1877.] 



AND HOBTIGULTURIST. 



157 



many others. Here is a Thrinax elegans, and 

 all round the bases of the fronds, around the 

 stem is a fold of naturally woven cloth, as if it 

 were being tenderly wrapped by nature for fear 

 of its taking cold ! 



Perhaps the most singular plant in the whole 

 house is a specimen of the celebrated Thief-palm 

 — Phoenicophorium Seychellanum. The leaves 

 on it being about six feet long, by four wide. It 

 strikes one at once by the frond being entire, 

 while most palms have more or less divided 

 leaves. The fronds are at the same time finely 

 plaited quite through to the mid-rib, and would 

 make a complete umbrella in a rain-storm, under 

 which one could sit in luxury, while it raged 

 outside. 



The Native Country of the Jerusalem Ar- 

 tichoke. — With the best of opportunities for 

 judging. Prof. Asa Gray believes this to be an 

 improved or selected variety of the Helianthus 

 doronocoides, a wild sunflower of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. In relation to its history, he con- 

 tributes the following to the American Agncul- 

 turist, which is tracing it pretty closely : — 



" The reference to a statement in ' Palfrey's 

 History of New England,' made it apparent that 

 there was evidence upon this point somewhere 

 in existence; and an enquiry made of our most 

 learned scholar in Indian lore, Mr. J. H. Trum- 

 bull, of Hartford, Conn., now brings the facts to 

 light. 



"It appears that Sagard, in his ' History of 

 Canada,' (1636,) and in his ' Grand Voyage,' 

 mentions, as among the provisions of the Hu- 

 rons, ' roots that we call Canadiennes or Pom- 

 mes de Canada, and that they call Orasquienta, 

 which are not very common in their country. 

 They eat them raw as well as cooked,' etc. He 

 mentions potatoes ('potates') which he had 

 seen on board an English vessel, and which, 

 'they say, if cut in pieces and planted in the 

 earth, in short time grow and multiply, like the 

 Pommes de Canada.' This seems to show that 

 the Huron Indians had artichokes in cultiva- 

 tion. Still earlier, viz., in 1612, Lescarbot, in his 

 history, mentions roots found in the country of 

 the Armonchiquois (Canada and Northern New 

 England), as big as turnips, which were excellent 

 eating, of a flavor reminding one of Cardoons, 

 and which, when planted, multiply in a marvel- 

 lous fashion. Possibly these may be the tubers 

 of Apios tuberosa, or Ground-nut, but the ac- 

 count agrees much better with Artichokes. Now 



the evidence which the old herbalists furnish, 

 and which Mr. Trumbull has looked up, make 

 it clear that Jerusalem Artichokes went from 

 Canada to Europe within a dozen years after the 

 first settlement of Canadn, viz., at Quebec. I 

 cannot here enter into particulars ; but suffice 

 it to say, that the plant was received in England, 

 ' Anno 1617,' and Italy, early enough to have got 

 the name 'Jerusalem Artichoke' established at 

 the date of Johnson's edition of ' Gerald's Herb- 

 all,' 163.3; for this Jerusalem is doubtless an Eng- 

 lish corruption of Girasol, sunflower; and the 

 plant was at a very early date cultivated in the 

 Farnese Garden." 



Irrigation ior the Farm, Garden, or Oe- 

 CHARD : BY Henry Stewart, New York, Orange, 

 Judd & Co. It has long been our impression 

 that systems of irrigation need not necessarily 

 be confined to those parts of the country where 

 there is little rain. Farming, and especially 

 fruit and vegetable gardening, could often be 

 made very profitable by the adjunct of cheap 

 watering facilities. We boast of our natural ad- 

 vantages in the shape of rain, and indeed there 

 are many natural beauties in those countries 

 where the watering, though irregular, cornea 

 from the clouds. But as a mere matter of profit 

 we have always held that larger and better crops 

 ought to be had where water was wholly under 

 human control, than when liable to have too 

 much or too little at times from nature's hand. 

 We can give water just when the crops need it, 

 and stop when they have had enough. We can- 

 not regulate in nature watered countries the too 

 much part of these conditions ; but, by some sys- 

 tem of irrigation, we might be able to make up 

 for nature's short comings. Generally there is 

 nothing cheap enough in our Eastern cases to 

 make it worth while to alopt. 



But we think, after reading this book of Mr. 

 Stewart's, some people at least will think difi"er- 

 ently. He explains all the ways, big and little, 

 that are in general use for accomplishing irriga- 

 tion ; and the person who in the East dreads a 

 drouth on his crop of strawberries will perhaps 

 find as much here to comfort him as the inhabi- 

 tant of Greeley, Col., would, who depends on the 

 Cache le Poudre for his year's supply; or the 

 Californian, who looks to his windmill to bring 

 up from the depths of the earth his daily needs. 



Transactions of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society— Part II., 1876. From Mr. 



