378 
AMEETOAISr AaEIOULTUEIST. 
[September, 
The Artillery Plant. 
- -O- -■ 
Among the most interesting green-house plants, 
is Hlea serpyUifoUa, jjopularly known as the Ai'til- 
lery Plant. It is a suceulent plant 'with numerous 
branches and very small leaves. It has, as shown 
in the engraving, such a fern-like habit, that we 
have known it to be cultivated in the belief that it 
was a fern. The plant is a native of Central Amer¬ 
ica, and needs a warm green-house. It will do fairly 
well kept in a warm, sunny window, but if it gets 
chilled, it loses its leaves and presents a most sorry 
appearance. Its flower buds, which are very nu¬ 
merous and pinkish, are smaller than the head of 
a pin. If when the sun is shining upon it, the 
plant be gently sprinkled with water, each little 
bud pops open, and the stamens emit their pollen. 
When many flowers thus open at once, there is pro¬ 
duced a smoke-like cloud of pollen, which is quite 
striking, and makes the name “ Artillery Plant ” 
appropriate. The plant belongs to the Nettle Fam¬ 
ily, and may be readily increased by cuttings. On 
account of its fern-like appearance, the plant is 
sometimes used with other succulent plants in 
working out ornamental designs in bedding. 
“ Do Potatoes Mix in the Hill ? ” 
The above question, variously expressed, comes 
to us every now and then. This time it is from 
“A. W. M.,” Alamosa, Col., who writes : “Please 
state whether potatoes of different sorts, planted 
together, will affect one another so as to produce 
tubers different from the seed planted, i. e., the 
potatoes, when dug, will be different from those 
planted in the ground?”—We might answer this 
with an unqualified “ No,” as the potatoes do not 
“ affect one another.” Such an answer would not 
be satisfactory, in view of the fact that occasion¬ 
ally potatoes, when dug, are found to be “different 
from those planted in the ground.” Some farmers 
are so well assured that potatoes will “ mix in the 
hill,” that to avoid it, they take great care to plant 
their different varieties as far apart as possible. It 
is often very inconvenient to plant the varieties at 
a great distance apart, and farmers should under¬ 
stand that all the care take!) to do this is utterly 
useless. They should be assured that the tubers 
of one variety can have no influence upon the tu¬ 
bers of another kind, however near together they 
may be planted — even if in the same hill. It may 
be asked : “ if they do not mix, how do you account 
for the fact that potatoes arc sometimes dug which 
are unlike those planted as seed ?” Similar changes 
occur in other plants in which there is no suspicion 
of “mixing.” It is a well established fact, that a 
branch of a peach-tree has more than once borne 
nectarines, and a nectarine tree has borne peaches. 
A Black Hamburg grape vine, having been injured 
by fire, ' threw up a new shoot, the grapes upon 
which, to the surprise of the owner, were white 
instead of black. Florists are aware that many of 
their choice greenhouse plants, notably the bou- 
vardias and geraniums, have given flowers on new 
branches, which were quite unlike those upon 
the rest of the plant. A few years ago a noted 
florist obtained two very distinct roses from a 
well known kind. Two branches produced flow¬ 
ers quite unlike each other, and so different 
from the original sort that they were propagated 
and are now in commerce as new varieties. Culti¬ 
vators call these departures from the original 
plants “ sports ; ” botanists call them “ bud varia¬ 
tions.” This last is a more precise 
term, as each branch-proceeds from 
a bud, and whatever causes these 
variations must have its effect upon 
the bud. The application of this 
to the variation in the potato, will 
be apparent when we consider the 
real nature,of the potato, which is 
a tuber and not a root, and has no 
more connection with the root than 
if it grew upon the stem, above the 
surface of the soil instead of be¬ 
low it. If a potato plant, or vine 
be dug up just as the new potatoes 
begin to “ set,” the real nature of 
the tuber may be seen. Under¬ 
ground stems are produced, which 
begin to swell at the ends,and these 
ends increase until the full size of 
the variety is attained. These tu¬ 
bers, unlike the roots, have buds, 
or “ eyes,” as they arc popularly 
called, corresponding to the buds 
of an above-ground branch. When 
a seed potato is planted, one or 
more of its eyes start, the growth 
from one eye, or bud, corresponds 
to, and really is a branch ; this bud 
may vary, though we do not know 
what causes it to do so any more 
than we know the cause of the variation in the bud 
of the peach or the rose. All that proceeds from that 
bud or eye, whether above-ground or below, will 
be unlike the seed potatoes that wore planted. We 
do not notice differences in the above-ground 
growth of the vines, as they are not the portion for 
which the plant is valued, but differences in the 
tuber at once attract attention. These differences 
are showm in size, shape, color, time of ripiening, 
etc., that of color being the most striking. The 
“Late Rose ” was a sport (bud variation) from the 
“ Early Rose;” here the important difference w^as 
in the time of maturing. In this case, the variation 
was noticed in the plant, or vine, one hill of Early 
Rose remaining green and still growing, long 
after all the other plants were completely dead. 
Easily-Made Eruit and Flower Baskets. 
While our Yankee ingenuity is shown in many 
directions, we are quite behind other people in bas¬ 
ket making. One who visits the markets in Can¬ 
ada, discovers that berries are offered in curiously 
Fig. 1.— BECTANGULA.B BASKET. 
shaped receptacles, made of the bark of the Canoe 
Birch. If ho finds in the New York City market, 
flower baskets, neatly wrought of green rushes, he 
may be sure that the maker is a woman living in 
Weehawken, or some other of the many settlements 
of Germans in New Jersey. Baskets to hold fruit 
and flowers may be readily wrought out of very 
simple materials. Straight sticks of any kind of 
brush, with the bark on, make pretty rustic baskets. 
THE ABTiLLBKT PLANT (Mlea serpylUfolioi). 
Still neater ones are made from the Southern cane. 
These canes are sent North in great numbers for 
use as fishing poles. The long upper ends of these 
canes, not being strong enough for anglers’ use, 
are cut off, and sent to market separately for the 
use of florists, who find them very convenient as 
supports for plants. The small canes, by the aid 
of fine copper wire, may be made into the forms 
shown in figures 1, 3 and 3. Straight sticks of any 
kind may be wired together in the same manner. 
If used for flowers, these baskets may have a lining 
Fig. 3.— HANDLED PLOWEK BASKET. 
of stiff brown paper- or paste-board, to hold the | 
moss in which the flowers are set. Figure 4 shows 
a basket very popular in England. It is largely j' 
made of splits in one of the English rural districts. ■ 1 
These baskets were shown at the first World’s f 
Fig. 4.— THE queen’s BAS 3IBT. 
Fair. Her Majesty saw them, and ordered one for 
each of the Royal children. This at once made the .- 
basket popular, and the makers at once adopted f 
the name of “The Queen’s Basket.” 
Hew Destroyers of the Cabbage Worm, j 
We say “ the Cabbage Worm,” being well aware ;i 
that there are three, if not more eaterpiliars of as 
many species of butterflies that are popularly known 
as “ Cabbage Worms.” These are so nearly alike 
in both appearance and habits that, for all practical 
purposes—that is, their destruction, they may be i 
treated as one. It is a. most wise provision in Na¬ 
ture, that -vv’hen an insect attacks our crops in de¬ 
structive numbers, its insect enemies increase in 
proportion. Indeed, were it not for this help, our 
own labors in destroying injurious insects would 
avail but little. In England, to which we arc in¬ 
debted for some, at least, of our cabbage worm.s, 
great help is received from two Ichneumon flies, 
which by their parasitic habits, cause the death of 
the worms, by depositing their eggs upon the 
caterpillars, or upon the ehrysalids. One of these, 
the 3fierogaster fflomeratus, lays its eggs, sometimes ' 
more than sixty, in one caterpillar. These hatch, 
and the maggots from them feed upon the interior ! 
of the caterpillar, not destroying its vitals. At the 
time for the caterpillar to turn to a chrysalis, ■ 
it dies, and the young maggots come out and spin I 
their little cocoons on the cabbage. These eg- I 
i 
