338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
The Indian Pipe , —(Monotropa uniflora.) 
Among our northern plants we know of none 
more grotesque, or more likely to arrest the at¬ 
tention of the indifferent observer, than the Ind¬ 
ian Pipe we have figured. A while ago we were 
walking through our woods with a city friend, 
who noticed curious white spots upon the 
ground. He asked what these were, and was 
fold if he would come in two weeksflie should 
see. He came, and the engraving shows what 
these white, spots came to. A pure waxy white 
stem, so singularly white that it has been called 
the “ Corpse Plant,” lifts itself up, bearing along 
its length dead white leaves, and at its summit 
a single flower. This flower is bent-downwards, 
while it is a flower, but in fruit it is erect. Dur¬ 
ing the flowering season, a clump of this plant 
presents a most striking appearance. There 
are usually several in a group, all of a pure, 
ghostly white, 3 to 8 inches high, and often with 
tiie tops of the stems turning t he same way. The 
plant is found in dark and rich woods, and from 
its place of growth, as well as its singular ap¬ 
pearance, is usually taken for a fungus. The 
slightest examination will show that it is not a 
fungus, but a flowering plant, as it has ten 
stamens and a very large pistil. The botanical 
generic name, 3fonotropa, is from the Greek, 
meaning “ one turn,” as the summit of the stem 
is turned to one side. The specific name, uni¬ 
flora ■, was given on account of its having but 
one flower. While the plant is of such a pure 
white, when plucked it soon turns to a jet black. 
Dried as botanical specimens are usually 
dried, it is thoroughly black. One of our 
friends is making an experiment with various 
solutions, to see if he cannot preserve this 
plant in its colorless condition. Those who 
mistake the plant for a fungus are not so very 
much at fault, as it has all the habits of a 
fungus. It grows on decomposing vegetable 
matter, and may have an attachment to liv¬ 
ing plants. The engraving given upon the 
preceding page was taken from an undersized 
specimen, which grew in a rather dry place. 
---*» « -wa O —— »-fs»-■ 
Garden Edgings. 
We have referred to the matter of garden 
edgings more than once, but recent correspond¬ 
ence requires that we should notice it again. 
We think it a. matter upon which too much 
stress is laid. The old style of gardening re¬ 
quired that every border and bed should be 
edged with box or some similar plant. Where 
beds are cut in the lawn, edgings can very well 
Fig. 1.— EDGING- WITH BRICK. 
he dispensed with, the grass itself being a suffi¬ 
cient setting for (he plants. Considerable care 
is required and frequent use of the edging knife, 
to prevent, the grass from running into the bed, 
but in well-kept grounds this is easily done. 
Where the lawn borders upon a walk, or where 
a flower border is to be separated from a walk, 
one of the most permanent and available edg¬ 
ings is one of brick, set half or more into the 
ground, and close together. Moderate curves, 
as well as straight lines, may be made in this 
way. If the red color is objected to they may 
be washed over with water cement, which can 
have its color modified by umber or other de¬ 
sired color. Box is the best living edging, but 
it implies care, and at the best, requires resetting 
every few years. When raised beds are made 
in lawns, their outline may be maintained by 
an edging of bricks set as shown in figure 
1. Board edgings are intolerable, as they 
warp and decay to an annoying degree. A 
correspondent suggests an edging of iron— 
Fig. 2.— EARTHEN-WARE EDGINGS. 
boiler-plate we suppose—with iron stakes 
which are to be thrust into the ground riveted 
to it. This would be too difficult to procure, 
too expensive, and when set, would rust, if not 
protected by coal tar, which would make them 
of an unsightly black. We hope that some of 
our potteries will furnish such edging tiles as 
are in use in England, and as a hint we give 
in figure 2, some of the styles approved abroad. 
----- — --- 
Notes from “ The Pines.”—No. 4. 
Bean lovers will stick a pin here and remem¬ 
ber it next season. The Dwarf Wax Bean is a 
good thing—not so good as the Giant Wax (pole), 
but it is after that style,—and then so early! 
Planted a few days later than the Early Valen¬ 
tine, it was a week ahead of it. It is not a 
“string” bean, because it has no strings, but it 
has a great deal of “snap” about it. The pods 
look whitish and sickly, but just try them 1 
They do not boil down into flabbiness, but keep 
their proper rotundity. For bean salad they 
are splendid. Perhaps the reader does not 
know bean salad. Beans, oil, and vinegar. If 
oil is objected to, as it is by some, try butter and 
vinegar, but don’t forget the beans. The House¬ 
hold Department will please excuse any tres¬ 
passing, but I am an enthusiast on salads. . 
Is it not strange to note how few people use 
their eyes? Iliad a handful of chestnut blos¬ 
soms, from which Mr. Beaulieu made the beauti¬ 
ful drawing on another page, and a gentleman 
at the station, as we were waiting for the cars, 
asked me what flowers I had. He probably did 
not suppose that one of the 
Agriculturist staff would have 
any common thing. Yet this 
man was born and “raised” 
within a mile of the tree from 
which the blossoms came. When 
a child I read a story by Miss 
Edgeworth (I think), called 
“Eyes and No Eyes.” You 
could not do better than to 
publish that, or something 
like it, in your Boys’ and Girls’ Department. 
A distinguished Senator once wrote to a dis¬ 
tinguished Cabinet officer a letter which read as 
follows: “Stick.” It was not very long, but very 
emphatic. I not being a Senator and never 
expecting to be, humbly say “ stick,” for this 
is the time at which all Chrysanthemum 
growers should stick. The autumnal gales will 
come, and then where will you be? If there 
was ever a plant constructed for the particular 
purpose of being broken, it is the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum. If it were human, I should say that it 
had the “ break bone fever,” but as it isn’t, I 
say “stick.” 
Our Walks and Talks editor says that some 
of us think that he has fall fallowing on the 
brain. If his fall fallowing does as much good 
as our summer fallowing he may be insane in 
that direction as much as he likes. Taking an 
old place that was overstocked with weeds our 
first business was to subdue the land. A large 
patch was summer fallowed, and as soon as the 
weeds showed themselves the cultivator was 
put through. Kind neighbors advised that the 
piece should be put in this or that crop, but we 
kept on cultivating it for weeds. A week or 
two ago it was sown to ruta-bagas of various 
.kinds, and if there is a patch in the whole 
county that shows a better stand and is more 
free from weeds, we should like to see it. Having 
once got the start of the weeds it is a compara¬ 
tively easy matter to keep the supremacy. 
Several have asked me for my potato experi¬ 
ence. I have none to give until the potatoes 
have completed their career and the vines have 
died. It would not be fair, for some potatoes 
have a wonderful way of catching up on what 
we may call the “ home stretch.” For instance, 
we had potato A as large as pullets’ eggs, while 
potato B was only as large as good-sized peas. 
A week after potato B was nearly equal in size 
to potato A. An opinion given at this time 
would have been manifestly unfair. So with the 
Tomatoes. We have 21 different sorts, all 
growing in open field culture. Those which 
set the earliest do not fill the soonest, and any 
verdict as to productiveness, until all are ripe, 
would be premature. 
I must, however, say a word for the Black 
Pekin Egg Plant. It has such an upright growth 
and such a marked foliage that it is worth grow¬ 
ing as an ornamental plant,—and it was intro¬ 
duced as such. But for its fruit it is remarkable; 
we have them almost large enough for the 
table while the regular New York Improved is 
just thinking about fruiting. 
It is a good thing to be able to give one a new 
sensation, provided it be a pleasant one. A 
friend was here who had never eaten beet 
greens. Now, after spinach, if there is anything 
better than a juvenile beet,—a beet just beginning 
to be-it, thinned out that its brothers might 
grow, and then exalted to the table with a plen- 
.ty of butter and just a dash of vinegar—I want 
to see it. 
People talk about the squash-bug and the 
striped bug, hut neither is as bad as is a brother 
to the striped bug, the Galeruca decern punctata , 
which means the 10-spotted Galeruea. It looks 
as innocent as a lady-bug, has the same shape, 
but is yellow, with 10 black spots. If this fellow 
gets on the vines it leaves its mark. They look 
as if they had been scorched. The striped bug, 
another Galeruca , is troublesome when the vines 
are young, but this 10-spotted fellow comes at 
anytime. It is of no use to chase him after 
sunrise, for he is livelier than his pursuer. In 
the early morning when he is chilled he may 
be caught, but let him alone and two or three 
will during the day spoil the most vigorous 
leaf. Fortunately we planted some for the 
bugs, but then it is discouraging to see the havoc 
this rascal will make. 
Then the borer. Entomologists tell us to cut 
