1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
419 
tageous to callus the roots before planting. The 
roots are taken up before the ground freezes, 
cut into pieces of one to three inches long, and 
ROOT CUTTING. 
stratified 'with earth in a box—a layer of earth 
and a layer of roots. The box has holes bored 
in it to allow any water to pass off, and is buried 
below the reach of frost in a place where all 
moisture can be drained off. The object is to 
keep the roots from freezing, and yet so cool 
that buds will not start too soon. In the spring 
the root cuttings will be found callused and 
furnished with buds, and maybe planted. The 
subject of propagating by root cuttings has not 
received the attention it deserves. Mr. A. S. 
Fuller, in his Small Fruit Culturist, and Mr. 
Peter Henderson, in his Practical Floriculture, 
have given good accounts of the process; but 
there is still an interesting field for experiment. 
Grape-vine Tendrils—A Sport. 
There has been some discussion of late in the 
horticultural journals as to the nature of the ten¬ 
drils of the grape vine. The view generally 
held has been that the tendril is a barren flower 
cluster, and the fact that the clusters often are 
part bunch and part tendril is cited in proof. 
As we consider a flower cluster a modified 
branch, w r e may look upon a tendril in the same 
light. To support this view of the case we 
sometimes have tendrils bearing leaves. Last 
year we found tendrils with leaves on our own 
VINE TENDRIL BEARING A LEAP AND BUD. 
vines, and this year, Mr. R. W. Holton, of Hav- 
erstraw, N. Y., has sent us still more interesting 
specimens, in which the tendril not only bears 
leaves, but buds push from their axils, as shown 
in the engraving. Not long ago M. Cassimir 
De Candolle published a paper in which he 
endeavored to show that leaves are modified 
branches. Whether this view be accepted or 
not, it seems that both the flower cluster and 
the tendril are of like nature, and are both 
branches adapted to serve a particular purpose,— 
in the one case to bear fruit, and in the other 
to hold up and firmly support the vine by cling¬ 
ing with great strength to neighboring objects. 
- — » —O—— »o-- 
A Singular Freak of a Potato. 
Several specimens have been sent us in which 
a new potato had formed within an old one, 
and by its expansion in growing, broken the 
potato apart. It is either the case that the po¬ 
tato has deeply seated, dormant eyes, or that 
it possesses the power under favoring circum¬ 
stances of forming buds where none previously 
existed. Dr. Hexamer has found that potatoes 
which were pared and every visible trace of 
eyes removed, would sometimes produce shoots 
and tubers. We present an engraving of a re¬ 
markable instance of the abnormal growth of 
The specimen as it 
came from Mr. Win. 
Langley, Garland, 
Pa., was a par¬ 
tially cracked tuber 
with a small one j ust 
forcing its way out 
of the fissure. Upon 
breaking open this 
old tuber we found 
within a distorted 
mass of branches, 
upon which several 
small tubers were 
forming, as shown in the reduced figure. Upon 
all the specimens of this singular growth that 
we have seen, the outer surface of the old tuber 
was dry and hard, and it is probable that when 
the bud or eye started into growth it found less 
resistance towards the center of the potato than 
it did in pushing towards the circumference. 
Protecting Trees in Winter. 
In the colder portions of the country it is im¬ 
possible to raise some of the finer fruits unless 
the trees be protected during the winter. Even 
in more temperate localities it is necessary to 
protect some trees, especially evergreens, during 
the first few years of their growth. If Red Cedar 
boughs can be readily obtained, a sufficient pro¬ 
tection can be afforded by tying a number of 
these among the branches of the tree. A plan 
for the protection of small trees is sent us by 
Mr. Martin Howk, Cedar Co., Iowa, which he 
finds to answer well for dwarf trees in gardens. 
Those who will take the pains can, by root 
pruning and proper pinching, keep dwarf pear 
and apple trees quite small in size, and with a 
covering of the kind suggested succeed with va¬ 
rieties, which, without these aids, would be sure 
to fail. Mr. H. describes his protector as fol¬ 
lows : “ Bring the limbs of the tree together and 
bind them so as to occupy as little space as pos¬ 
sible. Drive four stakes into the ground at 
proper distances apart, and saw the tops off 
even a little higher than the tree. Take a board 
about one foot square and drive a nail down 
through each corner into the top of the stakes, 
put a board around the bottom 15 or 20 inches 
high, and nail a few strips to the stakes at equal 
which w T e have spoken. 
ABNORMAL POTATO. 
distances apart, the upper one 2 or 3 inches be¬ 
low the cap board. Take long grass or straw, 
and double it over the lower strip, letting the 
ends hang outside the bottom board; put some 
Fig. 1. TREE PROTECTOR. Fig. 2. 
on the second strip, letting the ends hang out¬ 
side of the first, similar to a thatched roof, and 
continue the process to the top. To prevent 
the wind from displacing the grass, wind a strong 
cord around, taking an extra turn around each 
corner stake, or pass two cords through the 
grass in the same manner that a shoemaker 
sews with two waxed ends. Bank up with 
manure around the bottom board and place a 
few forkfuls inside around the tree. Figure 1 
shows the tree with the frame ready for the 
grass, and fig. 2 the end of bottom board, strips, 
and cap, with the manner of placing the grass. 
——--- -aa&tsc- -*-«»- 
Notes on Lilies—Brown’s Lily and Others. 
Do our readers think we are partial to Lilies ? 
We admit it. Having received so much pleas¬ 
ure from our bed of these beautiful plants, we 
are disposed to write about them until we make 
the finer kinds as popular as the old Tiger and 
Turks-caps are in country gardens. This time, 
however, we shall allow another ardent lover of 
Lilies, Mr. James Vick, of Rochester, N. Y., to 
speak for ns. Mr. V. has sent abundant speci¬ 
mens of flowers, which show his successful cul¬ 
tivation. The notes are on some of the less 
common kinds, which we hope to see in a few 
years as abundant and as easily obtained as 
are the common Japan Lilies. Mr. Vick says: 
“ The Golden-banded Lily, Lilium auratum, 
is one of the earliest Lilies to flower, and also 
one of the latest. About the first of July the 
first buds opened, and to-day, Sept. 1st, I have 
hundreds in full bloom, with almost ripened 
seeds, perfect flowers, and half-formed buds, in 
the same row. 'For some years I thought this 
was due to the fact that the bulbs were import¬ 
ed, some of them being dried or otherwise in¬ 
jured or retarded on the passage from Japan. 
This idea I have abandoned, as several hundred 
that have been in my grounds for three years 
show the same habit. What a glorious thing it 
is that with a dozen or so of bulbs we can have 
this Lily in flower all through, the summer ! For 
several years, indeed from its first importation, 
this Lily has been unhealthy and consequently 
unreliable, imported bulbs often, in fact gener¬ 
ally, rotting after making a feeble growth and 
producing one or two flowers. This has been 
