JO 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Januajrs; 
ceived Report of Kew Gardens has figures of the 
plant, which came to perfection at Kew,under glass. 
The luxuriance of the plant, even with us, is 
something remarkable. A single seed produced 13 
or more stalks, very leafy, and of a dark green, and 
a rankness of growth, indicating that it would like 
to have a hot and long season, just to show what it 
could do if it had a chance. Our- plants were but 
Ki 
Fig. 1.—“ teosinte ” ( Euchlceana luxurious.) 
five or 6ix feet high, while it reaches, when fully 
developed, 13 feet or more. The plant was first in¬ 
troduced as Reana luxurious, but according to 
Hooker, its proper name is Euchlceana luxurious; 
its specific name is descriptive, as it would be difli- 
euit to find a plant of a more luxuriant appearance. 
To the botanist the EuchUeana is of great interest; 
it is a near relative of Maize, producing, like that, 
its staminate flowers in a “tassel” at the top of 
the plant, as shown in figure 1, taken from the 
plant at Kew. It also, like corn, has its pistillate 
flowers at the nodes—or joints below, inclosed in a 
leafy involucre, or “husk.” But there the close 
resemblance ends. In the corn, the pistillate flow¬ 
ers and seeds are in many rows upon a short branch 
(or cob), in this they are closely placed in rows 
upon slender branches or spikes, one of which is 
shown at the upper left hand, in figure 3 ; which 
gives the appearance of the “ ear,” within which is 
inclosed a number of such small spikes. We can 
only say that the reports made to Kew from several 
hot countries to which seeds had been sent, are 
such as to warrant a thorough trial of the “Teo¬ 
sinte” i:i our Southern States. Dr. Sanders, in 
Madras, put in the seeds at five feet apart; soon 
the plants so spread that they all touched, the pro¬ 
duce of some single seeds being 100 to 130 stalks, 
and suggests that it would be a valuable fodder for 
elephants 1 The report from Australia states that 
it withstands the severest drouths. Being a peren¬ 
nial, it will allow of repeated cuttings, and we judge 
that the amount of fodder that an acre of “Teo¬ 
sinte ” will produce in a favorite climate is some¬ 
thing enormous. Caution.—Observe that what we 
have said applies to the plant in tropical and sub¬ 
tropical climates, and we doubt that it will be valu¬ 
able north of Virginia, if even so far north as that. 
Cut-Leaved Trees—Paper-Mulberry. 
- -O— 
Among the variations from the usual form, of 
which our ornamental trees and 
6 hrubs are capable, none are 
more popular than those called 
“Cut-leaved,” and sometimes 
“Fern-leaved.” On most trees 
and shrubs, the leaves consist, 
as may be easily seen, of a 
frame - work of fibres, the 
spaces between which are filled 
up with a, usually, dark green 
pulpy matter. This soft 
substance is the part re-,, 
moved in making “ skele¬ 
ton leaves.” The fibres 
of leaves, when large, are 
called “ ribs,” and these, 
in most leaves, are arrang¬ 
ed on two principal plans. 
A main rib starts from 
the base of the leaf, where 
that joins the foot-stalk 
or petiole, or if there be 
no petiole, where it joins 
the stem, and runs direct¬ 
ly through, to the point, 
dividing the leaf into 
two, more or less, equal 
parts. From this, which is 
called the “mid-rib,” start 
smaller fibres, or veins, 
and run more or less 
directly towards the mar¬ 
gin. In other leaves there 
is no mid-rib, but there 
are three, five, or more 
strong ribs, starting from 
the base to the circumfer¬ 
ence. The first class of 
leaves are called pinnate- 
ly-veined (like a feather), 
and the other palmakly, (like the 
hand with out-spread fingers), 
or radiately-veined. In the first 
case, the leaf is usually longer 
than broad, while in the radi- 
ately-veined-leaf, its shape will 
be more or less rounded in form, 
like the leaf of the Maple. In some leaves, the 
margin is entire, but as is well-known, they present 
every variety of division, from a mere notching of 
the margin, to those where the divisions extend far 
as it is its natural form, but when the leaflets them¬ 
selves become divided, it is then the “Cut-leaved,' ’ 
or “ Fern-leaved ” Sumach, and one of the most 
beautiful shrubs in existence. These unusual forms 
of leaves are due, so to speak, to a deficiency of 
their green or pulpy portion : there is not sufficient, 
to fill up the spaces between the frame-work, and 
what (here is, clings to the ribs or veins, leaving 
open spaces between. Hence the “cutting” will 
follow the direction of the fibrous framework of file 
loaf, and the much “ cut,” pinnately-veined leaf, 
will produce a very different form from the radiate- 
veined one. It is in the detecting and propagating 
such unusual forms as cuHeaved trees and shrubs, 
that the horticulturist finds oue of his chief pleas¬ 
ures. So far as we know, there is no method by 
which these interesting, and often elegant forms, 
may be produced at will. They are usually mani¬ 
the cut-leaved paper-mtjT,berry ( Broussouetia papyrifera, var. Billardi). 
into the substance of the leaf. Examples of trees, 
which have leaves much divided in their ordinary 
condition are not rare, but these are not included 
under the term “cut-leaved,” that term is applied 
to departures from the normal form. The ordinary 
Sumach has its long leaves, di ided into many (11 
to 30) leaflets, but we do not call this “cut-leaved,” 
Fig. 2.— the “ear” and spike. 
fested by the young seedling—‘ Congenital deform¬ 
ity ” we should call it in an animal, and kill the- 
young creature at its birth ; but in the plant, we. 
cherish and propagate it. Some trees when they 
first start from the seed, or when they posh up a 
vigorous shoot from a stump, after tue tree ha 
been cut down, produce leaves, unlike those of the 
mature growth. The Paul omnia, Catalpa, and others, 
produce on young shoots, leaves of enormous, 
6 ize. The common Paper-Mulberry, (Broussonetta 
papyrifera), under such conditions, has not only 
unusually large leaves, but 
those singularly and often 
grotesquely lobed and cut; 
but these peculiarities disap¬ 
pear after the stem is a year 
or so old, and may be regard¬ 
ed as a condition of infancy. 
But a variety of this tree has 
been raised in France, from 
seed, by M. Billard, which 
is, to judge from the fig¬ 
ures published in Revue Hor- 
licole, one of the most strik¬ 
ing of all cut-leaved trees. 
In the engraving here repro¬ 
duced from the above named 
journal, are shown two of the 
leaves, which it will be seen 
are little more than skele¬ 
tons. In the normal form, 
the leaf is somewhat heart- 
shaped, with three strong 
radiate veins from the base. In this variety, all the 
pulpy portion is gone, save a very small quantity at 
the ends of each of the three veins. Evidently them 
was not material enough to carry out the plan of 
the leaf. This variety is named var. Billardi, and 
has not, so for as we are aware, yet been oflFei 
ed for sale by the nurserymen of this country 
