I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 3, 1858. 
longer. The press should stand in the sunshine, or within the 
influence of a fire. # . 
« When it is perfectly dry, the usual method is to fasten it 
down with paste or gum-water. A small quantity of finely- 
powdered arsenic, or corrosive sublimate, is usually mixed with 
the paste or gum-water, to prevent the devastations of insects ; 
but the seeds of Stavesacre, finely powdered, will answer the 
eanle purpose, without being liable to corrode, or to change 
the colour of the more delicate plants. Fasten it on the right- 
band inner page of a sheet of large strong writing-paper. It re¬ 
quires some dexterity to glue the plant neatly down, so that 
hone of the gum, or paste, may appear to defile the paper. 
When it is quite dry, write upon the left-hand inner page of 
the paper, the name of the plant, the specific character, the 
place where, and the time when, it was found ; and any other 
remarks that may be thought proper. Upon the back of the 
same page, near the fold of the paper, write the name of the 
plant, and it will then be complete for the cabinet. 
“ Some people put the dried plants into sheets of writing- 
paper, without fastening them down at all ; and others only 
fasten them by means of small slips of paper, pasted across 
the stem or branches. 
“ Another more expeditious method is, to take the plants 
out of the press, after the first or second day ; let them 
remain upon the pasteboard; cover them with five or six 
leaves of blotting-paper, and iron them with a hot smoothing- 
iron, until they are perfectly dry : if the iron is too hot it will 
change the colours ; but some people, taught by long practice, 
will succeed very happily. This is quite the best method to 
treat the orchis, and other flimsy mucilaginous plants. 
“ Another method is, to take the plants when fresh 
gathered, and, instead of putting them into the press, im¬ 
mediately to fasten them down to the paper, with strong gum- 
water ; then dip a camel-hair pencil into spirit-varnish. The 
spirit-varnish may be made of a quart of highly-rectified spirit 
of wine, five ounces of gum sandarach, two ounces of mastich 
in drops, one ounce of pale gum elemi, and one ounce of oil of 
spike lavender: these are to stand in a warm place, and be 
shook frequently, to expedite the solution of the gum. 
Varnish the whole surface of the plant two or three times over. 
This method succeeds very well with plants that are readily 
laid flat, and it preserves their colours better than any other. 
“ However beautiful a collection of dried plants may be in 
the form of a hortus-siccus, yet, where duplicates can be got, it 
would be acceptable to receive plants both in flower and in seed, 
dried in a careless manner, without nicety in expanding their 
foliage : by this means some of the flowers have been pre¬ 
served more entire; and afforded the botanist the most ac- 
curate characters of the plant, which by exposure to the 
vapour of hot water, or being soaked in lukewarm water itself, 
has expanded, and exhibited the parts of fructification in the 
most perfect state. 
“ The seeds of a plant collected when they are ripe, will, in a 
hortus-siccus, long retain their vegetative powers, and many of 
our valuable plants have thus been casually introduced. It 
is well-known, that the first Tea-tree possessed by this country 
was raised by the late John Ellis, Esq., from a seed picked out 
of a cannister of tea.”] 
FOUNTAIN IN AN AQUARIUM. 
“ Having seen in your valuable paper, a week or two back, 
a design for a small fountain, to play above the supply, I was 
induced to try one in a small six-inch glass and stand. The 
piping was some cane, about quarter-inch hole, with small gas- 
burner on the top, the waste-pipe one foot eight inches, and 
the supply-pipe ten inches long. This played well up to 
the top of the glass. I thought I would try it on a 
larger scale. I got a thirteen-inch propagating glass and 
Elm stand, quarter-inch gutta-percha piping, gas-burner with 
sixteenth-of-an-incli hole, fixed the glass on with putty, and 
screwed the pipes on. During the night the board warped, 
and broke the glass ; so I got a fresh glass, and a slate bottom 
with half-inch gutter, cut in the size and shape of the glass ; 
I also got two connecting pieces, had them leaded in the slate, 
and turned a flange on each of the pipes, so that I could 
screw them on, with an India-rubber band between to make 
all airtight. A piece of brass gas-burner stood up in the 
centre, about three inches long, with gas jet screwed in with 
sixtecnth-of-an-inch hole. The glass was well secured on 
with putty, the supply from a bucket, the supply-pipe one 
foot six inches long, and the waste-pipe two feet nine inches 
long. While drawing the air from the waste-pipe, the wat er 
would rise a little—say about an inch from the top of the 
jet; but the moment I ceased to draw the waste ceased to 
rise’. I took it to pieces several times, and everything ap¬ 
peared well airtight. I got well tired, and left it for the day¬ 
light. Behold, in the morning the glass was cracked on each 
side, in a straight direction, nearly up to the top. Will 3 011 
kindly explain to me the cause, as soon as convenient ?— 
Experimenter. 
[The receiver formed by your thirteen-inch propagating 
glass was too large to be exhausted by suction from any 
human lungs. The receiver cracking must have been caused 
by its being fixed very tightly, and the heat to which it was 
exposed being much increased or diminished at night, the 
tight fixing not permitting the consequent expansion or con¬ 
traction.] _ 
THE LILIES OF THE FIELD. 
If our readers will refer to page 237, of our eighteenth 
volume, they will find some notes on the probable “ Lilies of 
the Field ” referred to by our Saviour, with a sketch of 
Abdallah Asmar, a Maronite physician, and a suggestion 
that, through him, some satisfactory information might be 
obtained relative to this plant. That suggestion seems likely 
to be verified, as will be seen in the following extract from 
a letter just received from Abdallah Asmar, which we publish 
in his peculiarly constructed English, and for which extract 
we arc much obliged : — 
“ In one of your letters, you mentioned that, ill some 
periodical writing on botany, there was a mention made of 
the Lilies I sent you. That was very flattering, and will en¬ 
courage me to seek some Syrian flowers for English examina¬ 
tion. You wished me to inquire whether the said sent Lilies 
are the same which are grown in Galilee, in the Holy Land, 
as the fact of their growing wild in Lebanon would not prove 
them to be the Lily of the Field, spoken of by our Saviour. 
Anxious to fulfil your wishes, I begged some of the merchants, 
who take Syrian articles, to exchange them for the Holy Land 
produce, and also some of my friends, who go on pilgrimage to 
Jerusalem, that they will oblige me by getting some onions 
of Lilies from the valleys of mountains of the vicinity of 
Galilee and Jerusalem. They promised to do their utmost, 
and will save themselves no pain on that account. Imagine 
how glad I was when they came back from a long-wislied-for 
journey, bringing with them from the neighbourhood of 
Galilee and Jerusalem few of Lily bulbs. They had great 
trouble and much time to get to those rebellious parts of 
the country where these hermit Lilies prefer to choose their 
residence. Of course, they were obliged to hire some of the 
natives to go with them to show them the valleys where do 
they grow. Having got these holy bulbs late in the season, 
I was afraid of sending them lest they should leaf on board. 
I therefore took care to bury them well till the summer 
coming, when they will be dry again, and fit for travelling. 
This is the little history of the holy Lilies.” 
When the bulbs referred to have flowered in England, we 
shall see what the present race of Galileans believe the Lily 
of the Field to be. 
BEEHIVES xlND THEIR COVERS. 
I have heard, read, and seen, some little of beehives, and 
am about to come to the conclusion that the good old straw 
skips, with proper facilities for additional room above, and a 
back window, are, perhaps, after all, the cheapest and best. 
What is your opinion ? 
By the way of improvement, I coated the exterior of two 
of my straw hives with Roman cement this season, before 
placing bees in them. It unquestionably has, as bee-writers 
have stated, the advantage of durability, and excludes mice 
and prevents moths from working into the straw, and must, 
I should think, be warmer in winter. But I do not like to 
see dampness almost invariably on the back window, and am 
afraid, particularly in the heat of summer, the cement may 
interfere with the due ventilation of the hives, and, con- 
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