1884 ] 
AMERiOAK AGRIORLTIIRIST 
345 
The Origin, of News. 
“ What do you understand by the word news ? ” 
This is a question that was asked me the other day. 
“ Wliy ! something new that has occurred, I sup¬ 
pose,” vvas my reply. “ But do you know how the 
word originated ? ” I was obliged to confess my 
ignorance, and imagining my young readers may 
be as much in the dark, will tell them my friend’s 
ingenious explanation, which she said she came 
across in ati old book, printed long before you or I 
were born. N, you know, stands for north ; E, for 
east; W, for west; and S, for south ; so the four 
letters were combined together to form the word 
NEWS, now used for all that is happening north, 
south, east and west. A newspaper, therefore, 
tells us by its very name, that it is a chronicle of 
events in all parts of the world. A. C. 
Does the Mulberry Tree have Flowers? 
This question is asked by a young friend. He 
finds very young mulberries on the tree, but never 
sees any flowers. The flowers are there, though, 
not being at all showy, they may readily escape 
notice. The Mulberry and Blackberry, while they 
look much alike, are very unlike. The Blackbeny 
is preceded by a large, showy flower, and the little 
grains of which the fruit is made up, are the many 
pistils of the flower ripened. The Mulberry fruit 
also consists of numerous rounded grains, but in 
this case each grain, or little fruit, is preceded by a 
separate flower. If you examine the Mulberry 
early enough, you will find what you take for a 
young fruit, to be numerous sm.all flowers placed 
closely together on a little stem. To be sure, they 
are not showy flowers, their parts being greenish, 
but they have stamens and pistils (in separate flow¬ 
ers), and the ripening of the pistils of many flow¬ 
ers, makes what we call the fruit of the Mulberry. 
A Rare Little Plant—Oholaria. 
A young man—I suppose he would not like 
to be called a boy, as he is studying botany—has 
recently sent me from his home in New Jersey, a 
plant Which puzzled him. The plant was about 
three inches high, of a purplish-green color, very 
smooth, and in the axils of its wedge-shaped leaves 
were one to three small purplish or dull white 
flowers. The plant’s botanical name is Obolaria Vir- 
ginica ; it is not common enough to have received any 
other. The name is from obolos, a small coin of the 
Greeks, but there is nothing about the plant that 
makes the name appropriate. It is one of the 
rarest of our plants, and as other young botanists 
may come across, and be puzzled with it, Igivo an 
engraving to help them. It belongs to the Gentian 
family, though it has but little resemblance to the 
other members of this family. The Doctor. 
Banner Photograph Frame. 
In a piece of very heavy paper, not pasteboard, 
eight and a half by four inches, cut an oval a little 
above the center, large enough to show as much of 
the photograph as desired. Cut a corresponding 
oval in a piece of colored velvet, but a quarter-inch 
smaller all around. In the two upper corners of 
the velvet work a spray of yellow wheat with silk 
floss. Across the lower edge baste a strip of nar¬ 
row velvet ribbon and work it down with the yel¬ 
low floss. Along the lower edge make a narrow 
fringe of sewing silk the color of the band. Thread 
a needle with the silk doubled several times, sew 
through the velvet near the edge, tie and cut oft at 
the right length for the fringe. By repeating this 
across the lower edge, a very pretty fringe Is made. 
Place the velvet flat on a table, lay the paper cor¬ 
rectly on it, turn the edges of the velvet up on the 
paper, and fasten with very thick mucilage. Only 
the top and two sides are to be turned over; the 
fringe along the bottom is to hang down. Cut into 
the velvet around the oval as far as the paper; then 
turn the pieces over on the paper and fasten them. 
Fasten a silk cord and tassel to each upper corner 
of the banner. The photograph is held firmly in 
place by taking two or three long stitches across 
on the back. Suspend it on two brass-headed tacks. 
Surplus Fruit—What Shall be Done 
with it ?—Evaporating. 
One need not be very old to recollect when the 
sunny-side of a farm house was festooned with 
strings of apples hung up to dry, while in front of 
the kitchen door were trays containing various 
fruits. Fruit dried in either of these methods is 
dark-colored, and has been exposed to dust and to 
the visits of insects. The fruit thus dried, when 
sent to market at the present time, comes iu com¬ 
petition with “ evaporated fruit,” which sells for 
several cents a pound higher. ” Evaporated fruit ” 
is now a regular article in the market, and we re¬ 
ceive many inquiries concerning it. The term 
“evaporated” is applied to fruit dried by artificial 
heat, excluded from the light while drying, and 
sometimes bleached by the use of the fumes of 
burning sulphur during the drying process. The 
first evaporating machines were so large, and re¬ 
quired such a large capital to run them, that their 
introduction was slow. Within a few years, there 
have been introduced portable machines, which, ,as 
we know from a trial of one of them, will tuni out as 
salable a product as the large affairs. This year it 
will probably not pay to barrel and send any but 
the best apples to market, and all those having a 
surplus of common fruit, should look about for 
means of disposing of it. There are but two fonns 
into which a surplus of apples can be converted. 
One is cider, to be disposed of as such, or con¬ 
verted into vinegar. The other is, dried apples. 
There are now offered a number of driers and 
evaporators, which, on a small scale, turn out 
as good an article as do the larger ones. We 
have no doubt, that in some peach localities, it may 
pay for a capitalist to put up a large evaporator. 
We advise all who are likely to have much fruit to 
dispose of by drying or evaporating, to investigate 
the matter, and send to the different advertisers 
for their circulars. An important point connected 
with the drying or the evaporating of fruit is, the im¬ 
plements used in preparing the fruit for the drier. 
Apples, for example, must be pared, sliced, cored, 
etc., before they are ready to go into the drier. 
Some of these implements work with wonderful 
rapidity and perfection. The makers of some of 
the driers supply all the needed accessories. Not 
only fruit can be profitably dried, but vegetables 
may also be so treated, and these are improved by 
being prepared in the rapid-working evaporators. 
Such vegetables as sweet corn, and Lima beahs, 
will be especially welcome on the table next winter. 
Plants as Air Purifiers. 
Dr. Anders has just concluded some valuable ex¬ 
periments with house plants. lie inelosed a dozen 
potted flow'ering plants in an air-tight glass ease, 
and [ilaced them in the bay window of a sitting 
room facing the east. Ozone test papers were 
hung in the case before it was closed. Observa¬ 
tions were made for four hours daily during eigh¬ 
teen days, with results showing the presenee of 
ozone in the air of the case. A second series of 
tests was made with odorous flowering plants— 
carnations, heliotropes, etc,, with stronger indica¬ 
tions of ozone. A third series included “foliage 
plants”—ferns, dracasnas, etc.—with less positive 
results. Further experiments with plants in flower 
were made with the case in the out-door air. In 
these it was found that negative results came on 
rainy days, thus indicating that bright sunshine 
is needed to develop ozone. The experiments 
showed, that the floral organs are specially delega¬ 
ted to the important function of developing ozone. 
This peculiarly active form of oxygen is produced 
during the formation of the seed, in connection 
with the phosphorous compounds there accumulat¬ 
ed. Flowers of various kinds have been known to 
exhibit phosphorescent light in warm evenings. 
Ozone is a most wholesome element in the at¬ 
mosphere, keeping or tending to keep it from be¬ 
coming polluted with disease germs. It oxidizes, 
or burns up, noxious accumulations. Plants in 
flower are therefore to be placed in the front rank 
as hygienic agents. Ozone is of special value in 
living rooms, when the air, according to the best 
authorities, is usually foul. A bay window, filled 
with flowering plants, will doubtless furnish ozone 
enough to have a decidedly healthful effect upon 
the air of the room. It is gratifying to have 
farther proof that the old-time prejudice against 
honse-plants is ill-founded; instead of contaminat¬ 
ing the air of the room, and endangering the 
health of the inmates, they render it purer. 
The California -White Cedar. 
The term White Cedar, is applied in different 
parts of the country to three very unlike trees, in¬ 
deed, they belong to different genera. The tree 
properly called White Cedar, is Cupressus ihyoides, 
CALIFORNIA WHITE CEDAR, 
and more abundant in the Atlantic States than in 
the interior. Towards the great lakes, the tree 
generally known as Arbor Vital {Thuja occidentaiis), 
in more eastern localities is generally called White 
Cedar. In the mountains of Csilifornia, a third tree 
is known by the same name. Tins is Libocedrus ite- 
