148 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
A Poisonous Weed—Stramonium. 
The plant here figured is familiar enough to 
those who live near towns and villages, but it is 
comparatively unknown in the more newly set¬ 
tled parts of the country. We have more than 
once seen plants which have accidentally sprung 
up in the field or garden, cherished as something 
new and rare. The plant is the Datura Stramo¬ 
nium, of botanists, and is known as Thorn Apple, 
Devil’s Apple, Apple of Peru, Stinlc-weed and 
Jamestown-weed. The first three names refer 
to the fruit, the next to its odor, and the last, 
often corrupted into Jimson, is given to it from 
the fact that, in the early history of Virginia a 
number of soldiers were poisoned by eating 
the plant as “greens,”at Jamestown, Va. It is 
a rank growing plant, from 2 to 5 feet high, 
with smooth, greenish, or sometimes, purple 
stems. Its coarse foliage, long, funnel-shaped 
flower and very prickly fruit, are so well repre¬ 
sented in the engraving that they need no fur¬ 
ther description. The flowers are white, and in 
the variety with purple stems they are tinged 
with that color. The fruit or seed vessel, when 
ripe, splits into four parts, and allows the very 
numerous black, wrinkled, seeds to fal'l out. 
The plant is an annual, grows with great rapid¬ 
ity, and soon takes possession of the ground if 
left undisturbed. All parts of the plant are 
possessed of poisonous properties, and when 
taken into the system affect it in a similar 
manner with other narcotic poisons. Children 
are more liable to be poisoned by it than grown 
persons, as they are attracted by its showy 
flowers and are fond of sucking the sweet, 
honey-like secretion which they contain, and 
sometimes swallow the 
seeds. Great thirst, de¬ 
lirium, drowsiness and 
a remarkable enlarge¬ 
ment of the pupil of 
the eye are among the 
symptoms of poison¬ 
ing by Stramonium. In 
a case of poisoning an 
emetic should be given 
at once; mustard, which 
is always at hand, may 
be used for this pur¬ 
pose. As accounts come 
to us every year of the 
death of a number of 
children from this plant, 
for this reason, if for no 
other, it should be de¬ 
stroyed wherever it 
makes its appearance. 
Being an annual the 
plant may be readily ex¬ 
terminated by mowing. 
Box Edging.— Pre¬ 
pare a bed in some half 
shaded spot, such as the 
north side of a fence. 
The soil should be 
light, moderately rich, 
and well worked to a 
spade’s depth. Stretch 
a garden line along the 
whole length of the bed, 
and open a trench from 
four to six inches deep. 
Take cuttings from old 
plants, making them 5 
or 6 inches long, and 
pull off the leaves from 
three quarters of the lower end. Set an inch and 
h apart and insert up to leaves; pack the soil firm¬ 
ly around them. If there is no shaded border, 
set up boards on the sunny sides of the rows. 
-—.—— - » - 
The Barberry— An Ornamental Shrub. 
{Berberis vulgaris.) 
The New Englander, in removing to another 
portion of the country, misses 
the Barberry, which, although 
of European origin, is perfect¬ 
ly naturalized in the New Eng¬ 
land States, and makes itself 
quite common along the road 
sides and in the fence rows. It 
is a shrub of so much beauty at 
all seasons of the year, that it is 
more worthy of being intro¬ 
duced among our ornamental 
shrubs than many which have 
already a place there. When 
left to itself it forms a dense 
bush, throwing up a few suck¬ 
ers and having its trunk abun¬ 
dantly covered with small limbs; 
it grows from 5 to 8 feet 
high. When trained up to a 
single stem it makes a pretty 
little tree, and in England has 
been known to grow to the 
liight of 30 feet. The wood is 
bright yellow, and in some 
Fig. 1. spines, countries is used in tanning and 
dyeing; the leaves have bristly teeth upon 
their marginsand are very acid. The stems are 
armed with spines, which singularly enough are 
leaves developed in an unusual manner. A new 
shoot has these spines in place of leaves, and 
very often a regular gradation from sharp spines 
into ordinary leaves may be traced, as shown in 
fig. 1. Leaf buds appear in the axils of these 
spines, and next season produce the proper 
leaves in short clusters. The flowers, of a fine 
yellow color, appear in June, in graceful hang¬ 
ing racemes, and are succeeded by clusters of 
coral red berries. The fruit, flowers, and leaves, 
are shown in fig. 3, of the natural size; of course 
the flowers and fruit do not appear together, but 
they are so.represented in the engraving for 
convenience. Whether in bloom or with its 
ripe fruit, the Barberry is-a most pleasing shrub. 
The flowers present a peculiarity which is worth 
noticing. A single flower is shown at a, fig. 2, 
larger than the natural size. The stamens, 
which will be seen lying back against the pet¬ 
als, if touched near the base with a pin or 
other hard point, will immediately spring for¬ 
ward until they touch the pistil, and after re- 
Fig. 3.—BARBERRY—FULL SIZE. 
maining there for some time, move away again. 
This irritability is most manifest in warm weath¬ 
er. The anthers have an unusual contrivance 
for letting out the pollen, which in most other 
anthers is liberated from a slit running length¬ 
wise of them. In the Barberry, there are two 
little plates, or “ trap doors,” fastened at the 
top; these lift and allow the pollen to fall out. 
The stamens are shown in fig. 2, one, 6, with the 
appendages closed, and the other, c, with them 
‘opened.—The fruit, which is very acid, is used 
for making preserves, syrup and pickles. From 
its rapid growth and thorny character, it has 
been recommended as a hedge plant, and judg¬ 
ing from the natural hedges we have seen, it 
would no doubt be a serviceable plant. It is 
readily raised from seed, and may be propa¬ 
gated from suckers. There are several varieties ; 
! 
