THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
285 
no magnetic metal like iron, cobalt or nickel, and it 
is evident the plant itself possessed this electrical pro¬ 
perty. 
A bush, the fruit of which is called “soap berry,” is 
found in great abundance throughout Alaska. The fruit, 
when ripe, is a small red berry of a juicy and Quinine 
taste, and is generally biennial. If a quart of these ber¬ 
ries be placed in a tub capable of holding a bushel, and 
well stirred, they will form a suds or froth that will com¬ 
pletely fill the tub. The more it is stirred with the hand 
the thicker it becomes, till it can be cut with a knife. A 
whole family of the natives will gather around the tub 
and eat this frothy substance with horn or wooden 
spoons. The taste for it is, doubtless, an acquired one, 
but the article is quite popular. The red color of the 
berries gives a beautiful pink color to the froth. The 
froth may be made from the green berries, but it is not 
so highly flavored, and is white in color. Foreigners mix 
some of the froth with their wine, sweetening with sugar, 
when it is claimed to be quite a luxury. 
The melon tree (Carica Papaya), a native of South 
America, is of interest both for its manner of growth and 
its usefulness to man. It is a rapidly growing tree, at¬ 
taining in its fourth year a height of twenty feet; it then 
enjoys a short maturity and dies. From its quick growth, 
broad, umbrella-like shade and rapid decay some have 
seen in this or some near relative the melon tree of the 
Prophet Jonah. From the time it attains the height of 
six feet it produces at all seasons flowers and both green 
and ripe fruit. The fruit grows around the base of the 
tree crown, as do the nuts of the cocoa palm. When 
mature it is of a yellow color, and has the appearance of 
belonging to the cucumber family. The fruit grows to a 
weight of fifteen pounds, is shaped like a melon, and is 
striped longitudinally like that fruit. Both the green and 
ripe fruit are used for food; the former as pickles and the 
latter with salt and pepper or sugar. The seeds have a 
strong flavor, and are used as a spice. The leaves are 
used as a substitute for soap, for which it answers the 
purpose well. They are also used to wrap around tough 
and stringy meat, which its renders tender and palatable 
in a short time. The tree is of easy culture, and is exten¬ 
sively raised in tropical parts of both America and Africa. 
It requires but little care, and produces ripe fruit before 
it is a year old. 
The Mahwa tree (Bassia latifolia ) is a product of the 
Manghyr district, India, and is much resorted to as a 
source of food for both man and beast. The part eaten 
is the succulent corolla of the flowers. These fall from 
the trees in great abundance during the early spring. 
This is a season of general feasting among the lower 
animals as well as man. Birds, squirrels, and other small 
animals crowd to the feast during the day, and near night 
jungle fowls and peacocks come out and dispute their 
possession with the deer and the bear. As a wholesome, 
nutritious food the Mahwa flowers possess superior merit. 
As an article for feeding stock this seems to excel in 
cheapness and abundance, the supply being unlimited, 
the yield certain and the keeping qualities good. 
L. J. Templin, in Gardetier's Magazine. 
A REVIEW OF THE SEASON. 
N OW that the garden is in the sere and yellow leaf, 
the frost having taken all but the chrysanthemums, 
asters (natives), gentians and the cosmos, it is well for us 
to look over the field where our loved ones have fallen in 
order to better prepare for next season’s work, or rather 
pleasures. The first objects that attract our attention 
are the pansies, which we omitted in our list of flowers 
that withstood frost’s relentless hand. Here they are, all 
over the garden, cheerful weeds that nature has put on 
because of the loss of her more delicate friends. Weeds 
they are, because they have come unbidden and are filling 
the places designed for other forms. But we will not call 
them weeds, since they are the only living occupants of the 
soil and far more beautiful and cheerful than those whose 
places they now occupy. How strange it seems to have 
them come to us like ministering angels when the garden 
of our hearts is full of tombstones. We did not notice 
their tiny forms, securely hidden beneath the foliage of 
the annuals, now dead, but they were there, and have 
been for a month or more, slowly growing in the shade, 
their native habitat. The distribution of pansy seed is 
one of the most interesting operations in gardening, the 
mother plants know so well how to do it. Self-preserva¬ 
tion is said to be the first law of nature, and nowhere is 
the law more strictly obeyed than with the pansy family. 
The seed capsule is so arranged that in drying it throws 
the seeds a distance of several feet, and should the wind 
be blowing strong at the time they are carried still far¬ 
ther. They are thrown, too, in every direction and in al¬ 
most every out-of-the-way place in the garden. So here 
we find them among our lilies, where the balsams stood, 
nestling under the strong arms of the dahlias. Some have 
found the rich mellow soil of the potato patch and are 
making the most of so favorable a situation. In fact, they 
are all over the garden, some as large as ever grew, others 
small and pinched, showing their struggle for life under 
difficulties. But everywhere they manifest a cheerfulness 
and teach us lessons that cannot be learned from any 
other plant. 
Again, here is life and victory where we thought all 
was dead or dying. Our golden mignonette, the French¬ 
man’s little darling, too, still lives and sheds its delicious 
fragrance over the graves of its and our dear friends. Al¬ 
though we have had several degrees of frost, beneath the 
shade of the eulalias and among the tritomas we find 
some nice strong clumps with flowers, as perfect as in 
early autumn, although the leaves are slightly cut by the 
frost. Like a true mother, the plant has sacrificed its 
leaves, in order that the infant forms in the flower might 
live to perpetuate the race. The mignonette has ever 
been welcome to our gardens, and doubly so now that we 
have so many forms that in size and color far surpass the 
