by  the  Emperor  of  Bi-azil  in  the  Itelian  Depart¬ 
ment,  Main  Building,  ifonly  to  judge  of  Imperial 
Brazillian  taste.  Americans  thinU  if,  is  ugly. 
One  does  the  correct  tiling,  if  one  goes  to  the 
Vienna  bakery,  drink  the  coffee,  eat  the  bread, 
roll  your  eyes,  and  declare  it  is  the  loveliest 
nectar  you  ever  tasted.  Tlie  display  in  the  pho¬ 
tographic  annox  proves  that  the  Polish  women 
are  about  the  handsomest  in  the  world.  They 
are  pretty,  and  no  mistake.  Don't  think  a  brick 
tile  is  terra  cotta,  because  it  is  vollow 
cultivation,  we  would  be  pleaao<l  to  receive  speci¬ 
mens,  or  at  least  descriptions,  of  any  really 
promising  and  distinct  sorts  which  the  readers 
ofthoEtmAij  may  happen  to  know.  The  per¬ 
simmon  belongs  to  a  very  reputable  family  of 
fruits  and  a  little  search  may  bring  to  light  some¬ 
thing  quite  valuable  in  the  way  of  varieties. 
and  brnuchos  of  the  jieaoh  trees,  1  might  preserve 
thorn  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  wliioh  were  very 
powerMl.  My  surprise  was  great,  upon  the  fol- 
lowiug  day,  to  find  tJio  trees  entirely  free  from 
their  enemies,  not  one  remaining,  except  here 
and  there  where  a  curled  leaf  provouted  the 
tomato  from  exorcising  its  influence.  Those 
leaves  I  carefnlly  unrolled,  placing  upon  them 
fresh  ones  from  tho  tomato  vine,  witli  the  result 
of  banishiog  the  last  insect  and  enabling  tlio 
trees  to  grow  with  luxuriance.  Wishing  to  carry 
still  further  my  experiment,  I  steeped  in  water 
some  fresh  leaves  of  the  tomato,  and  sprinlclod  | 
unlimited,  and  probably  its  use  may  oven  reduce 
tho  price  of  paper  in  tho  markets  of  the  world. 
“Such  facts  are  interesting  in  themselves. 
Tlio  idea  that  tho  wild,  almost  untrod<len  slopes 
of  tho  Pacific  oi'o  to  furnish  tho  material  on 
which  books  and  nowsiiapors  are  to  he  printed — 
that  intelligonco.  gonlus  and  learning  are  to  de¬ 
pend  for  their  diffusion  upon  tho  desert  thistles 
which  are  regarded  as  a  pest,  is  startling.  But 
it  suggests  tho  question— What  next  ?" 
LIMONIA  TRIFOLIATA  AS  A  STOCK  FOR 
THE  ORANGE. 
S.  B.  Parsons,  Esq.,  -wiiting  to  the  Sub-Trop¬ 
ical  about  orange  stocks,  says It  is  asserted  by 
NEW  FIREPROOF  BUILDING  MATERIAL. 
The  question  of  a  fireproof  building  material 
seems  as  if  it  were  about  to  be  solved,  if  state¬ 
ments  made  at  mootings  of  tho  Institute  of 
British  Architects  may  bo  ucoopted  as  evidence. 
The  material  is  concrete.  Au  instance  was  men- 
tioued  of  a  building  which  had  boou  completely 
gutted  by  firo;  but  tho  w.-vlls,  coustniotod  of 
Portland  oenicnt  concrete,  with  ironwork  hu- 
bedded  therein,  “  withstood  tlio  fire  perfectly, 
and  were  tho  only  parts  that  did  wilbstand  it.” 
It  has  been  proved  by  conflagration  and  by  ex¬ 
periment  that  iron  doors  will  not  resist  mtense 
firo.  They  warp  and  ovontually  crumble  away, 
while  concrete  doors  romaiu  nnaffootod.  It 
would  now  bo  possible  to  construct  a  warehouse 
or  any  other  building  enliroly  of  concrete,  for 
stairs,  iviiulow-frames,  door-frames,  and  indeed 
nearly  every  part  may  bo  finished  without  the 
UBO  of  wood.  In  St.  Paul’s  Cathedral  that  por¬ 
tion  of  the  dome  open  to  tho  public  is  shut  off 
from  the  other  part  by  fireproof  doors  of  oou- 
crote. 
sap  uuongn  untimely  pruning,  may  soon  be  con¬ 
vinced  that  it  does  so,  oven  if  no  sorious  ill-ef¬ 
fects  are  ohservod. 
Wm.  I*.  Brooks  of  the  MasHaohusotts  Agricul¬ 
tural  College,  has  been  experimenting  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  the  effects  of  bleeding 
upon  grapo-vmes  and  oomraunicatos  the  results 
to  the  Scientiflo  i’anner  as  follows : 
Tile  question,  whether  bleeding  injures  the 
grape-vine,  has  of  late  attracted  tho  attention  of 
many ;  some,  on  account  of  tho  extreme  tenuity 
of  the  sap,  being  led  to  conclude  that  its  passage 
through  tho  vine  was  perhaps  only  a  mechanical 
process,  or.  at  least,  that  It  was  of  little  conse¬ 
quence  to  the  plant,  being  mostly  water.  I  shall 
not  attem])t  to  answer  this  question  aiitlioritively, 
for  this  can  bo  done  only  by  one  who  has  care-’ 
fully  and  repeatedly  made  tho  experiment ;  but 
will  simply  give  a  short  account  of  a  few  inves¬ 
tigations  as  to  the  composition  of  tho  sap  of  tho 
vine,  which  I  liave  recently  made  at  tho  sugges¬ 
tion  and  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Goossmann, 
drawing  a  few  conclusions  from  the  results  ob¬ 
tained. 
Tho  sap  tested  was  collected  on  warm  days  in 
May,  before  tho  foliage  expanded,  by  cutting  off 
the  end  of  a  vigorous  shoot,  and  carefully  catch¬ 
ing  what  di-ippod  from  the  vino  in  bottles.  The 
first  test  made  was  with  an  ordinary  hydrometer 
for  tho  specific  gravitv;  but  though  this  was 
doubtless  a  little  greatei-  tJiaii  that  of  water,  I 
was  unable  to  obtain  a  result  which  I  could  ex¬ 
press  in  figores,  with  the  instrument  used. 
Evaporation  to  dryness,  and  heating  tho  residue 
at  from  100  to  110  degrees  Centigrade,  sliowed 
125.0  mille-gramraes  of  solid  matter  in  100  cubic 
centimeters  of  sap.  This  proves  that,  although 
almost  imiierceptiblo  witli  tho  hydrometer,  the 
sap  does  contain  a  considerable  amount  of  some- 
ABOUT  BIRDS, 
Eaii.vest  iNOERHonr,  gives  In  Scribner’s  Month¬ 
ly  the  following  interesting  itom  of  information 
about  tho  structure  of  birds : 
Tho  most  promuiont  fact  about  a  bird  is  a  fac¬ 
ulty  in  which  it  diffors  from  every  other  creature 
except  the  bat  and  iusoots — its  power  of  flying. 
For  this  purposo  tbo  bird’s  arm  ends  in  only  one 
long,  slender  Unger,  instead  of  a  full  hand.  To 
this  are  attached  tho  quills  and  small  feathers 
(coverts)  on  the  upper  side,  which  make  up  the 
wing.  Observe  how  light  all  this  is :  in  tho  first 
place  the  bones  are  hollow,  then  tho  shafts  of 
the  foatliers  are  hollow ;  and,  finally,  tho  feath¬ 
ers  thomselvos  are  made  of  tho  mostdolicato  fila¬ 
ments,  interlocking  and  clinging  to  one  another 
with  little  grasping  hooks  of  microscopic  fine¬ 
ness.  Well,  how  does  tho  bird  lly  ?  It  seems 
simple  enough  to  describe,  and  yet  it  is  a  prob¬ 
lem  tliat  the  wisest  in  such  matters  have  not 
yet  worked  out  to  everybody’s  satisfaction.  This 
explanation,  by  tho  duko  of  Argyle,  appears  to 
me  to  bo  tho  best.  An  open  wing  forms  a  hol¬ 
low  on  its  under  side  like  an  inverted  saucer; 
when  the  wing  is  forced  down,  the  upward  pres¬ 
sure  of  tho  air  caught  Under  tliia  oonoavity,  lifts 
the  bird  up,  much  as  yon  hoist  yourself  up  be¬ 
tween  the  parallel  bars  in  a  gjuniiasiiim.  But  he 
could  never  in  this  way  got  aiioad,  and  the  hard¬ 
est  question  is  still  tx>  bo  answered.  Now,  tho 
front  edge  of  the  wing,  formed  of  the  hones  and 
mnseles  of  tho  fore-arm,  Is  rigid  and  unyielding, 
while  tho  hinder  margin  la  merely  the  seft  flexi¬ 
ble  ends  Ilf  tho  feathers :  so  when  the  wing  is 
forced  down,  tho  air  under  it,  fintihig  this  mar- 
(Hco  ISO,) 
with  this  inf  iision  other  plants,  roses  and  oranges. 
In  two  days  those  wore  also  free  from  the  innu¬ 
merable  insects  which  covered  them,  and  I  felt 
sure  that  had  1  used  tho  same  means  with  my 
melon  patch  I  should  have  met  with  tho  same 
result.  I  therefore  deem  it  a  duty  I  owe  to  the 
Society  of  Horticulture  to  make  known  this  sin¬ 
gular  and  useful  property  of  tlio  tomato  leaves, 
which  I  discovered  by  tho  merest  accident. 
THE  GUANO  CAVES  OF  AMERICA, 
CACTUS  PAPER. 
As  the  supply  of  pai>er  maldng  materials  give 
out  in  one  place  another  source  is  found,  but 
who  would  have  sujiposed  tliat  the  miserable 
cacti  of  tho  Western  plains  would  have  ever  been 
tumed  to  any  good  use.  But  here  is  what  Dr. 
Bobis  writes  to  the  Presbyter  about  this  plant  in 
connection  with  paper  making ; 
“  In  California  tbero  are  mountains  covered 
with  cactus^thousands  of  acres  that  even  the 
gnats  avoid,  so  dense  are  these  vegetable  porcu¬ 
pines.  Tho  cactus  deserts  have  been  regarded 
as  worthless.  But  we  are  learning  not  to  judge 
hastily  that  anything  is  worthless  that  God  has 
made.  Capt.  Walker  of  Soloday,  has  just 
started  a  ninety  horse-power  engine,  crushing 
cactus  into  pulp  for  making  paper.  He  sends 
twenty  tons  of  this  prepared  fiber  every  week  to 
Oeo.  W.  Childs  of  Philadelphia,  the  piiblisher  of 
the  Daily  Ledger  in  that  city.  Mr.  Childs  has  a 
paper  mill  of  his  own,  and  will  use  tlie  cactus 
pulp  from  the  deserts  of  tho  Pacific  slope  instead 
of  straw.  Hitherto,  California  has  imported 
nearly  all  of  its  paper  from  the  East.  But  this 
discovery  will  lead  to  the  erection  of  paper  mills 
hero,  and  the  production  of  paper  so  cheaply 
that  it  will  bear  shipment  to  the  Atlantic  coast. 
The  supply  of  cactus  in  our  mountains  is  almost 
The  following  has  been  sent  to  the  editor  of 
the  Liverpool  Courier: 
Hih  I  have  road  witli  much  interest  your  ar¬ 
ticle  on  “  Bat  Guano  ”  deposits  in  tho  United 
States  of  America.  It  is  a  subject  to  which  I 
have  given  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  have 
personally  inspected  several  of  these  cave  depos¬ 
its  in  Touuessett,  which  were  worked  by  the  Con¬ 
federate  Government  for  saltpeter  during  the 
war. 
These  caves,  however,  are  not  to  bo  compared 
with  the  deposits  in  Texas  for  richness  in  ammo¬ 
nia,  nitrio  and  phosphoric  acids,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  in  Tennessee  and  Alabama  there  are 
frequent  rains.  Thie  generally  causes  a  stream 
to  run  through  these  oaves,  wbioh  washes  out 
the  ammonia,  nitrates  and  phosphates  from  the 
deposit,  and  mixes  it  wl  h  other  substances  car¬ 
ried  down  by  the  water.  Now  in  Texas  there  is 
but  little  rain ;  there  are  no  streams  in  the  caves, 
and  the  consequence  is  that  many  of  the  bat  de¬ 
posits  in  Ti-xas  are  superior  to  nuicli  of  tho  Per¬ 
uvian  guano  now  supplied.  I  have  Dr.  Voelckor’s 
(tlie  griialest  aiillmrity  on  these  matters)  analy¬ 
sis  of  several  samples  of  those  deposits.  Ho  re¬ 
ports  Ihoni  to  contain  from  5  to  liJ  per  cent,  of 
ammonia,  10  to  15  per  cent,  of  nitrate  of  hme 
at;H  a  large  quantity  of  jihosphate  of  lime — in 
one  ease  as  high  as  48  per  cent.— with  a  large 
proportion  of  It  soluble  phosphate  of  lime,  the 
value  ranging  from  wtS  to  £Lt  a  ton.  w.  j,  m. 
TOMATO  LEAVES  — SINGULAR  PROPERTY. 
I  lu.ANTED  a  peach  orchard,  writes  M.  Siroy, 
of  the  Society  of  Horticulture,  Valparaiso,  and 
the  trees  grow  well  and  strongly.  They  had  but 
just  commenced  to  bud  when  they  wore  invaded 
by  the  ourculio  Qntlgon),  which  insects  were  fol¬ 
lowed,  as  frequently  happens,  by  ants.  Having 
cut  some  tomatoes,  the  idea  ocemTod  to  me  that, 
by  placing  some  of  tho  leaves  around  the  trunks 
PERSIMMONS  WANTED 
