JAN. 24 
MEW-YOBSCEB. 
The growth Is rapid. From roots so removed 
from their native grounds in Lbe early spring, 
trees uot less than tifteen feet in hight may be 
counted upon in five years thereafter. 
Our engraving of leaf, fruit and blossom is 
a very faithful portrait drawn from the tree 
above alluded to, and reduced in size, except 
the fruit cone which is the average natural 
size. The flowers .appear in early June, aud 
from their resemblance to the Tulip (Leir/op, a 
Lily or Tnlip), the tree derives its familiar 
name. Tney ar e externally of a greenish color 
so little removed from that of the leaf, that a 
tree may pass through its blooming period un¬ 
known to those who pass it daily. Nevetuhc- 
less, the flowers are pretty enough upon exam¬ 
ination, being internally of a yellowish color, 
with a baud around tne bottom petals, of deep 
orange. 
It is variously called Poplar, White-Wood 
Tulip Tree, Virginia Poplar, Saddle Tree (from 
the truncate shape ot the leaves), Canoe 
Wood, etc. 
LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA. 
11KV. A. W. MAX GUM. 
Tms tree, so wide-spread and well known, 
is one of the most beautiful aud valuable of 
the products of the American lorest, aud de¬ 
serves much higher esteem than it receives. 
As an oruamentai tree, it will compare favor¬ 
ably with me Uandsumeet 01 our uativo trees. 
Tne trunk is erect aud stately, the branches 
naturally incline to symmetry, the loliage is 
exeeptiouaiiy beautitul, Um tulip shaped flow¬ 
ers are fragrant and modestly attractive, and 
the bright yellow of its auiuum garh mingles 
charmingly with the myriad hues oi the lading 
groves. To those who demand the more prac¬ 
tical, its claims are even more potent Per¬ 
haps tuere is no part ot the tree that has not 
been applied to some special purpose for the 
beneflt of man. it was, perhaps, this variety 
that was used by the savages to make their 
“poplar" canoes. The early settlers on the 
Atlantic coast utilized the tree iu various ways. 
They made of the buds uu ointment which 
they thought to be “ excellent good to cure all 
manner ol mflatninaiious, scalds and burns." 
They learned that •* it is very durable aud 
lasting under ground aud iu the water." They 
tell us tnal it “ makes handsome wainscot, 
tables, shingles for houses and planks lor 
several uses.” 
The bark of the root and even of the branch¬ 
es is still regarded as a ionic. The timber is 
still noted lor its durability, iu ruils it will 
last filty years. TIlc writer is informed of one 
instance in which it is probable that the runs 
have lasted over 50 years. Though it is pecu¬ 
liarly sensitive to the effects oi moisture, it is 
much used in building. Being straight, long, 
durable, and easily hewn, it often takes the 
place of other timber in the plates, etc., of 
houses, it is commonly choseu iu some local i- 
ies for troughs iu which to Iced hugs, cows 
and horses; and also lor the beating of Die 
apples in those places in which Lhere are no 
cider-mills. Notwithstanding its tendency to 
swell in damp weather, it is used by us in 
making furniture. While the young tree lur- 
nishes the augier with a light lisLing-rod, the 
bark of the tree has furnished the scholar with 
paper. The tree sometimes reaches the diame¬ 
ter of nine, ten, and even eleven feet. One ti ee 
sometimes yields 10,UU0 feet of good lumber. 
From the Report on Forestry, 1 learn iliat 
about 15,000,tKX) ieet of poplar logs are uuuii- 
ally floated on the Cuuibcilund to Nashville, 
Tenn. The comparative rapidity of the growth 
is a forcible recommendulion. Having so 
many good qualities, it ought surely to he 
60 highly esteemed as to he better protected 
and more faithfully cultivated. 
--- 
A BARE ELM. 
JAMES HOGG. 
s Las t spring Mr. C. is. Bargent, of the Harvard 
Arboretum, noticed in Central Bark, just south 
of the entrance at Fifth Avenue aud Wd fStrect, 
an Elm tree which was entirely different from 
any species he had hitherto seen. He wrote to 
me asking if i could identify it or give any his¬ 
tory of it. Iwas not able to identify the species* 
hut was able to give him a short history of it, 
which 1 subjoin, as it may he of interest to some 
of your readers: 
About twenty years ago when I was con¬ 
nected with the Central Park us one of the 
Commissioners, I visited the different nurseries 
in the neighborhood of the city to inspect their 
stock of trees aud shruhB as a guide to making 
purchases for the Park. At Mr. Gustin’e nur¬ 
sery on the Newark flats, I found an Elm tree 
which was quite sub-evergreeu, with very 
small, persistent leaves, very thickly set on 
very short, delicate twigs. Mr. Gusliu did not 
know the name of it, hut said that he received 
it from France. 1 was much struck with its 
beauty uuu ordered some live or six plants, all 
he ban pi* ( agated, for the Central Park, and 
the tree a. Uie Wd 6t. entrance is one of them, 
and I believe the only one surviving. Air-. Gus- 
tiu’s nursery has long since beeu brokeu up, 
hat th» original iraa was still growing ou the 
grounds some two or three years ago. Mr. 
Sargent, this autumn, found another tree of 
the same species growing in the grounds of the 
Agricultural Department at Washington, 
where it was known as UlmusSiberica, a name 
not to be found in any book of descriptive 
botany that either of us is aware of. 
FRUIT OF TULIP TREE.—FROM LIFE.—FIG. 15. 
He sent a specimen of the tree in the Park to 
Prof. Oliver, of the Kew Herbarium,' who pro- 
nouueee it to be Ulmus parvlfolia. Loudon in 
his Arboretum Brittanicum, gives it as a variety 
of Ulmus campestrls, and quotes U. micro- 
phylla of Persoon and U. pumila of Wildenow 
as synonyms, Loudon thus described it—"A 
tree, according to Pallas who mentions several 
varieties of it, very common in all the woods 
in the south of Russia, and varying in hight 
from that of a middle-sized tree to teat of a 
diminutive shrub, according to the soil and cli¬ 
mate In which it grows. It is very plentiful 
about Caucasus; through Siberia, it gradually 
becomes more scarce ; but occurs again about 
Lake Baikal, where the inhabitants use the 
leaves as a substitute for tea. In mountain 
rocks the branches are short and thick; but in 
sandy soils the trees are small, aud the shootB 
slender." 
Persoon described U. micropbylla as having 
small leaves, sharply serrate, nearly equally 
attenuated at the base, and the branches 
twiggy. He gives IT. pumila ort?*. trausbaical- 
ensls as a variety with thickly-set lanceolate- 
ovate leaves like Enphrasia officinalis (Eye- 
bright). He also mentions a variety very 
similar to the above but somewhat larger in 
its growth. 
LEAF OF ULMUS PAKVIFOLIA.—FROM LIFE.— 16. 
Unlike other Elms which ripen their seeds in 
June or July, this species does uot lipeu its 
seeds until October or November. The seedB 
on the tree In the Cent ral Park appear to be all 
abortive this year, hut the tree at Washington 
is producing good seeds. The tree iu the Park 
i3 about twouty-flve feet high, the branches are 
erect and do not droop j at all. It is a very 
beautiful species and some of our nurserymen 
should obtain some of the seeds or cions for 
grafting, and offer it for general cultivation, 
as it ie well worthy of introduction and distri¬ 
bution. I may add that M. Maxirnowicz and 
Dr. Savatier have found it iu Japan. 
Jfarm topics. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL EXPERI¬ 
MENTAL GROUNDS. 
Canllflower. 
One of the most prized—and justly so—of 
all our vegetables is the cauliflower, and it is 
also one of the most difficult to raise in perfec¬ 
tion by those who have not learnt by expe¬ 
rience or otherwise of its special needs. A 
heavy, solid curd, as nearly rouud as may be, 
free from protruding leaves and at least a foot 
in diameter, may be considered the standard 
of excellence. In Erfurt, cauliflowers are 
grown iu low muck lands, with intervening 
ditches of water, aud even then daring dry 
weather, water from the ditches is thrown over 
"the plants. Water, therefore, is of the first 
necessity. The best crop we have ever grown 
here was raised upon rather clayey loam by 
the free use of manure-water and a frequent 
stirring of the soil. This sort of cultivation, 
however, though it may serve well enough for 
small gardens and amateur gardeuers, cannot 
be followed by the market-gardeuer with 
profit. 
About the first of February seed should be 
sowu iu hot-beds, aud as soon as the plauts are 
large enough, they should be transplanted to a 
cold-frame, where they may remaiu uotil the 
latter part of March, when, iu this climate, it 
is generally safe to plant them in the open 
ground. If given air freely before transplant¬ 
ing, aDd protected during cold snaps at night 
and thus gradually hardened, they will stand 
as much frost as a cabbage, without injury. It 
is, we believe, very important that the plants 
should get established iu the field or permanent 
beds as soon iu the spring as possible, since 
the droughts and heat of early summer are 
fatal to the formation of flue heads or curds, 
unless they have had time to form a sufficiency 
of roots aud ieuvcH. Treated In this way, the 
plants should be ready for market in mid- 
June, leaving plenty of time to clear and pre¬ 
pare the ground for second crops. 
The land for cauliflowers canuot be too well 
prepared ; and manure liberally applied is in¬ 
dispensable. Lime is freely used on Loug 
Island where splendid crops of this delicious 
vegetable are raised from year to year, though 
not on the same fields. Superphosphate and 
guauo, at the rate of S00 pounds per acre, 
more or less according to the home-made ma¬ 
nure used, are also applied as a top dressing 
and harrowed in. Eurly Dwarf Erfurt, Early 
Paris and Lenormand's are as good as any of 
the dozen varieties offered in catalogues. 
Do ura. 
The Rural New-Porker has stated in an 
Editorial Brevity, that it did not kuow wheie 
seeds of this variety of common sorghum (il¬ 
lustrated on first page of Issue of Dec. ff7th, 
’79), cpuld be obtained, oblivious to the fact 
that it was advertised last season in its columns 
for several weeks by Messrs. R. H. Allen & Co. 
of 1S9 and 191 Watei St., N. Y. It was through 
the kindness of one member of that firm that 
seeds of all the varieties described in the issue 
above referred to, were sent here to be tested. 
It is this variety (Doura) about which different 
accounts disagree as to its forming more than 
one stalk from a single seed. As previously 
stated, onrs averaged eight or nine stalks that, 
after being cut on July IU, when they were five 
feet high, att&iued the hight of six feet again 
by the first of October. As previously stated, 
also, we freely recommend our readers to pur¬ 
chase a few seeds of this sorghum for experi¬ 
ment, as the faith is strong upon us that it 
may prove of value as a fodder plant. 
Weather aud Crops. 
Wheat with us haB never looked finer at this 
season than now. The remarkable growth of 
leaves, which it was feared might Induce decay, 
is still beautifully green and fresh, and there 
Is no appearance of the Hessian fly or any other 
indication tbat the promise of uuolher grand 
crop will not be fulfilled. The weather up to 
to-day (llth) has been soft and the ground, 
except ou the shady side of trees and houses, 
as open as in early November. Fruit buds 
were perceptibly swelling, and a few sensitive 
shrubs began to puBh their leaves. Last night, 
however, a brisk froBt occurred, and the ground 
to-day i6 frozen two inches in depth. It is to 
be hoped that the cold weather will continue, 
since this alone can restrain the quickened 
roots and buds from further action, which, 
should another warm Interval occur, would 
prove fatal to the fruit crop of the present 
year, 
homo New Light ou the Potato-Hot. 
For a number of years now, it has been well 
understood that the “ potato-disease" is caused 
by a parasitic fungus called Phytophtora, (or 
Perenospora) ini aslant by botanists which. 
while feeding upon the substance of the potato- 
plant, or the tubers, rapidly disorganizes their 
tissues. 
As if this parasite were not, of itself, a suffi¬ 
ciently active euetoy, it appears tbat, iu certain 
cases, the destruction of the tubers is greatly 
accelerated by bacteria which follow the dis¬ 
ease-fungus aud feed upon the disorganized 
tissues which have been made ready for them. 
Two German observers, Reiuke aud Berthold, 
recently set themselves to study the question : 
Why is It that farmers sometimes distinguish 
two kinds of potato-rot, viz: wet-rot and dry- 
rot? Wet-rot may be defiued the state when 
the wholeimerior of the potato has run down to 
more or less fluid, filthy pulp, of a very strong 
and peculiar odor: while the term, dry-rot, is 
applied to tubers whose substance has been 
whanged to a loose, spongy mass which feels 
dry, and which, when cut across, presents a 
marbled appearance. Dry-rotten potatoes are 
always covered, sooner or later, with mold; 
while upon the surface of wet-rotieu potatoes 
there may be either no mold or, more com¬ 
monly, ouly occasional patches of it. Dry-rot 
rarely occurs unless the wet-rot has preced¬ 
ed it. 
Both dry and wet-rot may follow the attack 
of the potato-rot fungus proper (Phytophtora), 
aud be promoted by it, but it appears that tbe 
wet-rot is uot solely due to the Phytophtora. 
Thus much is shown by the fact that tubers 
which have never been attacked by that fungus 
may still be destroyed by wet-rot. in experi¬ 
ments where potatoes infected with Phytoph¬ 
tora were kept moist, they quickly passed into 
the wet-rotten condition; but it was observed 
that simultaneously with the first symptoms 
of the wet-rot, bacteria made their appearance 
iu the rotting tissues. Furthermore, on wound¬ 
ing some sound potatoes which were perfectly 
free from Phytophtora, and placing upon the 
wounds some of. the liquid charged with bac¬ 
teria talceu from a wet-rotten potato, taking 
care meanwhile to keep the tubers moist 
enough that the wound should uot become dry, 
it was easy to start local patches of the wet- 
rot ; and it often happened that the inoculated 
tubers quickly became rottou through and 
through. 
The experimenters were thus led to the con¬ 
viction that the bacteria and the fermentations 
due to their presence, are the immediate cause 
of the wet-rot; aud that the actual harm done 
by the potato-disease fungus (Phytophtora) is 
chiefly in preparing the way for the bac¬ 
teria. by disorganizing the tissues of the tubers 
aud bringing them into 6nch a condition that 
the decomposing action of the bacteria is pecu¬ 
liarly rapid. 
The predisposing influence of the Phytophto¬ 
ra is so well marked that in experiments where 
potatoes infected with this fungus were inocu¬ 
lated with the liquid from wet-rotten potatoes, 
it was found that the wet-rot often ran its 
course, even iu those cases where no pains had 
been taken to hinder the wounds from drying. 
On the other hand, iu the experiments upon 
potatoes free from Phytophtora, it appeared, 
in some cases, that the progress of the loca. 
patches of wet-rot produced by inoculation, was 
checked by the formation of a cork-like layer 
iu the sound part ot the tuber, in the vicinity 
of the rotting place. This cork layer hindered 
the bacteria from penetrating, and protected 
the potato from further decay. -It appeared, 
furthermore, that potatoes suffering from the 
disease caused by Phytophtora have uo power 
to produce this protective layer of cork. The 
natural skin of the potato, like the cork layer 
just mentioned, ie an efficient protection 
against the bacteria which cause wet-rot, so 
long as it is neither cracked nor brokeu at any 
point. 
Considerable differences were noticed in 
different potatoes, ail equally free from Phy¬ 
tophtora, iu respect to their power of resisting 
decay. Some tubers were completely changed 
to rotten pulp In the course of two days after 
having beeu inoculated upoo a wound, while in 
other cases the formation oi a cork layer In the 
subslauee of the potato, fenced off, as it wore, 
the wet-rotteu place from the souud portion, 
and restricted the bacteria to narrow limits, 
in general, potatoes completely ripened in 
autumn and rich in starch best resisted the 
progress of the decay. The practical lesson 
taught by these experiments is the old one that 
excessive moisture must be avoided, If potatoes 
are to be kept free from rot. Undue wetness 
of the soil, or stagnant water ou the soil, wlU 
promote the growth of the bacteria, as well as 
of the Phytophtora. The soil on which pota¬ 
toes are grown should not ouly be well drained 
in the ordinary sense of the word, out provision 
should be made, in special instances, to carry 
off surface water In cases where heavy or 
long-continued rain might do harm. 
Other things being equal, the presence of a 
large proportion of orgaaic matter in the soil 
will favor the development of bacteria; and 
the danger would be increased if the land were 
heavily manured with dung or stable-manure. 
The experience of practical men accord* with 
the conclusion of the experimenters, that in 
order to protect stored potatoes from wet-rot, 
ail diseased specimens should be picked out a 
