The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-31
FENCE ROWS OF SUMMER.
Some of the Many Plants that Find
Harbor There.

Philadelphia Record.
Every American who has kept a gar
den has a bad word for that fat, ras-
cally little weed which country folk call
''pusley." 1t nsinuate itself into the beds
reserved for your choicest flowers and veg
etables, and. though, you hoe IL up and toss
II over the fence, 1t turns up again III d
few days in about the same place, quite
cheerful and saucy as though nothing had
happened. Perhaps the only use to which
it is put in this country is the lgnomlnlous
one of feeding it TO hogs, but in the old
world, which is it's original home, it is quite
a respected vegetable. They actually Guilt
vate it in southern Europe for a pot nero
and for use in salads; while In france the
young, tender shoots are frequently picked
like gherkins. The pretty portulaccas Oh
our gardens and that woodland wilding, the
prolific seed bearer, which is probably the
reason of it's persistent appearance In cul-
tiVated grounds.
A characteristic wild blossom of August
is the turtle head. 1t is abundant in swamps
and damp meadows all over the Eastern
United States, and its odd, creamy, two
Tipped flowers, in shape like turtle heads
sure enough, are among the most interest
ing posieS of the waning summer. In some
localities this plant goes under the curious
name of balmony,. which may, perhaps, be
name for the g%entian; for, like the gen.
ton, the turtle head is a bitter plant Its
leaves have done duty in the manufacture
of a homemade tonic which is said 10 have
a peculiar action on the liver. The resem-
blance to Brer Tarrypin is not limited 10
the blossom, but may be seen in the seeds,
too, which are oval, compressed and rim
med round with a membraneous border.
In the southern Alleghenies there is found
d very beautiful species of the turtle head
with flowers of an exquisite rose color.
More snowy in the August landscape,
however, than the modest turtle-head are
the wild s~unfowers, of which half a dozen
sorts are now enlivening the fence rows
and borders of the thickets about Phila-
delphia. II is the Western p~rairies, though,
that are the favorite home of this gaudy
tribe. and it is thence that the common
sunf1owerS of our Eastern gardens has
come. Cultivation has somewhat increased
the size of this flower of the aesthetics, but
not its general character, and one who has
once ridden his horse through the rich
'slews'' of a Kansas or Nebraska prairie
will not be likely to forget the surround
ing sunflower groves abloOm above his and
his horses heads. In a practical way this
plant is a veritable cornucopia of usefulness.
The blossoms yield not only honey, as
many flowers do, but also a yellow dye;
the leaves make a nutritious fodder and
are said to be beneficial for heaves in
horses; the seeds are a ~well-known chicken
food, and burning oil may be extracted
from them; finally, the stalks contain tex
tile fiber, and when dry constitute q fuel
not to be despised in a treeless land.
In mountain pastures now you may gath
er the sunflower's immigrant cousin, the
elecampane. This coarse plant. with its
sun1ower-like heads, known to herb doc
tors from time immemorial as a pulmonic,
comes to us from Europe. 1t has an in
teresting tradition connected with IL, based
on one of its botanical names, which is
Helenium-that is, Helen's herb; for the
story goes that Helen of Troy had her
hands fun of it when Paris carried her off
and lit the fires of an immortal war.
Who is there that has not a kindly feel
ing for the quivering aspen? 1t is a small
tree with us, fond of colonizing in sociable
little groves. on gravelly banks or in sterile
fields. 1t is said to grow over a greater
area than any other North American tree,
being found from the Atlantic to the Pa
cihc, and from Newfoundland to Arizona.
Chester county, in Pennsylvania, is, per-
haps, its farthest station south on the At
la ntic Geaboard.
Though its wood is of very little value
the tree itself performs a useful service
in the great household of nature as a
nurse to the young Of other plant growths
and so abundantly that they provide a pro-
tecting, but not too dense shade, particular
ly in regions that have been fire-swept &c
The most familiar feature of the aspen is
the trembling of it's leaves, celebrated by
poets from Homer's day to ours. The reason
for this excessive restlessness lies in the
structure of the long leaf stalk. If we look
carefully at this and compare II with the
leaves of other trees we shall see that
while in the latter the stalk is roundish oil
perhaps somewhat flattened parallel witt
the plane of the earth. the aspen leaf stalk
is compressed vertically in such A way tha'
it presents practically no resistance &c
the least breath of air, and so the leaf is set
shaking.