Published b-j John B. Russell, at JVo. 62 jYorih Market Street, (at the Agrieultural M'arehouse). — Thomas O. Fessendek, Editor. 



rOL. YIII. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1829. 



No. 15. 



AGRICULTURE. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FiRMER. 



lERVATIONS ON THE DRUG SARSAPA- 

 RILLA. 



n the history of this well known plant, it is 

 iiy intention to dwell, but merely to point out 

 Julteration, and distinguishing marks as a 

 The genuine plant was probably first used 

 e simple materia medica of the savages of 

 ico and South America, from whence it was 

 nally brought, and from which country alone 

 II continues to be imported. Its extensive 

 of late years in empirical preparations, has 

 n, no doubt, considerable value to its substi-j 



and, in consequence, many druggists in this 

 itry are in the habit of vending a spurious ar- 



as such. In many places, if Sarsaparillabe 

 ired for, the root of a very different plant, 

 ta nudicaulis, will probably be given, which, if 

 uerf, may naturally be supposed possessed of 



dilferent qualities from the genuine drug. In 

 they are plants of natural families so perfectly 

 let, that nothing can justify the substitution 

 : of fraud. It is true that the late Professor 

 ro^f, of Pennsylvania, and later writers on our 

 2stic materia medica, have given the Aralia 

 zaidis {pT false Sarsaparilla) a place in their 

 e, and attribute to it some degree of medical 

 icy, and even an approximation to the true 

 iparilla. But surely there are not sufficient 

 nds, on which vo put aside an important nie- 

 e, or to authorize so trifling a substituti"-^ . 

 hence, no doubt, arises often the discrepant 

 ons of physicians on the efficacy of medi- 

 ch, if in nmch demand, are half the time 

 itutcd by spurious articles. In writing on 

 iuljjcct some time ago to Mr Carpe.n-ter, of 

 idelphia, the well known Druggist,he answer- 

 lat tlie Sarsaparilla of the United States had 

 ficacy, and that he could not employ it. {By 

 h, no doubt, he meant the Aralia.) But inde- 

 ent of this common plant, we have, accord- 

 D the diagnosis of LiNNiEOs himself, the genu- 

 arsa])arilla, indigenous to the soil, from the 

 nt vicinity, at least to Florida. This plant is 

 'milax Sarsaparitia, said likewise to be a native 

 ru, Brazil, and Mexico. It is one of the coni- 

 " Green Briars''^ of the country, a name which 

 all have, commonly, in the middle and south- 

 tates. It is a climbing, slender, angularly 

 hed, thorny, green shrub, with heart-ovate, 

 onate, three-nerved leaves, glaucous, or 

 i-green beneath ; bearing small clusters of 

 ish flowers, succeeded by glaucous, black 

 IS. A good figure is given in Lamarck's 

 rations of Genera, plate 817, fig. 1. Such 

 : plant intended by Linnjeus, but I have, at 

 aiue time, great reason to suppose, that the 

 Sarsaparilla is yet the produce of some 

 enl plant, as the roots of this do not at all 



jbiacrness, containing a great deal of fecula. The 

 roots of the Aralia are quite pale, almost ash color, 

 of no great length, never coiled up, rather un- 

 equal in thickness, w;tl> a tbick and circularly 

 wrinkled bark, and possessing, a little, the taste of 

 raw parsnip, peculiar to many other of the umbel- 

 liferous tribe of plants to which it appertains. In 

 Europe the roots of several species of Curex, or 

 .'Bedgc-grass are passed off for this drug, particu- 

 larly C. villosa, there called German Sarsaparilla. 

 It would be a very desirable acquisition to the 

 country, to be able to obtain living roots or seeds 

 of genuine Peruvian or Brazilian Sarsaparilla, 

 which might then be cultivated to supply our shops. 

 A -cording to Humboldt, the best is obtained in 

 '•'. ; vicinity of Esmeralda in Brazil, and in the 

 ^v anish West Indies. Near upon 5000 quintals 

 aie annually exported from Vera Cruz. 



CuLLEN, with his usual prejudice, underrated 

 tho value of this drug ; and indeed its sensible 

 qu; lities would seem to sanction the neglect. Its 

 C: istitutional effect, aided by other things, has, 

 -,;"ever, been long acknowledged, and it is known 

 "it rhis time to enter largely into a celebrated nos- 

 tn ^1 for t!ie cure of scrophula, and regular physi- 

 "'■ -i in tl)e middle and southern states have gen- 

 ei iy tdmittod the usefulness, if not efficacy of 

 t!i compound extract of Sarsaparilla.* In Mexico 

 and South America, according to BIutis, in his 

 cr .respondence with Linn^us, it was confidently 

 rsiied on as a specific for siphilitic complaints, 

 nilM, however, in their character. It is now more 

 c? tainly relied on for a removal of the bad eflects 

 "; .^'"li are often the sbquel of a course of mercn- 

 riai medicine. M. Pallo* a bas succeeded in se- 

 parating from this drug an alkaloid substance 

 termed by him Partllina, in which he supposed the 

 principal virtue of the plant to reside, and describes 

 its effects as extremely debilitating. Still the fluc- 

 tuation of opinion in regard to the efficacy of me- 

 dicines, diversified as are the circumstances under 

 which they are administered, must continue as an 

 opprobrium to the science, in which nothing is 

 often more probable than fallibility ; but to fail in 

 alleviating human misery, is to fail in a great and 

 good attempt. T. NUTTALL. 



Botanic Garden, } 



Cambridge, Oct. 27, 1829. \ 



*This preparation was, I believe, first made by Mr 

 Carpenter of Philadelphia. - 



FOU THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



CLISIIING PEAR. 



Mr Editor — In compliance with your request, 

 1 send you a drawing and description of Col. Wash- 

 ington Cusiiing's (of Hingham,) superior wilding 

 pear, which is destined to hold a high rank among 

 our native pears. I think there is little doubt but 

 it will improve in quality, and increase in size, 

 fiom one-quarter to one-thij-d larger, when culti- 

 vated in our gardens or ploughed fields, as was 



the case with the Harvard (Epargne) pear. I can 

 with the officinal rfrag .f Those of the real also add the opinion of a gentleman, respecting 

 parilla are exceedingly long, externally ! this variety, whose judgment on fruits is consid- 



nish, come in long coils, are al.most eve- 

 ere of an equal thickness, and these, about 

 ze of a goose-quill, with a thickish bark, of 

 r an insipid, niucilagiuous taste, and a slight 



ered first rate, who declared on tasting it, that it 

 was superior to the Bartlett, Harvard, Andrews, 

 Moorfowl, or Swan's Egg. S. DOWNER. 



Dorchester, Oct. 12, 1829. 



The before mentioned Pear is a httle under me- 

 dium size, color light green, with a little brownish 

 blush on the sunny side, smooth and shining skin, 

 formed like the Harvard pear, but fuller near the 

 stem, which is three-quarters of an inch long, 

 placed on one -df; of the top, in a little cavity; 

 and a rise oi. tho other. I!lu;,so:n -zni & little in 

 dented, — and is a great and constant bearer, — 

 flesh whitish, melting, buttery, and full of delicious 

 juice, tasting like the Andrews pear, but has more 

 flavor and sprigbtliness. It is in eating the mid- 

 dle of September — It may be recommended with 

 the greatest confidence to the public and our nur- 

 serymen, as one of our finest varieties. 



[We have been favored by Benjamin Thomas, Esq. of 

 Hingham, nitli the following account of the tree.] 



CnSHlNG PEAR. 



Mr Russell — According to my promise, Isend 

 you a hasty account of the pear tree, which pro- 

 duces the Gushing pear, such as I sent you, and 

 which were exhibited at the Anniversary dinner of 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



Cffl. Washington Gushing is the owner of the 

 tree. He informs me that it is forty years old ; 

 and it now stands where it sprang up from the seed 

 accidentally. It has never been engrafted, nor in- 

 noculated, and therefore, produces its natural 

 fruit. It has. neither been pruned, nor has the 

 ground been broken around its trunk ; but it fs a 

 good bearer, producing fourteen bushels of fruit 

 yearly ; and is not subject to blast. Capt. Charles 

 Shute informs me that'he has a tree in bearing 

 which he took when a small sucker from round 

 the parent tree, and its produce is precisely simi- 

 lar to its pn/i'ent. 



I have examined the tree, and find its dimen- 

 sions as follows : — twenty inches from the ground 

 ts girth is four feet nine inches — three feet six 

 inches from the ground, it is divided into two 



