JUNE 30, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



253 



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long, 75 feet wide and 25 feet 

 high, is to be built of steel and 

 iron on the existing dock and 

 foundation. The dock is flat, 

 constructed on fire-proof arches 

 and finished on top with a layer 

 of Portland cement concrete, 

 over which is a coat of asphalt, 

 graded to carry off the water 

 into gutters and thence into the 

 river. Such a structure would 

 be practically fire-proof. This 

 d.ock would be reached by stair- 

 'cases at the land end under a 

 portico. 



The grass-plots and flower- 

 beds would be surrounded by 

 a curb to receive the soil in 

 which the plants would grow. 

 Thisgardening would need care 

 to secure a maximum of effect 

 with a minimum of expense, 

 but need not be costly, though 

 it would require annual re- 

 newal. Arbored walks could 

 easily be covered with quick- 

 growing flowering creepers and 

 the beds filled with the com- 

 mon and ever-popular flower- 

 ing plants. The portico and 

 shelters roofed with iron could 

 be provided with awnings like 

 those on the open street-cars 

 for shade and to turn a shower 

 of rain. These shelters sur- 

 round a playground for chil- 

 dren, with a sand-heap in each 

 corner. At the far end is a 

 band -stand surrounded by 

 arbor-shaded seats. Twodrink- 

 ing-fountains and plenty of 

 benches complete the outfit, 

 which should be surrounded 

 by a high light fence for the 

 prevention of accidents. 

 New York. W. Hamilton Bell. 



Roots in Commerce. — I. 



ONE scarcely realizes how 

 largely products of vege- 

 tation enter into use in the arts 

 and the household in construc- 

 tion, for utensils, food, and a 

 thousand other purposes. If, 

 for example, we take up a 

 wholesale drug circular, in the 

 part set aside for "drugs and 

 dyes" one will find several 

 columns which include price 

 lists of woods, barks, flowers, 

 leaves and roots. To give 

 some idea of the variety of 

 these materials, the distant parts 

 of the world from which many 

 of them come, and the pur- 

 poses for which they are made 

 to minister to the wants of 

 man, it is only necessary to 

 glance at a single section, as, 

 for instance, the roots. A trade 

 list of roots names such fa- 

 miliar native plants as Black- 

 berry, Rubus villosus, and R. 

 -Canadensis (the Dewberry), 



the roots of which have tonic and strongly astrin- 

 gent qualities. Bloodroot, the root of Sanguinaria Cana- 

 densis, is also a regular article in trade. This plant, 

 prized for its beautiful snowy flowers in early spring, 

 is called also Puccoon, Tetterwort, Tumeric and Indian 

 Paint, the latter name, doubtless, gained from the 

 red juice of the bright-colored root. In trade its value is 

 in its acrid, emetic properties and its use as a stimulant 

 expectorant. The common Burdock, with its adhesive 

 burs, a plant used largely as a food in Japan, as was 

 described in an interesting article on page 143 in this 

 volume, is one of the most popular of all the medicinal 

 roots, both as a home remedy of country folks in spring- 

 time, and in pharmacy, and is an ingredient in many of 

 the patent medicines sold as blood purifiers. So greatly 

 has the demand increased in recent years that, besides the 

 large quantities grown in America, probably one hundred 

 tons a year are imported from Europe. It is specially cul- 

 tivated abroad, and imported roots are of better quality than 

 our home product and cheaper, seven cents a pound being 

 an average wholesale price. Calamus, the spicy delicacy of 

 country school children, is another standard article of com- 

 merce, and comes whole and sliced, some of it known as 

 white calamus, being bleached. The root of Calamus, or 

 Sweet Flag, Acorus Calamus, has a pungent, aromatic taste 

 and is credited with stomachic properties. It is also used 

 as an adjuvant to tonic or purgative medicines. About four- 

 fifths of the quantity consumed in this country comes from 

 Germany. The entire root sells for six and a half cents a 

 pound in wholesale lots, while that which is bleached and 

 sliced brings three to five times as much. 



Of Dandelion-root about one hundred tons are used in 

 this country each year, half of it home-grown and the 

 remainder from the fields of Germany. Its commercial 

 value consists in its use in hepatic derangements and 

 digestive troubles generally. Roasted and powdered, 

 it is sometimes bought for coffee by the unsuspecting 

 housekeeper. A native of the southern United States, 

 esteemed for use as an anti-periodic in malarial fevers, is 

 the root of Gelsemium, the yellow or false Jasmine, G. 

 sempervirens. Perhaps a dozen sorts of Snakeroot are 

 regularly listed, this name being given to many plants 

 whose form or color is suggestive of a serpent. That 

 known as Virginia Snakeroot is Aristolochia Serpentaria; 

 the Black Snakeroot of trade may be Sanicula Marilandica, 

 or Cimicifuga racemosa, while Seneca snakeroot may be 

 some Liatris or Eryngium ; white snakeroot is Eupatorium 

 ageratoides. The general name is also applied to other 

 roots, all of which have some reputation as remedies for 

 the bites of serpents, and they are used as stimulants. 



One of the most widely distributed American plants, 

 which is nevertheless the most costly of all the medicinal 

 roots, notwithstanding that the medical profession here 

 hardly recognize it and regard it as inert, is Ginseng, Aralia 

 quinquefolia. The entire product is eagerly collected and 

 sent to China, where the demand is constantly increasing. 

 This root has somehow caught the fancy and faith of the 

 Celestials and is highly prized as a cure-all, ami especially 

 for supposed" rejuvenating qualities. When the supply for 

 China depended entirely upon that grown at home the roots 

 had fabulous value, with their supposed power to prolong 

 life. Phenomenal prices are paid for roofs, which, in 

 Chinese imagination, resemble dragons or other mythical 

 objects, and a specially grotesque specimen with an imagi- 

 nary uplifted head, many legs and an angry-looking tail. 

 in the hands of a New York exporter of the root is stated 

 to be worth its weight in gold. Collectors find it as near-by 

 as Westchester County, and, indeed, the largest and highest- 

 priced roots come from New York, West Virginia and Penn- 

 sylvania. The southern gatherings are of smaller roots, 

 but even these, mainly from Tennessee and Kentucky, 

 command $2.70 a pound in wholesale lots here in New 

 York, and larger ones of eccentric form from the northern 

 states sell for $6.00 a pound. Another native root-stock 

 used in pharmaceutical preparations is that of the herb 



