The Hardest Wood Known

" W. C. B.," West Philadelphia, Pa., writes: "Mahogany, the desert Ironwood tree and Lignumvitae have each come under our notice as being'the hardest wood in existence. Which is the hardest wood known?"

Forestry' In Japan

Japan has caught the forest-planting enthusiasm, and the Government is planting extensively. They have few oaks or hard woods, the Paulownia imperialis furnishing most of the timber employed for general purposes. Their chief dependence is on coniferae. Cryptome-ria japonica, Taxus cuspidata, Retinispora pisifera and R. obtusa, with Juniperus japonica, is the list of their most popular timber trees.

Dichromism In Grapes

The Revue Horti-cole figures a bunch of grapes the shoulder of which has black grapes, the balance of the bunch is white. Also a branch on which one bunch is wholly white and the other black. The variety is unknown.

Bay Rum

The economic dictionaries do not give the name of the tree that furnishes this article. The U. S. Consular Report for August, 1884 notes that the Bay berry of commerce is the fruit of the allspice tree.

Cereus Latifrons

Mr. Salyer tells us that "the variety referred to in my note on ' Flowering of Night-blooming Cereuses,' I omitted to mention; it was in every instance the broad flat kind - 'Cereus latifrons,' I think".

Vanilla Plants In Florida

A competent botanist has found plants of the true Vanilla - Vanilla planifolia - wild in Florida; but the plant commonly known as Vanilla plant in Florida, is quite another thing. Of this a correspondent says: "Some correspondent in the Gardeners' Monthly, inquires about Vanilla culture in Florida. I believe that all (certainly most) of the Florida "Vanilla " is the leaf of Liatris odoratissima, which is used by perfumers and tobacconists. It is not cultivated, but grows wild".

Cocculus Carolinianus

A Walkerton, Virginia, correspondent says: "I enclose a piece of a spray of a vine, hardy in Virginia. Please tell me what it is and how propagated. Is it not Cocculus Carolinianus? The berries remain on a long time".

[It is the plant you suppose. Unfortunately it is dioecious, and unless we get the two sexes together, the plant does not produce its pretty red berries under culture. - Ed. G. M].

The Healthfulness Of London Smoke

"A. G." writes: "In the Gardeners' Monthly, page 324, it is said that human beings can scarcely live there. But the bills of mortality show that London is one of the healthiest cities in the world".