440 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Dzc., 1898. 
but by the still more remarkable way of lying flat against them and just 
growing to them like some weird vegetable octopus sprawling his tentacles over 
his neighbours and anchoring himself. These air-roots are intruded everywhere, 
between chinks of timber, under the bark of the trees he clings to, down to the 
ground. When they reach the latter, they become fibrous, and send up 
nourishment to the plant above. Wherever a joint of the main stem comes in 
contact with anything it can cling to, out come two little bunches of rootlets, 
one on each side. 
On the centre post nearest the door (the one upon which the pepper is 
growing) you will notice a splendid-looking plant which has a peculiar way of 
clasping the pillar, which may be mentioned here. It sends out large roots on 
each side like arms, and climbs as though it were a man swarming up the post, 
To return to our Philodendron, for that is his name (tree-lover). When 
his tentacles are small they are covered near the points with tiny hairs which 
look like velvet. These are the mouths with which he sucks up the moisture of 
the dank jungles in which Nature has fixed his native home. ‘Turn again to 
that curious plant on the centre post. It is called Monstera deliciosa (sorry 
there is no expressive vernacular name). Observe the holes in the 
leaves ; they give a curious appearance of artificial work to the leaf. 
Ht is difficult to believe that they have not been cut out with a pair of scissors, 
What can be their object? for you remember we agreed that everything in 
Nature has an object. “ Well, you recollect what we said just now about sun- 
light being necessary to plants. Now these are the windows through which 
the sunlight reaches the lower tiers of leaves, and reaches them as broken sun- 
light, on account of the motion of the sun constantly changing the point of 
impact. To the left, a little further on, is a plant of Aralia Guilfoyle:. It is 
a very ornamental plant. Many species of the genus to which it belongs 
contain a drinkable sap. The Ivy, so well known in the old country, belongs 
to this family ; indeed, there is a plant trailing amongst the rafters over your 
head. It is curious that every winter here extra precautions have to be taken 
to keep the rats from the plants of this genus. They (the rats) come up from 
the river and enter the greenhouses, find out the plants by an unerring instinct, 
and straightway ringbark them, no doubt for the sake of the mucilage 
contained in the under-bark. 
You will note growing along the wall to the right some good examples of 
staghorn and elkhorn ferns. It is a pity that the lovely forms of our native 
flora are not more frequently used in artistic design. An exception, when met 
with, is worthy of notice, and this exception amounts to a stroke of genius. It 
is the use of the staghorn fern as a_ bracket support over the entrance to the 
Parliamentary stables in the new fagade to Parliament Buildings. Why not 
an Australian order of architecture with staghorn capitals instead of acanthus ? 
Passing along and noting to our right a gully in which grow plants which love 
a humid position, we find two seats which will serye for us to mark the spot 
above which may be seen an example of a little-known Queensland fern. It 
is called Ophioglossum pendulum, and is always found growing in company 
with the staghorn, hanging from the bases of the old leaves of the latter. 
Part of the fronds you will notice are fertile or spore-bearing, and part are 
barren. Space forbids a discussion of fern fructification this month. 
A CORRECTION. 
Iya recent description of a ladder for use in garden and orchard, through 
the accidental omission of the word “half” before the words “the diameter,” 
on line 14, page 262, it was made to appear that the ladder should project below 
the shafts a distance equal to the diameter of the wheels. It should, of course, 
have been (as shown in the photographs) half the diameter, technically the 
radius. But the stability of the ladder would have been in no way affected. 
It would have been awkward to handle, as the shafts would not have been 
parallel to the ground as intended.—P.M.M, 
