14,6 
AMERICAN AG-KICULTURIST. 
f April, 
tennial, was evidently much pleased with them, and she 
wrote me to know what kind of soil they needed, and 
“ how to treat them.” I was very sorry to tell the good 
lady last month that all the “treating” they needed 
was to keep them where it was most convenient, as they 
were “as dead as a door-nail” —yes, several door-nails. 
The California “Resurrection Plant” is the most com¬ 
mon, and is the one about which we have been most fre¬ 
quently written. This is a plant belonging to the family 
of Club-mosses, and is related to the ferns. It grows in 
Southern California, Northern Mexico, and other parts of 
the continent where rain only comes for a short time in 
winter, and all the rest of the year everything is dry, 
burnt, and barren. This grows in the cracks of rocks, 
where it gets very little moisture by its roots, and for 
most of the year it is curled up in the smallest possible 
space, as seen in the right-hand engraving, (fig. 3); but 
when the rainy season comes, the plant wakes up, spreads 
its branches, which are covered with dark-green scales, 
which answer for leaves, and forms a beautiful rosette, 
as in the engraving (figure 2) at the left hand.The plant 
makes all its growth in the few weeks during which the 
moist weather lasts, forming more branches in the cen¬ 
ter, and when the rains cease, and dry weather comes 
again, it gradually curls itself up for another long nap. 
Sometimes in those countries the rainy season forgets to 
come at all, when this, and other plants, have a very hard 
time of it. These plants, even when dead, will open 
when placed in water, and spread their branches just as 
if they were alive. I have some that I collected over 25 
years ago, (Oh ! how short it now seems), and they will 
spread out, when wfetted, as well as ever, and I am sure 
that they must be very dead indeed. You will wonder 
why they act as if alive. You will recollect that only last 
December I told you about the “ Animated Oats,” and; 
how the long .bristles upon them twisted and untwisted 
in a most life-like manner. Various vegetable and animal 
substances are affected in a similar way by moisture ; 
hair that curls in dry weather, will be strai' ht in a long, 
wet storm, and wood shavings that curl when dry, lie 
flat when soaked. It is a merely mechanical effect, and 
the branches of the plantare made limber by the moisture 
just as shavings are. The Oriental “Resurrection Plant” 
is more rarely seen in this country than the other. When 
I was a youngster, people rarely went to Europe even, but 
a man who had been to the “ Holy Land ” was looked 
upon as one who had done great things, but there were 
no ocean steamers then. Among the curiosities these 
travelers brought home, there was quite sure to be a 
“ ROSE OP JERICHO,” 
and that, like our later California plant, would spread its 
branches when placed in water, and roll itself into a ball 
when dry. It was looked upon as a wonderful plant; the 
monks called it liaf Maryam , or Mary’s flower, and said 
that it would open each year on the day and the hour of 
the birth of Christ, and other equally strange stories were 
told about it. The engraving (fig. 4) shows you the plant 
dried, as it is sold, and at its side (fig. 5) is a branch of 
the fresh plant as it looks when growing. The plant 
spreads its leafy branches all around from a central root; 
it produces its little flowers in the spring, and ripens its 
seeds. When the dry season comes, the leaves drop, the 
dry branches with the seed-pods on 
them roll up to form a ball, and 
when there are heavy storms of 
wind, the root breaks away, and the 
ball goes rolling on before the wind, 
and may travel for many miles be¬ 
fore it finds a resting place. It may 
be stopped by a stone or a clod, or 
fall into a little hollow, and there it 
waits until the spring rains come. 
When moistened, the dry sticks of 
stems spread out, the dry seed-pods 
open, so that the seeds can fall out 
and grow. So, after all, it is only 
one of the many ways in which 
seeds are scattered to a great 
distance. The branches will curl 
up or spread open as often as they 
are dried and wet, but they have no 
more life in them than any other old twig. The real 
thing perhaps is half as large again as it is shown in the 
engraving ... Since the above was written, I received a 
letter from some one in Brooklyn, N. Y., who does not 
agree with the statement that these plants have no life, 
as he has one that will open and show, not only green 
leaves, but white flowers. All I can say is, that he has 
something very different from anything I have seen or 
heard of, and should be very glad indeed to see it. 
- m-t -«««»-*-•- 
Aunt §5*ie’s I* sizzle-Box. 
Well, children, you would laugh if you could read a 
letter I received to-day, asking me to explain to grown 
folks how to find out puzzles to explain what they 
mean, and how to go to work to get at the pith of them. 
It is rather trying to tell a good joke, and then have to 
dissect it for the hearers, so that they may know -where 
the laugh comes in. However, I like to please every¬ 
body (it’s so easy!); therefore I’ll “explain,” and you 
veteran-puzzlers of ten and eleven summers (not to men¬ 
tion winters) can be solving the puzzles, while the learn¬ 
ers are studying the explanation. 
We will begin with the numerical enigma. (Get your 
slates.) I am composed of 17 letters: (Write down the 
figures in a straight line one-quarter of an inch apart— 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,11, 12, 13,14, 15,16, 17.) 
My 5, 2,12, 4, is what children love to read. 
(Oh 1 that must be “book” yes, it has four letters ; • 
well—put b down under 5 ; o under 2; o under 12 ; and 
k under 4.) 
My 7, 3, 9, 4, is something you are sure to see on the 
table at dinner time. 
(“ Salt ? It has four letters.”—“ No, the last letter of it 
is k.”— “ O ! ‘fork.’”—“Yes, of course.”—Write the 
letters of “ fork ” under the figures named.) 
My 6,15,1, is a fish. 
(Three letters—“ cod,” perhaps ; have we got any let¬ 
ters under 6,15, or 1?—“No.”—Well, we’ll skip that. 
What numbers have we the letters for? “ 6, 2,12, 4, 7, 
3, and9.”—“Well, here’s an item with 7 in it; let’s try 
that.”) 
My 7, 8,13, 9, is a number. 
(<‘ That begins with f, and has four letters, it must be 
either number four or five; let us try ‘ five.’—“ Oh 1 no, 
the last letter is r; it must be ‘four.’ Write it down 
under the figures.”—“ Now can you make out the whole 
sentence from the few letters you have already written ? ” 
—“ No, hot quite, it begins with ‘ book,’ ‘ hook,’ ‘ took,’ 
or something ending in double o, k.”) 
My 17, 14,16,11, is what children love to do. 
(“ Dance ? ” — “ No, only four letters.”—" O ! I know 1 
‘play.’ ’’—Write it down.) 
(When you have reached thus far, you will have no 
difficulty in reading the whole sentence ; but in making 
an enigma, all the letters must be used, so you might as 
well go on and write them down.) 
My 10,11, 6, is something without which, no beauty 
could be seen. 
My whole is a well-known proverb. 
(I leave the learner to finish the enigma and find the 
solution.) 
And now, just for fun, let us have 
A PRIZE ENIGMA! 
I offer ten prizes—of articles costing less than a hundred 
dollars apiece —(say a book, a pair, of scissors, a knife, or 
some little useful present, just for the name of the thing) 
—to be distributed among those of my nephews and 
nieces, who shall send to me—subject to the conditions 
under-mentioned — correct solutions of the “ Prize 
Enigma” below. 
The conditions are: 1st. All answers must reach me 
No, 459. Illustrated Helms.—A quotation 
from Shakespeare, not as he wrote it, but as people 
generally quote it, and it is used quite often. 
on or before the last day of April.—2nd. Answers must 
be signed with the name and post-office address of the 
sender, and be enclosed in a sealed envelope, super¬ 
scribed “ Answer to Prize Enigma,” which must be put 
in another envelope and addressed and mailed to “Aunt 
Sue, Box 111, P. O., Brooklyn, N. Y.” 
On the 1st day of May, I will place all the answers re¬ 
ceived in a box and shake them up well. Then I shall 
invoke the aid of a very charming young lady, Miss Clara 
Josephine, of the mature age of eighteen months, who 
shall preside over the box, open it, and hand me the 
answers one at a time; no one will charge her with 
favor or prejudice. 
I will open and examine each answer in the order of 
her selection, and to the first ten correct answers will 
accord the prizes, one of which will be mailed to each 
winning address. The result will be publicly announced 
in the July number. 
Now, dear children, every one, 
Try your skill, and share “ the fun.” 
Here it is 
