TRAILING ARBUTUS.

MOUNTAIN LAUREL OR CALICO-BUSH.(Kalmia latifolia).TRAILING ARBUTUS OR MAYFLOWER.(Epigaea repens).FROM “NATURE’S GARDEN”

A wise provision of nature has been pointed out whereby ants are kept away from the nectar which they would devour without accomplishing the purposes for which it was created. Every rocky hillside on which the Trailing Arbutus is frequently found, swarms with ants which are debarred from the blossoms by hairs which project upward from the inner surfaces of the corolla and the outer surfaces of the ovary and style and effectually prevent the ants from entering but are not sufficiently rigid to keep out the larger insects.

As a rule, the pollen bearing flowers are larger and whiter than the others. The stigma bearing blossoms, while small, more than offset their defect by a rosy color which makes the flowers far more attractive than their larger but paler rivals.

Very little success has been achieved in domesticating the Trailing Arbutus. It is essentially a wild creature and prefers to waste its fragrance on the desert air. Success may be had, however, if the conditions under which the plants are found growing are preserved as nearly as possible. Yearling plants should be selected and plenty of roots taken or results can be obtained from planting seeds, but as these are difficult to obtain, the other method is the more satisfactory.

Charles S. Raddin.

Ah, quite alone these April daysIt blossoms to evoke my praise;And hyacinthine scents are shedTo bless and cheer me, hither led.

Ah, quite alone these April days

It blossoms to evoke my praise;

And hyacinthine scents are shed

To bless and cheer me, hither led.

Upon this sheltered, upland knoll,At early dawn I often stroll;White clusters edged with crimson hueLie here, impearled with crystal dew.

Upon this sheltered, upland knoll,

At early dawn I often stroll;

White clusters edged with crimson hue

Lie here, impearled with crystal dew.

The leaves, like memories, evergreen,The blooms, like truth, of purest sheen;The cup within, like some fair breastWhere holy thoughts can surely rest.

The leaves, like memories, evergreen,

The blooms, like truth, of purest sheen;

The cup within, like some fair breast

Where holy thoughts can surely rest.

How worthy of its meek renown!Delightful gem for beauty’s crown.O’er it with joy can poet brood;It breathes of God in solitude.—George Bancroft Griffith.

How worthy of its meek renown!

Delightful gem for beauty’s crown.

O’er it with joy can poet brood;

It breathes of God in solitude.

—George Bancroft Griffith.

About the middle of the eighteenth century an enthusiastic botanist and collector, Peter Kalm, gathered specimens in America of a beautiful plant which he carried back to the gardens of Europe and also to his preceptor, the naturalist Linnaeus. In the year 1753 Linnaeus named the plant, honoring his pupil by giving to the plant the generic name Kalmia. He also gave it the specific name latifolia, referring to its broad leaves.

The genus Kalmia includes six known species, five of which are natives of eastern North America and one a native of Cuba. They are all beautiful shrubs, varying in height from a few inches to several feet.

The plant of our illustration is a native of the eastern portion of the United States, where it grows in sandy or rocky woods and is more abundant in mountainous regions. This shrub, which grows to a maximum height of twenty feet, is a superb object early in June, when it is covered with corymbs of rather large pink or pinkish-white flowers and numerous evergreen leaves.

Easily cultivated and highly ornamental, it has been introduced into the greenhouses and gardens of this and European countries.

In spite of the beauty of this plant, it has a bad reputation, for its leaves are narcotic and poisonous to some animals. “Even the intelligent grouse, hard pressed with hunger when deep snow covers much of their chosen food, are sometimes found dead and their crops distended by these leaves.”

We cannot show the characteristics of this plant in any better way than to quote from “Nature’s Garden,” where we find the following passage:

“All the Kalmias resort to a most ingenious device for compelling insect visitors to carry their pollen from blossom to blossom. A newly opened flower has its stigma erected where the incoming bee must leave on its sticky surface the four minute orange-like grains carried from the anther of another flower on the hairy underside of her body. Now, each anther is tucked away in one of the ten little pockets of the saucer-shaped blossom and the elastic filaments are strained upward like a bow. After hovering above the nectary, the bee has only to descend towards it, when her leg, touching against one of the hair-triggers of the spring trap, pop! goes the little anther-gun, discharging pollen from its bores as it flies upward. So delicately is the mechanism adjusted, the slightest jar or rough handling releases the anthers; but, on the other hand, should insects be excluded by a net stretched over the plant, the flowers will fall off and wither without firing off their pollen-charged guns. At least this is true in the great majority of tests. As in the case of hot-house flowers, no fertile seed is set when nets keep away the laurel’s benefactors.”

Many of our readers reside near the home of the Mountain Laurel and can examine the interesting features of this beautiful plant in Nature’s own garden. Those that do this will be well repaid.

Violets stir and arbutus waits,Claytonia’s rosy bells unfold;Dandelion through the meadow makesA royal road, with seals of gold.—Helen Hunt Jackson.

Violets stir and arbutus waits,

Claytonia’s rosy bells unfold;

Dandelion through the meadow makes

A royal road, with seals of gold.

—Helen Hunt Jackson.

HOPS.FROM KŒHLER’S MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN.

Description of Plate.—A, staminate (male) inflorescence; B, pistillate (female) inflorescence; C, fruiting branch; 1, staminate flower; 2, perigone; 3, stamen; 4, open anther; 5, pollen; 6, pistillate catkin; 7, 8, 9, pistillate flowers; 10, scales; 11, 12, 13, scales and flowers; 14, 15, fruit; 16, 17, 19, seed; 20, resin gland (lupulin).

“A land of hops and poppy-mingled fields.”

—Tennyson: Aylmer’s Field.

The hop plant is a creeping perennial with several stems or branches attaining a length of fifteen to twenty-five feet. It has numerous opposite three to five lobed, palmately veined, coarsely toothed leaves with long leaf stalks (petioles). Flowers unisexual, that is staminate and pistillate flowers separate, either on separate plants (dioecious) or upon different branches of the same plant (monoecious). Flowers insignificant in loose, drooping axillary panicles. Fruit a cone-like catkin usually designated a strobile.

The hop has been called the northern vine. It is found in a wild state throughout Europe, excepting the extreme north, and extends east to the Caucasus and through central Asia. It is a handsome plant and not infrequently used as an arbor plant. The lower or basal leaves are very large, gradually decreasing in size toward the apex. H. lupulus is the only representative of the genus.

It is rather remarkable that a plant so widely distributed and familiar should not have been known to the Greeks and Romans. Its cultivation in Europe dates back to the eighth and ninth centuries. It was, however, not extensively cultivated until about the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The word hop (German, Hopfen) is of very uncertain origin. According to some authorities it is traceable to the old English, hoppan, in reference to the habit of the plant in climbing over hedges and fences. Humulus is said to refer to its habit of creeping over the soil. Lupulus (diminutive of lupus, wolf) is said to refer to the pernicious and destructive influence the hop plant has upon plants which it uses as a support, especially the willows. Plinius named it Lupus salictarius, that is, the willow wolf or willow destroyer.

Beside the countries above named hops is also cultivated in Brazil and other South American countries, Australia and India. There are several cultivated varieties. According to most authorities it is not supposed to be indigenous to North America, but Millspaugh expresses it as his opinion that it is indigenous northward and westward, growing in alluvial soil, blossoming in July and fruiting in September.

The plants are planted in rows and the rapidly growing branches trained upon poles stuck into the soil. Three or four male plants (with staminate flowers) are grown in an acre patch to supply the necessary pollen. Some authorities state, however, that the female plants develop enough staminate flowers to effect pollination. It is extensively cultivated in England, Germany and France. Also in New England, New York, Michigan, and in fact nearly every State in the Union.

In Belgium the young, tender tops of the plants are cut off in the spring and eaten like asparagus, especially recommended to the pale and anaemic and those with scrofulous taints.

The peculiar hop-like fruiting known as strobiles are collected in the fall of the year (September to October), dried and tightly packed into bales. The base of the scales of the strobile are covered with a yellowish powder, consisting of resin-bearing glands, known as lupulin. One pound of hops yields about one ounce of lupulin. Since the medicinal virtues of hops reside in the lupulin it will be readily understood that the hops from which the glands have been removed is of little or no medicinal value. Lupulin as well asthe hops have a faint, peculiar, somewhat yeasty odor, which increases with age due to the development of valerianic acid. For medicinal purposes only fresh hops should be used.

The principal use of hops is in the manufacture of beer, to which it imparts the peculiarly bitter taste, and its repute as a tonic. For this purpose enormous quantities are consumed in Germany and England. The exhausted hops from the breweries form an excellent fertilizer for light soils. The leaves have been used as fodder for cows. Leaves, stems and roots possess astringent properties and have been used in tanning. In Sweden the fibre of the stems is used in manufacturing a very durable white cloth, not unlike the cloth made from hemp and flax.

Hops is used medicinally. It at first causes a very slight excitation of brain and heart, followed by a rather pronounced disposition to sleep. Pillows stuffed with hops form a very popular domestic remedy for wakefulness. Hop bags dipped in hot water form a very soothing external application in painful inflammatory conditions, especially of the abdominal organs. It has undoubted value as a bitter tonic in dyspepsia and in undue cerebral excitation. Tincture of lupulin and red pepper (capsicum) enjoys the reputation of being a very efficient substitute for alcoholic stimulants when their use is to be discontinued. Earlier physicians recommended hops very highly in kidney and liver complaints, as a “blood purifier” and to cure eruptive skin troubles. It is recommended in nervous troubles and in delirium tremens. The roots were formerly employed as a substitute for sarsaparilla.

Hops contains an etherial oil, resin and tannic acid. The oil and the resin are important constituents in the manufacture of beer. The young shoots contain asparagin, etherial oil, resin and sugar.

Albert Schneider.

Never yet was a springtime,Late though lingered the snow,That the sap stirred not at the whisperOf the south wind sweet and low;Never yet was a springtimeWhen the buds forgot to blow.—Margaret E. Sangster.

Never yet was a springtime,

Late though lingered the snow,

That the sap stirred not at the whisper

Of the south wind sweet and low;

Never yet was a springtime

When the buds forgot to blow.

—Margaret E. Sangster.

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