The semi-weekly mountain Democrat. (Placerville, El Dorado Co. [Calif.]) 1860-1860, 1860-08-25
From the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The HRt-TRH GerRnIum,

W, in the northern part Of the State
of Ohio, who, although pretty well cduca-
ted and intelligent, was very conccitcd.
No subject could be started for CONVERSE
ton that ho was not perfectly at home in.
He would always makc sore general re
marks 20 induce those with whom he was
convcrsing to think that he knew all about
the topic. Especially was this 50 with
regard to flowers and plants.
Although be was no hotaniSt, nor even
florist, yet he pretended to know NIL
about these things, and when he was Wis
iting or making calls among his lady ac-
guaintanccS If a rare or curious flower,
plant Or shrub was shown him he nvaria-
bly, knew all about it--had seen It before,
or ut least had heard or read of IL.
Now, ladies who have spent y great
deal Of time, ami perhaps money, N in
Producing rare plants from n distance,
like to have their efforts appreciated, or
at least not made light by young upstartS,
So Miss katc Il, determined 20 take
the cnncct out Of DR.. N. She pro-
cured large rat and buried its head
way downward in pot, in such 4 way
that only the tail was above the ground.
She then took panS to meet the Doctor
in the streets and tell him that She had
received some beautiful new flowers, and
invited him to call and see them. He in
his excess Of politcncSS, was extremely
happy to GO immediately. Miss X. con.
Quoted him TO her fine garden and showed
him many new plants. Here" said
The "iS curious c"rgHS from Mexico,
that received not long since from n friend
in the army g All, yes said lac, ~
was reading about this the other Gry it
is Il great curiosity. ~ WCii, Saii-i She,
"scc this beautiful plant from California;
it is called clarG'ic eicqans. You never
have seen it before, have vou>' Yes.
said he, the name is familiar to me and
| saw the flowers in Cincinnati 1t Is
very pretty" Why, really" said Miss
X. "you are well posted; cant | find
something that wo,ld he new to YOU y
Look at this splendid camclia that friend
sent me from New York. Have you seen
it before NO" said he, III have
never seen ore, ,hHtI- I-hear- That they.-arc
quite common in the eeHt, IN gardens and
hot houses BY this time they had ap.
preached the tlower-pot that contained
the dead rat "Well " said Kate, 1T is
surprising how we'll you are acquainted
with flowers. BIT here IS n very rare
plant that received yesterday that
don't think you ever heard of; il is said
to he entirely unknown to florists. II
is q new species of geranium, from the
Cape Of Good Hope. and is called 'Ht.t1iI
F'rhjNm, at the same time showing him
the rats tail in the tlOwer.pot All,
said he, "I havc/hcard of that species oI
gcranium, and it is very curious Said
Kate, "it is wonderful how mach il look,
like rats tail" "Ycs," replied Dr. \.
THAT is the way the plant Srows-with
out leaves or branches--it is quite com,
mon in the gardens OF the wralthyin En.
gland and France" "But," said Mss
Kate, "this has short hairs and scales,
like those onthc t$il of rat" "Sa4haHo
heard, says the Doctor. And if you
rub it between your fingers" continued
Miss H. lyon will perceive Strong mi
odor" "Ah," certainly, says the Doctor,
at the same time rubbing the rats tail be.
tween his fingers, and then smelling OF
them; that is one reason why ;hc plant
received the name Of r"'-t0;i c,ud"itn,
and it is very appropriate "But," said
Miss H., "thc plant has another pcculi,
arity TINT perhaps you are not aware of ;
it has bulbous root" "Ah, yes" said
the Doctor, =" il seems to me rr, mber
that this plant has a dubious root Yes,
certainly it has. That is u provision OF
nature for lcailcSS trees" alt Is \ very
curious bulb" said Miss X "aS YOU will
see if you pull it up. Pull it mp, it will
do no harm; it was only planted yc>tcr-
day" He accordingly pulled On ii gently
but ii required little EFFORT to iii It cut cl
the earth in the tlowcrrot. Then for the
first time, as he stood holding n large raj
10y the tail, the idea flashed upon him that
he had been "sold.' 1t was severe
blow to his conccit; for ali of his acquain.
tanccs got hold of it, and it was a lor.
time before they ceased to speak of the
mt-tiH gCrahiHm, with the hulbouS root
This reminds one of an old story told OF
Dean Swift we believe it was, who was
very much annoyed by Il lady who was
showing him her flower garden. She
showed him cdGtn% melOodctyS, a Splen.
did mlmQryGnthemhm, n curious ~,ryM.
rthm lH1Nri1, etc. and that this one
she had received from Lord so and so
another she had got from the Duchess o
b, etc. When Swift, losing all his
patience. (of which he never had any
great stock asked her. "Madam, did
You ever get I'SorrimjS mpttbuii !"
tThiS used to be the medical name for the
seven year itch.) "Ah, yes" said She
not wishing to appear ignorant Of any
thing pertaining to flow crS, al got 1, ~
hfHi enc from the Bishop of l.onuyn, but
what pity it was that it died"
\ CoLoREn DlvlNr.-A negro preacher
who, like some ether preachers, was i,
the habit cf using big words, but did moi
| always succccd in getting hold Of the right
one, made funny mistake once. Iii,
text was, Broad iS the road that lcadctl
to death, and many there bc who 20 there
in; but narrow is the way that lcadcth tC
life, and few there bc who take it." "Bc
loved bruddcrS, thar bc two roads. ebbcry
goes in one or uddcr ob en-; thar'S on,
road, and dat am dc bread road, and dat
leads right down to damnation, and a
great many goes in 1t: but dcrc am an.
uddcr road, and dat am dc rarrar road,
dat leads straight up to pcrditon. "Il
dat's dc case" said an excited colorcd
brother in the congregation, "diS nigga
cuts for dc woods"
| WHOLESALE DErRANITY..-A man in
Vermont has four sons who are lawyers.
The lrasburg Standura thus refers to