They can stand a good many degrees of frost, and they ask for little more than a soil which has been deeply worked and well enriched with old rotten manure.  Give them this, and they are certain to be contented with it, and the cultivator will be well rewarded for his pains.  Only one thing should perhaps be added by way of precaution.  If an eremurus appears too soon above ground, it is well just to cover it over with loose litter of some sort, so that it may not be nipped by spring frosts; and one experienced grower has said that it answers to lift them after blossoming, and to keep them out of the ground for a few weeks, so that they may be sufficiently retarded.  But I have not yet been able to try this plan myself, and I do not speak from experience about it.  My favorite is Eremurus Bungei, which I think is one of the handsomest plants I have in my garden.  The clear yellow color of the blossom is so very good, and I like the foliage also; but of course it is not the most imposing by any means and if height and stateliness are especially regarded, E. robustus or E. robustus nobilis would carry off the palm.  This commonly rises to the height of eight or nine feet above the ground, and on one occasion I have known it to be greatly in excess even of that; but such an elevation cannot be attained for more than a single year, and it afterward is contented with more moderate efforts.  E. Himalaicus is of the purest possible white, and the spike is very much to be admired when it is seen at its best.  It can be very easily raised from seed, but a good deal of patience is needed before its full glory has come.  E. Olgae is the last of all, and it shows by its arrival that summer is hastening on.  It is of a peach-colored hue, and very pretty indeed.  Altogether it is a pity that eremuri are not more commonly grown.  I think they are certain to give great satisfaction, if only a moderate degree of attention and care be bestowed upon them.—­H.  Ewbank, in The Gardeners’ Magazine.

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RAPHIDES, THE CAUSE OF THE ACRIDITY OF CERTAIN PLANTS.

By R.A.  WEBER, Ph.D.

At the last meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Prof.  W.R.  Lazenby reported his studies on the occurrence of crystals in plants.  In this report he expressed the opinion that the acridity of the Indian turnip was due to the presence of these crystals or raphides.  This opinion was opposed by Prof.  Burrill and other eminent botanists, who claimed that other plants, as the fuchsia, are not at all acrid, although they contain raphides as plentifully as the Indian turnip.  Here the matter was allowed to rest.

The United States Dispensatory and other works on pharmacy ascribe the acridity of the Indian turnip to an acrid, extremely volatile principle insoluble in water, and alcohol, but soluble in ether.  Heating and drying the bulbs dissipates the volatiles principle, and the acridity is destroyed.