142 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[April, 
greenhouse, where the flowers open in suc¬ 
cession during a month or more, and even a 
single flower will diffuse its grateful odor 
throughout the greenhouse. We have no doubt 
that this Magnolia might be easily managed by 
those who have no greenhouse by keeping it 
in a room where there is no fire. Of course 
in the dry atmosphere usually found in rooms 
heated by a furnace or a stove, the buds will 
fall before they are fully developed. We ob¬ 
tained our plants several years ago from Mr. 
P. J. Berchmans, Augusta, Ga., in whose in¬ 
teresting grounds are some fine specimens of 
this, and other broad-leaved evergreens. 
------ 
Geraniums with Pure White Leaves. 
BT PETER HENDERSON. 
A correspondent, C. A. B., of Westerly, B. I., 
says, “I send you by this mail some pure white 
leaves from a Geranium shoot, can it be made to 
grow and form a plant like any other slip ? I have 
tried it and failed.”—No, it can not be made to 
grow! It has no doubt been tried thousands of 
times, but a plant has never yet been produced; we 
have had a few sickly roots form, but only to re¬ 
main for a short time, when the whole would die 
off. Even if the white shoot is allowed to remain 
on the plant producing it, and all the other shoots 
having green in the leaves be cut off, the plant, 
though it now has all the roots which it originally 
had to support it, will surely die, no matter what 
care is given, unless a shoot with green leaves 
is allowed to grow. By allowing some green leaves 
to remain, the white shoot may be kept growing 
for years, in company with the green, but never 
alone. This answer will have a general interest to 
many of your readers, who, on finding these white¬ 
leaved shoots on their plants for the first time, 
imagine they have fallen upon a small fortune. Of 
course, if a Geranium with pure white shoots and 
leaves could be made to live and grow freely, tbere 
are plenty of our florists who would gladly invest 
some thousands of dollars in its purchase. 
A few dags ago, being in the greenhouse of one 
of our well known florists, he showed me, growing 
among a mass of “Smilax” foliage, ( Myrsiphyl - 
lum ), a strong vigorous shoot of a Geranium with 
stem and leaves as white as snow. I was perfectly 
nonplussed for a few moments, as on examining 
the root there was apparently no shoot except the 
white one, but on scraping the soil off for a couple 
of inches, I found the waggish owner had trained 
a strong shoot, nearly six feet high behind the 
screen of Smilax, which at once accounted for the 
healthy condition of the white shoot,—the plan 
was ingenious, and was done in such a way that, 
had the florist been dishonestly disposed, he might 
readily have found a purchaser, as his white branch 
had nearly all the vigor of the green shoot. If we 
once detach the white shoot from the life-sustain 
ing greeD portion, death to the white is only a 
question of time—and very short time too. 
The Jerusalem Artichoke once More. 
BT PROF. ASA GRAY. 
I have more than once given out intimations that 
I had reason to believe that this esculent originated 
in the valley of the Mississippi, from a species of 
Sunflower, (called Helianthm doronicoides, by La- 
mark,) which is common there. The reason is,—1, 
That the foliage, flowers, and mode of growth of 
this wild species are much like those of the culti¬ 
vated artichoke, except that the tubers are long and 
slender—are commonly roohstocks rather than tu¬ 
bers. 2, But having planted these, and raised them 
in the garden for a dozen or fifteen years, I found 
that some tubers are long and narrow, and rather 
tough, while others are good “artichokes.” It is 
possible, however, that they had got mixed with 
the old cultivated plants, some of which grew near 
by. 3, But last autumn Prof. John M. Coulter sent 
me, from Indiana, roots of the wild Sunflower in 
question ; and I noticed that, while some were quite 
like my original stock from Kentucky, others were 
shorter and thicker, and a few were to all appear¬ 
ance good artichokes. 
Now Linnaeus, in the Species Plantaram, gives 
Brazil as the native country of Helianthus tuberosus, 
the Jerusalem Artichoke. We can trace the origin 
of this misconception, but, without entering into 
details, we will only say that these artichokes no 
more came from Brazil than they did from Jerusa¬ 
lem. But Linnaeus, in an earlier work, (the Hortus 
Cliffortianus), says they came from Canada. That, 
on the other hand, seemed to be too far north ; but 
I have thought it probable that they reached Eu¬ 
rope by way of Canada, and Canada by way of the 
Great Lakes and the Mississippi or Ohio. But I had 
not ascertained that any of our Indian tribes knew 
of this tuber, and had ever cultivated or used it. 
That was because I had not investigated the ques¬ 
tion as I should a botanical point, and because I 
did not apply to the proper source for information. 
The reference to a statement in “Palfrey’s History 
of New England,” made it apparent that there was 
evidence upon this point somewhere in existence ; 
and an enquiry made of our most learned scholar 
in Indian lore, Mr. J. H. Trumbull, of Hartford, 
Conn., now brings the facts to light. 
It appears that Sagard, in his “ History of Cana¬ 
da,” (1636), and in his “Grand Voyage,” mentions, 
as among the provisions of the Hurons, “ roots 
that we call Canadiennes or Pommes de Canada, and 
that they call Orasquienla, which are not very com¬ 
mon in their country. They eat them raw as well 
as cooked,” etc. He mentions potatoes (“pota- 
tes ”■) which he had seen on board an English ves¬ 
sel, and which, “they say, if cut in pieces and 
planted in the earth, in short time grow and multi¬ 
ply, like the Pommes de Canada —This seems to 
show that the Huron Indians had artichokes in cul¬ 
tivation. Still earlier, viz., in 1612, Lescarbot, in 
his history, mentions roots found in the country of 
the Armonchiquois, (Canada and Northern New 
England), as big as turnips, which were excellent 
eating, of a flavor reminding one of Cardoons, and 
which, wheu planted, multiply in a marvellous 
fashion.' Possibly these may be the tubers of Apios 
tuberosa , or Ground-nut, but the account agrees 
much better with Artichokes. Now the evidence 
which the old herbalists furnish, and which Mr. 
Trumbull has looked up, make it clear that Jerusa¬ 
lem Artichokes went from Canada to Europe with¬ 
in a dozen years after the first settlement of Cana¬ 
da, viz., at Quebec. I cannot here enter into par¬ 
ticulars ; but suffice it to say, that the plant was 
received in England, “Anno 1617,” and Italy, early 
enough to have got the name “ Jerusalem Arti¬ 
choke ” established at the date of Johnson’s edition 
of “ Gerald’s Herball,” 1633 ; for this Jerusalem is 
doubtless an English corruption of Girasol, sun¬ 
flower ; and the plant was at a very early date cul¬ 
tivated in the Famese Garden. 
A lew Edging to Flower Beds. 
Numerous plants are used as edgings to flower¬ 
beds, but we do not often see those that are al¬ 
together satisfactory. Where the edging is made 
by numerous plants set closely together, the fail¬ 
ure of one or more from any cause, leaves an un¬ 
sightly gap, and one that is very difficult to fill. 
We saw last summer at the Mt. Airy Nurseries, 
of Miller & Hayes, Philadelphia, an edging that 
was both novel and satisfactory. The plant em¬ 
ployed was the Golden Japanese Honeysuckle, 
which was introduced a number of years ago as 
Lonicera Japonica aureo-reticulata , that, in spite of 
its name, has proved to be one of the most satis¬ 
factory and permanent of variegated plants. Its 
use for edging was not new, but the manner of 
using it was so. A circular galvanized wire-frame, 
of which a cross-section is a semi-circle, is made of 
a proper size for the bed, if a small one, or in seg¬ 
ments, if for a large bed ; this frame, which has 
wires crossing it to form a coarse basket-work, is 
placed around the bed, where the honeysuckle 
plants have been previously set, and as the plants 
grow, their shoots are worked into this wire frame. 
In a short time the frame is completely hidden, and 
the effect of such a circle of golden foliage in neat¬ 
ly kept grass, is surprisingly beautiful. This frame, 
invented by Mr. C. H. Miller, who was the Chief of 
the Bureau of Horticulture at the Centennial, may 
be used to advantage with other edging plants, as 
it raises the prostrate ones, and allows them to be 
WIRE FRAME FOR EDGINGS, 
kept in a neat line, with very little trouble. We 
have not seen it used for Ivy, but do not doubt 
that such a frame would serve admirably. 
gome Valuable Native Forest Trees. 
BT PROF. C. S. SARGENT, DIRECTOR OF THE ARNOLD AR¬ 
BORETUM, OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 
As the planting season is at hand, I would call 
the attention of your readers to the claims of some 
of our native trees to more general cultivation and 
appreciation. I have already pointed out, [“ Sug¬ 
gestions on Tree Planting,” from which we quoted 
in July, 1876.—Ed.], the pecuniary advantages 
which would follow the general cultivation of the 
American White Ash, (Fraximcs Americana), 
in the State of Massachusetts ; as great or greater 
advantages would follow its cultivation in all the 
Northern and Western States. As an investment 
the Ash is the best tree, native or foreign, we can 
plant on strong, cool soils. The uses to which the 
wood of this tree is applied are innumerable, and 
so long as we ride in light carriages, or use light 
agricultural implements, or ship’s boats are pro¬ 
pelled by oars, it will always be in demand. Such 
toughness and elasticity, combined with such light¬ 
ness, are found in no other wood of which we have 
any knowledge. It must, then, of necessity, enter 
into the construction of many useful articles, and 
the demand for it will certainly increase in the 
future, as population and prosperity become more 
general. There is already an active export trade in 
White Ash Lumber to Europe, Australia, and some 
of the South American ports, countries which pro¬ 
duce no native wood which equals it in its peculiar 
qualities ; and should the supply warrant it, this 
business is capable of immense developement in 
the future. For years the destruction of this, our 
most valuable timber tree, has been enormous. 
Every year the source of supply is pushed further 
westward, so’ that now it is becoming rare to find 
Eastern grown ash even quoted in our seaboard 
markets, and the West alone supplies the clear, 
wide boards, now so highly prized for furniture¬ 
making, and the interior finish of dwelling houses. 
But to counteract this ever increasing destruction, 
and to provide for a future supply, what is being 
done ? How many persons in this country have ever 
planted five thousand, or even five hundred, White 
Ash trees ? I fancy, judging from the supply of 
young Ash plants in our nurseries devoted to the 
growth of forest trees, that the number of such 
far-seeing individuals must be small. I have only 
been able to procure for a Massachusetts friend, 
who desires to plant largely of this tree, and after 
applying to all our large nurseries, some ten thou¬ 
sand young plants. The deduction from this fact 
is a simple one. No demand, therefore no supply. 
The aphorism so often repeated, that tree planting 
will only bring profit to those that come after the 
planter has passed away, does not apply to the 
White Ash, as it has a market value at any time 
after it is ten years old. For this reason it is re¬ 
commended to plant the Ash thickly in rows, which 
