CURRENT NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
The Hydrangea Paniculata Grandiflora, a beautiful 
shrub, has not. in most localities, sustained its former 
good reputation, because of the excessive drought at 
the time of its flowering. This should not be laid up 
against it; on the contrary, it should be grown iu every 
collection of ornamental flowering shrubs. And for a 
division line or hedge between the vegetable and flower 
garden, or lawn, it has no equal. It is perfectly hardy, 
dwarf in habit, and produces massive panicles of pure 
white flowers in the greatest profusion. 
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Professor YT. J. Beal, in the Gardeners' Monthly, 
gives some curious eccentricities peculiar to plants. 
Roots grown in damp air in the dark will often make a 
complete coil, sometimes two or more of them. If a 
piece of gummed paper be placed on one side of the root 
tip, it becomes unusually excited and begins to coil 
away from the paper, sometimes tying itself into a 
knot, and often succeeds iu rubbing off the paper. 
Roots generally turn downward, though not always. 
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So far from trees in streets impeding the circulation 
of air, they help to purify it: the evaporation from 
their leaves determines a current from above, and the 
fresh air thus brought down assists in driving away the 
heat and dust-impregnated gases of the streets. An¬ 
other useful property of foliage is that, during hot, dry 
weather, it moistens the surrounding atmosphere, thus 
rendering it fitter to breathe; this effect, which is due 
to evaporation, ceases in wet weather. 
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Pansies are plants that do not like to be hurried in 
their growth. No amount of heat will make them 
“ hurry up,” but will have quite the contrary effect. It 
has been found the best plan of all to sow seed in a pot 
or box in the fall. A very slight covering of earth is 
sufficient for them. They need keeping moderately 
damp until they are sprouted; then, when large enough, 
transplant to where they will have more room to grow. 
Through the winter a temperature but little above 
freezing will do, especially, if not wanted to bloom 
until planting-out time comes, which, to the Pansy is 
as soon as frost is gone for good. A little sun heat in 
spring soon brings the flower buds. 
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Lincoln Park was fairly alive, says the Chicago Tri¬ 
bune, with the crowds of people who responded to the 
announcement of the Superintendent, that he would 
distribute gratuitously to all comers what was left of 
the bedding-plants of the gardens at the greenhouse 
and at North Avenue, after the cuttings for winter 
preservation had been gathered. The gardeners were 
busy all day digging up the superfluous plants, and early 
the next morning they were taken to the Fullerton 
Avenue entrance for distribution. A ring twenty-five 
yards in diameter was formed around the stacks by 
tying a rope to the trees to keep back the crowd. 
Within the enclosure were six gardeners and three 
workmen to wait on the applicants and four policemen 
to preserve order. The plants consisted of Geraniums, 
Thymes. Dusty Millers, American Myrtles, Alterantlio- 
ras. and Stevias. The people who applied for them 
were of all classes and ages and both sexes, from every 
direction and all distances, and carried off their treas¬ 
ures in buggies, baskets, pails, newspapers, and the 
naked hands. They began to arrive at 7 o’clock in the 
morning and exhausted the stock at 3 o’clock in the 
afternoon. No less than 15,000 persons came, and each 
was given an assortment of plants. As a general thing 
good order prevailed, but occasionally the botanical 
enthusiasm of the crowd led them to press against the 
rope until it went down, when they would rush into 
the ring and help themselves until the police could ex¬ 
pel them. In the meanwhile the beds from which 
the plants were takeu were visited by thousands of 
people, who collected baskets full of plants and elegant 
bouquets of flowers which should otherwise soon be 
killed by the frost. 
A similar distribution of plants was made at Lincoln 
Park five years ago, when the applicants behaved so 
badly that no more were given away until this season. 
Since then until this year they have been grubbed up, 
raked into piles, and left to decay. 
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Dr. Beal says he is often asked, “ What ails my 
plants?’and then the answer in many cases is, “You 
are too kind to them.” It is full as easy to drown a 
plant as to clrown a cat, to say the least; and my ad¬ 
vice is to give water only when needed, and to use 
judgment rather than regularity. The idea that plants 
must be watered every day any way is a false one. 
Give them water when they are thirsty the same as 
you would yourself.” 
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A gardener who lias tested it for three years, says 
that broken pieces of bone are much better than broken 
crockery for draining flower-pots. The plants suck the 
fertilizing quality out of the bones, and make such a 
vigorous growth that the plants in pots supplied with 
bones could be told at once. 
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A novel and an instructive entertainment was given 
to the elite of San Francisco recently by one of its 
leaders in social circles. It was the first of a series of 
flower parties to be held during the winter, a different 
flower being chosen for discussion each evening. 
In the description of it in the Rural Californian we 
learn that the Violet was the flower chosen for this first 
occasion. The rooms were decorated with Violets, and 
the lgdies wore costumes in harmony with this pretty 
little flower. The gentlemen were presented with 
button-hole bouquets—single white ones for the bache¬ 
lors and double blue ones for the benedicts—and a 
varied store of information regarding the flower was 
disclosed during the evening, interspersed with songs 
on the same subject. 
The party was pronounced a decided success by all 
who attended it; far superior to the wishy-washy af¬ 
fairs commonly indulged in by people who appear to 
