1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



25 



because, as already observed, it will yield nothing 

 else. 



"We may again remark that there is now at 

 once a fair field for profitable timber planting ; 

 but it must be done judiciously, and on sound 

 business principles ; and the most unbusiness 

 principle one can adopt is to take up with rose 

 colored views of enormous profits. 



But we trust our own views will not prevent a 

 free expression of those of correspondents. 

 There is so little known of American Forestry 

 practically, that the most anxious to learn of any 

 of us know but little, and all light we can get 

 will be very welcome, so that we know it is light 

 and not mere phosphorescent glow. 



Larch Timber. — In our remarks on Mr. Sar- 

 gent's notice of Mr. Fay's plantation in the last 

 number, it was said : " the Larch is profitable, but 

 it is far less profitable than many other kinds of 

 trees would be ;" on which a Massachusetts cor- 

 respondent remarks : "What tree is more profit- 

 able to plant on the worn out, exposed hills of 

 Essex county, Mass.?" Of course we can attach 

 no definite meaning to the term "worn out." 

 Cotton lands become "worn out" in the South; 

 after a five years crop, it will yield profitable 

 Cotton no more. It is left to grow up to bram- 

 bles and weeds. But such weeds, and such bram- 

 bles ! Ko one would think that the soil was 

 worn out for them. So with the " worn out " 

 hills of Massachusetts. The land was probably 

 worn out for agricultural crops, but this should 



not mean worn out for trees. The land may be 

 just the thing for trees; but exactly what trees 

 could only be told by an expert after an actual 

 examination of the location and the land. 



But the remark about the Larch was induced 

 by a general feeling among those who have 

 been watching American grown Larch, that its 

 durability in this climate is not near what it has 

 been supposed to be in times past in Europe ; and 

 we say "times past" because at the present time, 

 if we read reports correctly, the timber from the 

 Scotch plantations in a large number of cases 

 has not proved to have the durability that was 

 expected of it. This is generally ascribed, 

 especially in our country, to a disease of the 

 leaves. It is extremely rare to find Larch trees 

 that have not the upper half of the leaf brown 

 before midsummer, probably from the attack of 

 a minute fungoid parasite, and it is well known 

 that any trouble of this kind in any tree impairs 

 the quality of the timber. If we have not esti- 

 mated American-grown Larch correctly, of 

 course we shall only be too glad to be corrected, 

 for the timber interest is likely to be too impor- 

 tant to trust to any thing but well ascertained 

 facts. And then we thought there might be 

 other things which might have brought in an 

 earlier profit than Larch. But this depends so 

 much on soil, location, and peculiarities of mar- 

 kets, that nothing more is claimed for this sug- 

 gestion than to lead planters to look at what 

 may be, before planting. 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICA TIONS 



POTATO GROWTH EXTRA. 



BY J. STAUFFER, LANCASTER, PA. 



In looking over my collection of drawings 

 of such objects of interest as have come 

 to my notice from time to time, while investi- 

 gating vegetable physiology, I have concluded 

 to copy some relating to the growth of the 

 Potato. I herewith send you five illusti'ations to 

 begin with, which may interest some of your 

 readers should the drawing be worthy or fitted 

 for an electrot5^pe of a reduced size, and the sub- 

 ject matter suitable for your valuable Moxtiil,y 



if not, let it go into your waste basket amon g 

 ot her trash. 



Fig. 1, is one of several brought to my notice 

 where the stoloniferous or underground stems of 

 a species of grass (Muhlenbergia) was found 

 embedded in a tuber, by Mrs. P. E. Gibbons, 

 October 29, 1870. Fig. 2, showing the tuber of an 

 Artichoke, Holianthus tuberosus L., was embed- 

 dedin another from J. S.Witmer,ofParadise,Lan- 

 caster Co., Pa. , Febuary 22, 1873. Fig. 3, atwisted 

 iron-link of a chain partially embedded, from 

 H. L. Eckert, Lancaster, March 27, 1875. These 

 three productions show that the cellular action 

 of growth in the Potato surrounds the object with 

 which it comes in contact. Figs. 4 and 5, present 



