298 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
we grow. Lately, I came upon a helpful little book 
discussing this subject. It is "The Sick Man's Friend," 
by a Dr. Sanborn, and was published at Taunton, Mass., 
in 1836. In not a few instances the exact dosage to 
take and how to prepare the medicine is stated; but 
while this is of academic interest to those of us who 
study plants, Slippery Elm and Sarsaparilla with other 
patent medicines are more easily purchased than we'd 
prepare them even with the simple directions we find 
in "The Sick Man"s Friend." 
* * * 
What a superabundance of common or colloquial 
names of plants there are! Many are confusing as 
when we find Day Lily used both for the Hemerocallis 
(which well deserves the name) and the Funkia. 
Among more peculiar and lesser known unscientific 
names are the following, and I wonder how many 
Chronicli-: readers can verify the subjects botanically? 
For example : Adam and Eve, Air Potato, Beefsteak 
Geranium (which is a Begonia, to save your time) ; 
Featherfoil, Frostweed, Corpse Plant, Dancing Girls, 
Flower-of-an-hour, Day Flower, False Mermaid, Her- 
bia Impia, and Walking Leaf. What with knowing 
the correct botanical names of plants, their many com- 
mon names and the meaning of all these names ; what 
with the classification, cultivation, propagation, and 
uses of our floral friends, the intelligent gardener has 
a busy time. It would not be half so bad if we had 
only the species or natural plants to deal with, as the 
botanists themselves have, but we have to bother our 
heads with scores of hybrids and garden varieties and 
their individual needs, characters and peculiarities. It 
is just because of the demands upon his time that the 
study of varieties demand, whether of fruit, vegeta- 
bles, trees, shrubs, roses, orchids, ferns or any of the 
numerous popular indoor plants, that our best grow- 
ers are the ones generally least acquainted with these 
other aspects of the whole study, such as we have men- 
tioned. No man can be a slacker and keep in touch 
with all phases of gardening and plant lore. By no 
means. 
^ T* 'n 'P 
How enjoyable it is to have fresh pulled Corn cobs, 
sweet and soft, in place of the tasteless and tough 
stufif one gets at restaurants or where bought, as a 
rule. For some time we have been enjoying Golden 
Bantam. Even a medium sized cob has, I find, 300 
seeds. What must some of the very large ones have ? 
And what a problem we set in motion were we to ask 
how many seeds one cob would yield in three or five 
years if allowed to increase by the cultivating hand 
of man, each seed to be sown next year and produc- 
ing a plant. There should be upward of three hun- 
dred plants, each producing another 600 seeds each, 
or a total of 180,000 by midsummer, 1918. How many 
lbs. does that represent, and how many acres in plants 
would it cover? The Maize is one of the most prolific 
seeders, and one of the most remarkable of our culti- 
vated plants, growing anywhere, always a success, 
hardly ever known to have a disease, and but rarely 
and not badly, troubled with insects. On what one 
would consider the poorest of waste land crops of 
Corn are now being harvested, thanks, largely, to the 
magnificent growing weather of the early Summer. 
The stems of the Corn, when cut and dried, are good 
protective material. The woody portions are also 
usable as fuel. One point in connection with the grow- 
ing of Corn deserves notice ; namely, that the ])lants 
should be grown in double rows together, if possible, 
and not singly, as the silk tassels are wind pollenated. 
and unless the pollen falls equally on both or all sides 
the cobs may "set" and develop irregularly. From the 
point of view of poUenation and fertilization the Corn 
is also noteworthy. Each strand in the silk tassel 
leads to an ovule and through it the pollen tube must 
travel quite a long distance. The staminate inflores- 
cence, of course, terminates the growth of the plant. 
Altogether, King Corn is a wonderful and interesting 
fellow. 
There is a prejudice against yellow fleshed vegeta- 
bles. Take Tomatoes. Take Potatoes. Take Beets. 
Turnips and Carrots we must accept, and there are 
few sweeter vegetables, as a diet, than Swede Tur- 
nips (Rutabagas). I had the pleasure recently and it 
was a real pleasure, of tasting, for the first time in 
my life, a yellow-fleshed Beetroot. It was soft, melt- 
ing, richly flavored and altogether good and tempting. 
Henceforth I will have no further prejudice against 
yellow Beets. Why are long rooted Beets not grown? 
Talking of prejudice while we here like Lima Beans 
and use them so liberally, the French don't eat them. 
I have heard that there is a Government edict against 
them, as they are regarded there as poisonous ! The 
French are great eaters of salads. They favor yellow 
fleshed Potatoes. 
Previously in this department I have spoken in 
words of warmest praise of Black Currants. Again I 
must do so. The bushes are clean, thrifty, hardy, 
never miss a crop, bear heavily, take up little space, 
and the fruit, mixed with Rhubarb, makes a splendid 
jam or jelly which is just sharp and tasty enough to be 
highly desirable in this conserved state. This same 
conserve, with hot water, makes a capital drink in the 
Winter to ward off a cold or help remove one. A good 
feature about the crop is that the berries will remain 
fresh, even if fully ripe, on the bushes for a period of 
two or three weeks ; thus, even if one is away on a 
vacation the crop need not be lost. As the bushes 
love some shade, they can be planted close to the 
fence of suburban lots and gardens and in that way 
fill in space profitably that might otherwise be lost. 
* * * * 
The reference to the dwarf fruits in the preceding 
paragraph recalls the fact that one reason given by 
owners of very small gardens, such as many amateurs 
have, against the planting of fruit trees is that they 
shade the garden and take too much from the soil. 
When one looks around, however, and sees Viburnums 
and Lilacs, Catalpas and a host of other shrubs like 
these, one wonders whether the owners have ever 
thought that they could still have beauty of blossom 
in Spring with something to follow in the shape of a 
crop of fruit in the Fall, by planting Apples, Peaches, 
Pears, Cherries or Plums. Not that I am in favor of 
having these to the exclusion of ornamentals, there 
is space in most gardens for both, but I challenge any 
reader of The G.vrdener's Chronicle to prove that our 
suburban gardens have one-half of the quantity of 
fruit trees they might jirofitably and successfulh- have. 
Personally, I don't think they have a sixth part of the 
fruit, tall and dwarf, that they ought to have. Our 
nurserymen have a big field to cultivate here and a 
voluminous trade to win. A neighbor near me who 
has a big Peach tree wants to cut it down in order to 
get a few more Corn plants and Tomatoes from the 
space it at present occupies, as if all the Tomatoes 
and the Corn he might get would be compensation 
for the crop he gets every alternate year from his 
Peach, or the beauty and grateful shade it afi^ords for 
him and his family. His is a small gartlen, but he has 
(CiniliiiiirJ oil page 309.) 
