456 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
CHINESE MONKSHOOD. 
HEART-LEAVED MANNETTIA. 
more common at the West than at the East. 
We doubt if there is any certainty that the seed¬ 
lings from the thornless form would be without 
spines, hut in sowing for hedges should prefer 
not to risk it. In a large number of seedlings 
from thorny trees some will be found that are 
thornless. The only sure way to get the smooth 
variety for shade trees is to graft it. Seeds are 
readily collected, or they may be had of the 
dealers at about 75c. per lb. If kept dry they 
should at sowing time be scalded, and allowed 
to soak until the skin is softened. We once 
collected a quantity, mixed them with earth in 
a box, and allowed them to remain exposed to 
the weather all winter. When planted in the 
spring they came up as readily as beans. The 
seeds may be sown along the line of the hedge, 
but it is much better to put them in a seed bed, 
■where the young plants can be cared for. 
They may remain in the bed all winter, and the 
next spring the hedge can be set. Cut the 
plants back to three inches, and set a foot apart. 
---» •-—---- 
A Pretty Climber.—The Mannettia. 
Aside from their usefulness in covering ob¬ 
jects which we wish to conceal, climbers have 
a grace peculiarly their own, and are often used 
in good taste without any utilitarian view. 
Some kind of support, a rude stake, or an 
elaborate trellis, covered with climbers, may 
often be introduced with good effect. The 
labored trellises are usually very ugly, but a 
rapidly growing vine will soon hide the mechani¬ 
cal appearance. For low trellises, such as may 
be made by stretching wires along the front of a 
veranda, there are several green-liouse plants 
which maybe used. Our prolonged hot weather 
allows us to enjoy 
out of doors many 
plants that in 
England and the 
north of Europe 
can be grown 
only under glass. 
Every year the 
number of these 
is increasing, 
as experiments 
are made with 
tropical plants 
in the open air. 
In the spring of 
1867, friend Mee¬ 
han, of the Gar¬ 
dener’s Monthly, 
sent us a plant 
of Mannettia cor- 
(lata , (sometimes 
called M. gla¬ 
bra), which was 
set out, but as it 
did not have sun 
enough it flow¬ 
ered but little. In 
autumn the some¬ 
what tuberous 
root was taken 
up, put in a pot of 
earth and kept ra¬ 
ther dry in a cold 
room all winter 
Early in spring 
it started, and 
when the weather 
became warm, 
it was turned out 
in a sunny place, 
against a wire trellis, and it has been beautiful 
all summer. The engraving shows the flowers 
and leaves of the natural size. The flowers are 
of a brilliant scarlet, and remain for several 
days. In England this is regarded as a stove 
plant, requiring even a higher temperature than 
the green-liouse. It is propagated by root cut¬ 
tings or from those of green wood. We sup¬ 
pose that most florists keep it, at all events, they 
ought to, and popularize such a pretty climber, 
and one that by the method above indicated, 
can be managed by those who have no hot-house. 
—- - ■>«»■ - »«* - 
Monkshoods—Aconites. 
Among the old-fashioned herbaceous perenni¬ 
als the common Monkshood ( Aconitum Napel- 
lus) is one of the best known, and it has long 
been cultivated for its spikes of curiously shaped, 
dark-blue flowers. One of the parts of the ca¬ 
lyx is very much enlarged, and is so strikingly 
hood-shaped as to make its common name more 
appropriate than such terms sometimes are. 
Several other species are in cultivation, but all 
that we have seen in our gardens are of the 
blue-flowered section. There are species with 
yellow and with reddish flowers. There is a 
wliite-flowered variety of A. Napellus, but it is 
not nearly as fine as the Variegated Monkshood 
(A. mriegatum.) This has light-blue flowers, 
finely edged with white. The Chinese Monks¬ 
hood ( A. GMnense) has its flowers in looser 
spikes than the common one, and of a re¬ 
markably deep blue. The engraving is from 
this species, and while it gives only a portion of 
a spike, very 'well illustrates the singular shape 
of the flowers. All the above are from foreign 
countries. We have two native species, one 
with blue flowers, {A. uncinatum ,) found in the 
Alleghanies, and a white-flowered one (A. re- 
clinatum) in the mountains of Virginia and 
southward. These are seldom seen in cultiva¬ 
tion, nor are they particularly desirable, as they 
have weak stems, and are of a straggling habit. 
In the Monkshoods all the visible portion of the 
flower is the calyx, of five parts or sepals, one 
of which is enlarged to form the hood; there 
are but two petals, and these are of a shape 
so unusual that they would not at first be 
recognized as such. At the upper part of 
the engraving is a flower from which the calyx 
has been removed, leaving only the two pet¬ 
als and the cluster of stamens and pistils. 
By a stretch of the imagination a resemblance 
can be seen in the petals to a pair of swans at¬ 
tached to the cluster of stamens as a car. In 
some localities the common Monkshood goes 
by the name of “ Cupid’s Car.” It should be 
known that all the Monkshoods are poisonous 
when taken into the system, though perfectly 
safe to handle. Some careless gardeners have 
by mistake mixed the roots with those of horse¬ 
radish, and fatal results have followed. There 
is so little resemblance in the appearance of the 
two roots that it is not easy to see how such a 
mistake could be made. An English miter 
proposes to banish the Monkshoods from culti¬ 
vation because they are poisonous. He should 
include the Larkspurs, Hellebores, Ranuncu¬ 
luses, and Fox Gloves, for they, as well as other 
garden favorites, are poisonous also. As long 
as the equally poisonous Stramonium grows 
along the road-sides and in the fence corners, 
and the Poison Hemlock is found in the close 
neighborhood of dwellings without molestation, 
we doubt if the deleterious character of some of 
our garden plants will prevent their cultivation. 
