Ninth Annual Meeting. 43 



yellow, and the fruit calyx is more like that of P. pubescens. It never varies into any 

 other, and answers to no description which I have seen. 



Vitis cordifolia and V. riparia were once regarded as distinct species, but have long 

 been considered only varieties. Dr. Gray says Dr. Engelmann thinks V. riparia should 

 be restored. The very brief descriptions of Eaton are all that I have seen of each as 

 distinct. Since they Irave been regarded as one, the description of the united species 

 will not apply to both. V. cordifolia, of the books, is distinguished from V. vulpina by 

 saying that the latter has leaves shining, especially below; while the leaves of the for- 

 mer are dull. Also, fruit ripe in October. The Vitis common here, which I take to be 

 V. riparia, has leaves shining on both sides, gash-toothed, with acuminate teeth ; fruit 

 clusters compact, ripe in July and August, and very pleasant. Two plants, quite different 

 from this, observed two years ago, were destroyed. I have found another this year — 

 leaves dull, dark green above, teeth crenate, mucronate ; fruit ripe in October, and, as 

 Dr. Gray says of V. cordifolia, "very acerb." I sujipose this to be V. cordifolia, and can- 

 not but think the two are distinct species. 



Dr. Gray thinks Helianlhus doronicoides the original of H. tuberosus, the artichoke. 

 When I came to Kansas I found Helianthi looking very much like artichokes, but on 

 examination found no tubers. Last year I found what appeared to be H. doronicoides, 

 with small tubers. Farmers plow them up. Last spring I sent East and got artichokes, 

 which have grown well and blossomed. The very early frost prevented me from com- 

 paring them with the wild as fully as I had intended. I have observed no difi'erence, 

 unless it be that the disks of the wild, in fruit, are larger. Gray describes only //. doro- 

 nicoides; Eaton only H. tuberosus. Wood has both, but his descriptions do not decidedly 

 differ, only in that of H. doronicoides no mention is made of tubers. If there is a H. 

 doronicoides always without tubers, I should consider them distinct. As it is, I wish to 

 observe further. 



CUTTING POTATOES. 



For some years I cut potatoes, as others did, into small pieces for planting, and uni- 

 formly had a large part of them rot, some varieties more than others. Why was it ? I 

 think I understand it. 



In August, a nurseryman may take any bud fi-om a branch of the same year, put it 

 into another tree, and have it grow. But if all the buds are left till the next spring, 

 only two or three buds will grow, and the rest become abortive. Now a potato or other 

 tuber is an underground branch, the eyes corresponding to buds. If you divide the 

 potato before it has begun to sprout, the strength of the eyes is nearly equal, and any 

 one may grow; but when potatoes are planted whole, a few of the eyes at one end sprout 

 and the rest become abortive; and if the potatoes are cut after the strong eyes have 

 sprouted, the weaker ones have not vitality enough left to grow. 



One farmer has told me that he had no difficulty in raising potatoes from tubers cut 

 at any time. This must be owing to the greater vigor and vitality of his variety. In 

 this potatoes differ. Last year my Peachblows survived the attacks of the grasshoppers ; 

 the Early Eoses were killed. 



GRASSES. 

 Chemists have analyzed the cultivated grasses, and find them varying in their pro- 

 portion of saccharine, mucilaginous and other matters, and consequently in their value 

 as food for stock. Wild grasses, no doubt, vary too, but to determine the value of grasses 

 we should consider quantity as well as quality, Mr. Hall says that three grasses, An- 

 dropogon furcatus, blue-stem; A. scoparius, broom-grass, which grows three feet high and 

 has several erect branches, with a spike on each ; and Sorghum nutans, wood-grass, 

 which grows four or five feet high, and has a tawny, nodding panicle, make 80 per cent, 

 of the prairie grasses. They are killed out by close feeding, but farmers near Lawrence 



