GREENS 



GREENS 



1411 



Christmas in the usual 100-pound crates loses its fresh 

 color and dries down to a weight of about fifty pounds. 

 There is some foreign demand for this plant in the 

 German cities for use in the artificial-flower trade. 

 This plant seems to thrive best in moist, shaded locali- 

 ties, and when plucked out by the roots, as is done 

 when gathering, is not replaced by new growth of its 

 kind. More open situations and drier ground produce 

 lycopodium of a lighter and yellowish color, and conse- 

 quently of less decorative value. Indians pick the best 

 green, but are unreliable when exact dates must be 

 met. The average season's output from Wisconsin is 

 perhaps thirty-five carloads, or 150 to 200 tons. 



The use of holly in a commercial way has grown from 

 a very small beginning to its present proportions within 

 fifteen years. Until the last twenty years most of the holly 

 was handled by wholesale seedsmen and florists. Within 

 that time the sale of holly has been taken up by the 

 produce commission houses in large cities, thereby treb- 

 ling the volume, but reducing the quality. Delaware 

 and Maryland furnish the best stock of what is known as 

 eastern holly, while Tennessee and some other parts of 

 the South ship what is usually an inferior quality. 

 Holly is almost always packed in uniform cases 2 by 2 

 by 4 feet. Freezing, while packed in cases, damages it 

 but little, provided the holly be allowed to thaw out in a 

 very cool and preferably dark place, where the tem- 

 perature is not allowed to exceed 45 F. If, however, 

 frozen holly is shipped in warm express cars, the foliage 

 may turn black in a night. English holly has occa- 

 sionally been imported into the United States and into 

 Canada, but never satisfactorily commercially. For red 

 winter berries, Ilex verticttlata, a deciduous holly which 

 grows in large quantities in Michigan, is now a much- 

 sought decorative material. 



Both holly and lycopodium are becoming more 

 scarce every year, and the market has probably 

 advanced permanently 20 to 30 per cent in the last 

 two or three years. 



Mistletoe branches as used in America (a very little 

 is imported from France) are collected chiefly in New 

 Mexico and Oklahoma, and small quantities from Ten- 

 nessee, Kentucky or Arkansas. It is now usual to ship 

 this in heavy pasteboard cases containing twenty-five 

 to fifty pounds. The western or central states probably 

 use 15,000 to 20,000 pounds from the states mentioned. 

 Mistletoe is easily very seriously injured from freezing 

 in transit. 



Cedar clippings are now but little used during the 

 holiday season, but on other occasions, when open-air 

 decorations are desired, they are frequently made into 

 roping or wreaths. 



Wild smilax, in light cases, usually in three sizes, is 

 shipped by express mostly from Alabama and Georgia. 

 It is as liable to injury by freezing as mistletoe, but is 

 not damaged if allowed to thaw out gradually before 

 removal from the case. The use of this article by the 

 wholesale cut-flower dealers is increasing. There is 

 probably $20,000 worth used annually and some car- 

 load shipments are made. It is readily perishable and 

 the wholesale dealers put it in ice storage where it 

 keeps for two to three weeks. They do not usually 

 keep it in stock except during the holiday season. 



Boxwood clippings of lengths from 12 to 18 inches 

 have become quite an article of commerce. These are 

 gathered from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and 

 other similar localities and are used mainly in the cut- 

 flower trade for making wreaths and for mixing with 

 fresh flowers. The gathering and shipping of this 

 article for the above purpose was begun four or five 

 years ago. The trade has increased rapidly and per- 

 haps fifty tons or more were used in 1911. It will 

 probably take but a short time to exhaust the old 

 gardens where this plant has been growing in the sec- 

 tions mentioned, as it is not to be had except around 

 old homesteads where it was planted years ago. 



The use of laurel is increasing largely during the past 

 five years and it is now shipped from Maryland, Dela- 

 ware, Virginia and New Jersey, both in bulk in short 

 sprays in cases, similar to those used in holly cases, and 

 in wreathing in coils usually containing 100 yards. 

 Shipments are made from the above sections to the 

 northern and western states. 



Hardy ferns are also marketed through the whole- 

 sale cut-flower merchants. These are gathered in 

 Massachusetts and Michigan and kept in storage the 

 entire year, not being so perishable as wild smilax. Wis- 

 consin is now producing as many ferns as Michigan, or 

 perhaps more. 



Among the most artistic materials for Christmas 

 decoration are galax leaves and leucothoe sprays. 

 Galax grows in the mountains from North Carolina to 

 Georgia, and nowhere else in the world. 



For further particulars concerning this industry, see 

 American Florist 14:598^600 (1898). For the artistic 

 side of Christmas decoration, see illustrated articles by 

 F. Schuyler Mathews in American Florist 8:484 and 

 9:493. j. C.VAUGHAN. 



GREENS, EDIBLE, or POT-HERBS. This term 

 greens is generally applied in America to any pot-herb, 

 that is to say, to any green herbage which is cooked and 

 served separately from the other principal and second- 

 ary dishes of a square meal. The term "greens" is 

 commonly used for the mess of cookery which is brought 

 to the table. It is not so often applied to the plants 

 growing in the garden. In the garden, perhaps, they are 

 herbs pot-herbs although this term is not so much 

 employed as it conveniently might be. Greens are 

 served early in the spring, when the appetite craves 

 anything which tastes like out-of-doors. 



All sorts of plants are used as pot-herbs. Almost any- 

 thing which shows a succulent growth in the spring ia 

 likely to be tried by somebody. Turnip tops, potato 

 leaves, pig-weeds, purslane, and many other apparently 

 impossible herbs, are often impressed into the service. 

 The really good pot-herbs are comparatively few, how- 

 ever. Probably the best are dandelion, spinach, mus- 

 tard (various species), endive, chard, beet-top and kale. 



The following plants have been more or less used as 

 pot-herbs : 



Buck's-horn Plantain, Plantago Coronopus. 



California Peppergrass, Brassica japonica. 



Cardoon, Cynara Cardunculus. 



Chard, Beta vulgaris. 



Chervil, Anthriscus Cerefolium. 



Chicory, Cichorium Intybus. 



Chinese Amaranth, Amarantus gangeticus. 



Chinense Artichoke, Stachys Sieboldii (S. affinis or S. tuberifera). 



Chinese Cabbage, Brassica Pe-tsai. 



Chinese Cabbage, Brassica chinensis. 



Chinese Mustard, Brassica juncea. 



Chives, Allium Schoenoprasum. 



Corn Salad, Valerianelta olitoria. 



Cress, Lepidium sativa. 



Meadow Cress, Cardamine pratensis. 



Para Cress, Spilanthes oleracea. 



Upland Cress, Barbarea vulgaris and B. prxcox. 



Other so-called Cresses, as Lepidium chilense, Lepidium piscid- 

 ium, Lepidium virginicum, Senebiera pinnatifida, Nasturtium 

 indicum, Gynandropsis pentaphylla. 

 Dandelion, Taraxicum officinale. 

 Dock, Rumex, several species. 

 Endive, Cichorium Endivia. 

 Globe Artichoke, Cynara Scolymus. 

 Good King Henry, Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus. 

 Goosefoot, Chenopodium, mostly C. album. 

 Ice Plant, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. 

 Italian Corn Salad, Valerianella eriocarpa. 

 Kale, Brassica oleracea. 

 Lettuce, Lactuca (especially the wild species, some of which are 



excellent). 



Malabar Nightshade, Basella alba and Basella rubra. 

 Mustard, Brassica species. 

 Nasturtiums, Tropseolum species. 

 Orach, Atriplex hortensis. 

 Parsley, Petroselinum. 

 Pepper-grass, Lepidium species. 

 Pigweed, Amarantus species. 

 Pokeweed, Phytolacca decandra. 

 Quinoa, Chenopodium Quinoa. 

 Rocket Salad, Eruca sativa. 



