384r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
three inches thick -with salt hay, -while the cost 
of mulching was two or three times greater 
than that of sowing and plowing in the rye and 
■buckwheat In view of a recent statement that 
on account of the past summer's drouth the 
nurserymen at Geneva (N. T.), alone lost up- 
native potato. — (Solatium FetidleH.) 
wards of $100,000 in small trees, Mr. Allen says : 
"Had they sown rye and plowed it in as I did, 
they would probably have saved all ; and their 
rows need not have been over 4 ft., perhaps 5 ft. 
apart. Their laud being rich, they would prob- 
ably have had twice the growth of r}'e I had. 
It is almost impossible to mulch a nursery of 
over twenty acres, it would require so much 
hay or straw; but to grow rye between the 
rows they may easily mulch thousands of acres. 
Moreover, it keeps down the weeds, and saves 
the necessity of cultivation. The grain is not 
permitted to form, and above all, not to ripen ; 
and the stalks and leaves which draw their 
nourishment mainly from the atmosphere, are 
added to the soil. The growth of the rye does 
not injure the growth of the trees, but when 
plowed in at the proper time, adds to, rather 
than detracts from the richness of the land." 
A Native Potato. 
Chili, Peru, and the neighboring islands are 
believed to be the home of our cultivated po- 
tato. The writer, while exploring the moun- 
tains of New Mexico, in 1851, was delighted 
to find, as he supposed at the time, the potato 
growing wild in that region. The plant ap- 
peared like a diminutive potato, and, as small 
tubers were found, it seemed very likely to be 
Solatium tuberosum in its original condition. 
Circumstances did not allow of the preservation 
and transmission of the fresh tubers, but dried 
specimens were made. It -was found upon 
reaching home that the plant had already been 
described by Doct. Gray, as Solatium Fenclleri, 
in honor of Mr. A Fendler, who had just be- 
fore made a bo- 
tanical journey 
through New 
Mexico. This 
spring we re- 
ceived through 
the kindness of 
a friend a few 
tubers of the 
same Solanum, 
which enabled 
us to grow it. 
The plant is 
much smaller 
than the com- 
mon potato,from 
which it princi- 
pally differs in 
the nearly uni- 
form size of the 
lobes of its 
leaves, as will be 
seen by the en- 
graving taken 
from a living 
specimen. The 
friend to whom 
we are indebted 
for the tubers 
observed that it 
threw up, at a 
considerable dis- 
tance from the 
mainplant,stems 
which sprung 
from long under- 
ground runners. 
We have not 
noticed this ten- 
dency in our 
own plants thus 
far. Several who 
are curious in such matters have this Solanum 
in cultivation; and should cultivation lead to 
its improvement, our readers will be apprised 
of the fact. There is abundant room for 
amelioration, as the tubers of the wild plant 
are hardly as large as a boy's marble. 
-mi — « n — .-• 
The Locust and Ailanthus. — A New 
Jersey correspondent writes that he visited a 
Locust grove through which were distributed 
a number of Ailanthus-trees. The Locusts 
were 50 or 60 feet high, and had never been 
troubled by the borer, while trees not over a 
fourth of a mile off were badly injured. He 
asks if we or auy of our correspondents have 
ever known the Ailanthus to protect the Locust 
from the borer. We have not, and it would be 
a most fortunate discovery if it were found to 
be the case, as it would, as our correspondent 
states, " add millions to the wealth of the coun- 
try." He asks if we ever knew any insects to 
attack the Ailanthus. The Ailanthus silk-worm 
which was introduced into the country several 
3 - ears ago, as an experiment, has become thor- 
oughly naturalized in New York and Brooklyn, 
and it makes havoc with the trees in some of 
the streets. There is also a web-worm, which 
lives in communities, and destroys the leaves. 
It is the larva of (Eta oompta, a small, but beauti- 
fully marked moth. We do not think that it is 
very abundant, as we only occasionally see it, 
The Japanese Irises. 
Last summer we saw in the garden of Mr. 
James Hogg, at Torkville, N. Y., a bed of 
Irises, the roots of which had been sent from 
Japan, by his brother Thomas. The Iris, in its 
NEW JAPANESE IBISES. 
various species is a favorite with us, and this 
one from Japan struck us as a charming novel- 
ty. The foliage is not glaucous, like that of the 
usually cultivated kinds, but is of a dark green, 
the leaves being about two feet long, and less 
stiff than in the common species. The flowers, 
instead of having the petals recurved in the 
usual manner, are flat, as shown in the engrav- 
ing, where they are about a third less than the 
natural size. The colors range from white 
and the faintest lilac, through blue to deep pur- 
ple, and present an agreeable variety in their 
veinings. The one on the left of the engrav- 
ing was of a rich purple with golden markings 
in the center ; and the one on the right was white, 
delicately veined with lilac. Many of the flow- 
ers show a strong tendency to become double. 
We have not been able to find a description of 
this species, but have the impression that we 
have seen it noticed somewhere as Iris Japoni- 
ca. The plants are perfectly hardy. Some 
careful cultivator, by hybridizing this with other 
species, might produce some interesting results. 
— • — . O— — _. 
Frosts. — It is often the case that after a few 
frosty nights, we have many days of fine weath- 
er, and if plants can be protected during the 
early frosts, their season may be prolonged. 
Straw mats, a sheet, or even newspapers, sup- 
ported above, but not touching, the plants, will 
protect them from the usual early frosts. 
