1884.] 
THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 
163 
the WATES-OEESS. 
Though not .<i native of this , 
Water-cross ^ 
s™n? rSstr 
in tlie limpid brooks that How from springs 
over a sandy or gr.avolly bottom. T .i fgh 
It somotimos p-ows in still water, a gentle 
current suits i best, in which the pL tS 
often grow so thickly as to retard, to i co„! 
siderable degree the passage of the water. 
Once established, it becomes a permanent 
lesidont, requiring neither niaiinring nor 
rotation. ^ 
As a salad plant, the Water-cress has 
been popular, where known, from time im¬ 
memorial. It is iiidigenons to the rivulets 
of Europe and Asia, and wo may easily 
imagme that, centuries before the rude 
beginnings of the art of horticulture, the 
unlettered savages were .accustomed to enjoy 
its tender foliage, before the first terrestrial 
herb had showed itself in spring. We know 
that Xenophon, the learned Greek historian, 
was fond of Water-cresses, and strongly 
recommended theii- use to the Persi.ans; and 
among the Eonians this piquant herb was 
believed to possess virtue as a remedy for 
insanity. Hence the ancient proverb, ‘‘Eat 
Cress and learn more wit.” 
It was not, however, until comparatively 
modern times that attempts seem to have 
been made to gi-ow the Water-cress artifi¬ 
cially. It is said that one Nicholas Meissner, 
a resident of Erfurt, in Gennany, first suc¬ 
ceeded in cultivating it, about the middle of 
the sixteenth century. At the present time 
it is produced in large quantities for the 
Paris and Loudon markets, and in our own 
country its culture is beginning to receive 
attention in a few localities. Doubtless 
many brooks in the neighborhood of our 
large cities might be made to serve a profit¬ 
able use through the introduction of this 
plant. The culture of the Water-cress is 
said to iwove a very remunerative industry 
where it has been undertaken. Eeally 
favorable locations, however, are not very 
common. 
A springy swamj), siuTounded by higher 
ground, and lying in such a way that the 
water, when collected into a stream, can be 
conducted back and forth, through narrow 
canals, over a gently sloping meadow, offers 
the best possible conditions. Cresses will 
thrive, however, in almost any brook that 
flows directly from springs, and hence does 
not freeze in winter. By starting a few 
plants at the outlet of the spidngs, the seed 
from them will, in a season or two, be dis¬ 
tributed throughout the whole length of the 
stream, and the Cresses will soon take pos¬ 
session of their field, or they may be started 
sooner by deijositing the plants along at 
various places, in the brook or canals. The 
latter, if dug, should be about six feet wide 
and eight inches deei), provided the water is 
sufficient to produce a slight emwent through¬ 
out the whole width. It is well, if possible, 
to have a flood-gate at the outlet of the canal 
in order to hold back the water in winter, so 
as to completely cover the plants; but t is 
is not indispensable, as, if the stream is o ■ 
, spring water, the plants will not be muc 
injured by frost. • i -i 
In gathering the plants, a plank is ai 
across the stream, on which the wor man 
.stands, gathering the leaves into a 
with the fingers of the left hand, cutting o 
the stems with a sharp knife three or four 
inches below The Cresses are then placed 
npiight, in tlio of a small, deep 
basket, until a compact layer is formed, 
when a second layer is placed above this, 
and so on until the basket is filled, when a 
string IS tied over the top, or the baskets 
aie packed in crates for shipping. A basket 
IS somotimos filled on a space two feet 
square, and often sells at seventy-five cents 
wholesale. It is said that the lowest price 
that IS received in the Now-York market is 
twenty cents per basket; and, at this rate, a 
bod one tliousaiid feet long would yield in 
the neighborhood of three hundred dollars 
a crop. When it is understood that three 
WATER-CRESS. 
crops may be gathered diu-iug the spring 
and summer, it appears that the business is 
a lucrative one. The upper part of the 
stream may be covered with sashes, at the 
beginning of winter, to retain the warmth 
of the water, when two crops may be taken 
in the winter from this portion of the bod. 
These winter crops usually prove most profit¬ 
able of all. 
Geese and ducks, as well as cattle, are 
fond of Water-cresses, and hence should be 
kept out of the meadow, at least diudng the 
earlier part of the season. A flock of ducks 
may be turned in ivith advantage after the 
plants have seeded iu August, as they will 
clear the Cresses of snails, which sometimes 
infest them. The small turtles that frequent 
such streams also feed upon snails, and are 
hence beneficial. In some eases trout might, 
perhaps, be reared in the streams with addi¬ 
tional profit. “Elm.” 
MAETYNIAS- 
Eew plants in our garden attract more at¬ 
tention than this odd-looking vegetable, or 
flower — for it is both in one. It is of very 
rank, rather coarse growth, branching and 
spreading profusely several feet in all direc¬ 
tions. The leaves are large and broad, and 
the flowers are very pretty and showy, re¬ 
sembling in shape those of the Trumpet 
Creeper, to which family it belongs. The | 
young pods, which are produced in great 
abundance, are used for pickling, and foi-ra an 
important part of the “fancy pickles” of our 
markets. When full grown the pods are three 
to four inches long, and .terminated by a 
hooked beak; but it is only when quite young 
that they are fit for use; when older they 
become hard and woody. The plant is a 
tender annual, and requires a treatment sim¬ 
ilar to that of the Tomato. 
Marlyniajmjhoscidea in tha species gener¬ 
ally cultivated, but there are several other 
kinds which may be used for the same pur¬ 
pose, and are equally ornamental. 
COEN COT-WOEMS. 
Among the Corn cut-worms, says Prof. J. 
A. JAnincr, in answer to an inquiry from a 
correspondent of the New-York State Ex¬ 
periment Station, some of the species do 
their work beneath the surface, others cut 
the stalks at the surface, and others still at 
about an inch above the ground. 
We know of no effectual way of driving 
these pests from the Corn attacked by 
them, or for killing them while buried in 
the ground during the day, by any applica¬ 
tion that we can make. Lime, salt, ashes, 
and similar substances have been found to 
be of no av'ail. Winged insects may be 
driven away, but these were in the soil 
long before the Corn was planted (since 
the preceding autumn), and will have their 
living from it until they reach their matu¬ 
rity, unless they can be meantime killed. 
Thorough autumn plowing, quite late, when 
the caterpillar’s had become lethargic from 
the cold, would have destroyed many. 
The caterpillar in this ease “ eats off the 
Corn soon after it comes up, just at the sur¬ 
face of the ground,” and irrobably drags the 
cut-off portion into his retreat beneath the 
siu’face to feed upon it at his leisure during 
the day. His food can be poisoned by dust¬ 
ing Paris green or London puiqrle over the 
plants while wet with dew. As the more 
economical and less dangerous in its use, he 
would ask that the experiment be made wnth 
London purple, mixed with flour to a proper- 
degree of dilution, which shall be found by 
first testing it rrpon a few hills — perhaps 
one part of the purple to tweirty of flom-. 
If care be used irr the application so that 
the pow'der shall reach the stalks of the 
Corn at the poirrt rvhere they are cut off, the 
small portion of the poison eonsirmed irr the 
eutting-off operatiorr would probably suffice 
to kill the caterpillar. 
The other method, which is kuowir to be 
effectual, is to employ the cheap labor of 
boys, by having them go over the field a few 
times (four or five times at proper irrtervals 
are rrsrrally sufficient), and dig out and de¬ 
stroy the caterpillars from the hills showing 
the attack. They ai-e easily forrnd—some¬ 
times as many as five in a hill. A writer 
who states that he has alwaj's foirrrd this 
method successful, bears this testimony in its 
favor: “One year, on six acres, the worms had 
begun in such numbers that it was obvious 
that the Corrr would be destroyed rrnless 
something was promptly done. We set two 
men at work, who continued at them for ten 
days, on and off, amounting to four days’ 
work in all, and costing one dollar per acre, 
and entirely saving the crop of over three 
hundred bushels.” 
