SEPTEMBER GLEANINGS. 
Thk Japanese, whether he comes from north, south 
east, or west, is proud above all else of Fu-ji-Ya-ma h' 
paints it, he carves it in wood and stone, he rhymes to 
it, he dedicates volumes to it, he ascends it religiously 
and to him it is the unapproached marvel and glory of 
the whole world. A Yeddo boatman could not credit 
the writer when he was told that Fu-ji was not visible 
from Europo ! The Japanese learns to pronounce its hun¬ 
dred names as a child : he can repeat endless stories and 
fables about it long before he has mastered the difficul¬ 
ties of the Katanka syllabary; he never wearies of look¬ 
ing at it, and feels his momentary superiority to be in¬ 
contestable when he can point it out for the first time 
to a stranger. Vast temples, beautiful scenery, gorgeous 
palaces, are well enough in then- way, according to his 
ideas, but first of all see Fu-ji. To the south glitters the 
expanse of the bay of Yeddo, dotted with innumerable 
junks and a few vessels of European build, and by the 
side of the bay runs the Tocaido, the great road of the 
Southern Sea, which may be traced by its brown fringe 
of houses until it is lost to sight among the hills behind 
which lies the European settlement of Yokohama. In 
the “good old days” this was a terrible road to travel. 
Processions of great lords were continually passing up 
or down, and the penalty for not making a humble obeis¬ 
ance was a blow from a keen sword. Bonins —disband¬ 
ed soldiers and gentlemen of the road—infested its 
length, and perhaps to no road in the world clings such 
a history of bloody occurrences as to the Tocaido. Now 
it is peaceful and quiet enough, for with the new order 
of things the great lords were banished and Bonins sup¬ 
pressed, and the completion of the railway has taken 
from it most of its ancient traffic and prosperity. Signs 
of its old importance, however, still exist in the shape 
of huge tea-houses, now mostly decayed and deserted, 
and innumerable temples and shrines by the wayside.—* 
London Society. 
“Doubt is 
The mountain’s image trembling in the lake. 
Look up ! Perhaps the mountain does not quake. ” 
—[IV. J. Linton. 
Miss Cary’s Father and Husband.— Dr. Nelson H. 
Cary, the father of Annie Louise Cary, had a musical fam¬ 
ily. Joseph Cary, his oldest son, was a fine bass singer, 
and manned a musician, Flora Barry, at one time a well- 
known opera singer; William Cary, the second son, was 
a good singer ; Marcia Cary, now Mrs. J. C. Merrill, of 
Portland, the next youngest child, was supposed to pos¬ 
sess a richer contralto than her youngest sister, Annie. 
Tlie next daughter, Ellen Cary, was the only soprano 
singer in the family. Then there came Samuel Cary, 
who had a good bass voice. With the musical qualities 
of the voice of the next younger child, Annie Louise 
Cary, the public is well acquainted. The youngest c ' > 
Ada Cary, is about to become a professional singer, i 
C. M. Raymond, who married Annie Louise Cary, is a 
well-known Wall street broker, having his office at 74 
Broadway. He came to New York from Norwalk, 
Conn., where his family resides. For some years e wa 
senior member of the firm of Raymond & Saxon, ro *ei , 
and subsequently of the firm of Raymond, Saxon & 
Rodgers. He was one of the founders of the Stock Ex¬ 
change. It is said by the friends of Mr. Raymond that 
he and Miss Cary have been engaged for years; in fact, 
since her girlhood. Mr. Raymond was a bachelor, is of 
middle age, and a leading member of the Manhattan 
Club. 
Castor-oil Plants as Fly-Killers. —Observations 
made by M. Rafford, a member of the Societe d’Hor- 
ticulture at Limoges, show that a castor-oil plant having 
been placed in a room infestecj with flies, they disap¬ 
peared as by enchantment. Wishing to find the cause, 
he soon found under the castor r oil plant a number of 
dead flies, and a large number of bodies had remained 
clinging to the under surface of the leaves. It would, 
therefore, appear that the leaves of the castor-oil plant 
give out an essential oil or some toxic principle which 
possesses very strong insecticide qualities. Castor-oil 
plants are in France very much used as ornamental 
plants in rooms, and they resist very well variations of 
atmosphere aud temperature. As the castor-oil plant is 
much grown and cultivated in all gardens, the Journal 
d' Agriculture points out that it would be worth while 
to try decoctions of the leaves to destroy the green flies 
and other insects which in summer are so destructive to 
plants and fruit trees .—Scientific American. 
A Tree with 200 Birds’ Nests.— An old elm stands 
near the depot in Fan- street, Kingston, N. Y., which 
is a favorite building-place for birds. More than 200 
nests have been counted among its branches this season, 
and the birds fill the old tree with song. It is the ad¬ 
miration of every visitor. 
An Ancient Herbarium.— A small herbarium of 
plants, some thirty-five centuries old, must be an 
object of considerable interest. Such a one, says 
Nature, has recently been found by Dr. Schweiu- 
furth, from garlands found on the breasts of mum¬ 
mies discovered last year at Deir el Bahari, by MM; 
Brugsch and Maspero. Two garlands on the body of 
King Aames I. consisted of leaves of Egyptian willow 
(Salix safsaf) folded twice, and sewed side by side along 
a branch of date-palm, so forming clasps for separate 
flowers inserted in the folds. The flowers were those of 
Acacia Nilotica, of Nymphsea cserulea -with isolated 
petals, of Alcea ficifolia, and of a Delphinium, believed 
to be oriental. The garlands of the other kings con¬ 
tained flowers of Carthamus tinctorius, and the folded 
leaves were those of Mimusops Kummel. Leaves of the 
common watermelon (Cucumis citrullus) were also found 
on the body of Neb-Seni, a high-priest of the twentieth 
dynasty. Dr. Schweinfurth managed to preserve many 
of the leaves and flowers by moistening them, putting 
them in alcohol, and then spreading them out and dry¬ 
ing. A remarkable thing is the preservation of color of 
the chlorophyll violet in Delphinium, green in the 
watermelon leaves. All the species named are still 
found in the East; and they afford examples of both 
spontaneous and cultivated plants continuing for many 
generations without variation.— Exchange. 
