AMERICAN AG-RIOULTURIST. 
65 
isac.] 
NEW FOLIAGE PLANT—ACHYBANTHE3 VERSCSAFFELTn. 
carving spoons and other utensils; 
hence the name Spoon-wood, some¬ 
times applied to it. The stems are 
a favorite material for use in the con¬ 
struction of rustic chairs and other 
similar work. The leaves are said to 
be equally poisonous with the Sheep- 
laurel, to cattle and sheep. We have 
before alluded to the fact that our na¬ 
tive shrubs when found in the nurse¬ 
ries are usually imported plants. A 
considerable quantity of this rather 
common one is annually imported. 
We have seen no successful trans¬ 
planting of large specimens from 
their native localities, but have known 
those of moderate size to do well 
when thus removed. Select plants 
from open places in preference to 
those growing in the woods, in early 
spring take them up with a ball, 
and set them in better soil than that 
from which they are taken. A light, 
moist soil, with a plenty of vegetable 
matter suits them best; we have suc¬ 
ceeded in a very sandy soil, with 
which a good share of well weath¬ 
ered muck was incorporated. The 
plants need a partial shade either 
from trees or buildings. In nurseries 
the Laurel is raised both from seeds 
and by cuttings. Seeds are sown in 
sandy peat in a close frame, the young 
plants potted when large enough, and 
kept in the close air of a frame until 
well established, when they are very 
gradually exposed to free air. Cut¬ 
tings of the young wood are placed 
in pots of similar soil and kept cov¬ 
ered with a bell glass, in the shade, 
until they take root. This beautiful 
genus commemorates the name of 
Peter Kalm, a Swedish ootanist who 
visited this country about the middle 
of the last century, while its specific 
name, latifolia designates that it is broad-leaved. 
The narrow-leaved species, Kalmia angustifoUa 
was illustrated and described in August last. 
-- 
I The New “Foliage Plant.” 
' {Acfiyranfhes Yerscliaffeltii.) 
The value of plants with strongly marked or 
colored foliage, for decorative purposes, is well 
established, and every addition to their number 
is regarded with interest. By the judicious use 
of these, brilliant effects may be produced, and 
as they are more permanent, they are often more 
satisfactory for certain uses than are flowers. 
The latest novelty in this line is Achyranthes 
Verschaffdtii, of which we have seen glowing 
accounts in the European journals, and now 
have the satisfaction of flguring it from a speci¬ 
men sent us by Mr. G. Marc, of Astoria, L. I., 
who was the first to bring it to this country. 
The plant is from one to two feet high, branch¬ 
ing freely, and with a natural tendency to as¬ 
sume a globular shape. The leaves are of the 
form shown in the engraving, but our drawing 
was taken from a young specimen, and does not 
show them as large as they are upon the older 
plants; they are entirely smooth, as is the stem 
with the exception of a ring of hairs at each 
joint. As far as the form of the several parts 
goes, we have no difficulty in giving our readers 
a correct idea of the plant, but what shall we do 
for color, the quality upon which its whole 
value depends? We can only ask them to im¬ 
agine all the light portions of the drawing to be 
of a lively carmine color, and the shaded por¬ 
tions, blackish red or maroon. There is no green 
about the plant, but the stem,branches and leaf¬ 
stalks are all of a beautiful carmine, while the 
leaves are very dark with strongly marked car¬ 
mine veins, which give the whole a very lively 
appearance. It is said to stand extremes of 
to frost than Coleus, We hope that 
the plant will do as well in this coun¬ 
try as it has done in Europe, and 
have no doubt that it will in that 
case become exceedingly popular. 
This Achyranthes is from the River 
Plata, and is also a native of Peru. 
It unfortunately has already two 
names, the one we have given it 
above, which is that under which it 
was first distributed; and Iresine 
Herbstii^ a name it has in some of the 
English journals. Which name is the 
true one can only be determined from 
the structure of the flowers and fruit, 
which it has not produced in Europe, 
though it probably will be induced to 
flower in our warm summers. As 
there is a question about the name, 
we use the one by which the plant is 
known to our florists, without com¬ 
mitting ourselves to its correctness. 
About India Rubber. 
Forty ye.ars ago, India rubber was 
merely known as a curious body, the on¬ 
ly use of which was to erase pencil-marks 
from paper. Now we should hardly 
know how to do withomt it, in so many 
forms does its utility manifest itself. It 
serves for car springs and coat buttons ; 
it covers our feet in w.ater proof and 
smooths our hair with the best of combs. 
It is elastic where elasticity is required, 
and firm when we wish firmness. But 
this is not telling what India rubber is. 
Several trees have a milky juice, which, 
upon drying, leaves the peculiar sub¬ 
stance we know as India rubber. As it 
was first obtained from a tree of the East 
Indies —Ficus elaslica, often grown in 
green-houses—it received its appellation 
of India or Indian, though the great sup¬ 
ply of commerce comes from South America. The 
tree which furnishes most of it, is called Siphonia 
elastica, a twig of which is shown in the engrav¬ 
ing below. This tree belongs to the Spurge Fam¬ 
ily, of which we have some minor representa¬ 
tives as weeds, which also produce a milky juice. 
The Siphonia abounds in the Brazilian forests, 
and it is not likely that the supply will fail. The 
collectors of the product, cut holes in the trunk, 
and place vessels beneath to receive the juice as it 
runs out. The fresh juice appears quite like milk, 
and if bottled and carefully corked as soou as it is 
collected, it m.ay be kept for a long time unchanged. 
It is sometimes imported in bottles as a curiosity, 
and for chemical investigation, but the mass of that 
which we obtain has been through a rude process 
of manufacture. It comes in large flat masses, and 
in bottles, as they are termed ; these are globular 
vessels of various sizes and thicknesses, made by 
fixing a b.all of clay upon the end of a stick, dip¬ 
ping the clay in the milk and drying the coating 
thus formed, over a fire. When one coating is dry, 
the dipping and drying are repeated, and thus a 
bottle of any required thickness is obtained. Then 
the clay mould is broken ana the fragments are shak¬ 
en out at the neck, which is of course where the stick 
joined the mould. The imported shoes which 
were formerly so much worn, were made in a simi¬ 
lar manner upon clay lasts. Though naturally 
adapted to many uses, the difficulty of working it, 
together with the readiness with which it is 
hardened by cold and softened by heat,- rendered it 
unavailable for many of the purposes for which we 
now employ it. The remarkable discovery of the 
“Vulcanizing” processes was mainly due to our 
countryman, Goodyear. They consist essentialiy in 
‘ combining the rubber with sulphur and exposingit 
