CAMPHOR TREE. 



CANARY-GRASS. 



of camomile found in the shops is procured I 

 from this plant. 



CAMPHOR TREE (Laurus camphor a). \ 

 Among the vegetable productions of the Old 

 Continent which possess a high degree of in- 

 teVest for the United States, the camphor tree 

 holds an eminent place. It especially deserves 

 attention from the inhabitants of the Floridas, 

 of the lower part of the Carolinas, and of lower 

 Louisiana. Its multiplication in these climates 

 would be so easy, that after a few years it might 

 be abandoned to nature. 



The camphor tree belongs to the same fa- 

 mily as the common sassafras of the United 

 States, though in its general character it is 

 most nearly related to the red bay, so com- 

 mon throughout the southern regions just re- 

 ferred to, both being evergreens of similar 

 height, and at a small distance looking so much 

 alike as to be easily mistaken for each other. 



The camphor tree is a native of China, Ja- 

 pan, and some other parts of the East Indies, 

 where it often attains forty or fifty feet in height, 

 with a proportional diameter. The leaves are 

 two or three inches long, pointed at their ex- 

 tremities, about an inch broad, with long petioles 

 or stems. The young branches are green. 

 The flowers are small and whitish. The 

 leaves, bark, wood, and roots are all strongly 

 impregnated with the odour of camphor. The 

 roots especially yield this substance in great- 

 est quantity. They are cut to pieces, boiled 

 in water in large iron retorts, &c. (See Mi- 

 chaux's Sylva.} 



Camphor may likewise be obtained from 

 certain plants or herbs of the class of labite, 

 such as lavender and mint, out not in sufficient 

 quantities to form an article of commerce. 



CANADA ONION. See ONION. 



CANADA THISTLE (Carduus arvensis). 

 This plant is widely spread in the northern 

 part of the state of New York, and has been 

 introduced into Pennsylvania and many other 

 parts of the Middle States, the seeds having 

 been sometimes mixed in timothy seed, and 

 sometimes entangled in the fleeces of sheep 

 driven from the North. The root of the Ca- 

 nada thistle is perennial, creeping and exceed- 

 ingly tenacious of life, which, with its prolific 

 character, for it springs up from the filaments 

 of the roots as well as from seed, makes it the 

 vilest pest in the form of a weed that has ever 

 invaded American farms. It is a foreigner. 

 The utmost vigilance will be required to pre- 

 vent its spread wherever it may be disco- 

 vered. 



A great many devices have been resorted to 

 for the eradication and destruction of the Ca- 

 nada thistle. Some aim at the entire removal 

 of the root by means of extirpating machines, 

 contrived to cut off and harrow up the roots. 

 Others rely upon mowing down the thistles 

 when they are in full bloom, as a most certain 

 method. Not content with simply cutting 

 down, some apply common salt to the stems 

 -or crowns of the roots which makes the de- 

 ftstruction more sure. It is an admitted fact 

 that the life of trees and plants, when these are 

 not in. the torpid state in which they are en- 

 abled to exist in winter, depends upon a func- 

 tion performed by their leaves. These are in 

 252 



fact their lungs, deprived of the use of which 

 for a given time, during the season of their 

 growth, trees and plants inevitably die. Low 

 and frequent cutting down in summer about 

 the blooming period, will doubtless destroy 

 plants however tenacious of life they may 

 be, since the roots are as much indebted for 

 life to their leaves or lungs as the leaves are to 

 the roots. Neither can subsist long without 

 the aid of the other important members of the 

 system. The most usual methods, resorted to 

 in England, for the eradication of thistles, 

 couchgrass, and other weeds with creeping 

 and tenacious roots, will be found mentioned 

 under the head of THISTLES. A highly inte- 

 resting article upon this subject, originally 

 published in that valuable agricultural periodi- 

 cal, The Genessee Farmer, and republished in 

 Puffin's Farm. Keg. vol. ii. p. 29, contains a 

 great deal of information relative to the ex- 

 termination of this pest of our plough fields. , 



CANARY-GRASS, CAT'S TAIL. See 

 CAT'S TAIL. 



CANARY-GRASS (Phalaries canariensis 

 PI. 4, a) is cultivated in a few parts of the south 

 of England, and chiefly in the Isle of Thanet. 

 The plant (says Prof. Low) is easily raised, 

 but it is of little economical importance ; it is 

 a native of the Canary Islands, but is found 

 frequently wild in cultivated and waste ground, 

 and has probably become naturalized. It is 

 an annual, with a stem from a foot to eighteen 

 inches high, and lively green leaves about half 

 an inch in width. In England it flowers from 

 June to August, and ripens its seed from Sep- 

 tember to October The seeds are sown in 

 February, in rows about a foot apart, four or 

 five gallons per acre. The reaping com mences 

 in September. The common yield is from 

 thirty to thirty-four bushels per acre. The 

 chaff is superior to that of every other culmi- 

 nous plant for horse food, and the straw, though 

 short, is also very nutritive. From Mr. Sin- 

 clair's experiments, it appears, that at the time 

 of flowering, the produce of this grass per 

 acre, from a rich clayey loam, on a tenacious 

 subsoil, was 54,450 Ibs. ; which yielded in dry 

 produce 17,696 Ibs. 4 oz., nutritive matter 

 1,876 Ibs. 2 oz. The herbage is but little nu- 

 tritive, and the plant cannot be recommended 

 for cultivation, but for the seeds only, which 

 are principally in demand in the neighbour- 

 hood of large towns, as food for small singing- 

 birds, particularly canaries, whence it derives 

 its name. The produce is generally from three 

 to five quarters an acre, and the actual price 

 is from 40s. to 42s. per quarter. The straw or 

 haulm is a most excellent fodder for horses. 

 (Hort. Gram. Wob. p. 399 ; Low's El. Prac. Jig. 

 p. 266 ; Brit. Husb. vol. ii. p. 329.) 



The reed canary-grass (Ph. arundinacea, 

 Smith's Engl. Flora, vol. i. p. 74) is very com- 

 mon in ditches, pools, and the margins of ri- 

 vers. At the time of flowering, the produce 

 from a black sandy loam incumbent on clay 

 was, 



Green produce per acre 

 Dry produce 

 Nutritive matter . 



27,2-25 



12,251 4 



1,701 9 



On a strong tenacious clay, the produce 

 was, 



