place, while the wood is dragged by their 
teeth. Their work is done entirely at night, 
and with great rapidity. When undisturbed, 
they continue to live in the same houses year 
after year. “ When they are to erect a new 
habitation, they cut the timber for it in the 
Spring, but do not begin to build till August, 
and never complete it till cold weather be¬ 
gins.” Then old and new houses are covered 
with a hirer of mud, which, freezing, becomes 
JWSfc:' 4 
then return to their lodge. The Beavers in 
the other lodge, scenting this, repair to the 
same spot, cover it over with earth, and then 
make a similar deposit on the top. This op¬ 
eration is repeated by each part y, alternate¬ 
ly, until quite a mound is raised, sometimes 
to the hight of five feet.” 
During Winter Beavers are caught by cub 
ting a hole through the ice near the entrance 
to the lodge and setting a trap here baited 
Jim'icultnral 
FUR-BEARING ANIMALS-XIV 
TALK ABOUT FLOWERS, 
I would advise Rose Geranium to pur¬ 
chase some higher priced seeds, if she wishes 
to not be “exquisitely disappointed” with 
her annuals another your ; if she will procure 
some seeds ofthe Abronia armaria, Balsams, 
Dianthus, Nasturtiums, Pansies, Petunias, 
Verbenas, and cultivate these varieties, she 
will be amply repaid for all her care, if her 
judgment, of flowers is anything similar to 
mine ; but I fear we widely differ in our 
opinion, for she says she esteems “the Pha- 
celia a perfect treasure,” while I look upon it 
as not worthy attention. She asks “why is 
it that the Everlastings are so neglected?” I 
will answer they are not neglected ; and I 
think it must be a very ignorant class of indi¬ 
viduals who visit her home and “ have to be 
astonished and enlightened by the ‘ fadeless 
flowers’ that adorn our vases.” I do not 
wonder at Rose becoming disgusted at the 
“many burr-bug-stick-and-glue-things” when 
the hight of her ambition in that line has 
attained to the making of flowers out of the 
pith of rushes and sticking them together 
with wax. Rose you have been writing of 
many different varieties of flowers you have 
under your care, but there is ouc flower, I 
am aware you have in your possession, that 
I have never been so fortunate as to see ; now 
if you will give a description of it, in the 
Rural New-Yorker, I will thank you, I do 
not know the botanical name of this flower 
but will call it the Fury flower. 
A Constant Rural Reader. 
THE COMMON BEAVER 
Castor fiber—LINN. 
The Beaver, doubtless, existed at one time 
throughout the United States and British 
America, as vestige* of Its labors arc found 
in the “ beaver meadows” in all parts of the 
country, but it has slowly decreased in num¬ 
bers and now is rarely found, and only in 
wild and uncultivated regions. A common 
length of the Beaver's body U thirty inches ; 
of its tail, ten, the width of which in the 
broadest pail is six inches. The body resem¬ 
bles the muskrat, though much larger ; it is 
thick and clumsy, gradually enlarging to¬ 
wards the hips and then rounding off some¬ 
what abruptly to the root of the tail; nose, 
obtuse, divided ; eyes, small; ears, rounded ; 
neck, short; fore logs short and small; toes, 
well separated and very flexible ; the fore 
feet are used like, hands for conveying food 
to the month ; hind feet with hard and cal¬ 
lous soles and loug toes, connected by a web ; 
palms and soles, naked ; when walking, the 
whole heel touches the ground ; the Beaver 
is accustomed to rest itself on its hind feet 
and tail. The tail is broad and flat, tongue- 
sbaped, oval and covered with scales; a 
musky, unctuous substance, called castoreum, 
is secreted in a pouch near the root of the 
tail. 
The fur is of two kinds, one, long, coarse, 
smooth and glossy, and of a chestnut color on 
the upper surface ; lighter below ; the other, 
shorter, very law, deuse, soft and silky, of a 
smoky, or siJ very-gray ; there Is an occasiona l 
variety, some being black, others nearly 
white. 
The sagacity and instinct of the Beaver 
have long been the subject of admiration and 
wonder ; but by many naturalists it has 
been greatly overrated, as the fox far exceeds 
it in intelligence and cunning, and the musk¬ 
rat nearly equals it in sagacity and architect¬ 
ural skill, IIeaune, who studied the habits 
of this animal for twenty years, says: 
“Wnen Beavers are numerous, they con¬ 
struct their habitations upon the bunks of 
lakes, ponds, rivers and small streams ; but 
when they are at liberty to choose, they 
always select places where there is sufficient 
current to facilitate tko transportation ol 
wood and other necessaries to their dwell¬ 
ings, and where the water is so deep as not to 
be frozen to the bottom during Winter. The 
Beavers that build their houses in small riv¬ 
ers and creeks, in which water is liable to be 
drained oil’, when the back supplies are dried 
up by frost, provide aguinst that evil by 
making a dam quite across the stream at a 
convenient distance from their houses. The 
dams differ in shape, according to the nature 
of the place in which they are built. If the 
water in the stream lias but little motion, 
the dam is almost straight 
ORNAMENTAL LEAVES FOR BOUQUETS 
R. M. in the Gardener's Chronicle, quoted 
in November Gardener's Monthly, recom¬ 
mends Berberls aquifollutn as a border for 
bouquets. I have forears used these leaves 
for bouquets, and consider them equal to any¬ 
thing I know of. The evergreen fern, com¬ 
mon about Germantown, is also a fine bor¬ 
dering, giving the bouquet a star-like look. 
In the late Spring and early Summer months. 
I make great use of the young shoots of the 
Hornbeam. Their pleasing redish brown hue 
and beautiful crimped leaves, have a fine ef¬ 
fect in bouquets. The leaves of nearly all 
the Begonias can be used. They are striking 
and unique in bouquets. Few persons seem 
to be aware of the great beauty of leaves and 
their value in floral decoration. 1 make 
great use of lea ves ; have even at times used 
successfully the blades of our ordinary road¬ 
side grasses. 
THE COISZLNAOJNi Hi 
as hard as stone. They frequently walk over with a green stick, and also at their feeding 
their work, often giving it a slap with their places they are caught in u like manner, 
tails, so that the outside at length is as smooth \ Traps are sometimes placed near the shore 
as if finished with a trowel. The interior of and fastened firmly to it by a chain long 
the larger lodges is often seven feet in uiame- enough to reach out to deep water ; a good 
ter and three high, and the walls become of way is to make a breach in the dam and place 
such thickness that the outside is eight feet the trap there. It must always be heavily 
high and sixty in circumference. Their Bleep 
ing places are separate beds around the in¬ 
terior wall of the lodge, made of grass or 
tender bark, tire center being unoccupied, 
and probably here is the principal opening 
into the water. The Beavers cut a broad 
ditch around their lodges if the water be not 
deep enough otherwise, and into this are 
numerous small entrances, through which 
they pass with their food. 
During the Fall, the Beavers cut down and 
drag Into the water opposite their lodgps 
birch, poplar and willow trees, seldom foil¬ 
ing any over six inches in diameter, though 
logs twenty inches through are sometimes 
cutoff and removed from the trenches. They 
always leave the top of the stump in the 
shape of a cone, aud gnaw lengthwise of the 
grain of the wood. This store they heap to¬ 
gether aud fasten to the shore, under water. 
Besides feeding on the bark of these articles 
during Winter, they dig up and eat the roots 
of the water lily and other water-plants, In 
Summer they rove about and eat berries and 
leaves. 
The young are produced in the lodges, from 
four to eight in a litter ; their eyes are open 
when born ; they remain with their mother 
for a year, at least, often two veal's. Audu¬ 
bon says :—“It is a curious fact that among 
the Beavers there are some that are lazy and 
will not work at all, cither to assist in build¬ 
ing lodges or darns, or to cut down wood for 
their TV inter stock. The industrious ones 
beat these idle follows, aud drive them away, 
sometimes cutting off a part of their tail, and 
otherwise injuring them. They only dig a 
hole from the water, runniug obliquely to¬ 
ward the surface of the ground, twenty-five 
or thirty feet, from which they emerge when 
hungry, to obtain food, returning with the 
wood they procure to eat the bark. They 
never form dams, aud sometimes five or seven 
live together. They are all males, and are 
more easily caught in traps than others.” On 
the contrary, the working Beavers, male, fe¬ 
male and young, work and live together. 
Beavers usually visit their dam every night 
to see if repairs are needed, and also to de¬ 
posit their ordure there, or in the water some 
distance from their lodges. 
The author just quoted describesa singular 
habit of the Beaver:—“When two Beaver 
lodges are in the vicinity of each other, the 
animals proceed from one of them at night to 
a certain spot, deposit their castoreum, and 
PRESERVING FLOWERS IN ALCOHOL 
A friend of ours says that an excellent 
way to preserve the form and color of flow¬ 
ers that it is desirable to transport long dis¬ 
tances, is to immerse them in a jar of alcohol. 
A sea captain who sails between this port 
and tropical countries, frequently gratifies 
his friends by bringing them specimens of 
tropical flowers in this way. It does not an¬ 
swer, however, to remove them from the al¬ 
cohol ; if this is done, they lose color and form 
at once. 
but when the 
current is rapidit is ahvays made with a con¬ 
siderable curve convex towards the stream. 
Tlie materials made use of arc drift wood, 
green willows, birch and poplars, if they can 
be got; also mad and atones, intermixed in 
such a maimer, as must evidently contribute 
to the strength of the dam ; but there is no 
order or method observed in the dams except 
that of the work being carried on with a reg¬ 
ular sweep, aud ail the parts being made of 
equal strength. In places which have been 
long frequented by Beavers undisturbed, their 
dam.-, by frequent repairings, become a solid 
b ink, capable of resisting a great force both 
of water and ice ; and as the willow, poplar 
and birch, generally take root aud shoot up, 
they by degrees form a kind of regular plant¬ 
ed hedge, which I have seen in some places 
s j tall that birds have built their nests among 
the branches.” 
Tu 3 dams are sometimes eight feet high 
and twelve wide at tue bottom, with sides 
inclining toward each other, and 3011 yard-, 
long. Often they extend beyond the stream 
ia a circular form, so as to overflow the tim¬ 
ber near the margin. 
r.ieir houses, proportioned to the number 
of inmates, are built of the same materials as 
the dams, but of much ruder structure, their 
chief aim being to have a dry place to live 
iu. Some ol them, containing several fami¬ 
lies, are divided by partition-like supports to 
the roof. Frequently, in such cases, the 
apartments have no communication with 
each other but by water. The whole, from 
the foundation, is a mass of mud and wood 
mixed with stones, if they can be procured. 
The mud is taken from the edge of the bank 
cr the bottom of the creek or pond before 
the house, and, held close up under the chin 
by the fore paws, is carried to its destined 
GRAPHALIUM LANATUM VARIEGATUM 
We are indebted to Henry. E. Chitty, of 
the Bellvue Nurseries, for a specimen of this 
new variegated leaved-plant. It is a variety 
of our old Q. lanatum, with leaves distinctly 
variegated with green and white. It is said 
to be a strong and vigorous grower, and will 
no doubt become a favorite with those who 
are seeking for novelties among handsome 
foliage plants. 
CROSSING GOLDFINCH AND CANARY 
I was bom in the land of the Goldfinch, 
and I wish to inform E. H, of Ohio, that we 
had no sweeter singer than the Bullfinch (a 
cross between the Goldfinch and Canary); its 
singing far surpasses either of those birds. 
We always mated them in March. Have a 
small basket to form a nest, a little wool, 
hair, featnerB or anything you think of to 
build their nest with ; put your basket at the 
back of your cage, so you wifi not disturb the 
lady bird ; while sitting, you must put the 
cage in some quiet place, and no person at¬ 
tend to them but yourself. The basket must 
be tied up high to the wire ; so that you will 
not disturb it while cleaning the cage ; above 
all, I caution you against looking iu the nest, 
as your breath will spoil the eggs and prevent 
them from hatching ; in a word, disturb them 
as little as possible. Feed the young birds on 
hard boiled egg, cracker, sponge cake, hemp- 
seed, canary seed, with a sprig of plantain seed 
and lettuce ; keep them clean, and all is well. 
The Wild Irish Girl. 
THE FLOWER OF EDEN 
The double white Pink Flower of Eden now 
coming into flower in warm greenhouses is a 
remarkably valuable plant. It opens at first 
somewhat greenish, but soon unfolds into a 
largo and beautiful double flower. Mr. An¬ 
drew Henderson considers it more valuable 
for cutting than any of the Carnations, and it 
flowers profusely.— Garden. 
FLORAL BREVITIES 
Wild Sweet Violets were the adopted floral 
feature on the occasion of the funeral of ex- 
Emperor Napoleon. Cart-loads were gath¬ 
ered, and disposed of in a few hours at 6d. 
aud Is. pel’ bunch. 
The Tufts of Pampas Grass, it is recom¬ 
mended by a French gardener, should be 
burned in Autumn and left alone ; in Spring 
they wifi push up earlier and better than if 
protected with mats, or otherwise. 
Nests for Canaries. — Will not some of 
your yeaders, having experience, name the 
best material for nests for canaries ?— L. B. 
