270 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



NAS 



the drug. On cutting into the upper part of 

 the root, a juice exudes which hardens by ex- 

 posure.and is collected and sent to this country 

 from Bombay. The drug is well known for its 

 disgusting odor, which it seems has charms 

 for some people, as the Persians and other 

 Asiatics use it as a condiment." — Dr. Masters, 

 in "Treasury of Botany." The plant is closely 

 aUied to Ferula under which genus it is placed 

 by Bentham and Hooker. 



Naso'nia. From naso, a nose ; in allusion to the 

 column. Nat. Ord. Orchidacem. 



N. pwnctata, the only species that constitutes 

 this genus, is a very beautiful little epiphytal 

 Orchid, a native of Peru. It is dwarf- 

 growing plant, with small green alternate 

 leaves. The flowers are large, cinnabar-red, 

 with the centre of the lip yellow, and are pro- 

 duced from the axils of the leaves on a short 

 scape. 



Nastu'rtium. Water Cress. From nasus, the 

 nose, and tortus, tormented ; referring to the 

 hot, acrid smell. Nat. Ord. Crudferai. 



This senus consists principally of dwarf, 

 uninteresting, weedy looking plants. N. 

 officinale is the well-known Water Cress, a 

 native of Great Britain. It has become 

 naturalized here, and is common near springs, 

 or open, running water courses. The culture 

 of Water Cress is still comparatively little 

 known in the United States, and as the subject 

 was very fully treated in our vegetable work, 

 ' ' Gardening for Profit, " in 1874, we here quote 

 from that work at length, believing that little 

 else is needed for a full understanding of Its 

 cultivation. "This is a well-known hardy 

 perennial aquatic plant, growing abundantly 

 along the margins of running streams, ditches 

 and ponds, and sold in immense quantities in 

 our markets in spring. Where it does not 

 grow naturally it is easily introduced by 

 planting along the margins of ponds or 

 streams, where it quickly increases, both by 

 spreading of the root and by seeding. Many 

 a farmer, in the vicinity of New York, 

 realizes more profit from the Water Cresses 

 cut from the margin of a brook running 

 through his farm, in two or three weeks 

 in spring, than from his whole year's hard 

 labor in growing Com, Hay, or Potatoes. 

 Water Cress can be best cultivated in places 

 where the streams run through a level tract. 

 Supposing the streams to be a foot deep on an 

 average and six or eight feet wide, running 

 through a meadow, a good plan for cultiva^ 

 tion is to make excavations laterally, say in 

 beds five feet wide (with alleys between five 

 feet) to a depth of about eight inches, or deep 

 enough to be flooded by the stream when it is 

 of average height, or, when shallow, by dam- 

 ming it up so as to flood the beds. The ad- 

 vantage of having the beds excavated at right 

 angles to the stream rather than parallel with 

 it is, that in the evfent of freshets the crop is 

 less liable to be washed away. The length 

 and number of the beds excavated must, of 

 course, be determined by circumstances. 

 Water Cress seeds germinate freely in earth 

 when kept saturated ; hence the beds, when 

 properly leveled and pulverized by digging 

 and raking, should be slightly flooded (enough 

 to saturate the soil only when the seeds ger- 

 minate) ; for, of course, if the beds were filled 

 up with water the seeds would be washed off. 



NAU 



After the seedlings have started so as to show 

 green, the water may be gradually let on as 

 they develop. Probably the best time of 

 sowing the seed would be,, for the latitude of 

 New York, about the middle of August. 

 When Water Cress is found growing naturally, 

 the beds can be made by setting the plants six 

 or twelve Inches apart each way. When the 

 cultivation is once fairly begun there is no 

 diflaculty about forming new beds, as few 

 plants grow more rapidly when proper condi- 

 tions are present. If the crop is planted or 

 the seed sown by the middle of August, it will 

 have spread all over the beds by NoveiDber. 

 The streams being full in autumn, the beds 

 will be fully flooded, so as to protect the 

 plants during winter. - It is always found 

 wild growing best la clear, shallow, slowly- 

 running water with a sandy or gravelly bot- 

 tom ; and as Nature is always the surest guide 

 to successful cultivation, the nearer she can 

 be imitated the better the success. I find it 

 is one of the plants the culture of which is not 

 very easy to give by writing, as so much must 

 be determined by the circumstances of 

 locality. Whenever a suitable stream is at 

 command the experiment of growing Water 

 Cress is worth trial, especially when we know 

 that it, in many cases, pays for a given area 

 six or eight times more than any other vege- 

 table cultivated, provided it can be sold in the 

 markets of New York or Philadelphia. It is 

 usually sold in baskets, containing about 

 three quarts, which sell, when first in market, 

 at one dollar each ; and 200 or 300 such are 

 carried in an ordinary wagon, so that from a 

 single load of this simple vegetable, $200 to 

 $300 are realized. The Water Cress has a 

 particularly pleasant pungent taste, agreeable 

 to most people in early spring. It is said, 

 that when Sir Joseph Banks first arrived in 

 England after his voyage around the world, 

 among the first things he asked for were 

 Water Cresses, well knowing their value as a 

 purifier of the blood ; and that he afterward 

 presented one of the largest Water Cress 

 growers for the London market a Banksian 

 Medal, for energy shown in the business, be- 

 lieving that, while he had benefited himself, 

 he had benefited the community. I have no 

 doubt whatever that in situations where 

 irrigation could be used at pleasure, and 

 regular plantations made as for Cranberries, 

 if grown in this way (judging from the enor- 

 mous price they sell at, picked up as they are 

 in the present hap-hazard way), at present 

 prices, an acre would sell for four thousand 

 or five thousand dollars. 



The name of this genus is frequently mis- 

 applied to the common forms of TropoBolwm. 



Natal Plum. Ardmina grandAflora. 



Natans. Floating under water. 



Naturalized. Introduced from a foreign coun- 

 try, but growing perfectly wild, and propaga- 

 ting freely by seed. 



Nau'clea. From natm, a ship, and Tdeio, to 

 enclose ; the half-capsule is hull-shaped. Nat. 

 Ord. RubiacecB. 



A genus of trees and shrubs, natives of 

 tropical Asia and the Malayan Islands. N. 

 Oambvr, or Uncaria Gambir yields the Gambir 

 or Terra Japonica of commerce. Among the 

 Malays, its chief use is as a masticatory in 

 combination with the Areca-nut and the Betel- 



