280 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



I had the opportunity last summer, in exca- 

 vating for our new city water works, of seeing 

 just how some of those plants which grew so 

 hixuriantly on our parched plains, get their 

 nourishment. I found Yucca angustifolia and 

 Ipomoea leptophylla invariably sending their 

 roots down through the soil of clay and loam, 

 through the sub-soil of sand and into the decay- 

 ing rock beneath, where they evidently obtain 

 the nutriment necessary to their growth. This 

 rock along the line of our works (over three 

 miles in length) was generally found at a depth 

 of from three to five feet, and was quite decom- 

 posed on top, so that there was no difficulty in 

 plowing it to the depth of from one to three feet; 

 and in this rotten bed-rock I found the fibrous 

 roots spreading out and penetrating to the depth 

 of from one to two feet. 



PICKWEED. 



BY H. E. CHITTY, PATERSON, N. J. 



In the August number of Gardener's Monthly, 

 just come to hand, I read your extract from the 

 Philadelphia Public Ledger of some people being 

 poisoned by Stramonium which was gathered, 

 prepared and dressed, supposing the same to be 

 the New England Pickweed. Then you ask for in- 

 formation regarding the New England Pickweed. 

 The plant in question, in my opinion, refers to 

 the Skoke or Poke weed, which are common New 

 England names for the Phytolacca decandra. But, 

 although my residence in New England was some- 

 what protracted, I do not remember having 

 heard the name Pickweed applied to this plant 

 before. In New England the young shoots of the 

 Poke weed are considered a very deUcate vegeta- 

 ble, and are, during the spring months, always to 

 be found for sale in the markets. The young suc- 

 culent shoots, when from four to six inches in 

 length, are cut ofi" near the ground, tied in 

 bunches and offered for sale in the same manner 

 as asparagus is sold, and I believe the methods of 

 preparation for the table are pretty much the 

 same as for the latter vegetable. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Dr. Tanner's Fast. — The difficulty which sci- 

 entific men find in getting out of beaten lines of 

 examination, too often leads them to neglect op- 

 portunities which might have resulted in valua- 

 ble knowledge. The case of Dr. Tanner is one 

 in point. The celebrated Dr. Hammond was so 



sure that Dr. Tanner could not live forty days 

 on water alone, that he neglected his chance. 

 The natural phenomena accompanying such a 

 case could not but have been peculiar, and in the 

 hands of an unprejudiced and able physiologist 

 could not but have been immensely valuable. 

 And the newspapers are all asking what is the 

 good of the Tanner experiment, and treating it 

 as so much effort wasted But even as the facts 

 have been given by the papers, they show that 

 where there is any danger of starvation it is 

 much more important to provide security for 

 water than for food, although, of course, all food 

 contains some water, and one with food can live 

 for a long time without water in a liquid form. 



But there is a remarkable fact in the Tanner 

 experiment which bears on the whole theory of 

 nutrition in animals and in plants, which it is 

 too bad should have been passed over by physi- 

 ologists. From the 17th to 19th day of his fast 

 there was an increase in his weight over and 

 above the weight of the water which he had 

 taken. Now we know that plant life takes in 

 carbonaceous matter from the atmosphere, and 

 that animal life cannot. We do not admit of 

 any exception to the rule, unless, perhaps, in the 

 organisms on th^ dividing line between the 

 animal and vegetable class. But how do we 

 know that there may not be some exceptions? 

 This result in Tanner's case shows it to be proba- 

 ble ; at least the idea would have suggested itself 

 toajudicious scientific examiner. That this view 

 is not wholly ridiculous is shown by the result of 

 the first day of eating after the fast. He weighed 

 121J pounds when the fast was concluded. In six 

 hours his weight had increased to 130 pounds, 

 andjudging by the newspaper statements, though 

 eating and drinking fairly he had not taken this 

 additional weight of food. Now, if these are the 

 exact facts, it can only be that under some cir- 

 cumstances animal life, in its higher form, can 

 assume the functions of vegetable life, and de- 

 rive carbon and other matter from the atmos- 

 phere in some small degree, and if this fact 

 could have been demonstrated beyond doubt, 

 there is no telling in how many ways the princi- 

 ple might have been made to work to the advan- 

 tage of human kind. 



It is perhaps natural that scientific men 

 should hesitate about being thought to sympa- 

 thize with humbug or childishness, and no doubt 

 even Franklin went kite fiying with some hesi- 

 tation lest he should be thought to be doing a 

 childish thing. 



