212 
amerioa^n^ agriculturist. 
[Mat, 
What are English Horse Beans? 
Beans are so often mentioned by English writers 
for their great value as food for horses, tliat occa¬ 
sionally some one in this country wishes to try 
them and asks about the variety. The English 
Horse Bean is not, as some suppose, a variety of 
our field bean, but a very different plant, belonging 
to a different genus. This is a variety of what, in 
its garden forms, is known as Windsor Bean, Wa- 
zagan Bean, etc. The stalk is erect, stout, simple, 
and three feet or more high, with no sign of twin¬ 
ing stems ; the leaves are of the shape shown in 
the engraving ; the flowers, in clusters in the axils 
of the leaves, are followed by thick fleshy pods. 
The seeds (a,) are flattened and brown ; those of 
the horse beans being not one fourth as large as 
the garden varieties. They contain a very large 
amount of nitragenous matter, but are rather in¬ 
digestible; on this account, when fed to horses, 
they are mixed with two or three times as much 
oats. The horse bean has been tried occasionally 
in this country, but our hot weather stops their 
growth before they have attained their full size. 
In trying the garden varieties we have found them 
to become so infested with plant lice, that 
growth was impossible. It is not at all likely that 
this bean can ever become one of our farm crops. 
Shade Trees—Planting, and After-care. 
IlKV. .1. W. GUERNSEY. 
In no other way can we, with so little expense of 
time, labor, and money, add so much to the com¬ 
fort and pleasantness of our homes, as by the 
judicious use of shade trees. Once set, nature 
will keep them in repair, adding some new Ijeauty 
of form and repainting them with her choicest 
colors every year. On the north side of buildings, 
to break the wind, evergreens are to be preferred ; 
and of these the hemlock is the best. For shading, 
deciduous trees sho>ild be used, which will shut 
out the sun in summer and admit it in winter. 
Where there is room enough for them to grow 
to their full size, the maple and elm are, undoubted¬ 
ly our best trees ; but if they are to stand near a 
house, some smaller tree should be chosen. Both 
maples and elms, when set for shade, are liable to 
be ruined by two thing.s, neither of which affects 
them in the forests. Borens, beginning near (he 
ground, work tlieir way upward in an irregular 
course; sometimes nearly encircling the trunk 
before they come to the surface, and carrying sure 
death along their entire track. The only remedy 
is to watch for tliem, and kill them as soon as they 
begin to work. The second danger is the starting 
of the bark, which is no less fatal. This occurs 
only on trees of a few inches in diameter, and on 
the south and south-west sides of such that are 
peculiarly exposed to the sun. When the tree is 
frozen, a warm sun thaws a section of the bark, 
without thawing the wood beneath it; the vital 
connection is broken, and the bark and adjacent 
wood die. Small trees thaw througli and escape 
injury, and large ones do not thaw at all at such 
times. Anything that will shade the truidc at the 
exposed points, will make it secure. The elm has 
a deadly enemy in the canker-worm, that frequent¬ 
ly desti'oys the entire foliage from year to year, 
until the tree dies. The most usual remedy is to 
guard the trunk by some contrivance that will 
prevent the female motii, which is wingless, from 
ascending it. The Lever-wood, or Hop Hornbeam, 
is a hardy symmetrical tree of moderate size. Its 
branches and foliage are very flue. Its fruits, 
which resemble hops, are very abundant, and re¬ 
main on the tree during the entire season; their 
modest russet beautifully combining with the deep 
green of the leaves. The birches, in their several 
varieties, combine, in an unusual degree, the re¬ 
quisites of a shade tree. They grow rapidly, are 
hardy, flourish on almost any soil, and are seldom 
injured by insects. The trunk is picturesque in 
its irregularity, throwing off numerous small 
branches, that divide and sub-divide into minute, 
flexible sprays, that sway in the breeze with infinite 
grace. The pearly white or bright amber color of 
the bark on the trunk and large branches, passing 
by insensible gradations tlirough the various 
shades of garnet and brown, to the deep purple of 
the remotest twigs, is a beauty peculiar to these 
trees. They are among the earliest to put forth 
their leaves and the latest to drop them. The 
leaves are beautiful in foim and exquisite in color; 
and when touched by the autumn frosts, their dy¬ 
ing hues of burnished gold are scarcely less gor¬ 
geous than the royal crimson of the maple. Their 
swelling buds herald the approach of spring, long 
before the maple and elm have scented its coming. 
In the rigorous deptiis of winter they commence 
to hang out their pendulous flower buds, ready to 
unfold their modest blossom.' in the first warm 
breath of spring. The minute sub-divisioi of their 
branches secures a dense shade, even from a small 
top, and gives such flexibility that tliey are rarely 
broken by wind, snow, or ice. If a maple or elm 
is cut down, all that remains is an unsightly stump; 
but a birch stump will send up a cluster of sprouts 
that in a few years form a group of trees more 
beautiful, if possible, than the original one. 
Trees that have grown in the open air, will do 
better than those from thick woods. In selecting, 
those only should be taken that are perfectly 
sound; a dead spot, however small, will extend un¬ 
til it ruins the tree. Trees with short trunk' and 
large thick tops should be chosen, avoidint' such 
as divide into two nearly equal branches, fo they 
will be very likely to split down. In taking up 
trees, every root should be secured to the utter¬ 
most fiber as far as itossible, and without splitting 
or bruising them, and the holes for planting them 
should be large enough to receive the roots in their 
natural itosition. While out of the ground, the 
roots should be protected from the air and kept 
•moist, and in setting them tine rich earth should be 
packed around all the fibers. Trees should be 
staked to prevent the wind from starting the roots, 
and well mulched to keep the ground moist and 
loose. A vicious practice prevails very extensively 
of cutting off the entire top. This is the death 
warrant of the tree. It may put out new branches 
and do well for a few years, but the wound will 
seldom heal; there will be a dead stub above the 
new limbs, that will ultimately decay down into' 
the center of the trunk and the limbs will break 
off or die. This process, in its various stages, 
maybe seen in a large projiortion of the trees that 
have been treated in this way. If a trunk must be 
cutoff, let it be just above a thrifty limb, whose 
growth will heal over the wound. If branches 
must be removed, they should be cut close to the 
trunk, great care being taken not to injure the 
bark or wood, the cut made smooth and covoi'cd 
at once with wax or paint so as to exclude the air. 
Shade trees are usually set too thick, from two to 
four times too many being put on the ground; con¬ 
sequently, as soon as they have grown a little, they 
interfere with each other, and a struggle for exist¬ 
ence commences, in which all suffer and symmetri¬ 
cal growth is prevented. Trees should never be 
allowed to exclude the direct sunlight from a 
house ; to do so, is to make it unfit for a dwelling. 
To remedy this by pruning, will leave naked truidis 
covered with unsightly scars, too large to heal 
over, which will ultimately decay and kill the tree. 
Thinning out is but little better, for the trees that 
remain will be stragglers standing at irregular dis¬ 
tances, with forlorn and badly shaped tops. 
Shade trees should be carefully watched, and all 
branches that start where they are not wanted, 
that will ever interfere with streets, walks, build¬ 
ings, or other branches, should be promptly re¬ 
moved. Such branches are often neglected until 
their removal irreparably injures the shade tree. 
All dead limbs should be taken away at once. 
Good King Henry. 
A gentleman having seen “Good King Henry” 
mentioned as a useful garden plant, called at our of¬ 
fice to learn more about bis Majesty. Why the plant 
should be so named is somewhat obscure. One 
writer says that this was so called to distinguish it 
from another and poisonous plant, known as “ Bad 
Henry,” which does not explain why it should be 
a Henry, and a king at that. In some parts of 
England the plant is called “Good Fat Hen,” 
which some have tried to explain by asserting that 
it was used to fatten poultry. As it is not known 
to be fed to poultry, this derivation is doubtful, 
and it is more likely that Henry was shortened into 
“ lien,” than that it was derived from the food of 
h.ens. As to the plant itself, it belongs to the Pig¬ 
weed family. Linnaeus recognized the common 
GOOD KING HENRY (Blitum Bonus Henricus). 
name wlien he called it Che7iopodiuin Boiuis Heni'i- 
cus. Though later botanists have placed it in the , 
related genus, Blitum, it still retains the original 
specific name, and is now Blitum Bonus Hem-icus. i - 
The plant is a native of England, and is very spar- 1 
ingly naturalized in this country. It has a peren-i^ 
nial root, and its stem, from one to three feet high, | • 
branches but little. The shape of the leaves, etc., i ■ 
is shown by the engraving of the upper portion of j ■ 
a plant. It is, like the related Pig-weed, Goose-i 
foot or Lamb’s-quarter, very acceptable as greens, 
