118 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
II. Nettie (Urtica dioica.) This plant was long ago recom- 
mended as worthy of being grown for forage,* and it has often been used 
as human food. According to Loudon (“ Encyclopedia of Plants” ), 
“the tops of the tender shoots are sometimes used as a potherb early 
in spring, and they have even been forced for that purpose.” Burr 
(“ Field and Garden Vegetables of America,” 1863, p. 294) quotes from 
some European writer as follows: “ Early in April, the nettle tops 
will be found to have pushed three or four inches, furnished with ten- 
der leaves. In Scotland, Poland, Holland, and Germany, these are 
gathered as a potherb, for soups or for dishes like spinach; and their 
peculiar flavor is by many much esteemed. No plant is better adapted 
for forcing; and, in winter or spring, it may be made to form an 
excellent substitute for cabbage, coleworts, or spinach. . . If the creep- 
ing roots of the plant are planted close to a flue in the vinery, they 
will produce excellent nettle kale or nettle spinach in January and 
February.” 
Linneus,f in one of his journeys in Sweden, remarks as follows, 
under date of May 4: “Here, as happens everywhere in Sweden in 
the spring, nettles are gathered for greens, so long as they are tender 
and no more than a finger long. But when the plant has grown larger 
it is eaten neither by men, nor cows, goats, sheep, horses, or swine, 
nor by any thing except some butterflies. No medicinal or diuretic 
effects are observed when the young nettles are cooked and eaten as 
greens, but they will be perceived on boiling the older plants and 
drinking the juice.” : 
The foregoing remarks, as to the refusal of cattle to eat the nettle 
plant, refer not only to its natural green state, but manifestly to tolera- 
bly old plants as well; for from the testimony of other writers it 
appears that cattle will eat the dry plant, and it is consequently to be 
inferred that the acrid stinging property, which is known to be due to 
the juice of the plant, must be lost or lessened in the process of drying. 
* By Riems in 1801, according to Fraas,‘‘ Geschichte der Landbau- und Forst- 
wissenschaft,” 1865, p. 219. The dried leaves have been recommended anew, 
comparatively recently, by Kubelka, Hoffmann’s “ Jahresbericht der Agrikul- 
tur-Chemie,” 1867, 10. 255, as an addition to the fodder of poultry and horses ; 
and Hoffmann’s “ Jahresbericht,” 1875-74, 16. and 17. p. 311, as an addition to 
the fodder of cows to increase the yield of milk. | 
+ “ Versuche einer Natur- Kunst- und (Economie Historie von einigen 
schwedischen Provinzien,” Leipzig, 1756, p. 40. 
