April 14. 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



143 



Hemlocks, more than six inches in diameter, and 179 

 smaller Hemlocks ; 11 Beech and Red Maple more than 

 six inches in diameter, with 221 smaller hardwood trees. 

 In addition to the small Beech, Maple and Birch trees, 

 there were Dogwoods, Cucumber-trees, a few masses of 

 Laurel, etc., making a moderately dense undergrowth. The 

 other acre had a much more open and irregular stand, 

 with scanty undergrowth of hardwoods and shrubs. It 

 contained 23 White Pines of the same size as those in 

 the first acre, 37 Hemlocks, and 74 hardwoods (Beech, 

 Maples and Birches) over three inches in diameter. The 

 first of these two sample areas contained Pine of the 

 finest quality and size. It was found to range in age from 

 230 to 260 years. Seventeen of the largest Pines were 

 carefully measured after being cut into logs, and contained 

 above 40,000 feet, board measure, the largest tree measur- 

 ing more than 4,300 feet, board measure. The average 

 length of trunk to base of crown in thirty trees was 91 feet, 

 the longest trunk free of limbs being 112 feet, while the 

 tallest tree on the acre was 158 feet high. The total con- 

 tents of thirty of the trees on this acre was found, by Scrib- 

 ner's rule, to be above 60,000 feet, board measure. 



Many single acres could be found equal to the one here 

 cited, though it is much above the average yield of the 

 entire tract. The White Pine in this particular locality is 

 tall and straight, with comparatively short crown. In 

 much the greater part of the tract the Hemlock is the pre- 

 vailing tree, and in the limited areas where the hardwoods 

 predominate the White Pine is of less frequent occurrence, 

 with greater crown development, thus giving a relatively 

 smaller yield of the best timber. , 



Washington, d. c. Charles A. Keffer. 



Burdock as a Vegetable. 



THE well-known definition of a weed by Emerson as 

 " a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered," 

 is confirmed by the better agricultural authority of Schvverz, 

 according to whom "a weed is a plant of which the direct 

 uses are unknown to man." Both the poet-philosopher and 

 the scientific farmer implicitly admit, I think, that as man 

 brings more and more of nature under his control — in other 

 words, as he brings more and more plants under cultivation, 

 many of them, hitherto scorned as weeds, must cease to be 

 considered as such. I have often seen ridiculed the Chinese 

 custom of eating birds' nests, bears' claws and other incom- 

 prehensible delicacies, but I cannot help admiring the 

 power of pantoph'agy on the one hand and the refinement 

 of culinary skill on the other, which can convert into means 

 of human enjoyment things apparently worthless and 

 revolting. If, as philosophers say, civilization consists 

 mainly in bringing natural forces under man's subjection, 

 China must be given a high place in the scale of civilization 

 from a culinary point of view. 



Is it not a real triumph of art to extract food for man 

 from so coarse and ugly a weed as Burdock ? Most books 

 on botany in the English tongue describe Burdock, Lappa 

 major or officinalis, as a pestiferous weed, and many an 

 agricultural bulletin gives careful instruction how to destroy 

 it. Perhaps the only use that has been made of Lappa in 

 America is for medicine. The root contains a bitter prin- 

 ciple, a resin and tannin, and it is said to have an aperient 

 and diuretic effect. It also has some reputation as an alter- 

 ative in constitutional blood diseases, and the readers of 

 Garden and Forest may have used the so-called "Bur- 

 dock tea." In Germany, where the three species, L. 

 major, L. minor, L. tomentosa, are widely spread, 

 they were formerly much used as medicines under 

 the name Radix Bardanse ; and they are even now 

 regarded by some as good blood purifiers. Perhaps from 

 the burr of the seeds the plant has the repute of power to 

 stimulate a rich growth of hair, and an extract for this pur- 

 pose is made from the roots. The peasants of the south 

 of England use the roots as an antiscorbutic, and the leaves 

 are employed in making a green elder ointment for the use 

 of farriers. 



All these medicinal uses are not to be despised, but they 

 are unimportant when compared to the value of the plant 

 as an edible vegetable; since the kitchen is more important 

 than the drug store, the cook is nearer our hearts than the 

 apothecary. Even in England the alimentary value of 

 Burdock was not always despised. Sowerby writes in his 

 Useful Plants of Great Britain, " The stalks of the Burdock, 

 cut before the flowers open and stripped of their rind, form 

 a delicate vegetable when boiled, similar in flavor to aspar- 

 agus. In the raw state they may be eaten with oil and 

 vinegar as salad. They were sometimes candied with 

 sugar in the time of Bryant, as those of Angelica are. 

 They are slightly laxative, but are perfectly wholesome. 

 The roots of the plant are mildly diuretic and diaphoretic, 

 and have been used with advantage in gout, rheumatism 

 and calculous complaints. The decoction of the root is 

 generally employed, but the seeds and leaves possess nearly 

 the same properties, though the latter are slightly purga- 

 tive. The bruised leaves are applied by the peasantry in 

 some districts, in cataplasms to the feet, as a remedy for 

 hysterical disorders." 



In Japan, Burdock grows wild in several places, but it is 

 also extensively cultivated as a vegetable. Every one 

 knows and eats "Gobo," the usual appellation for this 

 plant, although a more refined and almost obsolete name 

 is "Kitakisu"; sometimes it is called "Uma (horse)-fuki 

 (Nardosmia)." It is familiar to the Ainu under the name 

 of " Seta (dog)-korokoni (Nardosmia)." Both the Ainu 

 and the Japanese prefixes, "seta" and "uma," when ap- 

 plied to plants, seem to have much the same sense as the 

 English "dog," in dogwood, dogbane, etc., and the 

 " horse " in horse-radish, horse-chestnut, horse-mint, etc. 

 The Ainu use it as food as well as medicine. They boil 

 the tender shoots with beans, and the roots are put into 

 soup. For medicinal uses the young leaves are softened 

 by rolling them between the palms, and applied to skin 

 eruptions. The Japanese esteem Lappa for similar pur- 

 poses. It is used in many preparations for its medicinal 

 properties, which, they believe — at least, the old-fashioned 

 empirics believe — consist in counteracting the action of 

 some kinds of poisons. Grated and made into pulp, the 

 roots are applied as a poultice in eruptions of the skin. But 

 by far the more important use is made in the kitchen. As 

 regards this plant we have outstripped the pantophagous 

 Chinese, for they have not raised the plant to the dignity 

 of a market vegetable. "When young," says a Chinese 

 book on botany, " the tender leaves of the Lappa are cut 

 and eaten as greens ; the roots may be boiled or steamed and 

 eaten, but people nowadays rarely use the plant." Among 

 the Japanese, however, it has been under cultivation for 

 years, and possibly for centuries. It enters the kitchen of 

 every household, not being ostracized from the menu of 

 the most high-toned restaurant. Thousands of acres are 

 devoted to its culture. Official statistics for 1 888 give the 

 total production of Lappa in the country at about seventy- 

 two million pounds, valued at 422,134 yen. The roots 

 average 350 grains in weight. 



The production of so large a quantity is not at all to be 

 wondered at when we recollect that Lappa ranks high in 

 the scale of nutritive plants. In the amount of nitrogen it 

 stands higher than potatoes, beets, carrots or turnips ; in 

 fact, few roots or tubers approach it. I append here its 

 chemical composition, as compared with some other com- 

 monly used vegetables : 





H.O 



750 

 8.5 

 920 

 850 

 73S 



N. 



3-4 

 1.6 

 1. 8 

 2.2 

 5-6 



Ash. 



9 5 

 7-> 

 6.4 

 8.2 

 10.5 



K.O 



a 



2.9 



3-o 

 4,3 



Sa = Cai 1 



0.3 o-3 



0.0 0.4 

 o.b 0.7 

 1. 71 0.9 



0.2| I.I 



MgO 



°-5 

 0.6 

 0.2 

 0.4 

 2.0 



P=0„ 



i.b 

 0.9 

 o.S 

 1 . 1 

 0.9 



S0 3 



o.b 

 o-3 

 0.7 

 o-5 



0.7 



SiO = 



0.2 

 0.2 

 O. I 

 0.2 

 O.I 



CI. 



°-3 



0-3 

 0-3 



0.4 





So important a crop as Burdock has, of course, many 

 varieties developed, but the best known among them are 

 few in number. They are usually named from the locali- 

 ties where they were first developed or where they thrive 



