It will be better to use a thin board 
the whole size of the frame; mount the picture and bor¬ 
der of colored paper on this, and build up the frame 
around it, using pins or brads to fasten the stems to the 
board. These are merely given as examples of the manner 
of working up common materials. A frame or bracket of 
wood may lie made a handsome affair by covering it 
■With Lichens, or “Mosses,” 
as they are often wrongly called—what they are, is told 
by the Doctor in this month’s Microscope talk. These 
are found on tree trunks, old logs, old fences, on rocks, 
etc., and may bo gathered at any season ; it is best to 
collect them on a damp day, as they then are readily re¬ 
moved, and are not brittle ns in a dry time. Spread them 
loosely until dry, and store until wanted for use. To 
cover a bracket or frame, first assort your lichens, plac¬ 
ing each kind and shade of color by itself, as much taste 
may bo shown in the manner of putting them on. Thick 
flour paste is used, a coat of it being put upon the wood 
and the lichen laid upon it. 
Leaves, Ferns, Grasses, Etc., 
for making up into little pictures, especially autumn 
leaves, must be gathered soon, or it will be too late. 
Grasses to be used for this purpose, as well as the leaves, 
etc., should be pressed. Some large book, not valued, 
may be used for pressing, or what is better, as we never 
like to see books put to such uses—soft newspaper 
folded in several thicknesses, and the leaves, etc., placed 
between tiiem and a weight placed on top. To keep the 
color, especially of autumn l>aves, a plenty of paper 
must be used, which for a few days should be changed 
every day. Keep the leaves, grasses, etc., under pres¬ 
sure, to keep them in proper shape, until you use them. 
The Yoims' ffllcroscojsist’s Cliito. 
In telling yon last month some of the points by which 
you can know a Fern from other plants, I said that the 
Ferns belonged to the Flowerless Plants, but. I find that I 
did not say so much about these as I intended. In study¬ 
ing natural objects it is necessary to so arrange them 
as to bring those alike together. In birds the waders 
form one group, the swimmers another, the birds of prey 
still another, and so on. In insects the butterflies are put 
together, as are the beetles, the flies, etc. So in every 
branch of science the objects are classified. In plants we 
have two great series into which all plants are divided; 
The Flowering' and Flowerless Plants, 
and whatever plant you find must belong in one or the 
other of these. These plants have no proper flowers, 
and they do not have seeds like the flowering plants. In 
all the plants that we are most familiar with, the flower 
is followed by seed, each one having within it a minute 
plant, or the beginning of one, ready formed, and when 
the seed is sown a plant will come up; this plant is 
just what was already in the seed, but increased in size. 
The little plant in tiie seed is called the embryo, but 
nothing Kite this is found in the flowerless plants ; it is 
true that they produce something that answers the pur¬ 
pose of seeds — something which after a while will pro¬ 
duce a plant ; this, as described last month, is a 
Minute Dust, Called Spores. 
The part which a spore takes in producing a new plant 
is too difficult for you to understand until you know 
more about plants than young people are likely to have 
learned. So you must take it on trust until you get old 
enough to look into the matter. In the flowering plants 
some are much simpler in their structure than others, and 
we find it the same among those that are flowerless. In 
the Ferns, for example, there are root, a stem, leaves or 
parts answering to them, and distinct fruit-dots, while 
others are much simpler until we come to a mere little 
cell, or bag, or a simple thread that constitutes the whole 
plant, and grows and reproduces itself, which is all 
that larger plants do. Related to the Ferns are 
The Horse-tails, 
one of which was described in Feb’y last as the Field 
Horse-tail, its spores making a curious object for the 
Microscope. Another family of flowerless plants is the 
Mosses. Quite a number of things are commonly called 
Mosses that do not belong to the family—even sea-weeds 
are frequently called “ Sea-Mosses.” The Mosses have a 
stem, and distinct leaves, and produce their spores in a 
separate spore-case. In fig. 1 we have a common Moss 
which gives a general idea of these plants. The spore- 
case, a, is sometimes called the fruit; the botanist’s 
name for it is Sporangium. Figure 2 shows the same 
which are sometimes twisted together. The teeth are 
often handsomely marked, and as they are of pleasing 
colors they make pretty objects for the Microscope. — 
Mosses Vary Greatly in Size. 
One of the largest of ours, found floating in northern 
Fig. 1-4.—1. A COMMON MOSS.— 2. THE SAME VEP.Y YOUNG.— 
3. A SPOKE-CASE WITH HOOD.— 4. THE SAME WITH HOOD 
BEHOVED, AND LID C LIFTED, SHOWING THE TEETH, ( 1 , 
moss when young, before the stem has lengthened up¬ 
wards and lifted up the spore-case, as in figure 1. 
The Spore-Case or Sporangium 
presents a great variety iu form, size, and other points; 
hence it serves to classify the Mosses into genera. You 
will find these plants at all seasons of the year, and very 
pretty objects some of them are for your Microscope. 
Figure 3 gives the spore-case of another Moss, much 
magnified, that you may see the parts distinctly. The 
case is often with a sort of cap or hood, shown at b. 
This is sometimes very small, and being pushed off 
early, is not always found, and at others large and very 
noticeable ; in describing. Mosses this is called the calyp- 
tra. The case has a lid or cover ( operculum ) which finally 
drops off to let out the spores ; this lid is seen through the 
hood at c in figure 3, while in figure 4 the hood is removed, 
and the lid c lifted 
off; in most Mosses 
the mouth of the 
case bears a sort of 
fringe, d , which 
consists of a single 
row of teeth, or in 
some cases there is 
another row inside 
of the first, form¬ 
ing a double fringe; 
at first these teeth 
are bent over to¬ 
wards the center to 
form a sort of inner 
covering to the 
mouth of the spore- 
case, but they are 
much affected by 
moisture, and are 
often found erect as 
at d. (Botanists 
call this fringe the peristome, which means, around 
the mouth.) One curious thing about it is, that these 
teeth are always some multiple of 4, and vary from 
that number up to 64; they are broad and strong, 
as iu the engraving, or are merely slender hairs 
Fig. 7. —CORAL LICHEN. 
spots in the surface, as 
A-i 
streams, is a foot or so long, with large leaves for a Moss; 
while others are less than a fourth of an inch in bight. 
The most useful of the Mosses is the common Peat 
Moss, or Sphagnwn. This is much used for packing 
plants and other garden purposes. Of course there are 
many other things about Mosses that a student of them 
would wish to know, but what has been said, and the 
engravings, will, I think, allow you to distinguish a Moss 
from any other plant ... I often hear of mossy fruit trees, 
moss on old fences, and of moss to cover brackets, and to 
make other fancy articles, and when I see them I find that 
They are Not Mosses at All, 
but plants of a very different family, the Lichens. There 
is no other name for these plants as a family, and that is 
perhaps why they are so 
often called Mosses. 
When you speak the 
name recollect that the 
ch is hard, and that it 
is to lie pronounced as 
if spelled li-ieen. These 
plants have a great va¬ 
riety of form ; some are 
thin, flat, crumpled 
plates or sheets ; others 
long and slender, like a 
small cord; others are erect and vase-shaped, or much 
branched. They grow on the ground, on stones, boards, 
trees, etc., and have even been known upon glass in the 
windows of old buildings. The flat Lichens have sunken 
at a, a, fig. 5. These are 
“shields,” or fruit-dots, and 
have imbedded in their sub¬ 
stance little sacs containing 
the spores. The most useful 
of these flat kinds is the Ice¬ 
land Moss, used in far north¬ 
ern countries as food. Iu 
the deep northern woods the 
“Tree-hair” ( Zfsnea ) figure 
6, is found hanging from the 
trees, some of it 4 or 5 feet long; this bears its shields, 
a. a, at the ends of its branches. Some beautiful Lichens 
related to this are found on the Pacific Coast. The so- 
called “Long Moss” that hangs from the trees in a 
similar manner in the Southern States, is not a proper 
Moss, but a flowering plant. A common Northern Lichen 
is the “Reindeer-moss,” which grows upon the ground 
and is the chief food of the reindeer during winter. One 
of the kinds you will be likely to notice is sometimes 
called “ Coral Moss,” and has the form shown in fig. 7; the 
knobs on the edge of the vase are the fruit shields which 
Are of a Brilliant Scarlet Color 
and very ornamental. The Lichens present various col¬ 
ors, and some, not showy ill 
themselves, may be so treated 
as to produce a fine dye ... “ T. 
G.,” Bergen Co., N. J., upon 
taking a pair of shoes from a 
closet, found light colored spots 
on them ; seme of these spots 
were as large as the end of a 
pencil, and others an inch or 
more across. He examined the 
spots with his Microscope, _ 
and sends a sketch, figure 8, 
of what he saw, and of course Fig. 9. —MOULD, 
wishes to know what it is. His shoes were simply 
mouldy, and the spots were the common mould, the same 
Fig. 8.—MOULD. 
