very good kid glove from rat skin which 
can be distinguished from the real article 
only with a microscope. 
The tanner applies the term, skin, to 
the smaller product taken from calves, 
dogs, rats, cats, and small game, reserv- 
ing the dignified name of hide for that 
of the full-grown ox or horse, while the 
skin from a two-year-old steer is called 
a kip. 
The highest use of skins is in the form 
of parchment and vellum on which are 
printed and engrossed the most valu- 
able documents prepared by man. 
THE AZALEA.. 
Fill soft and deep, O winter snow ! 
The sweet azalea's oaken dells, 
And hide the bank where roses blow, 
And swing the azure bells ! 
THE azalea is a genus of plants 
belonging to the natural order 
Ericeoe and to the sub-order 
Rhodorece named in allusion to 
the dry places in which many of the 
species grow, and consists of upright 
shrubs with large, handsome, fragrant 
flowers, often cultivated in gardens. 
The genus comprises more than a hun- 
dred species, most of them natives of 
China or North America, having pro- 
| fuse clusters of white, orange, purple, 
or variegated flowers, some of which 
have long been the pride of the gardens 
of Europe. The general characteris- 
tics of the genus are a five-parted calyx, 
a five-lobed funnel-form, slightly ir- 
regular corolla, five stamens, a five- 
celled pod, alternate, oblong, entire, 
and ciliated leaves, furnished with a 
glandular point. Most of the species 
— Whit tier. 
differ from the rhododendrons in hav- 
ing thin, deciduous leaves. Some bot- 
anists unite the genus azalea to rhodo- 
dendron. North America abounds in 
azaleas as well as in rhododendrons, 
and some of the species have long been 
cultivated, particularly A. nudiflora and 
A. viscosa, which have become the par- 
ents of many hybrids. Both species 
abound from Canada to the southern 
parts of the United States. A. calen- 
dulcea, a native of the South, is de- 
scribed as frequently clothing the 
mountains with a robe of living scarlet. 
All the American species are decid- 
uous. In cultivation the azaleas love the 
shade and a soil of sandy peat or loam. 
Works on horticulture give specific and 
elaborate direction for the cultivation 
of the various species. 
C. C. M. 
COMMENDABLE BOOKS. 
W. E. WATT. 
Chapters on the Natural History of 
the United States. By Dr. R. W. Shu- 
feldt. Studer Brothers, Publishers, 
114 Fifth avenue, New York. 
The man who is able to go out into the 
fields and see things is a good man to know. 
Whether he has the gift of telling well what 
he sees or not, we are glad to be with him, 
for he is full of the things we desire much 
to know, and we can get them out of him. 
If he is a rare story-teller, with marked 
powers of description, so much the better. 
But if he combines these elements with the 
practice of an expert photographer and uses 
all his arts to get the secrets of nature down 
exactly as they appear, he is a prince of 
good fellows to all who worship at the 
shrine of nature. 
Dr. Shufeldt has done all this, and his 
enterprising publishers have brought out 
the matter in a large octavo volume of about 
four hundred pages, solidly Tjound, with 
gilt tops. The price is only $3.50, net, and 
143 
