The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1886-10-15
MY TWO NEIGHBORS.

Mr.. EDITOR Il would like to interest your
readers in two of my neiehbors, one of whom de-
all sorts of abuse, and gets it, too the other
is perfectly harmless, but because she frequentS
similar places, and wears dress in some respects
many, her life long, for this rough fellow; and is
abused and fought and often struck down to the
ground; while if they would cultivate her ac-
quaintance and attract her to their homes they
would secure the companionship of u beautiful,
a most graceful friend and protector.
We see the bad fellow lying IN wait behind
the damp meadow grass He is hairy, rough
fellow, and If he looks little green, trust him
not he is full of guile and venom. As he cliugs
to the trunk of shade tree, troup of fair girls
brush near him in their play, and the next day
their hands and faces are IN blisters he has bit
ten and smitten them with his poisonous breath
for 1t is fact that ut certain seasons IL he
ly breathes upon you as you pass, even if you
never put out your hand. you are poisoned, and
sometimes dangerously. He attracts horses that
are kept in stables on dry hay, to taste his prof
fered foliage, which in summer looks inviting and
juicy, and they eat and die. Isn't he base and
treacherous Doesn't he deserve determination?
But you go at him with an axe to cut him down,
the very eXhalatiOns of his blood will poison you
like the shirt which Deianira gave to Hercules.
So much for my bad neghbor, whose name you
have already guessed.
My good neighbor, as | have already stated,
frequents similar places; she climbs along the
fences clinging to posts and rails, not by ugly
tufts of hairy FIBRE that distinguish her bad
neighbor as soon as he attains 10 any age but by
graceful tendrls, terminating in little pads. She
clings to all surfaces; climbing to the top of
post by the wayside. she throws graceful spray
of foliage over the foot-path, which may brush
the check of the traveller, but there is no poison
in her touch, or in her breath. Planted by walls,
whether of stone or wood, she soon covers ali
with matted foliage which thickens with the
flight of years. One must see amid the Berkshire
hills the nome OF the poetic Goodale girls, TO ap
preciate what my friend can do in the way of
adornment. Deep recesses must be cut through
Who knows but they owe their poetic fances to
being rock ed in such cradle?
IL you do not choose to have her cngng to
hon In, ,nrI Il
she will possess it with Zest, with luxurance
that will enchant you. Through the summer her
dress is of the gossiest green. but in autumn,
kissed by the frostking, she bushes to the deepest
crimson. 1t is then that she appears most charm
ing. Mingled with the evergreen cedar that loves
to grow along her favorite haunts, there is moth
ing prettier.
1t lis strange that there is harmless relative of
the wicked neighbor that | have described his
name is Rhus Glabra, nicknamed Sumac, that
strives to rival the colors of my friend. but he
falls far short, though he makes, grant, it, very
Attending large assembly, the other day. |
listened to some farmers who came down togeth-
er TO tie their horses 10 the enclosing fence,
which my beautiful friend had taken possession
OF, and was panied to hear them express their
fears lest their horses should taste and be poison
ed. was sorry that my beautiful friend should
be again mistaken for her treacherous neighbor
ana resolved to repeat an article which con-
trlouted 10 your paper years ago in another form,
on these two plants, that they might be distin-
tvated.
The first plant is the poison ivy, or as more
commonly known here, the poison oak, member
of the Sumach family. Ut has relative in the
swamps, small tree, smooth and attractive in
appearance, much more poisonous than itself,
known as poison sumach poison elder, poison
dog wood, and various names for the same tree.
The wood of this tree burned in an open fire has
poisoned the occupants of the room fatally. The
plant under consideration is the Rhus Toxico-
dd,endron. Rhus, Arabic for high, tall, long,
lWebster) toxicodendron, Greek for poison tree
Wood describes it as the Rhus radcans, but Gray,
the great American botanist, says that the radi-
cans is the toxicodendron under different condi-
tons. When it climbs ii puts out those hairy tufts
of fibre, while in the meadows it is a leaning
shrub.
The last considered is the Virginia creeper,
also known as .woodbine, graceful and perfectly
harmless. 1t belongs to the grape family, the
Ampelopsis quinque-foa. Ampelos, a vine !;
opsis, an appearance, Greek; qunque-foia FIVE
leaved.
Notice' the poison oak has three leaves or leaf
lets in a cluster. The Virginia creeper, as its
name signifies, has five. By this difference in the
number of the leaves, the two plants are dIstin-
guished at glance. &C G.