Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-04-04
This and That
By Charles E. Trace1ueH..
CHESTNUT STREET N "

Dear Sir:
Several days ago another Takoma
Park correspondent wrote in to ask
where to secure the shrub, Aralia spi-
nosa. This small tree is of occasional
occurrence near the Washington SAM
tarium along the slopes above Sligo
Creek. I have often seen it in bloom
there in August.
Last fall we discovered a very &C
cessible patch of Aralia in fruit on
the right-hand side of Piney Branch
road beyond the school, or two-tenths
OF mile from Philadelphia avenue.
Perhaps r. S. K. could find out to
whom the vacant lot belongs on which
these shrubs are growing and procure
some. Many of them are quite large
and some of the largest Aralias are
dead, but there are innumerable I'M
branched shoots, from 3 to feet high,
which could be easily transplanted
I'VE have enjoyed reading your COL
umn for many years and hope that,
due to the paper shortage, your column
will not further be cut in length.
Sincerely, j. w. r."
Hercules club does we'll in and around
Washington. The trouble with it is the
series of ferocious spines or thorns
which it bears. These stickers are so
menacing that in time the owner is
glad to give the plant away.
Beloved of many birds, this devils
walking stick" becomes something of
nuisance in the average garden. One
Is always running an arm or leg into
the thOrns, sometimes with very pain
full results.
When one of these stickers pierces
the flesh, the wound should be cleaned
at once with hot water and soap and
then mecurOchrome should be applied.
The writer here has been making eX-
periments in recent days with various
antiseptics and hereby reneWs his allie
glance to this old standby. We recall
wildly, and it was not SO very long
ago, as the years roll, when this red
stainer first began to appear on the
arms and legs of children. The red
stains delighted all youngsters No doubt
other antiseptics which left no stain
might have been as good but no one
seemed to think so. In our personal
experience no small cut or wound treat
ed with this application has ever sWelled
up or shown thereafter any ugly traits.
The other day, in smearing a neat cat
wondered what the initials H, w and
D" on the bottle meant We knew they
stood for the manufacturer Of this phar-
maceutlcal, but we could not recall eX-
act names. Fate often seems to answer
such questions. and it was so in this
case, because the very next day we ran
into copy OF the Journal Of the Amer
lean Medical Association On opening
the MAGAZINE at random the fret tninp
we came across was an advertisement
of mercurochrome by the makers, Hyn-
son, Wescott & Dunning, of Baltimore
Our hat is off to you, gentlemen, for
something that really works.
Instead of Hercules club, with its ter
rible spines, the gardener who wishes
to attract birds might try planting wild
cherries, dogWoodS, barberries and va
rious berries, such as the raspberry and
blackberry and even strawberries. The
choke cherry, Prunus virginiana, is said
to attract more than 80 kinds of birds,
The wild black and red cherries, P. sero-
tina, and P. pennsylvania, are about
as good for this purpose FloWering
dogwoods almost lead all plants in their
attractiveness to birds, nearly 100 diff
ferent species coming for the red fruits
| The king of them all, however, is the
| blackcap raspberry, which $50 species
| of birds have found to their liking. The
various blackberries have an almost
| equally enviable record. More than 100
| kinds of birds have been seen feasting
| on the fruits of the common American
eldA Sambucus canadensis, andn the
| red yllder, s. pubens.