1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
841 
The Labrador Tea. 
There are several plants that are rarely to he 
found, save in the damp cold peat swamps, and 
dark moist woods of our Northern States. 
Comparatively few have seen this aspect of 
the previous season. The engraving shows the 
end of a flowering branch of the natural size. 
The corolla consists of five white petals, and 
the stamens, usually of the same number, are 
sometimes six or seven; the fruit is a dry 
oblong pod. The plant, though not so showy 
as some of its relatives, is an exceedingly neat 
Standard Currants and Gooseberries. 
Passing out of the rear entrance of Horticul¬ 
tural Hall at the Centennial, with a party of 
experienced horticulturists, on one of the hot¬ 
test days of July, we came across a large clump 
Labrador tea*.—( Ledum lal;folium.) 
STANDARD GOOSEBERRY.—(6 ft. high.) 
vegetation, where the sphagnum or peat-moss 
covers the surface for acres, the upper portion 
of the moss alive and growing, while the lower 
portion is decaying, and undergoing a gradual 
change into muck or peat. In this wet mass a 
number of plants find a congenial home, one of 
which is the Labrador Tea, Ledum latifolium, a 
shrub which sometimes reaches five, but is 
commonly not more than two feet high. It 
belongs to the Heath Family, with the Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, Azaleas, American Laurels, and An- 
dromedas. Its alternate evergreen leaves are 
oblong, on very short leaf-stalks, entire, and of 
a pale, dull green; as looked at from above 
they present no remarkable appearance, but 
the under surface shows a remarkable contrast; 
in the first place the edge is Deatly turned over¬ 
all around, revolute , as the botanists call it, 
though a lady might compare it to a hem, and 
the whole lower side is covered with a thick 
brownish or rust-colored coating of down or 
wool, reminding one of a piece of felt; we do 
not think of any other native plant that pre¬ 
sents in its leaf such strong contrast of color 
and texture; the new growth of the stem has a 
similar down, which soon disappear-s. The 
flowers appear in May and June in umbel-like 
clusters at the ends of the branches, and pro¬ 
ceed from large scaly buds, which are formed 
and interesting one, and is much prized in 
England in collections of “ American Plants,” 
as the hardy plants of this family, and some 
others, are there called. When found in deep 
peat swamps, a plant that shows only a foot or 
two above the moss, will be found to have a 
stem five or six feet long beneath the surface, 
throwing off, at wide intervals, a few straggling 
root-fibers ; such plants will not live, if trans¬ 
planted, but it is not difficult to find those on 
the margins of the swamp, that are rooted in 
the soil; such, if cut back, are quite likely to 
succeed. All shrubs taken from their native 
localities should be severely cut back; this is 
especially important with evergreens. Like the 
Rhododendron and related plants, this would 
no doubt reach greater perfection in a specially 
prepared peat soil, but we have on two occasions 
removed the plant from its native locality to a 
very sandy garden soil, with very satisfactory 
results. In European nurseries the plants are 
raised from seeds and by layering. A much 
narrower leaved species, L. palustre, is found 
far north in British America. Ledum, is an 
ancient Greek name for some other plant, and 
attached to this by Linnoeus ; the name Labra¬ 
dor Tea refers to the use made of its leaves 
(which are slightly fragrant when bruised) by 
the people of Labrador as a substitute for tea. 
or bed of currants and gooseberries in which 
the bushes presented a strange sight, the foliage 
and fruit being about on the level of the eye. 
Our friends were at first puzzled, but having 
heard of the plants through Dr. Chas. Siedhof, 
North Hoboken, N. J., we were on the look¬ 
out for them, and were glad to see that our 
zealous horticultural friend had not been too 
enthusiastic over this novelty in small fruit 
culture. A novelty indeed to see currants and 
gooseberries, that we are usually obliged to 
look down at, growing where the fruit could 
be examined without stooping, and where a 
good share of mankind could look up at it. 
The label indicated that this interesting exhibi¬ 
tion was by “Kuhn & Co., Hoboken, N. J., 
Sole Agents.” It was our pleasure to meet 
with Mr. Albert Kuhn, whom we found a wide 
awake young horticulturist, enthusiastic not 
only in this, but whatever else relates to horti¬ 
culture, and who not only had no secrets about 
the matter, but very freely gave us the whole 
stoiy with regard to the production of these 
trees, for they can hardly be regarded as bushes, 
with permission to publish whatever we chose. 
Mr. K., in 1869, went to Germany to attend 
the widely known Pomological Institute of Dr. 
Edward Lucas, at Reutlingen, where, soon after 
his arrival, a lot of these standards were re- 
