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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Fig. 1.— FLOWER OP SPTCE-BTTSH. 
The Spice-bush — Lindera Benzoin. 
These wintry days will soon be over, and 
the lover of native plants will be on the look- 
out for the first indications of returning spring. 
If he takes a tramp in the woods he will find 
that the buds of the Spice-bush are among the 
earliest things to show signs of life, and that 
when winter is fairly oyer, often as early as 
March, the impatient, swollen buds can con- 
tain the secret no longer, but burst their en- 
velopes and cover the straggling bush with pale 
yellow flowers, which, later, would appear quite 
inconspicuous, but coming so early they seem 
really gay. The Spice-bush is rather common 
in damp woods from New England to the Gulf 
of Mexico; it forms a shrub of five to ten feet 
high, with long and rather weak branches. The 
flowers are small, in little clusters, and both 
sterile and fertile ones are borne on the same 
bush. Fig. 1 shows a twig as it appears in 
flower, which is before the leaves expand, and 
figure a gives the leaves and the berries all of 
the natural size. The structure of the flower 
is interesting to the botanist, but is not easy to 
explain to the general reader. It is sufficient to 
say that there is no corolla, but what appears like 
one is a colored calyx, and that there are several 
rows of curiously shaped stamens. The berries 
are red and shining. All parts of the plant have a 
strong aromatic odor which is to some persons 
disagreeable; the shrub is closely related to 
Sassafras, and, like that, has been used as an 
aromatic stimulant, and from ils having been 
employed medicinally is in some parts of the 
country known by the name of Fever-bush. 
This shrub has hall a hard time with ils 
botanical name ; it was first called h l vfn .* Ben- 
zoin, it being considered by Lin- 
nasus as a Laurel, and the specific 
name, Benzoin, was given from a 
resemblance of its odor to that of 
the aromatic drug Benzoin. It 
being found not to be a Laurus, 
Nees made a new genus and took 
the old specific name Benzoin for 
it, and for a long time the shrub 
went under the name of Benzoin 
odorifcrum. Nees had overlooked 
the fact that Thuuberg had many 
years before made a new genus 
for it, and called it after a Swedish 
botanist, Under, Lindera, a name 
which, according to botanical 
rules, we are obliged to adopt and 
call the shrub Lindera Benzoin. 
We call attention to this shrub as 
one of the natives of our woods 
that has been almost overlooked 
by cultivators. Though it natu- 
rally prefers a damp and shaded 
locality, it does perfectly well 
when transferred to drier and 
open grounds. Its natural habit, 
though not without grace, is rat her 
too loose and straggling for the 
lawn or shrubbery, but it bears 
severe cutting kindly, and may be 
pruned into a compact shape. It 
certainly has good claims to a 
place among ornamental shrubs, 
not only on account of its early 
flowering, but for the beauty of 
its foliage and brilliancy of its 
berries. The shrub, if removed in 
spring, should be taken up very 
early ; it is very readily recognized 
by its brownish yellow buds, and if there is any 
doubt about its identity, the aromatic taste of 
the twigs, which is unlike that of any other 
of our native shrubs, will aid in determining it. 
Apple Stocks from Cuttings. 
The failure of some varieties of fruit, of the 
apple especially, to do well in certain localities 
or in particular orchards, is not to be accounted 
for by any unsuitableness of soil or aspect, nor 
can the insects and fungi, which often do so 
much mischief, be held responsible for the 
trouble. There is one thing that is generally 
overlooked, but which, we think, has great influ- 
ence in the matter — that is, uncongeniality of the 
stock. As far as the stock goes, the propagator 
is working in the dark. Seeds are sown, plants 
grow, and all that the nurseryman knows 
about them is that some are vigorous and good 
stocks, and others are poor, and to be rejected. 
The stocks are all seedlings, and even if it were 
known from what variety of apple or pear they 
came, it would not help the matter, as they 
might or might not inherit the habit of growth 
of their parents. "We know that certain vari- 
eties are freer growing, are more hardy, and 
have other qualities that make them to be pre- 
ferred as stocks over other sorts that are of a 
different character. In grafting a known sort 
of fruit into a seedling stock, we have to run the 
risk of the two being suited to each other. There 
is no immediate change to be looked for in the 
manner of propagating trees on the large scale, 
but there is one direction in which experiment- 
ers should turn their attention, and that is to 
find some suitable stock which can be freely 
grown from cuttings. The Paradise stock, used 
for dwarf Apples, js readily propagated by stool 
2.— FBUIT AND LEAVES OF SPICE-BUSH. 
layers, and there are in Europe several varieties 
of apple which make good stocks without dwarf- 
ing the trees, that grow readily from cuttings. 
Rivers gives an account of the Burr Knot Apple, 
a good kitchen fruit, and which grows from stout 
two and three } r ear old shoots stuck in the 
ground. Several kinds of the Burr Knot are 
known, one of which is called "Hyde's 
Walking-stick Apple," because an old gentle- 
man by the name of Hyde used to stick a branch 
of it where an apple tree was wanted. Among 
our hundreds of varieties of apples there may 
be some that will root from cuttings, with suf- 
ficient readiness to form stocks, and though 
this method of propagation is likely to be too 
expensive and troublesome for the commercial 
grower, it would be a great advantage to the 
private propagator, as he would always be 
sure of having a stock of a known character. 
The Jerusalem Artichoke. — The Jerusa- 
lem Artichoke is the tuber of a perennial sun- 
flower,and not the Artichoke proper, whieh is the 
flower-head of a thistle-like plant. The Jerusa- 
lem Artichoke has received very little attention 
as a cultivated plant, and is mainly to be found 
in old gardens, where it is suffered to exist, 
rather than encouraged to grow. Mr. J. Rohe, 
Mt. Lebanon, N. Y., says: "Dig the tubers 
early in the spring, and cook them just as you 
would vegetable oysters, than which I consider 
them much better. They grow sweeter by re- 
cooking and make a very good dish. Fed to 
cows, raw or boiled, I look upon them as very 
valuable, and they are quite prolific and of the 
easiest culture." Much has been said in foreign 
journals, within a few years, of the agricultural 
value of this plant, and reliable information as 
to, its productiveness is much Deeded. 
