182 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Apkil, 
The Scarlet Runner Bean. 
Few plants are both ornamental and useful 
to the same extent as the Scarlet Runner. In¬ 
deed, in this country, it is mainly cultivated 
for its flowers, comparatively few seeming to 
be aware that the pods are edible. In Eng¬ 
land, on the other hand, it is an important 
crop in the market garden, and while cot¬ 
tagers and others grow it for ornament, its 
useful character is not overlooked, and the 
pods are gathered for food. The readiness 
with which we can raise better beans, will 
account for the neglect here of this vegetable. 
The Scarlet Runner is a different species 
from other running beans. It is Phaseolus 
multiflorus, a native of South America, and 
though generally cultivated as an annual, is 
really a perennial, with thick tuberous roots. 
These in warm countries produce stems year 
after year, and in cold localities may be taken 
up and preserved during the winter in the 
same manner as Dahlia roots are kept. 
The vine branches freely and runs rapidly, 
attaining the liight of 10 to 12 feet, or more, 
in a few weeks. The abundant flowers are in 
clusters, upon long stems, and are of a clear, 
light scarlet. • The dark foliage with which 
the numerous scarlet flowers are in strong 
contrast, makes it an excellent ornamental 
climber. There is a variety with white 
flowers, and another, the “Painted Lady,” 
the flowers of which are both scarlet and 
white; this is sometimes also called “York 
and Lancaster.” The flowers are succeeded 
by an abundance of rough pods, which are 
gathered while young and tender, and used 
in the same manner as string beans. In the 
TUB SCARLET RUNNER BEAN. 
English market gardens, the vines are some¬ 
times provided with supports, but frequently 
they are “ stopped,” or cut off when about 
three feet high, and allowed to lie upon the 
ground. By planting out roots that have 
been taken up and kept in the cellar during 
the winter, a crop is produced much earlier 
than by plantmg the seeds. This is a hint 
worth remembering by those who cultivate 
the plant as an ornamental vine, as by pre¬ 
serving the roots and planting them out when 
all danger of frost is over, a trellis may be 
covered with vines very early. If cultivated 
for ornament only, the clusters should be cut 
away as soon as the flowers begin to fade, 
only allowing the few pods to mature that 
may be wanted for seeds. This will cause 
the vine to continue in flower much longer 
than if all the pods were allowed to grow. 
An Aid in Tree Planting. 
“ C. B. R.,” Hamilton Co., Ill., writes us : 
I iiave planted several thousand apple and 
A BARREL AND SLED. 
peach trees, and found that more trees perish 
between the time they are taken up and that 
at which they are re-planted, than at any 
other period. The reason is that the roots of 
these trees are exposed to the sun and wind 
until all moisture is dried out of them. 
Should the ground in which such trees are 
planted be dry, it will be exceedingly difficult 
for them to retain sufficient vitality to enable 
them to grow. As it is very essential to keep 
the roots of the trees in a moist condition 
during this time, I have used ah arrange¬ 
ment which answered the purpose admir¬ 
ably. The ground is marked off each way at 
the distances the trees are to be apart, using 
two horses and a large plow. Having a barrel 
securely mounted on a sled, as in this sketch 
(see engraving), I mix in it any good soil, the 
more clayey the better, with water, to form 
a thin mud. The trees are placed in this, as 
many as it will hold. When ready to plant, 
drive between the rows and set the trees 
where the furrows cross each other. I find, 
that by furrowing my ground in this manner, 
I can dispense with stakes, and the soil is in 
much better condition than if the holes were 
dug with a spade. 
[This is a modification of grouting, or pud¬ 
dling, a practice which is useful for other 
roots besides those of trees. The roots of 
Strawberry plants, when they are to be long 
out of the ground, should always be dipped 
in thin mud, and the same is often useful for 
Cabbage and Tomato plants. In these cases 
the roots are removed from the mud, covered 
by the portion which adheres to them. —Ed.] 
The Highland and Agricultural Society 
of Scotland is to celebrate its centenary 
in the year 1884. This is one of the earliest 
societies formed in Great Britain, and had 
been the most useful of all until the Royal 
Agricultural Society was formed, we believe, 
in the year 1839. Nor did the Highland yield 
in general usefulness to this more extensive 
Society, until it had been in existence some 
years. Their annual live stock, agricultural 
implement, grain, root, and seed shows, have 
been worthy of all praise; and so also have 
the numerous publications of prize and 
other essays treating on these subjects. 
The Chufa or Earth Almond. 
Several plants occupy a very uncertain 
position in our Agriculture. Chufa is an ex¬ 
ample of these. It was introduced more than 
a third of a century ago as a plant of great 
value as food for swine. It has never fairly 
established itself as such, nor has it been 
allowed to drop out altogether. Occasionally 
some paper publishes an item composed of a 
few facts and many errors, and straightway 
there are inquiries about Chufa; every few 
years the interest in the plant is revived, only 
to die out again. As one of these revivals of 
interest in the plant appears to be at hand, 
we give some account of it. Chufa is in 
several languages called “Earth Almond,” 
a name sometimes given to it in this country. 
The botanical name, Cyperus esculentus, in¬ 
dicates that it belongs to the Cyperacece, or 
Sedges, a very large family of plants, closely 
related to the grasses, and as much dis¬ 
tinguished for their lack of nutritive qualities 
as are the grasses for possessing them. The 
Chufa forms a marked exception in this 
respect to the majority of the family, being 
highly nutritious. It is a native of the south 
of Europe and the northern part of Africa. 
Its rather rigid and sharp leaves form dense 
tufts a foot or more high. The plant does 
not produce seeds, it being abundantly pro¬ 
vided, with other means of propagation in 
its tubers, which are produced upon under¬ 
ground stems in large numbers. These are 
oval in shape and about the size of a hazel 
nut. The engraving shows a plant much 
reduced in size. The tubers are edible, hav¬ 
ing a taste somewhat like that of almonds ; 
they contain starch and, what is very unusual 
in the underground parts of plants, oil. In 
some countries they are expressed for their 
oil, of which they yield about sixteen per 
Fig. 1.—THE CHUFA OR EARTH ALMOND. 
cent. The Chufa is own brother to that pest 
of the Southern cultivator, the Nut-grass or 
Coco-grass ( Cyperus rotundus var. Hydra), 
and at one time some alarmists warned 
against its cultivation, as it would become 
one of the worst of weeds. Fortunately it 
can not endure even a slight frost, and there 
can be no danger on that score. Chufa was 
originally introduced as a food for swine, and 
some good authorities have claimed that an 
acre of its tubers would make more pork than 
an acre in corn. Every now and then it is 
highly commended in the Southern agricul¬ 
tural journals. Yet, notwithstanding this, 
