and, though nature alone can give them "tongues," art can give them tallies, the inscriptions on which will often be more interesting to the amateur, (to his shame be it said,) than the higher and more mysterious language of

nature.

We are obliged to Mr. Owen for a communication of his mode of making zinc labels, which was the plan we had reference to in our remarks appended to the article of Mr. Phillips, (XII. p. 426.)

Accompanying the above, Mr. Owen sent us several specimens of the labels, an engraving of which we have annexed, (fig. 1.) showing the size and form. The specimens show the effect of the painting when properly or improperly mixed. One, with mastic in excess, does not take the pencil mark readily. Another, with copal in excess, takes it rather better, though quite indistinct, both having too glossy a surface; a third, painted one coat, in proper proportions, in August, written upon November 23, and exposed to the weather until December 10th, gives the pencil mark such permanence, that it can only be removed by the aid of sand. A fourth specimen shows the effect of wetting the surface of the label when the writing is made, which gives it a blacker and more distinct mark. One label, written upon in 1841, but twisted off by the gale of September last, has the mark as distinct as those that have not yet been exposed to the weather. To show how much may be written upon one label, we copy the following from one sent us by Mr. Owen, and occupying only a portion of one side. Beurré Diel. Planted Nov. 21, 1841; proved spurious. Grafted Aug. 13, 1842; bore in 1845.

BEURRE MAGNIFIQUE.

1841.

Fig. 1. Zinc Lab el for Trees.

We have only one cautionary remark to make,—that is, that

in all tallies which are attached to trees with wires, especially when it is necessary to twist the wire, that it may prevent the label from rubbing, care should be taken that they are looked at, at least every spring, in order that they may not girdle the branch. We have had imported French trees, with the lead tags, mentioned by Mr. Owen, attached, which were badly girdled from inattention to this. It is also best to attach the label to a small lateral shoot, rather than the main trunk, or any of the principal branches, as a little neglect will not then be attended with so much injury.-ED.

ART. V. A Comparative Notice of the Hog and Jerusalem Artichokes, with a descriptive account of the growth, habit, and use of the former variety. By DR. M. A. WARD, Athens, Ga.

PLEASE to express my thanks to those of your correspondents who have so kindly criticised the error in my note on the Hog Artichoke, published in the July No. of your Magazine, (XII. p. 268.) They might, without departing very surprisingly from the usages of the times, have charged me with ignorance, stupidity, or even with some moral dereliction; for, unhappily, a spirit of bitterness has of late been creeping into the discussions or controversies which are found in some of our Horticultural periodicals, that would seem more congenial to the arena of political gladiators, than to the garden, with its serene pursuits and researches, the tendency of which should be to excite emotions of admiration and benevolence, rather than of rancor and uncharitableness. My fault,and it has mortified me much,-was but "a slip of the pen," at which I was myself as surprised as I was to see it in print at all;-for my note to you, written in the greatest haste, was intended merely to call your attention to the subject, without a thought of publication.

And now, while my pen is in the apologetical humor, I believe I may as well forestall future criticism, by begging pardon in advance, for another hasty act. It would certainly have been more safe, as well as modest, to have written the

words "distinct variety," instead of "distinct species of Helianthus." I hope, too, that I have wounded the feelings of no one by an implied distrust in the ability of other botanists, to settle this little matter, by naming Drs. Torrey and Gray, as those with whose determination I should rest quietly satisfied; for it is well known that the characters of the species in most of the order Compositæ, especially in the large genera, are often obscure and puzzling,―requiring great practical skill and access to the most recent published descriptions and collections of dried specimens, to enable one satisfactorily to settle the name of a kind which he has never seen before.

My opinion, when given, was based principally on the difference in the form of the tubers;-and it is, I believe, a received canon in Botanical nomenclature, that a difference in the structure of any of those parts from which the specific characters are taken,-provided it be constant, and propagated by seed, shall be regarded as a sufficient ground for bestowing a different specific name. It is true that I have not applied the test of raising them from the seed, but I have, for several seasons, grown the two kinds, side by side, in my garden, and note the following distinctions:

The tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke, (fig. 2) are commonly produced in a compact clump around the foot of the stalk, sel

Fig. 2. Outline of a tuber of the Jerusalem Artichoke of the natural size. dom spreading over an area of more than 12 or 18 inches in diameter, but often lying touching one another like eggs in a basket. Their general form approaches the globular, and in

the smaller specimens often attains it: though they are frequently very irregular with knobs and protuberances, which are always obtusely rounded at the end. Those of the Tennessee or Hog artichoke, (fig. 3) are three or four times less in

Fig. 3. Outline of a tuber of the Hog Artichoke, nearly of the natural size.

size, but vastly more numerous, formed both along the course of, and at the extremities of stolones, which extend, variously branching and interlaced, so as to form a thick mat over a space 3 or 4 feet across. Those who are sceptical with regard to the doctrine that Irish potatoes are not roots, but modified stems, I think will have no doubts as to the nature of these productions. In form, they are always long and slender, acutely conical at both ends, though thickest towards their distal extremity, which terminates not with a mere eye, or bud, but with a regular built crown, as in the tuberous roots of Convallària multiflora. In some, now before me, not larger than my little finger, this commencement of next year's stem projects an inch, and has already put forth fibres three inches long. I am told, but have not observed the fact myself, that these tubers remain solid and succulent in the spring, long after those of the common sort have become corky or hollow-a property which greatly increases their value, as food for hogs.

The stems of the Jerusalem artichoke, as they commonly stand less thick on the ground, are larger in diameter, the epidermis green, but, on the upper part and branches, thickly sprinkled with minute brown spots, or tinged of a purplish brown on the side next the sun. Those of the new sort attain about the same height, but are more branched, the

branches long and slender, and entirely of a bright purple hue. The flowers of these expand the soonest by 10 or 14 days, the petals of the ray longer, often twice as long as the other, and the plant altogether makes a more gay and striking appearance. Indeed, a field of these, of from 5 to 10 acres, or even of one acre, viewed from an elevated distance, in the month of September, adds a very remarkable feature to the landscape.

Now it may be that these differences are those of a variety only, for so far as I can see, the specific character given by Linnæus, "H. fol. ovato. cordatis trinervüs," and even the recent one in Eaton's Manual, "Leaves 3-nerved, scabrous; lower ones heart-ovate; upper ones ovate, acuminate; petioles ciliate; root tuberous,"-will apply quite as well to one sort as to the other. Still if it be true, as is most probable, from its having been introduced into this country from that direction, that its native habitat is Texas, or Mexico, whilst the old one hails from Brazil, I shall continue to think, till the matter is settled by authority, that the new sort is also a new, or at least a different species.

As to the taste of hogs for them, it seems to be an acquired one, like that of men for oysters, or pickled olives. They almost always reject them at first, but after a while begin to relish, and then become ravenously fond of them,-turning up and pulverizing the soil to a great depth, in search of the smallest fragment.

There is a great difference of opinion as to their value in an economical point of view; some unhesitatingly pronouncing them a humbug, while others think they are destined to produce as important a change in our rural economy, as did the introduction of the root culture into England. For myself, I believe that, with judicious management, they may be made to reduce greatly the expense of raising pork-and that they would be well worth cultivating, were it only for their effect in renovating the soil.