Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/295

 RETHEL RETRIEVER 279 Brunswick. It flows N. E. to the mouth of the Mistouche, and thence a little N. of E., forming the boundary between New Bruns- wick and Quebec, to the bay of Chaleurs, which it enters at Dalhousie, N. B. It is 3 m. wide at its mouth, and is navigable by the largest ships for 18 m. to Cainpbellton, N. B. The scenery along its course is grand and beautiful. With its tributaries it drains an area of about 5,000 sq. m. of fertile and .well timbered country. It abounds in salmon. Its chief tributaries are the "Wetomkegewick, Mistouche, and Matapediac from the north, and the Upsalquitch from the south. R ETHEL, Alfred, a German painter, born in Aix-la-Chapelle in 1816, died in Diisseldorf, Dec. 1, 1859. He studied under Schadow and Veit, visited Italy, and became insane in 1852. His principal works are the frescoes illustrating the history of Charlemagne in the town hall of Aix-la-Chapelle, his designs of "Hannibal crossing the Alps," and those of the " Dance of Death." His large cartoons of " Charle- magne at the Council of Frankfort " and " The embassy of the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid to Charlemagne " are at Diisseldorf. RETINA. See EYE. RETINISPORA (Gr. prjriv^ resin, and cirop&, seed), a name proposed by Siebold and Zucca- rini in their Flora Japonica for a genus of coniferce, which has been accepted until with- in a few years; but it has since been shown that the resinous coating of the seed, all that distinguishes it from cupressus, is found on undoubted species of that genus ; hence it fol- lows that the retinisporas cannot be kept dis- tinct from the cypresses. As it is very diffi- cult to supersede an established name, no doubt these Japanese species, having been introduced as retinisporas, will long retain that name in the catalogues and among arboriculturists. For their botanical characters, see CYPRESS. The species and varieties, though of comparative- ly recent introduction, have proved especially suited to the climate of the northern states. In Japan they are 100 ft. or more high, but in our gardens they are thus far only 1 to 6 or 8 ft. high. Like the arbor vita3 and re- lated plants, the foliage assumes very distinct forms, according to the age of the tree ; and some good observers are disposed to regard the 15 or 20 named sorts of our gardens as all forms of a single species. For small places, these plants are especially valuable ; they naturally assume a good form, and may be cut into any desired shape ; they are generally upright, but there is one positively pendulous ; some have the leaves small, blunt, and scale-like, others sharp and spreading; there are the darkest greens, and varieties with silver and golden variegation, and a collection of these forms presents wide contrasts in habit and color. The plants are for the most part propagated readily from cuttings ; these are taken in the autumn, set in sand at a greenhouse tempera- ture all winter, and as the heat increases in spring root rapidly. The leading varieties are here enumerated by the names given in the catalogues, without reference to botanical ac- curacy. Eetinispora, obtusa has very dark green, small, blunt, appressed leaves, and there are several va- rieties. E. pisifera is more slender, and has a golden and sil- ver variety. E. eri- coides is a handsome heath-like plant. E. fycopodioidesismuch like a club moss. E. Jilicoides has fern- like branches. E. plumosa is one of the most valued of all, remarkably com- pact, with very nu- merous small branch- lets which give the tree a plume-like ap- pearance ; the gold- en variety of this, E. plumosa, var. aurea, is of great beauty, and is destined to be Plum y Eettai fP or a (Ketini- ,, spora plumosa). one of the most pop- ular of all conifers ; it has the plumose habit of the green form, but the branchlets and all the spray are of a bright golden hue, and hold this color during the winter months ; being easily propagated, it may be used for edgings and for a great variety of ornamental planting. RETORT. See DISTILLATION, and GAS. RETRIEVER, a name given to several breeds of sporting dogs, from their being taught to retrieve or recover game which has fallen be- Ketriever. yond the reach of the sportsman, or where he does not choose to go for it. The largest and best known is a cross between the Newfound-