758 



BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUJTS. 



against the damage this plant readily may suffer, if to. 

 bacco smoke is used in the house to kill green-fly. The 

 injury from smoke may be averted by lightly syringing 

 all the foliage with water just before lighting the fumi- 

 gator. — C. L. L,, Tioga Co., Pa. 



The Pampas-Grass in Washington, D. C. — I send 

 an illustration [see p. 713] of a pampas-grass [Gyner- 

 lum argeiiteuin^, taken on the grounds of the Executive 

 Mansion, September 22 last. The plant is nine years 

 old from seed, and is now 10 feet high, has 65 perfect 

 plumes, and measures 10 feet in diameter. It forms, 

 with another specimen of the same size, a great attrac- 

 tion on our grounds. Many of your readers may be glad 

 to know that this gynerium can be grown out-doors, in 

 dry spots not too much exposed to cold winds, as far 

 north as New England, provided a slight protection is 

 given them during the winter months. Here we cover 

 the ground around the roots to the depth of six inches 

 with dry leaves. The foliage of the plant is then twisted 

 down and over the root and its cover, in such a way as to 

 keep the water from the heart of the plant. An empty 

 box or a hogshead is set over the plant to keep out the 

 cold winds. Few plants are finer and more effective 

 than a well-grown gynerium as a single lawn specimen. 

 Transplanting does not benefit them, and it is best to 

 plant them as soon as large enough from seed to handle, 

 in the place where they are to be set out. If transplant, 

 ing be deferred until the plants are large, it will often 

 stop their flowering for one or two seasons. 



This species of pampas grass is so called from its be- 

 ing found covering the vast plains or pampas of South 

 America. According to Henderson, in his " Hand-book 

 of Plants," it is the best known species for cultivation 

 There is reason to believe that some varieties of this 

 form are better in habit than others, and flower earlier. 

 In such cases it might be better to divide them than to 

 trust to seedlings. Considerable variation is known to 

 exist in the sorts that are cultivated, some of a delicate 

 rosy color, one variegated, and several dwarf and neat 

 in habit. If convenient, they should be favored with a 

 place somewhat sheltered, so as to prevent, as much as 

 possible, the constant searing away of the foliage, which 

 occurs wherever the plant is much exposed. Its bright 

 silvery plumes also show off much better when backed 

 up with shrubs or some of the finer evergreens. In local- 

 ities where the plant lacks hardiness, the clumps are 

 sometimes taken up with a large mass of earth and kept 

 in any convenient place away from frost during winter. 

 In southern California thg plumes are grown largely for 

 the northern and European markets. This species was 

 first introduced to cultivation in 1848. — Henry Pfister, 

 Washington, D.C. 



Remarkable Tenacity of Life. — Under this caption 

 I wrote the Prairie Farmer in April, 1880, as follows^ 

 concerning two remarkable specimens that had come 

 under my personal notice ; " Hon. F. Buler, living four 

 miles southwest of Indianapolis, has a Scotch pine tree 

 from which the bark had been removed for a space of 

 almost a foot, when about three inches in diameter. At 



this point the wood is as dry and lifeless as a table leg, 

 but above, the top is healthy, making regular and thrifty 

 annual growths, bearing and perfecting seed, and to all 

 visible appearances as healthy as though nothing un- 

 usual was the matter with the tree. This condition has 

 existed for years, and the growth above the girdled point 

 has increased to more than three times the size of the 

 tree below." " A tree of the same species (/"zraz/^ .yy/wj- 

 iris) on the farm of Allen Miles, near Belleville, Hen- 

 dricks county (Indiana), was completely girdled for a 

 space of several inches. The wood is as dead and dry 

 as if it had been in a dry-kiln for years. Above this 

 point it is greatly enlarged, perhaps quadrupled in size, 

 but still alive though declining. Will some one versed 

 in the science of vegetable physiology explain the mys- 

 tery of these remarkable cases ?" 



Later, having noticed various comments on the above 

 statements in such papers as the New York Tribune, the 

 Scientific American, and others, in which doubts were 

 expressed as to the veracity of the statements I again 

 wrote : "I have to-day (December, 1880) cut the speci- 

 men first referred to, which grew on the farm of J. A. 

 Miles, near this place (Clayton, Indiana, my home at 

 that time), and sawed it open lengthwise. I find it to 

 measure two inches at the girdled point, and above it is 

 seven and one-fourth inches in diameter. It is as com- 

 pletely dead and dry as a last summer's bean pole for a 

 space of six inches, the bark having all decayed and 

 sloughed off ; while above it is alive and apparently 

 healthy, the wood being solid and firm. I shall pre- 

 serve the specimen in the museum of the Indiana Horti- 

 cultural Society at Indianapolis." I herewith enclose 

 a copy of the printed label the specimen bears. My 

 attention has been recalled to these cases by your refer- 

 ence (in connection with an illustration, which would 

 pass for the ones I have in mind) on page 705, November 

 number of your excellent journal. — W, H. Ragan, Sec- 

 retary Indiana Horticultural Society . 



[The label which Professor Ragan encloses is as fol- 

 lows: "This Scotch pine tree (Pinus sylvestris), grown 

 on the farm of J. A. Miles, near Belleville, Hendricks 

 county, Indiana, was accidentally girdled 11 years ago, 

 as the annual growths show; but contrary to all known 

 cases, it failed to die from the effects thereof. This 

 case most completely confirms a theory of vegetable 

 physiology, viz., that growth is formed by a downward 

 flow of sap, or, more properly, cambium, thus greatly 

 enlarging above the girdled point, while life is sustained 

 through the unclosed pores of the alburnum, or white 

 wood. The resinous character of the pine wood, resist- 

 ing as it does the effort of nature to dry up and close the 

 pores of the alburnum, certainly accounts in a measure 

 for this singular prolongation of life. This specimen 

 was presented to the museum of the Indiana Horticul- 

 tural Society by James A. Little, of Cartersburg, Ind., 

 December, 1880," This is certainly a remarkable in- 

 stance of the persistence of a tree after girdling has 

 taken place, but it is not inexplicable. It has long been 

 known that the sap passes up the stem in the young 



