42 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 19, 1858. 
health, and profit of the Pear tree. So deep has the conviction of 
this truth become, and so uniform the success, that instead of 
planting trees, as in former times, by the single tree or the dozen, 
cuttivators now plant orchards of hundreds and thousands, in 
firm and reasonable expectation of large income.” 
Mr. Wilder dwelt upon the duty of pomologists to supply the 
people with good fruits at such a price that they might become, 
not the condiments, but the food of the people. 
Mr. Field read a paper by Mr. L. E. Berckmans, advocating 
the culture of fruit, and especially encouraging faint-hearted fruit¬ 
growers to find out what fruits were suited to their locality, and 
then to cultivate the most vigorous of these. He stated that he 
had seen more good fruits at one exhibition in Rochester or 
Boston, than in any twenty exhibitions he had seen in Europe. 
Let them not be disheartened by any obstacles. None could be 
greater than the oidium in Europe, but that had been overcome. 
Mr. Field then read a paper on the adaptation of varieties of 
Pears to different localities. lie had never seen a single universal 
soil. The finest and most delicate were least general in their 
adaptation. Not more than half the varieties of Pears were good 
for any single locality. He had been much interested in tracing 
out varieties which were brought over by the Huguenots. In 
conclusion he mentioned instances of successful hybridisation. 
The President read a paper from Mr. J. J. Thomas. He says 
that the roots of his dwarf two-year-old Pear trees cover the 
diameter of eight feet. The old supposition has been that the 
roots extend no further than the tops. But the tops of these 
trees were only two feet in diameter. Peach trees ten feet high 
were doubled in their growth by heaps of manure fifteen feet 
distant, and quadrupled by heaps seven feet distant. 
Mr. Walker, of Roxbury, spoke in favour of the publication 
by the Society of a catalogue of all the fruits which have been 
cultivated in this country. Then he proposed that they should 
have local catalogues for each State, of good fruits, both for family 
use and for the market. He would have the catalogue give full 
descriptions and outlines of these fruits, and would have them 
completed Jan. 1, 1860. Such catalogues could be sold for fifty 
cents : he would guarantee a sale of 20,000 a-year. 
YELLOW WAGTAIL. 
Foe several days past, a small bird, called the Yellow Wagtail, 
has excited much attention from its continually dashing itself 
against a window. From morning till night it kept up its attacks 
at short intervals, during which it appeared to seek its food. 
This, however, is not the only instance in which this habit has 
fallen under my observation, as, about this period last year, I 
shot a bird of the same species after it had exhibited the same 
peculiarities for many days. 
If these circumstances afford sufficient interest to any of your 
readers, to induce them to offer some observations on the occur¬ 
rence, I shall feel much obliged. 1 should remark, perhaps, that 
it was certainly not in search of insects that these birds attacked 
the window, as I repeatedly examined the glass, but saw nothing 
like food to induce them. I, however, venture one suggestion on 
the subject:—Outside the window, and opposite the lower squares, 
—the point of attack,—is the ridge of an out-building : from 
thence they may have seen themselves reflected in the glass, and 
thereby a pugnacious irritabilility may have been induced. 
On the 5tli inst. I reluctantly shot this second visitor, as his 
constant rappings annoyed the inmates of my residence. Since 
that time no other individual has ventured upon the dangerous 
experiment, although there are several flying about the house of 
your constant reader—Z. A., Dartmouth. 
ON TOADS CLIMBING. 
Although toads have not sharp claws to assist them to climb, 
they can get up into clefts and holes in trees, where they sit and 
snap up insects which happen to enter. Lately I observed one 
in the cleft of an evergreen oak, about four feet and a half from 
the ground. On repeated visits, I found it sometimes from home, 
and at others in the act of ascending, but never descending. 
When I tried to make the toad go down it seemed very much 
annoyed, for it uttered a sound like coo-coo, and endeavoured to 
turn to go up again. In fact, I think that toads cannot descend trees 
like the nuthatch, but make a sort of tumble. They will often 
glide down smooth surfaces backwards. And, perhaps, when 
toads ascend to a considerable height, they are afraid to descend; 
and this may account for their being found in the hearts of trees 
after the entrance-holes have grown up. But, as toads are much 
affected by frost, they would not remain in such situations unless 
sufficiently protected from the weather. 
I may here note, that I am well aware of what has been said 
respecting toads being found in airtight prisons, even in the heart 
of stones. I have a faint recollection of an instance of this, which 
happened when a man was breaking stones near my father’s 
door ; and this curious occurrence came under the notice of the 
late Dr. Munro. But, as no creature can exist long without air, 
in all such cases there may have been some small fissure whioh 
escaped observation after the stones were broken. There is still, 
however, another difficulty to be explained, which the curious 
seem to have overlooked. If toads are really imprisoned in such 
small places, that they can hardly move and have food and air, 
what becomes of their deposits, which must accumulate ? 
I pass on, however, to notice the formation of the feet of toads, 
which enables them to climb. Without going into minute 
description, I may state that a toad’s foot is like the human hand, 
without a thumb. At the end of each toe there is a sort of ball, 
and, having great power in their fore legs, they catch hold of the 
rough bark of trees, and draw themselves up, assisted by the 
hinder ones. These have five toes on each, and are slightly 
webbed, to enable them to swim. Boys, indeed, are often 
frightened, when, on putting their hands into a hole of a tree, 
they find a toad where they fully expected a bird’s nest.—J 
Wighton. 
PHYLLOTAXY", OR THE ARRANGEMENT OF 
THE LEAVES ON THE STEM. 
At first sight, nothing would seem to be a less promising 
subject of study than that of the arrangement of the leaves on the 
stem, or branches, of the plant, and we should be ready to admit 
that here, at least, is one field left by Creative Wisdom to the 
dominion of chance. But a careful investigation of this subject 
lias brought to light a science of unexpected exactness and beauty, 
called Phyllotaxy, a Greek name, signifying Leaf-arrangement. 
Let us try an experiment. Select a straight, vigorous shoot of 
an Elm, with or without leaves. Commencing with the lowest 
leaf at its point of insertion, or scar, extend a thread to the next 
leaf above, which we shall find halfway around the stem, then 
carry the thread on to the next leaf above, which we shall find 
exactly over our first leaf. 
Now, w’e have wound the thread just once around the stem, 
passing two leaves. Continue to wind the thread in this way, 
passing it by each leaf in upward succession, to the top. The 
thread now forms a regular spiral line ; each turn in this spiral 
passes two leaves—the third leaf begins a new turn, consequently 
the distance between any two leaves is just half a turn, that is 
(angularly) half a circle of 180°. Now, let us call each complete 
turn a cycle, and this kind, viz., the Eln cycle, we will express 
mathematically, the i cycle; the numerator, 1, is the number of 
turns in a cycle ; the denominator, 2, of leaves, and the fraction 
itself is the angular distance between any two leaves, i. e., half a 
circle or 180°. It will also be observed that the leaves in the Elm- 
shoot form two perpendicular ranks' or, in other words, are 
2-ranked. 
Let us next try a shoot from the Birch, in the same way. Here 
we shall find the spiral arrangement even better defined than in 
the Elm. Every fourth leaf completes one cycle and begins 
another ; consequently each cycle consists here also of one turn 
and three leaves, and we will call the Birch cycle the J cycle. 
Here we also observe that the leaves are arranged in three rows, 
or that the Birch, in respect to its leaves, is 3-ranked. 
The next experiment may be with the twig of a Peach, or 
Apple tree. Here, also, our thread when carried from leaf to leaf, 
always in the same direction, will form a regular spiral around the 
stem. But a new characteristic here strikes us. The third leaf 
falls a little short of one complete turn, the fourth goes too far : 
but arriving at the sixth, we find we have exactly completed two 
turns ; that is, the sixth leaf stands exactly over the first. This, 
the Peach spiral, we therefore express by the number 2-5; 2, the 
number of turns in a cycle, 5, the number of leaves, and 2-5 the 
angular distance between any two adjacent leaves. In this case 
the leaves will be 5-ranked. 
Now let us examine these appellative fractions, J, J, 2-5, and 
see how they are related to each other. The sum of the first two 
