1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
381 
The Virginia Itea. 
The Itea is one of several, pretty, native shrubs 
that have failed to find a place in our ornamen¬ 
tal collections, probably for the reason that no 
dealer has seen fit to praise them in his cata¬ 
virginia itea,— (Itcci Virginica.) 
logue. This spring we flowered the Itea for the 
first time, and though we had frequently seen 
the wild plant, were not prepared to find it such 
a pleasing addition to our collection. The 
shrub grows from four to six feet high, is much 
disposed to branch, and at the end of each 
small branch, bears a spike-like raceme about 
three inches long, of rather crowded white 
flowers. The flowers appear in June, and con¬ 
tinue for a considerable time. The Itea is found 
along the coast from New Jersey southward, 
and naturally grows in wet places, though it 
flourishes well in almost any soil. It is readily 
increased by suckers and by seeds. The shrub 
does not seem to be well enough known to have 
received a common name; its botanical one, 
Itea, is the Greek name for the Willow, and is 
said to have been applied to this plant on ac¬ 
count of the willow-like rapidity of its growth. 
The Pyracanth Thorn for Hedges. 
The Pyracanth Thorn, Crataegus Pyrcicantlia, 
is a small evergreen shrub from the south of 
Europe. It is abundantly furnished with thorns 
and its small, horizontal branches terminate in 
sharp points. The foliage is of a rich green; 
its small white flowers are produced in great 
abundance, and are followed by small, red ber¬ 
ries which are in such profusion and give such 
a glow to the plant during winter that the 
French call it Buisson ardent, or Burning-bush. 
Its berries are not much eaten by birds, and as 
they, as well as the foliage, remain on all winter, 
the plant is a very ornamental one. It is used 
in Europe for covering walls, and is sometimes 
grafted standard high upon the Hawthorn to 
make an orna¬ 
mental tree. We 
are not aware 
that it is there 
employed as a 
hedge plant. In 
the southern 
portions of this 
country it has 
been thoroughly 
tested for hedg¬ 
ing, and has been 
found to answer 
admirably; this 
and the McCart¬ 
ney Rose being 
the two favorite 
plants for live 
fences. The late 
Thomas Affleck, 
writing for Tex¬ 
as, considers the 
Pyracanth the 
most valuable for 
hedges for that 
country, and that 
it requires only 
one - fourth the 
care that the 
Osage Orange 
does. Unfortu¬ 
nately the plant 
is not hardy 
at the North, 
though it en¬ 
dures the win¬ 
ters near Wash¬ 
ington. Some 
years ago a seed¬ 
ling Pyracanth 
sprung up in an 
English nursery, 
which bore orange-colored fruit, and plants of 
this were propagated under the name of White- 
fruited, as affording a pleasing contrast with the 
ordinary red-fruited sort. Frequently these va¬ 
rieties arc not as hardy as the type; but Messrs. 
Parsons & Co., of Flushing, N. Y., have found 
the White-fruited Pyracanth to be more hardy 
than the red, it having in their grounds stood 
unharmed through the severest winters. It 
grows rapidly, and makes a most compact and 
impenetrable hedge. The Pyracanth is propa¬ 
gated by cuttings about six inches long, made in 
the fall, and set two-thirds of their length in the 
ground. The nursery bed should be mulched 
in summer, and the plants should remain in it 
for a year. The proper time to set the hedge is 
the fall, as the plants start very early and are im¬ 
patient of removal in spring. In the engraving 
we give a small twig of the natural size to show 
its thorny character and the shape of the leaves; 
also, a cluster of flowers and one of fruit, both of 
which are smaller than in our common thorns. 
are then placed in a situation where the temper¬ 
ature will range from 55° to 75°, with a moder¬ 
ate amount of moisture. By this treatment, 
Rhubarb may be had from January to April. 
The roots may be placed wherever there is 
the necessary temperature; light is not neces¬ 
Forcing Rhubarb. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
Forcing Rhubarb is one y the simplest of all 
our forcing or forwarding operations. The 
roots are dug from the open ground in fall, put 
close together in a box or barrel, and soil sifted 
in to fill the interstices between the roots; they 
WHITE-FRUITED PYRACANTH THORN. 
sary at all, in fact the stalks of Rhubarb are 
much more crisp and tender when forced with¬ 
out exposure to direct light; hence the roots 
may be placed in the furnace room of a cellar, 
under the staging of a greenhouse, or in an ear¬ 
ly forcing grapery. A florist in Boston, a few 
years ago, told me that he had sold enough 
Rhubarb grown under his greenhouse stages, to 
pay his coal bill, (over $100), besides having all 
he wanted for his family use. Rhubarb is 
forced quite extensively by some of our market 
gardeners; the method pursued by them is to lift 
the roots from the open ground in the fall, place 
them as closely together as possible in such pits 
or frames as are used for hot-beds, but about 
two feet deep, sifting in soil so as to fill the 
spaces between the roots. On the approach o( 
cold weather, the whole is covered over with a 
foot or so of dry leaves, and so remains until 
about the first of February, when the leaves are 
removed and sashes placed on the frames.—- 
Sometimes this is not done until March, tins 
sashes being then used which have been cover¬ 
ing cabbage plants through the winter. But lit¬ 
tle ventilation is given to the frames at this cold 
season, as it is necessary to raise the tempera¬ 
ture of the frame by the action of the sun’s rays, 
so as to forward the crop. It greatly aids the 
forwarding if the sashes are covered up at night 
by straw mats or shutters to retain the heat. 
Rhubarb so forced matures about one month 
