274 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 490. 



as a stimulant. The fibrous yellow roots of Gold Thread, 

 Coptis trifolia, while not regarded as having medicinal 

 qualities, are, nevertheless, sold in large quantities for their 

 bitter tonic properties. The small evergreen plant is 

 familiar near springs and in marshy places, and will be 

 recalled by many as a local remedy of the country house- 

 wife for sore mouth in infants. It is offered in loosely 

 matted masses of the long, thread-like, orange-colored 

 roots, mixed with the leaves and stems. 



Quantities of the odorous root of Valeriana officinalis are 

 gathered by the Shakers of New Hampshire, and the indus- 

 try extends to northern Vermont and New York. But the 

 demand for this one-time fashionable nerve remedy is 

 much too heavy for our home supplies, and many hundred- 

 weights come yearly from the gardens of Belgium and the 

 Netherlands — perhaps four-fifths of the entire supply — with 

 smaller quantities from Germany and England. Valerian 

 also comes from Japan, and the root from that country is 

 said to be the richest in oil. 



The root of our Blazing Star, Liatris spicata, and of 

 Aletris farinosa, often seen in sandy woodlands, and both 

 commonly known as Colic-root, are bought and sold under 

 the name of Unicorn-root. The woody root of the peren- 

 nial American plant, Stillingia sylvatica, Queen's Delight, 

 is sometimes used in combination with sarsaparilla and 

 other alteratives. From the Peruvian shrub Krameria tri- 

 andra the blackish red, long-spreading root known as 

 Rhatany is supplied to commerce. The bark of Sassafras- 

 roots and the pith of the twigs, gathered after frost in 

 autumn, have a recognized place in pharmacy in the United 

 States, and the entire root is exported to England, where, 

 as in this country, large quantities are used in making 

 summer drinks. Parsley-root has an assured place in the 

 wholesale drug trade, as have the roots of the dwarf Nettle, 

 Urtica dioica and U. urens, of America and Europe, and the 

 Musk-plant, the Pond-lily and yellow Dock. 



While, perhaps, all the roots regularly quoted in the 

 wholesale druggists' price-lists have now been briefly 

 referred to, these are but a few of the many in regular use 

 in medicine. For example, the rhizomes of Cypripedium 

 pubescens maybe bought by the hundredweight, and those 

 of C. spectabile, C. acaule and C. parviflorum all have a 

 market value, some of them furnishing a gentle nerve stimu- 

 lant less powerful than Valerian. Horse-radish, though not 

 named in the trade price-lists, is used for internal and ex- 

 ternal remedies. But the list of roots in general use might 

 be extended indefinitely, even without mention of the living 

 roots from which juices are obtained by incision, as the 

 gum resin Asafcetida from the root of Ferula fcetida, and 

 Scammony from Convolvulus Scammonia, besides the 

 roots of our commonly used vegetables and of those of 

 native plants which have only been partially tested. 



New York. M. B C. 



The Canon Winds in Utah. 



THE country adjacent to the mouths of any of the 

 mountain canons of this state is subject to what is 

 known here as the "canon wind," a strong breeze which 

 begins about nine or ten o'clock in the evening and con- 

 tinues till about eight o'clock the following morning. 

 These winds occur almost every night from early spring 

 until late autumn, and are felt over a considerable area of 

 country about the canon's mouth, being strongest, of 

 course, near this point, and gradually decreasing in ve- 

 locity as they spread over the surrounding country. 



They exercise an important influence over the fruit 

 industry of the state, their effect being decidedly beneficial 

 in some ways and equally detrimental in others. Their 

 most marked beneficial effect is in preventing late frosts, 

 and in this way they often save the fruit crop from destruc- 

 tion. A prominent fruit raiser of Provo, whose farm is 

 situated just at the mouth of Provo Canon, states that he is 

 successful almost every year with apricots, peaches and 

 the early-flowering varieties of grapes, while one of his 



neighbors, just around a spur of the mountain and not 

 more than a mile or two away, but out of the range of the 

 canon wind, often lost his entire crop of fruit by the frosts. 



The detrimental influence of the winds is confined prin- 

 cipally to producing ill-shaped, one-sided fruit-trees, the 

 branches leaning away from the canon to a marked degree. 

 This effect is much more noticeable in some kinds of trees 

 than others. Apples and Plums seem to be most seriously 

 affected, while Pears and Cherries are much less so. There 

 is also a marked difference in the effect on different varie- 

 ties of the same fruit, some sorts of Pears showing almost 

 no evil effect whatever, while others, standing near by 

 them, will be seriously distorted. I am of the opinion that 

 this difficulty might be obviated to a considerable extent 

 by judicious pruning from the time the tree is set ; at least 

 so far as the general shape of the tree is concerned. The 

 smaller twigs on older trees might be less easily controlled. 

 In cases where a dense and sufficiently high wind-break 

 can be grown on the canon side of the orchard the evil 

 effect of the winds is much lessened, while the beneficial 

 effects with regard to frosts remain the same. 



Shade-trees are affected in the same way as fruit-trees, 

 with the same difference in different species. Contrary to 

 what might be expected, the tall, spire-like Lombardy 

 Poplars show but little ill effect from the winds, but Box 

 Elders, Elms, and even the Carolina Poplars, wherever 

 exposed, are blown entirely out of their usual form and 

 lean away from the canon, as if to get as far from it as 

 possible. This same difference is noticeable in Pears, the 

 upright-growing sorts being the least affected. Small fruits 

 are comparatively free from the evil effect of the wind, 

 though occasionally it is severe enough to injure even 

 these, if exposed, especially when the shoots are young and 

 tender or at blossoming time. • 



Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. -*'• ^" o5t7rS. 



The Care of Weak Limbs of Trees. 



IN addition to misdirected efforts or mistakes in the 

 priming of trees, the results of errors in attempts 

 to save broken or strengthen and support weak, but 

 otherwise green and healthy limbs, are too often seen 

 where trees are cared for. In many cases when a large 

 branch or limb or part of the trunk breaks down to the 

 ground, but still retains some connection with the main 

 trunk, it is best, and will in the end prove most satisfactory, 

 to cut off the broken portion and cover the wound with 

 some one of the well-known substances to prevent the 

 ingress of water, fungi, insects, etc. ; or it may even be 

 best to cut down the damaged tree and replace it by a new 

 one. But in very many instances a little trouble and care 

 would result in saving damaged trees for many years. 



In supporting cracked, "wind-shaken,'' weak or over- 

 laden limbs, especially of Apple and other fruit trees, which 

 have a tendency to split at the forks or crotches, poles are 

 very often used as props, but this plan is hardly practica- 

 ble in the case of large shade-trees, and, moreover, it is 

 unsightly. 



Limbs of trees liable to split in the forks or crotches are 

 very often held together by placing an iron band or chain 

 around two parts nearly opposite, so that they afford 

 mutual support, and while tins may seem to serve its pur- 

 pose for a time, the increase in circumference and diameter 

 of the limbs soon causes real injury by a process of chok- 

 ing or strangulation which ensues. Through their very 

 small root-hairs and rootlets trees take up from the ground 

 water and some other materials in minute quantities and 

 crude form. This is carried up through the sapwood to the 

 leaves, where it undergoes processes which prepare it for the 

 making of new plant tissue. From the leaves the elaborated 

 sap passes down ward bet ween the wood and bark of the stem, 

 branches, branchlets, roots and rootlets, gradually forming 

 new layers of wood and bark and increasing the diameter 

 or circumference of all the parts. When the bark is unduly 

 tightened by any strong band, wire, or even a strong string 



