140 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
less number of years, must give place to others. 
It must be recollected that it is only in the seed¬ 
ling that we start anew—with 
a fresh creation, so to speak. 
Ail that follow are sub-divi¬ 
sions of the seedling. Accept¬ 
ing the deterioration of the 
potato as a fact, we welcome 
new varieties, but not all new 
varieties. The mere fact that a 
potato is a seedling, is no proof 
of excellence. A new variety 
must have health, productive¬ 
ness, and good quality as es¬ 
sentials, after which earliness, 
color, shape, and secondary 
qualities may be consider¬ 
ed. Pedigree should also be 
taken into account, as a seed¬ 
ling is likely (though not cer- \| 
tain) to inherit the character- l 
istics of its parent or parents. | 
With these views, instead of 
regarding the introduction of 
new varieties a misfortune, we 
think it desirable, provided 
they possess qualities that en¬ 
title them to rank with the very 
best we already have. For 
several years past, out of the 
hundreds of new varieties 
raised, two or three seemed to 
good judges to possess positive 
merits, and this will probably 
be the case in years to come. 
Among the new kinds offered 
this spring for the first time, 
we have been most favorably 
impressed with the “Superior.” 
This was raised in 1873 by 
Mr. E. S. Brownell, of Ver¬ 
mont, with whom originated 
the now well-known “Brownell’s Beauty;” the 
seed was the result of crossing a flower of that 
variety with the Peachblow, and has since 
been tested in a sufficient number of widely 
separated localities to show that it promises 
health, vigor, and productiveness. In compar¬ 
ing it with several new varieties, we were at¬ 
tracted by its uniform size, its regular shape, 
insuring evenness in cooking, and its even sur¬ 
face. Some very excellent potatoes have then- 
eyes so* deeply sunken that a large portion is 
wasted in peeling—a point not generally con¬ 
sidered, but one of great importance, especially 
to those who buy potatoes, and entrust them 
to the tender mercies of a kitchen maid. The 
engraving shows the general appearance. The 
skin, which is fine and smooth, is of a dark- 
red or copper color. As a table potato we re¬ 
gard it as taking rank with the best, and it 
retains its good qualities until late in the spring. 
For its manner of growth and productive¬ 
ness we must depend upon the testimony of 
others. We are informed upon excellent 
authority that in the past unfavorable season 
it exhibited a remarkable yield. One grower 
of our acquaintance having raised 673 lbs. from 
one pound of seed, and states that the tubers 
are borne close to the stalks. In season it 
ranks with the medium early kinds. Samples 
were sent last spring to England for trial; the 
English have not, as a general thing, regarded 
American potatoes with much favor, but the 
different horticultural journals agreed in award¬ 
ing high praise to the “ Superior,” and at the 
great potato show at Alexandra Palace, last 
fall, it received a Certificate of Merit, which 
there is a high commendation. With a yiew 
to allow a variety of so much promise to be 
generally tested, the publishers of the American 
barren-wort. — (Epimedium macranthum.) 
Agriculturist have made arrangements, by 
which a trial sample may be easily obtained, 
as will be seen by their offer on another page. 
Should it succeed elsewhere, as well as in the 
trials made last year, its distribution will 
prove a real benefit to all who procure it. 
Barren-worts—Epimediums, 
Those who complain of botanical names will 
find that the popular or English names have 
posed to cause barreness. It may have been 
these—then again it may have been some others. 
The name Epimedium, Epi upon, and Media, a 
country in Asia, was given because some 
species were found in Media. In spite of 
names they are among the most charming of 
spring hardy flowers. The alpine species, E. 
alpmum is the one most frequently cultivated, 
and though an interesting plant is much less 
showy than the one here figured, the Large- 
flowered Barren-worts, E. macranthum, from 
Japan. This has been in cultivation some 30 or 
40 years, and is yet a rare plant. It blooms in 
May, and produces rather handsome, divided 
foliage, which is at first brownish, but soon be¬ 
comes a delicate pale green ; the leaflets, of 
the size and shape shown in the engraving, are 
delicately fringed with small hairs. The flow¬ 
ers are borne well up above the foliage in 
abundant and most graceful racemes, and are 
here represented of the natural size. The 
curious crooked appendages are the pe¬ 
tals, these are in the form of tubes or spines, 
of a pure white, and semi-transparent. Di¬ 
rectly beneath the petals are the sepals 
or parts of the calyx, which, being of a 
rosy purple, are in marked contrast with 
them. The whole plant is from 10 to 15 inches 
high, and anything in the way of a hardy 
plant, with more real grace and beauty it 
would be difficult to find. We have wondered 
why this was not more generally in the cata¬ 
logues, and find the reason right at home. We 
had a clump of it several years ago, and have 
the same now. The proper time to divide and 
reset it, is when it is just out of flower, and 
that is at a time when everybody is too busy to 
attend to dividing perennials. If divided, like 
most other perennials, in the fall or early 
spring, it is apt to die outright, or be a very 
long time in recovering strength to flower. It 
is worth any required trouble at any season 
The Adder’s Tongue—Erythronium. 
The Adder’s-tongue, Erythronium Ameri- 
canum , is one of the most widely known of our 
early spring flowers, it being found all the way 
from Canada to Florida on the Eastern side of 
the continent, but far west it is replaced by 
other species. It grows in moist soil, especial¬ 
ly along the edges of woods, and the margins 
of thickets. Its solid bulb, with a brown coat, 
NEW POTATO, THE “SUPERIOR. 
their difficulties. The name Barren-worts, for 
a genus of plants is not a particularly pleasing 
one, and when we inquire into its meaning we 
find that it has none to speak of, At most we 
learn that in olden times some plants were sup¬ 
is deep in the ground; from this arise two 
leaves, between which appears a short, slender, 
naked-flower stem. The leaves themselves are 
quite showy, being broadly, lance-shaped, flat, 
smooth and shining ; their pale-green color is 
