THE MACLURA, OR OSAGE ORANGE— MACLURA AURANTIACA. (From Downin's Horticulturtst, New York.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1200, 28 December 1858, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MACLURA, OR OSAGE ORANGE— MACLURA AURANTIACA. (From Downin's Horticulturtst, New York.)

The Osage Orange, or Madura, grows wild in ibun" dance in the State of Arkansas, and so far south as the lied River. It is one of the most striking and beautiful of American trees. Its foliage is not unlike that of the orange— a bright varnished green. It grows luxuriantly to about thirty or forty feet high, with a wide and spreading head. The floweis are small and inconspicuous, pale green in colour, those preceding the fruit resembling a little ball. The fruit itself is about the size of an orange, yellow at full maturity, and rough on the outside, not unlike the seed of the buttonwood or sycamore. It hangs till October, is not eatable, but is striking and ornamental on a large tree. This tree was first introduced into our garden from a village of the Osage Indians, which, coupled with its general appearance, gave^rise to its popular name. The wood is full of milky sap, and we have never seen it attacked by any insects* The Osage Orange, when treated as a hedge plant, hat many excellent characteristics. It is robust, vigorous, and long lived. It sends out a great number of branches, bears trimming perfectly well, is most amply provided at all times with stout thorns, and its light and glossy foliage gives it a very rich and beautiful appearance. It grows well on almost any soil, and makes a powerful and impenetrable fence in a short time. Though it will bear rougli and severe pruning, and is therefore well adapted for farm jences, yet it must be regularly trimmed twice every year, and requires it more imperatively than other hedge plants, to prevent it sending out strong shoots to disfigure the symmetry of the hedge. It is easily propagated, both by the seed and by the cuttings of the roots. A quart of seed will produce at least 5000 plants. In planting the seed, choosp a bit of deep garden soil. Dig it thoroughly, and give it a good dressing of manure. Open a drill with the hoe, exactly as you would for planting peas, and scatter the seed on it at an average of two or three inches apart. The plants are seldom fit for hedge planting the second year. The other mode of propogation is by the roots. Pieces of the roots, of the thickness of ones little finger, made into cuttings three or four inches long, and planted in lines in mellow soil, with the top of the root just below ■ the surface, will soon push out roots and become plants. In preparing the ground for the futnre hedge, a strip must be marked out three or four feet in width, which, must be throughly trenched with a spade, eighteen inches deep, if for a garden hedge, or subsoil ploughed to that depth, if for a farm hedge. The hedge should be planted in a double row, with the plants placed, not opposite each other, but alternate. The rows should be six inches apart, and the plants one foot apart in the j^rows. It will require about 32 plants to a rod or 2000 plants to 1000 feet.

The Lightnino Photographer.— lw September, 182-5, the brigantine II Buon Servo, anchored in the bay of Armira, in the Adriatic, was struck by lightning. lonian-like, a horse-shoe -was nailed to the mizenmast ; and at the foot of this mast sat Antomo Teodoro, patching his shirt. The lightning fell, and the man was killed on the spot ; killed without wound or burning, only his needle found stuck into his thigh, and down his back a light black and blue mark ending in the figure of the horse-shoe nailed to the mast. A brigantine belonging to a Doctor Micolupula was struck in the Zantian Roads. Five sailors were at tha prow ' r two asleep, and three awake. The clothes of two of the men were set on fire ; a third lost eveiy hair on his body, save on his head ; and a fourth man was killed a& he lay sleeping. He was lying on his back, and when stripped, they found on his left aide the number 44 distinctly marked — a mark not there previously ; andwhich was of the size and likeneis as the same number in metal marked on the rigging of the ship, and which thelightning had touched in its course. In the archives of the Academic dcs Sciences for 1847, where the preceding anecdote is also preserved, it is related how a certain Dame Morosa de Laguna was seated at her window during a heavy storm. She felt a sudden shock, as a flash more vivid than the rest blinded her ; but she soon recovered and no ill effect followed. The image of a flower, which had been passed over by the electric current, was perfectly and distinctly printed on her leg ; and she never lost the mark to the last day of her life.— Botaehald Words.

The infamies of Russia excite almost as much indigmation as her national crimes. She has begun to deface the monument of the faithful English soldiers who fell on the attack on the Redan, on the Bth of September. This monument the Russian Government solemnly promised to respect and protect. We now learn from the ' Leader,' who " has spared no pains in attesting the truth of the statement," that •' although, the English inscriptions on three of the sides of the obelisk are left intact, that in Russian, on the fourthside, has been entirely chipped away." It was a practice of old Christian chivalry to publish the name and merits of a dead and courageous foe, Russia dishonours the memories of hers as far as she can. After this, we are not surprised to hear that an imperial order to write the history of the Crimejtn war for the edification of Russians has been entrusted to Prince Outumpfskt, a young officer, who was aide-de-camp to Prince Gortschakoff. The young officer has a hard task and a fine chance before him.

Matches between carrier pigeons are in great favour in Belgium, a circumstance which has inspired some ingenious individuals in that country with the idea of organizing a match between cats. These animals, it is scarcely necessary to observe, possess to a high degrre the fasulty of finding their way back to their homes under the most disadvantageous circumstances. According to th» 'Meuse' of Liege — to be pronounced Mews on this occasion — a match of this nature took place recently in that town. Eighteen cats, belonging to persons in the quarter of the city called Outre-Meuse, were taken a distance of a league and let loose at night. In exactly half an hour one of the cats reached home, and carried away the first prize , and ' all the others arrived in rapid succession. Three toms, whose roviug disposition triumphed over every sporting sentiment, did not, however, make their appearance Until ' after sunrise. Their names have consequently been scratched out of all other subsequent racing engagements.

Professor Anderson,— -This gentleman arriVed yesterday by the Tasmania, after a successful tour thrpugh Van Dietnen's Land. At present it is uncertain at, -which theatre he will astonish the Sydney public by his wonderful performance. — Sydney M. Herald, Dec. 3.