[ti'ANUARY, 
22 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
for the young plant is destroyed, and the fact that 
in spite of the insects some of the seed may come 
up, should not induce any one to use weevil infest¬ 
ed seed. A great evil is impending, and every one, 
whether he grows beans as a field crop, or as a gar¬ 
den crop, should 
begin to arrest 
it before the 
matter gets be¬ 
yond control. 
Whatever the 
present trouble 
and cost, sow 
only perfectly 
sound seeds, and 
burn, or feed out 
BEAN WEEVIL. 
at once—long before spring—any that show the 
presence of insects, and, what is of quite as much 
importance, talk over the matter with your neigh¬ 
bors. and induce them to do the same. In such 
matters as these the necessity for combined effort 
becomes manifest, and in producing united ac¬ 
tion. Farmers’ Clubs, Village Associations, or by 
whatever name such assemblages of farmers and 
rural people may be called, find their best work. 
The Calycanthus, or Sweet-Scented Shrub, 
As a Cattle Poison. 
The Sweet-Scented shrub, often abbreviated to 
“Shrub,” also called “Carolina Allspice,” is one of 
the oldest and best known plants in cultivation. 
Its dark maroon-colored flowers have an exquisite 
fruity fragrance that makes the shrub universally 
popular. There are two or three species and sev¬ 
eral varieties of Calycanthus , found wild from Vir¬ 
ginia southward, and one is peculiar to the Pacific 
Coast. The best known species and the one most 
cultivated is Calycanthus Jloridus, the seeds of 
which, a very intelligent correspondent in the 
mountains of Southern Tennessee informs us, are 
poisonous to both cattle and sheep with often fatal 
results. This is to us a perfectly new feature of the 
Calycanthus , and also entirely new to us as a poison 
to our domestic animals. Our correspondent is 
quite familiar with the plant, is engaged in an oc¬ 
cupation that leads to exactness, and we can not 
question the accuracy of his statement. The most 
that has been claimed for the shrub is, that its 
bark is a useful tonic. Doct Porcher, in his excel¬ 
lent work, “ The Resources of the Southern Fields 
and Forests,” makes no mention of the poisonous 
quality of the seeds, but in his remark “The seeds 
seldom mature,” puts us on a new track, and iu 
following up the matter of seeds, we find in Torrey 
and Gray’s Flora of North America, Vol. 1, at the 
end of the description of the varieties of C. Jloridus: 
“ They arc said seldom to ripen their fruit in their 
native situations.” Besides these, Nuttall in his 
Genera, 1818, speaks in illustration of a botanical 
point, of “ the rarity of fruit in the Calycanthus , 
even in its native mountains.” This testimony as 
to the rarity of the seed is interesting, as it explains 
why we have heard so little of its poisonous char¬ 
acter; but our correspondent, living where, from 
some cause, the seed js abundant, has had an op¬ 
portunity to observe its deleterious effects. This 
matter of cattle poisons among our native plants 
is not only interesting, but one of great practical 
importance. It would appear, from our present 
knowledge, that while the seeds of Calycanthus 
flondus are positively deleterious to animals, they 
are produced so rarely that their effect are not gen¬ 
erally manifest; but in some localities, as in the 
mountains of Southern Tennessee, the seeds are 
abundant and their fatal effects are well known. 
We shall be glad of further testimony on this 
point, especially whether the species of the Pacific 
Coast, which is quite abundant in the northern 
part of California, has similiar properties. 
Clematis Pitclierl is one of our native plants 
that the Europeans are in a curious muddle about. 
Some time ago the “ Revue Horticole ” figured a 
Clematis, with small, scarlet flowers, and called it 
Clematis Rtcheri. One English journal called atten¬ 
tion to the blunder and stated, as is true, that Pitch¬ 
er’s Clematis has much larger flowers of a dull 
purple color. Another London journal comes to 
the aid of the French periodical, and saying that 
it knows that C. Rtcheri has scarlet flowers, as its 
Editor saw the first one that flowered in England. 
The facts in the case are: there is a rather rare 
scarlet-flowered Clematis in Texas, which has been 
called C. coccinea, though some of our botanists 
think it is a variety of C. Viorna. Evidently this 
rare scarlet species has found its way to Europe, 
and some one has blundered in calling it C. Rtcheri. 
A New Variegated Tea Rose— 
“American Banner.” 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
The most striking novelty that we have met with 
in our long experience with plants, is represented 
in the engraving. For the first time, so far as we 
can ascertain, we have obtained a Tea Rose dis¬ 
tinctly striped with crimson and white, and at the 
same time retaining all the valuable qualities of its 
class—delicacy of color and texture, exquisite fra¬ 
grance, and continuous bloom. We have long had 
striped varieties of the hardy garden roses, such as 
“ York and Lancaster,” etc., but these flower only 
once, and having but little merit are not generally 
known. This new variety originated in 1877 with 
George Cartwright, Esq., of Dedham, Mass., who 
states that this appeared as a “ sport ” upon the 
well known crimson Tea Rose—“Bon Silene.” 
The leaf, from the axil of which the sporting shoot 
started, showed in one-half the leathery foliage of 
the “ sport,” while the other half had the foliage 
peculiar to “ Bon Silene.” We have frequently, in 
other plants, similar variations in the color of 
flowers; for example, it is quite common to find 
one shoot of Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis bearing orange 
colored, and another having crimson flowers, 
but the foliage in such cases remains unchanged. 
Again, we have Carnations bearing at one time on 
the same plant, both plain scarlet flowers, and those 
striped with scarlet and white. So with Dahlias, 
Verbenas, Petunias, and scores of other plants ; but 
in all of these thj flowers only vary, the foliage 
does not. In the case of this new striped Rose, the 
distinct change in foliage is to me more marvellous 
than even that in the flower. We have named this 
Rose “American Banner,” as the colors are very 
nearly those of the stripes of our National flag. 
When a name can be to some extent descriptive 
also, it is always, we think, of advantage. 
A New Quince—“ The Champion.” 
When we consider the value of the quince, 
whether for home use or for market, we wonder at 
the little that has been done for its improvement. 
If we compare the older works on fruit with those 
of the present day, we find that but a single new 
variety has been added during the last half century. 
Under these circumstances we look upon a new 
comer with no little interest. We had heard of the 
Champion Quince, but had not seen it until Messrs. 
Bunnell & Perry, of Southport, Conn., sent us 
several specimens for examination and trial. The 
original tree is a seedling, which appeared in the 
grounds of Granville S. Perry, then a nurseryman 
at Georgetown, Ct., and attracted attention by its 
earliness of bearing and the uniformly large size of 
the fruit. It soon acquired a local reputation, and 
has since been placed in the trade. The fruit, as 
shown us, runs large, some specimens being 12 
inches in circumference. In form it is intermediate 
between the well known Apple-shaped and Pear- 
shaped Quinces, though more like the former, and 
may be described as obscure pyriform, with the 
stem inserted at the base of a usually prominent 
lip, and inclined; the skin strongly russeted fora 
short distance around the stem. Calyx set in a re¬ 
markably deep and strongly corrugated basin. The 
skin of a lively yellow color. The fruit appears to 
keep well, as at the date of writing (December 2d) 
some specimens are still green. The flesh cooks 
very tender, and is of excellent quality. It is claimed 
that this bears earlier than any other variety. 
The Pitcher Plant in the Parlor. 
The Pitcher Plant, also called Side-Saddle Flower 
and Huntsman’s Cup, and Whipporwill’s Shoe, 
{Sarracenia purpurea) of our swamps, is probably 
known to every one who notices wild plants at all. 
Its gracefully formed tubular leaves holding water, 
make it sufficiently unlike other northern plants to 
attract the notice of the most indifferent. Not long 
ago, as we were coming to the city, we met a man 
with an enormous basket filled with the largest and 
finest clumps of the plant that we ever saw together, 
and learned, upon inquiry, that he sold them “ up¬ 
town,” at the ridiculously low price of 10c. a plant. 
Only ten cents ! It would not be possible to get 
anything from the tropical collection of hot-houses 
more intrinsically fine for $10. But then they are 
“common,” any one can get them; and worse 
than all that, they grow wild. We know that these 
are to some, great faults in a plant, but we have 
worked to little purpose these many years, if we 
have not convinced 
some, at least, of our 
readers, that there are 
many wild plants 
worthy of a place rn the 
garden, and here now is 
one that may claim a 
place in the parlor. Get 
a fine, large clump of 
the Pitcher Plant, and 
bring home some bog 
moss with it. Then 
select a dish or vase of 
some kind, if nothing 
better is at hand, a 
small bowl, but it 
will honor and dignify the choicest in the house. 
Set out the plant, using moss instead of earth for 
the roots, keep the moss wet, and the plant will re¬ 
main fresh and bright all winter, and may even pro¬ 
duce its curious flowers. It does better in a mod¬ 
erately heated room, and now and then should 
have a good showering to free it from dust. Those 
who can appreciate beauty of form, will find pleas¬ 
ure in the graceful curves of its outlines, and those 
who are fond of such speculations, can wonder why 
that particular plant was made in that particular 
shape.... We are quite amused at the odd ways of 
the English horticulturists with this plant. Every 
now and then we are told that Sarracenia purpurea 
passed the winter at some place without protection, 
