34:4: 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[September, 
of the botanical one. Pliny states that in his 
lime it was a popular notion that if the plant be 
laid upon a yoke of oxen when they are quarrel¬ 
ing, it will quiet them. It is not necessary to 
say any more about the botanical relations of 
UPRIGHT AND FOUR-LEAVED LOOSESTRIFE 
these plants, than that they belong to the large 
Primrose family ( Primulacece ), and have the 
general characters of that order. They are 
leafy-stemmed, with opposite or whorled leaves, 
and our species all have yellow flowers. The 
specimen at the right baud in the engraving is 
the Four-leaved Loosestrife, LysimacMa quadri- 
folia , and is noticeable for its symmetrical ar¬ 
rangement, the leaves being in whorls of four 
(sometimes more or less), with the flowers upon 
long and very slender stalks from the axils of 
the leaves. The other species is the Upright 
Loosestrife, L. stricta, and has its flowers ar¬ 
ranged in a long pyramidal raceme. This is 
the showiest of our species, of which there are 
five others, to be found in damp thickets. 
The Trilliums, or Wake-Robins. 
In looking through the volumes of the past 
six or eight years, we find that we have figured 
a large number of native shrubs and herbaceous 
plants, and that together they make a col¬ 
lection not to be rivaled by any exotics. We 
have endeavored to point out such natives as 
were worthy of cultivation, and to show lovers 
of flowers whose means were limited that they 
might surround themselves with beautiful ob¬ 
jects without other expense than the trouble of 
removing the plants from their native localities 
to the garden border. There are some excep¬ 
tions to the statement, but we may say as a 
general thing that wild plants improve when 
transferred to the garden. The chief reason of 
this is that the plant has undisputed possession 
of a sufficient amount of soil to allow it to de¬ 
velop to its fullest 
extent, and is not, 
as in its wild lo¬ 
cality, obliged to 
struggle with a 
host of aggressive 
neighbors. Each 
new work publish¬ 
ed abroad contains 
an increased num¬ 
ber of our native 
plants, and we find 
in English cata¬ 
logues very many 
more American 
plants than we 
find in those of 
our own florists 
and nurserymen. 
Among the beauti¬ 
ful native plants 
that are eminently 
worthy of a place 
in our borders, are 
the Trilliums, or 
Wake-Robins. We 
have eight species-, 
all of which are 
interesting, and 
some of them very 
showy. They have 
a tuber-like root- 
stock, from which 
arises a stem bear¬ 
ing at its summit 
a whorl of three 
ample leaves, and 
a single terminal 
flower with its 
parts in threes. 
In the large White Wake-Robin 
(Trillium grandiflorum) the flow¬ 
er is from three to five inches across; white 
when it first opens, and when older chang¬ 
ing to rose color. This is our showiest 
species, and a bed of it is truly beautiful. 
The Purple Wake-Robin, sometimes called 
Birthroot (Trillium erectum), is the species we 
have figured, and gives an idea of the general 
aspect of the others. The petals in this are 
dark purple or maroon color. These and other 
species are to be found in rich damp woods in 
the North and West. When transferred to the 
garden they require a year or two to become 
established, and then they will each spring give 
an abundance of bloom, and are almost unri¬ 
valed in beauty by any flowers of the season. 
comes, those Yerbenas, Geraniums, Heliotropes, 
and other plants that have been in the borders 
all summer. As a general thing this is labor 
lost. The plants have grown quite out of shape, 
and they are very long in recovering from the 
THE PURPLE WAKE-ROBIN, OR TKII.LIUM. 
shock caused by removal, if they do so at all. It 
is as a general thing much belter to strike cut¬ 
tings and get a stock of young plants, and the 
matter can not be attended to too soon. Yerbe¬ 
nas, Geraniums, and the like root readily if they 
are put in sandy soil in a shady place, or they 
may be artificially shaded. Heliotropes suc¬ 
ceed better if potted than do most others, but 
they should be lifted early, in order that they 
may be well established before cold weather. 
Cut back their straggling growth severely. 
Lettuce for Next Spring. —Those who 
have not frames for wintering their lettuce can 
get an early start by sowing about the middle 
of this month the seed of some hardy variety. 
The Brown Dutch and the Green Winter are 
among the hardiest sorts. Sow where water 
will not stand, and when cold weather comes 
give a covering of leaves and brush. Around 
New York the plants winter perfectly well, and 
as soon as a well-enriched spot of ground can 
be got ready in spring the lettuce may be trans¬ 
planted and give a very early crop. 
Plants for Winter.— It is a very common 
thing to take up and pot, about the time frost 
Currant and Gooseberry Trees. —The 
Gardeners’ Magazine (Eng.) describes and figures 
some remarkable currant and gooseberry trees 
growing in the garden of Col. Fox, at Kensing¬ 
ton. He has an avenue of gooseberries trained 
as pyramids and thirteen feet high, and stan¬ 
dard currant-trees which are five feet from the 
ground to the commencement of the head. Our 
gardeners would find it difficult to afford the 
time to produce such specimens did not the de¬ 
structive attacks of the borer render it quite 
impossible. Some years ago our horticultural 
books and journals advocated growing the cur¬ 
rant and gooseberry in the form of a small tree, 
or upon a 11 single leg,” as it was then called. 
Such specimens make handsome objects in the 
garden, but as a general thing, after they have 
grown to a good size, the borer finds its way 
into the stem and that is the end of it. Our 
cultivators have found, to their cost, that it is 
safer to have several stems than a single one. 
