MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS.

A flower that is alternately red, white, and blue, acoording to the time of day, has been found on the Isthmus of Tehuantepoo.

On the summit of Ben Lomond may be seen tho smallest tree that grows in Great Britain, It is known as the dwarf willow, and is, when mature, only about 2in in height. • Phylloxera has made its appearance in South Afiica, and, impressed with the necessity of dealing promptly with this destructive scourge, tho Premier of the Gape Colony has intimated his intention of asking for a sum of £20,000 when the next estimates are takon in order to check forthwith the further development of the pest, The Iron Apple.— We are pleased to see (fiftysthe Field of a late date) some very fine New Zaaland examples of this apple in Oovent Garden market. It confirms what we said of it in the Field during the winter— that it is a very much neglected apple in England, and that perpaps its erroneous English name makes it 'bo. The English name, " French crab," has tended to its degradation. It should be called the iron apple, a translation of the name by which it was known in France 300 year 6 age. The Botanic Gardens at Kew are stated to have been established about two centuries ago, tho exact date being unknown. A catalogue of the plantn ispued in 1768 mentioned 50 ferns, 600 treea and shrubs, and several thousand herbaceous plants. Sinoe 1810 no lißt has been completed, but it is estimated that tbe ono now in preparation will enumerate of orchids about 1400 species, of ferns 1100, of stove plants 2500, succulents 1000, palms and cycads 500, grnenhouso plants 8000, herbaceous 4000, trees and shrubs 3000. Immense aa is this collection, however, it is small iv comparison with the whole of Nature's garden, which contains of flowering plants alone, as enumerated by Bentham and Hooker, 200 natural orderß, 10,000 genera, and 100,000 spsoies. Darwin estimated that worra3, by Bwallowiug earth for the sake of the vegetable matter it contains and forming castings, bring to the surface as much aa 10 tons of earth per annum on an acre. Worms are great promoters of vegetation by boring* perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibers of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves and twigs into it, and most of all by throwing up such infinite numbers of lnmpa of earth called worm casts, which form a fine manure for grain and grass, The earth without worms would soon beoome cold, hardbound, void of fermentation, and consequently sterile. This has occurred in many obbos where the worms bave been accidentally or intentionally destroyed, and fertility of the aoil has only been restored when the worms bad again collected and resumed then* fertilising work,