1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
21 
third, [meaning, no doubt, one-third of the 
nutritious constituents, and not one-thu-d of 
the whole— Ed.], and which justifies the high 
opinion ihat cultivators who have tried it have 
formed of the plant." Looking upon this testi- 
mony from disinterested parties, we are war- 
ranted in presenting the Prickly Comfrey to 
Both stem and leaves are usually smooth, when 
old, but in the far West are more or less 
downy. The flower-clusters appear in August 
in the axils of the leaves, on stalks an inch or 
two long, and the clusters themselves are about 
the same length, much crowded and sometimes 
branched. The individual flowers have their 
oifer the tubers, but we doubt if they are to be 
found on sale in this country. Fortunately the 
plant is not rare, and those who meet with it 
in their walks, should mark the place, and dig 
up the tubers when they have matured. The 
tubers afford the most ready means for the 
propagation of the plant, and may be kept out 
THE APIOS OB GROUSD-XUT. 
our readers as a plant well worth trying, and 
we may add that neither this nor any other 
plant will produce a large yield of nutritious 
forage from impoverished land or under 
neglect. " Out of nothing, nothing comes," 
is a proverb that finds an application in agri- 
cultvire, as well as in other human aflfairs. 
The Apios or Ground-Nut. 
For a long time this plant has been on a 
memorandum of the subjects to be presented 
to our readers, and now that Prof. Gray ex- 
plains the remarkable mechanism of its flowers, 
it seems appro])riate that we should say a word 
about the plant itself. Tlie jilant, Apios tube- 
ro.m, has a wide range — from Canada to Flori- 
da, and from tlie Atlantic Coast to the Rocky 
Mountains. Below ground it produces numer- 
ous small tubers, which are strung at intci-vals, 
like beads, on a slender underground stem. 
The stems grow from four to twelve feet long, 
twine over other plants, and bear at sliort in- 
tervals compound leaves, consisting of two or 
three pairs of leaflets, and an odd one, that is, 
they have from five to seven leaflets, which 
distinguishes it from all others of tlic proper 
Bean Tribe, which ordinarily have but three. 
curious structure so well described and illus- 
trated in Prof. Gray's article, that it would be 
superfluous to add anything upon this point. 
The flowers, while not showy, are interesting 
on account of their form, and their unusual 
color, which is a chocolate purple, with some 
tinges of green and flesh-color. What they 
lack in beauty of color, is made up in fragrance, 
for there are few of our wild flowers so delight- 
fully scented, their perfume recalling, though 
not precisely like, that of the European or 
Sweet Violet. The pod is three to five inches 
long, curved, and containing numerous dark 
purple seeds. The engraving, which shows a 
portion of the stem, is much reduced. This is 
one of the wild plants that is well worth culti- 
vating, and while it is commended in most Eu- 
ropean works upon flower culture, it is scarce- 
ly known to our gardens, though its merits did 
not escape the observation of the excellent late 
Mr. Breck, who mentions it in his useful " New 
Book of Flowers." It is a plant that may be 
made useful in many situations, and if one has 
a corner for a wild garden, it mny lie introduc- 
ed there, and allowed to ramble. Not the least 
of its merits is its late flowering, coming into 
bloom at a time when flowers, and especially 
frasrant ones, are scarce, it needs only to be 
known to become popular. European florists 
RACEMOSE FXJcnsiA..— {See next page.) 
of the ground for some months without detri 
ment, if not allowed to become too dry. The 
tubers, often numerous, are seldom over an 
inch in diameter. Our engraving is drawn 
from a dried specimen in the herbarium ; while 
looking through our library for some illustra- 
tion that might assist the artist in making his 
drawing, we came across the first represenla'ion 
ever made of the plant, in the "History of 
Canada Plants," by Jacob Comuti, Paris, 1635. 
This quaint old copperplate shows the plant, 
filling a whole page, and elab<n-ately trained to 
a trellis, with strings of tubers running to the 
right and left across the page, i?i great jirofu- 
sion. These tubers are said to be jileasant to 
the taste when cooked, and they atforded a por- 
tion of the food of the Indians, wlio. accord- 
ing to Kami, called them "ITopni.ss." When 
the potato-rot threatened to cause the potato to 
be abandoned, the Hiliers of this plant were 
among the many suhstitutes iiroposcd,and wero 
introduced as the " Dakota Potato," its real 
name being kept secret. No doubt, some of 
the speculators of that day turned the matter 
to gooil account ; but as an esculent it proved 
a failure. Those who have the Amerz-T^ Agn- 
evUiirht for twenty years or more back, will 
find various reports of the want of success of 
those who tried it, some claimed that in culti- 
