208 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



For Forest and Stream. 

 THE POISON SUMACHS. 



THE Sumachs are a useful, handsome family of trees, 

 •which -we should greatly miss from our waysides, 

 woods and rocky nooks ; hut it is well to note that they are 

 also a baleful family. Chiefly natives of tropical regions, 

 where their genera and species are abundant, they are repre- 

 sented in the United States by the genus Rhus, which is nam- 

 ed, perhaps, from the ancient Celtic rhudd, red. Now, in 

 the time of autumn leaf seeking and gathering, it is well to 

 be warned against plucking the brilliant, handsomely-formed 

 foliage of at least two common varieties, which are of such 

 tempting beauty every fail, to uninformed and unwary peo- 

 ple. 



Everybody has heard that the dogwood— which is the com- 

 mon name for Rhus ■cernenata — is poisonous ; but how few 

 distinguish it in its native home, and mark its appearance 

 sufficiently to avoid it when its luxuriant leaves are crimsoned ? 

 Go to some abundant swamp, where many of our native 

 shrubs are most fine and various, if you would easily find this 

 poison sumach, and in such luxuriant growth that you can 

 easily mark its whole aspect, and retain the memory wherever 

 you may meet it again. Swampy and wet woodlands are its 

 favorite home, but it grows upon the wood edges of roadsides, 

 very frequently, if rather moist, and tliere travelers are fre- 

 quently tempted to pluck its glowing autnmn foliage. It is a 

 small tree or shrub of fine appearance, bearing quite a tropical 

 air in summer, with its long, glossy, green pinnate leaves of 

 many pairs, the leaflets from seven to thirteen, oval, and ab- 

 ruptly accuminate, entire. The petioles are long, roundish, 

 smooth ; the partial ones very short. It loves to cluster in 

 clumps or groups where soil best suits it, growing ten or fifteen 

 feet high, spreading its branches above their small trunks 

 profusely, and contrasting richly with other foliage surround- 

 ing. 



The effluvium of this shrub is a violent poison to many 

 constitutions, producing a distressing cutaneous eruption when 

 handled, or even approached. On others, and, perhaps, the 

 majori i y, it exerts no influence. It is even said by eminent 

 authority that the latter class may rub, chew or swallow its 

 leaves with impunity, but perhaps we may be pardoned should 

 we hesitate to try the experiment. The taste of the h aves is 

 found to indicate no unusual quality, being simply herbaceous 

 and astringent. 



Another poisonous sumach, and one perhaps more fre 

 quently plucked for its variegated and reddened leaves, is tha 

 poison ivy, li. radiaaua. This is very frequently mistaken 

 through the autumn for the beau'if ul and harmless Virgini a 

 creeper, Ampeiopsk qitinquefolia, which crimsons so exquisite- 

 ly in varying shades through late and lovely days. We all 

 know its vigorous, shrubby vine, draping walls and fences 

 with a network of large, brilliant leaves and berries of purple 

 peeping from scarlet footstalks. But probably few casual ob- 

 servers — and such are too often autumn leaf seekers— could 

 remember how its leaves grow. Let us count their bright di- 

 visions. They are five parted or quinnate— whence its speci- 

 fic name — they are also called digitate, or are arranged some- 

 what like the fingers of the hand into the ovate leaflets, whose 

 edges are notched, and whose tips are pointed, or acuminate. 

 Make a note of this. 



Now, to our climbing poison ivy, ascending lofty trees by 

 throwing out myriads of thread-like rootlets (which grow 

 quite differently from the radicating tendrils of the Virgini 

 creeper; all along its length of gray, scaly bark, and which 

 become nearly buried in the back of its support as it climbs 

 oh high and never wearies. But its leaves will be its sure dis- 

 tinction; they are thick, glassy and ternate, or in leaflets 

 of three ; ovate, smooth, with entire edges, and never serrat- 

 ed — thel owest rarely angular ; and if a close look be given, 

 we shall see Its foliage is cut smaller than the Ampelvpm, 

 while its habit differs strikingly. 



Many other descriptive distinctions of the Sumach family 

 could be noted, both interesting, useful and instructive. But 

 will not our limited examination be sufficient to teach us how 

 necessary is some botanical knowledge of our native trees 

 and shrubs? A little attention to plants and flowers, as we 

 consider their characteristics, soon becomes a delightful study, 

 fascinating in its pursuit. The waysides, fields and forest 

 take on a new aspect when we may single here and there 

 some interesting or harmful shrub, some rare or lovely flower, 

 some modest useful plant, and be sure of their place in the 

 vegetable kingdom. ' S. P. Bartlett. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



Fern Bank, Ohio. 



Friend Eallock— In an editorial note of yours to a recent 

 article of mine on sheep husbandry, you truly remark that the 

 Blue Ridge Mountains are peculiarly well adapted to wool 

 growing. You maybe pleased to learn that some of the 

 most eminent men of the South concur with you in this opin- 

 ion. Col. Edward Colston, of Berkley county, Virginia, in 

 an address delivered at Martinsburg, makes the following 

 statement : 



The western part of our county, containiug perhaps 30.000 

 acres, is mountainous. 1 have ridden there for ten miles 

 without seeing a human habitation, and although from ■ its 

 abundant herbage it might sustain for its owners 30.000 head 

 of sheep, not a sngle one is to be found grazing on ito sur- 

 face. An this region may be found also much land fit for cul- 



tivation, with fine meadows and abundant water ; yet all this 

 is worthless to our community, and a dead capital to its pro- 

 prietors. There is territory and grass enough here to be di- 

 vided into three or four sheep walks, each sustaining from 

 3,000 to 4,000 sheep during the summer, with meadow and 

 arable land enough, at a small expense, to provide amply for 

 winter sustenance. The Hon. Andrew Stevenson, who, 

 while U. S. Minister to the Court of St. James, made sheep 

 husbandry, as practiced in Great Britain, a special study, and 

 who sent home some of the finest bucks and ewes to be ob- 

 tained in that country, in a letter to the late John S. 

 Skinner, published in the " Farmers' Library," says : "Vir- 

 ginia has many advantages for sheep breeding not surpassed 

 in the United States. The middle part of the State, and 

 especially the whole range of the Southwest Mountains and 

 Blue Ridge, afford the greatest facilities for fine sheep walks — 

 hills covered with fine herbage, abundance of running water, 

 and well sheltered by trees from the heat and sun of summer." 

 In the same publication (the "Farmers' Library") I find a 

 communication from the Hon. W. L. Goggin, then represent- 

 ing the District he describes in Congress, as follows: "Bed- 

 forthe county, in which I reside, is bounded on the south side 

 by the Staunton River, on the north by the James Elver, 

 while its western extremity, the whole length, reaches the top 

 of the Blue Ridge. These mountains afford an unlimited 

 range for stock, and the advantages for sheep walks (wild as 

 is the climaie, combined with the productiveness of the soil,) 

 are nowhere equalled, it is believed, except by similar situa- 

 tions in the neighboring counties Ranges for sheep may 



be had at a very reduced price on the mountains, and where, 

 too, could be produced all the grasses in which they delight, 

 such as the red and white clover, the meadow fox-tail, short 

 blue meadow grass, lucern, eye-grass, etc. These advantages, 

 and then the beautiful clear streams which abound in all the 



mountain regions, invite a pastoral life Mauy of the 



mountains to their very summit are covered with the richest 

 verdure." Of Madison' and Greene counties he says : " Here, 

 too, are abundant ranges, and the wonder is that sheep hus- 

 bandry is not introduced." 



I may add that the statements of these three eminent men, 

 all of whom were practical farmers, will apply with even 

 greater force to the Blue Ridge, as it extends southward 

 through the two Carolinas into Georgia ; but there is one re 

 markable and enviable peculiarity of these mountains, which, 

 though mentioned by Mr. Jefferson in his "Notes on Vir 

 ginia," seems to have escaped the notice of these gentlemen. 

 It is that, with the commencement of the warm weather in 

 the spring, the ridge is blessed with a sea and land breeze as 

 regular and distinctly marked as in the West India islands 

 Between 9 and 10 a. m., as the eastern slope of the ridge be- 

 comes warmed by the rising sun, the air current sets in steadily 

 toward the mountain, and as the sun declines in the West the 

 current is reversed. 



To the above I will add some observations of my own, 

 made during a residence of many years in Rappahannock 

 county, in the very heart of the Ridge. In Rappahannock the 

 eastern slope of the mountain only is inhabited to any ex- 

 tent, the western sides are too precipitous; and this, 1 presume, 

 is the case through the whole length of the chain. The 

 mountaineers proper are mostly squatters, and their methods 

 of cultivation are of the rudest kind. Their corn is general y 

 worked with the hoe, and the man who can scratch the moun- 

 tain side with a bull tongue, or shovel plow is looked upon 

 as a capitalist. But what is remarkable, is that these tteep 

 hillsides, covered with loose rock, have been in cultivation for 

 nearly a hundred years in that most exhaustive of all crops, 

 maize, and they still produce living crops year after year, 

 -without an interval of rest or a particle of manure; and any 

 acre of this land when dressed with a single bushel of gyp- 

 sum becomes clothed wiik white clover within a year of the 

 application. But a still more remarkable fact is to be noted 

 as regards these hills. At a certain elevation, commencing 

 with the base of the ridge proper, and extending near to the 

 top, they are completely exempt from the ravages of the cur- 

 lio and comparatively free from the early and late frosts, at 

 times so calamitous to the lower country. These facts, to- 

 gether with the geological formation of the ridge, combine to 

 make the eastern slope of the ridge the finest fruit-growing 

 region east of the Alleghanies. Even now, without the aid 

 of horticultural knowledge, the apple, the pear, the quince, 

 the peach and the plum grow as naturally as do the native- 

 oaks and chestnuts. 



But the object of my first communication was to urge the 

 spread of sheep husbandry in the old Southern States, mere 

 with a view to improve the worn out lands than to the pro- 

 duction of wool and mutton. But the subject grows as I 

 write, and I find myself monopolizing too much of your valu- 

 able space. Permit me to stop here with the promise to con- 

 tinue the subject further in your next issue, should you wish 



it. F. G. S. 



, — _»_ — . . 



India-Rurber Producing Plants.— These trees belong to 

 the three following families— 1st, Euphorbiacea?, comprising 

 especially the genera Hevea and Siphonia, different species 

 of which are indigenous to the warm and damp portions of 

 Amazon basin as well as the Brazilian province of the Rio 

 Grande. The two trees which are the most used for this 

 purpose are the Hevea guianensis and the Siphonia elastica ; 

 2d, Axtocarpese, a natural order to which belong the tree named 

 Ule (Castilloa elastica) which grows in the Gulf of Mexico as 

 far as Guayaquil, and several fig trees indigenous to India, 

 Java, and the north of Australia ; 3d, Apocouffi, a family in 

 which we find representatives in the South of Brazil, Eqau- 

 torial Africa, Madagascar, Malacca and Borneo. The best 

 india-rubber is that from Para, in which country the harvest 

 commences in the month of August, and is continued in the 

 month of January or February. The milky juice of the 

 Hevea, which is the. chief source of the rubber, becomes too 

 watery during the rainy season for being then collected ; in 



the fine season this juice, as soon as it runs from the incisions 

 made in the trees, has the color and the consistency of cream; 

 the caoutchouc proper soon becomes hardened, and separates 

 itself so as to be suspended in an opaline liquid. It is in the 

 evening, as a rule, that the incisions from which juice is to 

 run are made in the trees, and it is on the following morning 

 that persons go to collect the juice which has flowed out. The 

 Para caoutchouc is more tenacious, purer, and more durable 

 than other kinds; thus it is especially employed in the manu- 

 facture of articles which should unite strength with 

 elasticity. Among the trees which yield caoutchouc of 

 second quality, the most useful is the Ule (Castilloa), 

 which grows in abundance in Central America, and in the 

 WE8tern~parts of South America, as far as Peru. This india- 

 rubber tree flourishes particularly well in forests with an un- 

 dergrowth of brushwood, which are at the same time hot and 

 damp. It arrives at its greatest perfection in the basins of 

 Lakes Nicaragua and Managua. The juice of the Ule inns 

 during the whole year, but is best in April. A tree of 50 cen- 

 timetres, or nearly 20 inches in diameter, properly managed, 

 is capable of yielding 20 gallons of juice, which gives about 

 25 kilogs. (55 lbs) of India rubber. As a general rule, the 

 coagulation of this milk is effected by the addition of certain 

 vegetable juices. The caoutchouc becomesseparate.l in the form 

 of a brown and soft substance, with the odor of fresh cheese. 

 In the district of Saint John, in Nicaragua, there are 000 to t 00 

 persons engaged in drawing off the caoutchouc ; about 2,000 

 may be reckoned in the neighborhood of Pauama, where the 

 reprehensible practice prevails of felling- trees to obtain the 

 niilky juice. The worst caoutchouc is that of Guatemala, as 

 it is more or less mixed with resinous substances. The 

 Guatemala india-rubber is, besides, of unequul quality ; the 

 best is whitish and the worst spongy. The south of Brazil, 

 between 18 deg. and 16 deg. of S. latitude, produces a good 

 caoutchouc, known under the name of fernampucO rubber, 

 which is derived from several species of the Haneornia. These 

 trees, about the size of our apple trees have pendant branches 

 with narrow leaves, whkh give them the appearance of weep- 

 ing willows. In Asia the principal india rubber tree is th 

 Ficus elastica. which is found especially in Assam, India (o 

 thissideof theGanges), in Java, Sumatra, and otherplaees. Th'a 

 is I he species which especially produces what is called the 

 Singapore rubber ; but under this name is also sold that of the 

 Ureeola elastica, a climbing species, which attains an im- 

 mense length. To obiain the juice of this plant it is cut in logs, 

 one end of which is heated ; the caoutchouc is of very inferior 

 quality. The Madagascar rubber, obtained from a creeping 

 sWu"b, is very good, and is worth nearly as much as that of 

 Para ; this kind is especially used in France. Equatorial 

 Africa is rich in trees and climbing shrubs which produce 

 caoutchouc; but it is drawn from the wood and pn pared so 

 carelessly that the product is of a very had quality. Although 

 the trees which yield caulchouc are very numerous and widely 

 spread over different countries, the method of preparation is 

 often so primitive and wasteful that there is every reason to 

 fear that, in a not far distant future, this substance, which it 

 would be impossible to do without, will become, more and 

 more scarce, and ultimately fail altogether. It thereby be- 

 comes a matter of the highest importance to place the prepara- 

 tion of india-rubber underproper regulations, strictly enforced, 

 or to plant and cultivate young trees in place of those of 

 spontaneous growth, which are destroyed in large quantities 

 every year. — Journal d-e la Societe d' Horticulture, France. 

 . — .«-. — . 



CuTon and Gambier. — Cutch, or catechu, and gambier, or 

 Terra japonica, are two important tanning substances — the 

 first imported from India, and the second chiefly from Singa- 

 pore. Cutch is produced by cutting up the wood of acacia 

 catechu into chips, boiling them, and evaporating the fluid, so 

 as to form an extract, which is made into blocks or lumps, 

 and packed in bags or mats for exportation. As it appears in 

 commerce it is a brown, somewhat resinous-looking substance, 

 breaking with a dull fracture, and having a strong astringent 

 taste. Its use chiefly is for tanning purposes, and it is also 

 used in small quantities in medicine as an astringent. The 

 quantities of this product imported in different years varies 

 much, but in the years 1874-5, 191.891 cwt. weie sent from 

 India. Its average value when exported is said to be about 

 $4 per cwt. About three-fourths of the whole quantity conies 

 from the Burmah port, and a large proportion from the forests 

 beyond the frontier in Upper Burmah. Reserves of catechu- 

 producing forest have been formed in Pegu, but outside these 

 reserves the destruction of these trees goes on unchecked a9 

 before. From the fact that the demand for cutch is increas- 

 ing, and from the certainty of a decrease in the supply from 

 beyond the frontier, it is urgently necessary to demarcate ex- 

 tensive tracts of cutch-producing forest in Burmah, so that a 

 permament supply of the article may be insured. The tree is 

 stated to grow in all parts of India proper, from the Indus in 

 the Punjab to Ceylon, and cutch is manufactured in many 

 places in South and Central India, and in the sub-Himalayan 

 forests, as far north as the Ganges, but not much of the cut eh 

 produced in India proper is exported. Gambier is a very 

 similar product to cutch, having much the same appearance, 

 and being used likewise for tanning and dyeing. It is pro- 

 duced by boiling the young shoots of Uncaria Gambier, a large 

 climbing shrub with hard woody hooks, or recurved sp nes. 

 It is cultivated largely in the Straits of Malacca, the product, 

 gambier, fetching about the same price in the English mar- 

 ket, as cutch. Considering the outcry that has been made 

 lately on the scarcity of tanning materials it is satisfactory to 

 know that in India the more general cultivation of the acacia 

 catechu for the purpose of furnishing increased and continued 

 supplies of cutch is occupying some attention. — Gardener's 

 Chronicle, London. 



_ *#. — . _ — 



— The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences have been 

 discussing the ad vantages of promoting the growth of the lac- 

 quer tree in this countiy. The varnish obtained irom this 

 tree in Jatau is used for the beautiful lacquer-work of that 

 country. The tree is of the rhus family, and the varnish 

 when new is poisonous, causinga ra^h. Dr. Thomas mention- 

 ed an American family all of whom were poisoned by some new- 

 ly lacquered furniture sent from Japan. Prof. Rothrook told 

 a plain unvarnished tale of an instance where a full company 

 of soldiers was sent to Cape. God to drill, and ninety-five per 

 cent of them were poisoned by a plant of the rhus kind, prob- 

 ably poison sumach. 



A Huge Fungus— Ferrhburgh, Yt., Oct. 9.— Found a "puff- 

 ball" yesterday, and although I am not in favor of puffing up 

 the products of "old Vermont," I must send you dimensions, 

 namely i circumference, 58 inches ; weight, 22 pounds. Per- 

 haps this is not a sporting item, but game is so scarce this fall, 

 we have to take up with a good many curious substitutes. 



Vbbo Mont, 



