172 



Garden and Forest. 



(Number 375. 



of vegetation for ihe sake of scenery, is worlc that is 

 greatly needed in the woodlands. 



Exxeptuig work directed to ponding or liirning water, tlie 

 selection oi: high or low. evergreen or deciduous, crowded or 

 separated types of vegetation is practically the only work 

 wln'ch can be done for the enhancement of the beauty of 

 the landscape, and work ol this kind, well handled, will be 

 productive of remarkable and important results. In general, 

 this work ought to be directed to the selection and encourage- 

 ment of those forms of vegetation which are characteristic of 

 each type of topography. Sameness of treatment, regardless 

 of site'and exposiu'e, is to be scrupulously avoided. On the 

 windy summits ot the Blue Hills the dwarf growths native to 

 such hill-tops ought to be preserved or induced to take posses- 

 sion. On sunnv crags and ledges. Pitch Pine, Cedar and 

 Juniper should be led to find place, while the Hemlock should 

 appear among shady rocks. At the bases of bold ledges now 

 concealed by dull curtains of stump-growth, large areas may 

 profitably be cleared and even pastured for the sake of exhibit- 

 ing the forms of the rocks and the grand distant prospects 

 discernible between them. In other places, where only short- 

 lived sprout-growth now exists, seedlings of long-lived trees 

 should be encouraged to start. On slopes of poor soil per- 

 manent thickets may be advisable, while some rich glade or 

 valley may be devoted to the development of soft turf and 

 broad-spreading trees. There is thus no limit to the variety 

 of sylvan types of scenery which may gradually be developed 

 within these broad reservations. 



It is stated that the more delicate and difficult operations 

 of this art of enhancing the beauty of the vegetal element 

 in landscape must wait upon the building, or at least the 

 planning, of the permanent roads and paths. These roads, 

 it is stated, must be made to exhibit the scenery, and the 

 vegetal scenery must be improved with reference to the 

 roads. 



Careful studies of the present conditions of the reserva- 

 tions have been wisely determined upon. For example, 

 groups of competent naturalists have volunteered their 

 services in the stiidy of the flora and the fauna of the 

 several localities. Their notes and their collections will 

 be carefully preserved for reference, and will present invalu- 

 able means for comparison as time goes on and changes 

 gradually occur. 



Notes upon Poisonous Plants. 



FATAL cases of poisoning by eating roots of wild 

 plants, brought to our notice in the pages of the daily 

 prints, again remind us that much remains to be learned 

 by grown people, as well as children, concerning the very 

 active properties of many of our common plants. 



It was probably not in the mind of Senator Hatch and 

 others in establishing departments of research in each stale 

 that such should be in any direct sense life-saving stations. 

 If these experiment stations are to make life richer in a 

 fuller knowledge of methods of crop-growing they may 

 well find it a part of their work to make human life safer 

 by diffusing information concerning, for example, the poi- 

 sonous plants that surround us on every hand. 



On account of appeals that have been made to the New 

 Jersey Station for facts concerning poisonous plants, and in 

 the face of the many fatal cases of poisoning that have 

 occurred about us, I have beeiv led to look somewhat sys- 

 tematically into the subject, and as a result no less than 

 sixty-five species of plants have been listed and placed 

 upon the roll of suspects. Of these many are injurious 

 only to a slight degree, and that effect is not constant. 

 Some persons can work daily among the roots and fresh 

 leafy shoots of the Poison Ivy, Rhus Toxicodendron, without 

 injury, while on the other hand other persons cannot pass 

 near the plants without experiencing physical discomfort. 

 I shall not soon forget the time when both my eyes were 

 swollen to blindness by handling this plant. Many of the 

 plants upon the list are poisonous only when taken into 

 the system. In other words, the poisonous plants inay, for 

 convenience, be divided into those poisonous to touch (by 

 contact) and those which are poisonous when eaten 

 (by assimilation). It is to the latter class that attention 



should be most emphatically drawn, for these do the most 

 injury. 



Twice in the year there are outbreaks of poisoning. One 

 of these occurs in spring, when every one is longing for 

 some green thing, and most frequently the poison is taken 

 into the system in the form of roofs. Boys and others 

 "go aforaging, " and by accident or otherwise unearth 

 some large fleshy roots ; upon tasting them they are found 

 to be sweet, or, at least, not disagreeable, and the mischief 

 is begun, which ends in sickness, and sometimes death. 

 The chances are that the fleshy roots belong to some spe- 

 cies of plants of the Parsley family, some of fhe more com- 

 mon members of which are the Carrot, Parsnip and Celery, 

 all three grown largely for food in the gardens. Even 

 these well-bred plants are still somewhat poisonous to 

 some persons. Thus there are cases of skin afflictions due 

 to the handling of Celery-foliage, and some gardeners lieed 

 to be protected against it if they work with these plants 

 continuously. In like manner the Carrot is unsuited to 

 some individuals as an article of diet, and when Parsnips 

 are left to run wild in waste places for a few generations, a 

 generation being two years in this plant, the root will be- 

 come somewhat reduced in size and elaborate a poisonous 

 principle that to many is positively harmless, and with 

 others has caused death. This is by no means the only 

 instance of culture holding the evil qualities in check. 

 When cases of fatal root-poisoning occur it is itot unlikely 

 that they are due to fhe wild Parsnip, Pastinaca sativa. A 

 more poisonous species of this Parsley family is the Poison 

 Hemlock, Conium maculatum, which has come to us from 

 Europe, and grows in waste places. This is a smooth, 

 much-branched herb, three feet high, the stems of which 

 are marked with purple specks, so that the name of Spotted 

 Parsley is sometimes given to this species. The leaves 

 consist of many leaflets and are ill-scented. A virulent 

 poison, conicine, abounds in all parts, and should not be 

 taken into the system. 



A close relative of the Conium is the False Parsley, Cicuta 

 maculata, also called Spotted Cowbane, Water Hemlock 

 and Beaver Poison. This common species is a tall plant 

 with the stems streaked vi^ith purple, but not spotted as in 

 the Conium. The root is a deadly poison, and of all our 

 poisonous plants is the part that causes the greatest num- 

 ber of deaths. Other species of the same family that are 

 poisonous and have fleshy roots are the Water Parsnip, 

 Slum cicutajfolium, growing in wet places, and the Cow 

 Parsnip, Heracleum lanatum, which is also a coarse plant 

 fond of the low ground. 



It is difficult to lay down any rule, hard and fast, to serve 

 as an invariable guide and protection against these veno- 

 nious plants. The danger of persons eating the herbage 

 to excess is not great, but, as before stated, the injury 

 usually comes from the fleshy roots, which are attractive 

 to the eye and not disagreeable to the taste. These, if eaten 

 in early spring, when they are gorged with the poisonous 

 qualities, are quite sure to lead to unpleasant, if not fatal, 

 results. Every one should be impressed with the fact that 

 some of these poisonous plants pass the winter chiefly as 

 large fleshy roots and are to be shunned. Nothing in the 

 form of wild plants should be eaten unless well known to 

 be harmless, and fleshy roots particularly should be 

 avoided. Most particularly of all let parents and school 

 teachers admonish children of the great danger of promis- 

 cuous foraging in fields and woodlands, especially in early 

 spring. 



The second outbreak of poisonous cases comes with 

 the ingathering of toadstools during the summer. This 

 subject was fully treated in G.vkden and Forest by Dr. 

 Farlow, under "Notes fi^r Mushroom Eaters," about a 

 year ago. 



There are a number of plants, particularly in the Heath 

 family, Ericacece, that injure live stock, as, for example, the 

 Calf-kill, Leucothoe racemosa, and Lamb-kill, Kaltniaangus- 

 tifolia, as the common names strongly indicate. 



Kutsers College. BjrOn D. Hills/ed. 



