1870.] 
143 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
be both ornamental and useful. We have two 
native Poly mnias—-which have the common 
name of Leaf-cup — and very coarse-looking 
things they are. It is to be hoped that this re¬ 
cent Bolivian introduction is more elegant than 
its Yankee relatives. The plant has tuberous 
roots, similar to those of the Dahlia, and it is 
stated by the Prussian seed growers that the 
roots are much esteemed as food in their native 
co mi try. We give an engraving of the root as 
represented in the Prussian catalogues. A re- 
( 
ROOTS OF THE EDIBUE POLYMNIA. 
cent French writer says that the roots of this 
Polymnia resemble those of the Dahlia in both 
form and taste, and “ this, in an alimentary point 
of view, allows us to appreciate the future of 
this plant.” The seeds are very scarce; but 
thanks to Messrs. Thorburn & Co., we have a 
few for trial, and hope that it will prove either 
handsome to look at or good to eat, if not both. 
We should add that the Polymnia belongs to 
the Composite Family, and that the genus was 
named after Polyhymnia, one of the muses. 
Our native species do not deserve so poetical a 
name, but perhaps this South American one 
will show that Linnaeus was, after all, not so 
far wrong in imposing it. 
Opium Culture. 
The request that those who had grown pop¬ 
pies and collected opium should give their ex¬ 
perience, has brought out several replies, but 
none so full of details as that of a correspond¬ 
ent “B.,” in Wisconsin, who requests that we 
shall withhold his name and save him the 
“ postage, paper, and time ” it would require 
to answer letters. His experiments in opium 
raising were made in New York State, in 1848 
to 1852, upon one-fourth of an acre. Mr. B. 
states that he made in all over 27 pounds of 
opium, specimens of which were sent to several 
medical colleges; a quantity was sent to New 
York to have the morphia extracted, and he 
has the statement of the chemist that the yield 
was up to the average of that of the best im¬ 
ported opium. The first point to be considered 
in regard to this as with all other crops is—will 
it pay? Mr. B. says: “It will pay, and pay 
well, if attended to rightly. I know that I can 
take an acre of land and get more money from 
it than from three acres in any other crop I 
ever saw. It is not an exhausting crop, but a 
good one to precede wheat. At $10 or even $8 
a pound, it will pay better than corn or wheat. 
I am not afraid that many will raise poppies or 
that too mffch opium will be made. It is too 
small business to suit the mass of farmers. It 
is worse than a dairy in requiring close atten¬ 
tion to business. The man of small means, with 
a little land, and who is close, careful, and 
plucky, will make it pay. A good boy or girl 
can attend to a quarter of an acre, and have 
over half a day to spare. The labor of weed¬ 
ing and hoeing is no more than for car¬ 
rots or onions.” Here is the point that 
all intending to experiment should keep 
in mind. It is “ small business,” i. e., full 
of minor details, the proper observance 
of which are necessary to success. Good, 
rich land is required, which should be 
pulverized and leveled as for an onion 
bed. Drills are then drawn with a marker 
so arranged as to make two drills one 
foot apart, then a space of 18 inches for 
a walk, then two more drills a foot apart 
and so on. The seed should be that of 
the Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum , 
which is now kept by our large seed deal¬ 
ers. The exceedingly fine seed must be 
covered very lightly, which is best done 
by drawing the back of a rake lightly 
over and along the drill. The plants are 
to be thinned to six inches apart in the 
rows and to be kept clean by proper cul¬ 
tivation until they come into flower. 
After the flowers fall away the work of 
gathering begins as soon as the capsules 
or seed vessels are of sufficient size. 
Some are under the impression that 
opium is an extract of the Poppy plant, made 
by pressing out the juice and evaporating 
it; but such is not the case, it is the dried milky 
juice of the Poppy, which is secreted, probably 
for the nourishment of the seed, just as the seed 
vessels are growing, and can only be obtained 
by scarifying them at the proper time. We will 
give an account of the process another month. 
—» « —j&s— s~mm. -■ 
The Relies of the “Grape Mania.” 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
Two years ago it became evident that that ex¬ 
tended, general culture of the grape was a fail¬ 
ure. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, found them¬ 
selves in possession of glass structures that had 
been erected for its propagation, looming up as 
unpleasant reminders of disappointed hopes, of 
labor wasted and of money lost. None but 
those engaged in the business can conceive how 
wide-spread had been the area to which the 
propagation had extended, or the amount of 
capital that had been invested in a business 
which, to the majority of those engaged in it, 
proved a total loss. Having been long occupied 
in horticultural pursuits, and being somewhat 
affected with the grape fever at the time it 
raged, Iwas called upon by hundreds for informa¬ 
tion in regard to the construction of propagating 
houses, or green-houses best suited for growing 
vines. These inquiries came from nearly every 
State in the Union and from all classes of the 
community; from the man of means, ready to 
invest his $10,000 or $15,000 in the enterprise, 
down to the poor farmer or mechanic about to 
hazard his only hundred or two in a business of 
which he was entirely ignorant. The only as¬ 
sets of this now bankrupt business are the 
green-houses which were erected for the pro¬ 
pagation of the grape. How to make these 
assets available is the object of this article. 
In all cases where grape propagation was 
started in the vicinity of a town of 5,000 or more 
inhabitants, there is no doubt that these green¬ 
houses might be made available for growing 
vegetables or flowers. As the determination, as 
to which will be the more profitable, depends 
much upon the location, the directions here 
given can only be general, and the reader must 
use his own judgment as to what is likely to 
best suit his locality. Many vegetables may yet 
be sown (in April) under the protection of the 
green-house, so as to gain at least two or three 
weeks in earliness over those sown in the open 
ground. These are here named in the order of 
their importance as market crops in most 
places: Cabbage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, 
melon, Lima bean, egg plant and pepper plant. 
Cabbages and lettuce are the only ones named 
that are what are termed hardy vegetables. 
These should be sown thinly in shallow boxes 
filled with soil to the depth of three or four 
inches, and placed on the bench or table of the 
green-house or propagating house, but in the 
coldest part or that part where most ventilation 
can be given. The seeds should be so sown 
that the plants when growing will be about half 
an inch apart each way as nearly as may be. If 
sown the first week of April, they will make 
fine plants for setting out in the open ground 
about the first of May, which will be soon 
enough for an early crop in most sections of the 
Northern States. The lettuce plants may either 
be planted out between the rows of cabbages 
or by themselves. The distance for the early 
varieties of cabbage is 2 feet between the rows 
and 10 or 18 inches between the plants. The 
lettuce may be planted closer than the cabbage, 
14 or 15 inches; or, if planted in a bed by them¬ 
selves, about 14 inches each way. 
Tomato, egg and pepper plants require nearly 
the same treatment as cabbage and lettuce, 
though, if no artificial heat is used in the green¬ 
house, the tomatoes should not be sown before 
the second week of April, and the pepper and 
egg plants not before the first of May. These, 
like the cabbage and lettuce plants, are most 
conveniently handled bj r being sown in the 
shallow boxes, with two or three inches of soil. 
We use soap boxes cut in three; in each box we 
sow seeds sufficient to produce 1,000 or 1,500 
plants. These, when an inch or so high, we re¬ 
plant in the same sized boxes, about 100 in each 
box, taking care to water and shade for a day or 
two when the sun is shining. These plants 
will be ready to set in the open ground from 
the 20th of May to the 1st of June. Lima 
beans, cucumbers and melons should also be 
sown in the green-house in the boxes above 
recommended, but not sooner than the second 
week in May; in ten days from time of sowing 
they will be fit to replant in boxes, say at two 
or three inches apart, and will have grown suffi¬ 
ciently to be set in the open ground by the first 
week in June, which will be quite soon enough, 
as these are plants of tropical origin, and are 
easily chilled if the weather is not settled and 
warm. In removing the plants from the boxes 
to the open ground the roots should be disturbed 
as little as possible, and planting always done, 
if practicable, in the cool of the evening. Press 
the soil firmly about the roots, and if the soil is 
dry water freely. The same rules apply to all 
vegetables here named, and all thus treated, 
by forwarding in the green-house, will give a 
crop, as already stated, from two to three weeks 
earlier than if sown in the open ground. 
The cultivation of flowers in the green-house 
is generally supposed to require a large expe- 
