142 
AMERICAN AGRICURTURIST. 
[April, 
pentagyna, is quite hardy in the vicinity of New 
York, and, if we mistake not, in the neighborhood 
of Boston also, but does not prove hardy at Roches¬ 
ter, N. Y. Wherever it can be grown, there is no 
more desirable shrub, as it is handsome for its 
foliage alone, and when covered with its large 
flowers, like a single Camellia, it is one of the most 
beautiful of all flowering shrubs. The engraving 
gives the appearance of a single flower—though 
somewhat reduced iu size, and the form of the 
leaves, but of course fails to give the effect of a 
large shrub, loaded with flowers of this kind. 
Another point iu favor of the Stuartia, is the time 
at which it flowers; in August, when the earlier 
shrubs have quite finished blooming, and before the 
later flowering ones appear, this comes with a most 
welcome profusion of flowers. This shrub has two 
faults; it is native, and a good specimen can be 
bought for a dollar. Were it Japanese, and sold at 
$5 or $10 a plant, it would probably be much more 
sought after. Several years ago, the Messrs. Par¬ 
sons, of Flushing, N. Y., knowing the real merits 
of the Stuartia, were at much trouble and expense 
in sending a collector into the mountains of the 
Southern States, who procured a large stock of it. 
The Messrs. Parsons & Sons Co., of the Kissena 
Nurseries, Flushing, N. Y., inform us that their 
large stock is especially fine, it having been several 
times transplanted. We know of no shrub more 
attractive in a collection, or which is more worthy 
to stand as a single specimen than this Stuartia— 
in all localities except those in which the winter is 
very severe. Those who wish a single shrub to or¬ 
nament a city front yard, may properly select this, 
as it will be in full bloom at midsummer, when 
their neighbor’s plants are quite without flowers. 
Propagating Plants from Leaves. 
That plants may be propagated by cuttings is 
well known, as few persons, who have cultivated 
flowers at all, have not grown a rose or a geranium 
from “a slip,” which is the popular name for what 
gardeners call a “cutting.” But that some plants 
may be propagated from their leaves, is new to 
many. One plant, Bryophyllum calycinum, popular¬ 
ly known as the “Leaf Plant,” was figured iu June, 
1876. The leaves of this, when they fall to the 
ground, form small plants from the notches on 
their edges. Several plants are regularly propa¬ 
gated by florists from leaf cuttings. A number of 
the showy plants of the Gesneria Family are multi¬ 
plied in this manner, as are all of the Begonias, of 
gate them, the florists put a leaf on the sand of the 
cutting-bench, and make several cuts through its 
numerous strong veins. After a while buds ap¬ 
pear at these wounded places, and these develop 
into plants, as 6hown in the engraving, from a leaf 
furnished by Peter Henderson, Esq. Some florists 
cut the leaf into little pieces, w'hich are laid up¬ 
on the sand, and produce the same results. Those 
who wish to try this method of propagating, should 
take care to give the leaves proper shade, else they 
may dry up before forming roots. Many other 
plants have been propagated from the leaf, includ¬ 
ing the orange and the rose. But, besides for cer¬ 
tain Begonias, it is employed, in a practical way, 
on a number of the succulents, such as Echeverias, 
Kleinias, Pachyphytums, etc. The well-known 
method of propagating lilies, is really propagating 
from the leaves. The fleshy scales of the lily bulbs, 
which are broken off, and treated as cuttings, are 
only the thickened bases of the lily leaves, and 
though their upper green portion has dried away, 
the scales are really leaves. No doubt the number 
of plants that may be multiplied from leaf-cuttings, 
may be largely increased, and it offers an interest¬ 
ing field to those who wish to try experiments. 
A Dangerous Pet. — Several of the English 
papers have given accounts of a remarkable parasite 
which, in the Glasnevin (Scotland) Botanic Gardens, 
has adorned the stems of a Forsythia, “ with a dense 
entanglement of pearl-colored, Lily-of-the-Valley- 
like flowers, smelling as sweetly as a Heliotrope,” 
and much more in the way of enthusiastic descrip¬ 
tion ; after this we are told that the plant is one 
of our American Dodders, Cuscuta Cephalanthi — 
the correct name of which, by the way, is C. tenui- 
flora. We should think that English cultivators 
had had sufficiently disastrous experience with their 
Clover and Flax Dodders, to make them cautious 
how they naturalize this larger-flowered and more 
showy American species. Should this become 
established, it may prove as undesirable in their 
plantations as our C. compacta is with us. This, in 
some of our nurseries, has proved to be a real 
pest, attaching itself to and living upon the young 
stock, and exhausting it much to its detriment. 
leaf of begonia with young plants starting from it. 
which Begonia Bex is the type. Begonia Bex, and 
its varieties, are among the most showy of green¬ 
house plants, as their foliage presents a great va¬ 
riety of color, and they are much used for green¬ 
house and conservatory decoration. Their leaves 
are large, and ha ve very stroug veins, To propa¬ 
Forwarding Lettuce—A New (?) Way. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
The other day, in riding out on the N. J. Central 
R. R., I had occasion to go a short distance across 
the country, south of Plainfield. I noticed an old 
colored man digging 
parallel trenches 2 feet 
apart, about 6 inches 
deep, and 10 inches 
wide. He had just com¬ 
pleted about a dozen of 
them some twenty feet 
in length, and had be¬ 
gun to scatter manure 
in the bottom of the 
trenches to be dug in. 
I was completely puz¬ 
zled by the operation ; 
he was evidently at 
some kind of garden¬ 
ing, but such trench¬ 
ing, in the middle of 
February, I could not 
understand. On ques¬ 
tioning the old man, I 
found that these were 
his forcing pits for Let¬ 
tuce—which he planted 
6 inches apart in the 
trenehes, and covered 
up at night and in cold 
days with single boards 
a couple of inches 
wider than the trenches. This method, he as¬ 
sured me, he had practised for many years, get¬ 
ting his lettuce two or three weeks earlier than 
when planted without such protection. He was 
careful to take off the boards and expose the 
plants to the light on mild days. His “frame 
ground” had been well chosen, it being a sheltered, 
rather sandy spot, facing the south. I suggested to 
him that his “pits” might be used for protecting 
tomato plants, after his lettuce was cut, but Sambo 
had nothing to learn from me ; he had always used 
them for that purpose, only digging his trenches 
deeper; and had raised, he said, the best “ toma- 
tuses ” in the neighborhood, from plants set out in 
his trenches about May first, after his lettuce had 
headed up. Sambo’s forcing pits were not exter- 
sive—they only held about 600 lettuce plants ; but 
these brought him five cents a piece at the village 
groceries, and it was certainly a productive in¬ 
dustry in a small way that is worthy of imitation. 
The Catalpa and Its Uses. 
Prof. C. S. Sargent, Director of the Arnold Ar¬ 
boretum, takes a lively interest not only in trees as 
trees, but also in their uses; thinking that the 
merits of the Catalpa had been overlooked, he was 
collecting materials for an article for the American 
Agriculturist, when he came across a pamphlet en¬ 
titled : “Facts and information in relation to the 
Catalpa Tree, ( Catalpa bignonioides). Finding his 
proposed task so well done by the author, Prof. 
Sargent, in the following note, gracefully gives full 
credit to another worker in the same field. He says : 
“ Mr. Barney has brought together, in a pamphlet of 
26 pages, (which may be procured from the author, 
E. E. Barney, Esq., Dayton, Ohio,) several let¬ 
ters contributed by him, at different times, to the 
“ Railway Age,” in regard to the Catalpa, to which 
are added much testimony and information in re¬ 
gard to its economic value. By what must seem 
most satisfactory evidence, it is shown that the 
wood of the Catalpa, although soft and compara¬ 
tively light, possesses, to a remarkable degree, the 
power of resisting decay, in this particular equalling 
and even surpassing the Locust. He claims that 
for rail-road sleepers, the wood of no other tree, 
which has yet been tried for the purpose, compares 
with it. The qualities which make a tree profitable 
to raise for sleepers are : that it should grow rapid¬ 
ly and easily ; that its wood should be durable 
when exposed to the weather, and neither too hard 
to properly hold spikes, or too soft to resist crush¬ 
ing by the pressure on the rails. These qualities, 
Mr. Barney proves, are combined in the Catalpa; 
and his pamphlet, containing also many excellent 
cultural suggestions, is a welcome addition to the 
arboricultural literature of the day, and should be 
circulated among all who interest themselves in our 
forest economy, and the railroads of the far West.” 
— — - 
One Grape Vine. 
FIRST ARTICLE. 
We can not conceive of a place, unless in a tene¬ 
ment house in a crowded city, where one can live, 
and not have room for at least one grape vine. 
Most of those who five in villages, have room for 
several vines, and those who live on farms have 
room for all the vines they care to plant. Several 
years ago we had occasion to call upon a distin¬ 
guished general of the U. S. Army, who was sta¬ 
tioned in New York City. Our business over, he 
took us into his back yard, probably 25 by 50 feet. 
We found along the fences some 8 or 10 grape 
vines, all properly labeled. We asked for how long 
he had taken the house. He informed us, for a 
year, but was liable to be ordered off at any time. 
We remarked that he could get no returns from his 
vines until the next year. He replied that he was 
well aware of that, but he made it a rale, wherever 
he went, to plant vines, for, he said, “ somebody 
will get the fruit from them.” We had heard of 
this officer’s heroism when on the staff of Gen. 
Scott, iu the Mexican war, but this remark, “ some¬ 
body will get the fruit from them,” showed him to 
be a good as well as a great man. “ Why do peo¬ 
ple have so few grapes ? ” is a question that has 
often puzzled us. Go over the country, and we 
find the farms that have an abundance of grapes 
are few, while those who have none are in the ma¬ 
jority. Those who live iu towns and villages, with 
