148 
floral Home ^ampminii. 
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VEGETABLE SAP. 
The proper sap of plants undoubtedly corresponds 
to the blood of animals. By proper sap, how¬ 
ever, we are to understand not the ascending 
but the descending sap—that which after its 
ascent from the roots has undergone an ela¬ 
boration in the leaves, so as to be prepared to 
afford to the several tissues a new supply of 
their proper substance. 
The crude or ascending sap is totally dif¬ 
ferent from the elaborated sap. For example, 
the crude sap of a plant, when flowing upwards 
in abundance, may afford a refreshing drink, 
though after elaboration in the leaves it may 
become poisonous. The Euphorbia cana- 
riensis is the plant.which affords the resin 
euphorbium of the shops, once employed as 
a blistering substance. This plant the in¬ 
habitants of the Canary Islands are said to 
tap and draw off the ascending current for the 
purpose of refreshment, notwithstanding the 
acrid character of the sap after elaboration. 
What, then, is the foundation of the dif¬ 
ference between the elaborated or descending 
sap and the ascending or crude sap ? In the 
first place, it is evident that crude sap does 
not contain all the materials which, by a cer¬ 
tain transformation, may be converted into 
the constituents of the perfect sap. Whence, 
then, are those new materials obtained which, being 
added to the crude sap, explain the development of the 
perfect sap ? It is plainly the office of the leaves 
to add those new materials. 
Although carbonic acid is continually given off by 
source becomes fixed in the plant, while free oxygen 
is given off. Thus the leaves correspond to the di¬ 
gestive organs in animals, since, though nourishment 
is derived from other sources, yet a most important 
part enters by this channel, and it even appears that 
some other parts of the food of plants enter by the 
is no more ornamental plant for the parlor, green¬ 
house, or conservatory than the fuchsia, and the 
manner of propagating it should be known to 
every lover of flowers. A florist writing to the 
Cottage Gardener says the berries should be left on 
the plant until tliej r are quite black and part readi¬ 
ly from it. When gathered, the seeds 
should be squeezed in a basin of water 
until they become separated from the pulp. 
Drain off the water and pulp and set the 
basin on its side, in a dry place, for the 
purpose of drying the seeds. When dry, 
wrap them in paper and keep them until 
spring. Sow in February or March, in pots 
or pans, well drained, and filled to within 
a quarter of an inch of the rim with a com¬ 
post of two-thirds sandy, fibrous loam, one- 
tliird leaf-mould, and about one-sixth of silver 
sand. The compost should be sifted. Place 
unsifted compost from the sieve to the depth 
of an inch over the soil already in the pots, 
and over this sifted soil. Then press down 
the bottom of a flower-pot. Scatter the seeds 
thinly and evenly, and cover them lightly to 
the depth of about the thickness of the seed. 
Give a gentle watering, and place the pots in 
a house where there is a temperature of from 
55° to 60° at night, and 70° to 80° by 
day, keeping the soil moist. When the 
plants appear give plenty of light and air.— 
Exchange. 
Earthen Hanging Basket with Geranium. 
■'certain parts of plants, it is proved beyond all doubt 
that this amounts to but a small deduction to be 
made from the far more extensive decomposition of 
that • gas which takes place in the leaves under the 
influence of light. The carbon derived from this 
Flower-Pot Frame for Vines. 
leaves besides the carbon. The food of plants con¬ 
sists of water, carbonic acid gas, ammonia, and some 
saline matters, and these enter partly by the spon- 
gioles of the radicals, and partly by the leaves. The 
ascending sap is that derived from the spongioles, 
and doubtless contains all 
the saline and earthy mat¬ 
ters, some of the watery 
part of the ammonia. By 
additions made to this 
crude sap it becomes ma¬ 
tured and prepared for the 
general nutrition of the tis¬ 
sues and the supply of the 
secretions. It comes now 
to contain fecula, gum, 
sugar, lignin, and also albu¬ 
men, fihrine, caseine, etc., 
or substances readily con¬ 
vertible into these, by which 
annual additions to the stem 
are made, the fruit de¬ 
veloped, and the several 
peculiar secretions, such as 
oil, resin, balsam, camphor, 
and the like, are supplied. 
After the sap has served 
these uses there is a surplus 
of nutritive matter left, which is laid up for the supply 
of the wants of the vegetable economy in the subse¬ 
quent year. L. S. H. 
Of all Water Lilies the most beautiful and at¬ 
tractive, probably, is a crimson variety growing in 
the vicinity of False River in Louisiana, near the 
Mississippi levee, which in their season of bloom 
may be seen from the deck of a vessel in the glow¬ 
Saving and Sowing Fuchsia Seed.—There 
Wardian Case and Fernery. 
ing gorgeousness of beauty and color, lending 
an additional charm to the beauteous landscape 
of the favored clime of the stately Palm, the 
grand flowering Magnolia, the Orange, Myrtle, and 
Jessamine. 
