Volume LXXXIII

I

AND

JANUARY, 1925

'N THE window of the Public Library at West Tisbury, on the island of Martha's Vineyard, two marble gravestones catch the eye of the visitor. If you have never been there before you will doubtless stop to glance, then to enquire who might have been "Ada Queetie”, and who "Beauty Linna", and who in the name of strange nomenclature, "Tweedle Tedel Bebbee Pinky."

The librarian can tell you that they are two of the headstones that old Nancy Luce erected in memory of her hens, when they died, fifty years ago. But the story of old Nancy and why she erected marble headstones over dead hens is told fragmentarily nowadays, and the tradition of the old woman once called "The Madonna of the Hens" is seldom recalled.

Fifty years ago Nancy Luce was one of the best-known of Vineyard characters. Her house, with its highfenced enclosure nearby, was one of the sights of the island, and visitors. of those days were always treated to a call on Nancy and her hens. The little island off the Massachusetts coast is more popular than ever with summer visitors, but the story of old Nancy is seldom told to today's generations of "off-island" summer folk.

Nancy in the old days was a picturesque figure. She wrote a volume of poetry about her hens. She counselled careful treatment of all dumb animals, and in her old age lived on almost nothing because she would touch neither meat nor eggs.

She literally lived for and among her feathered pets. They were more to her than any of the human folk who came to stare at and question her. She named them all, and each hen had not one but two or three names. A contemporary writer refers to their lengthy nomenclature as "reminiscent of the christening of an Infanta." Sick and ailing herself in her latter years, her first thought was always for her tame flock. When they were decently interred and their graves marked, her chief worry was lest their bones be

By CLARA SHARPE HOUGH

desecrated and their headstones marred. Truly here is a unique story.

Nancy was born in August, 1821, of an old and honored Vineyard family. The name of Luce, from the earliest history of Martha's Vineyard to the present, has been connected with the island's best tradition. There are various branches of the family, and the name is a respected one both on and off the island.

O

F NANCY'S girlhood little can be discovered. It is said she was once a lively and lovely country-bred maiden. She may have been a belle of island society in 1840 or thereabouts. Tradition calls her an accomplished horsewoman. Tradition has it also that she was blighted in love in her youth, and retired to solitude to signify her renunciation of the rest of the world. Another version is that after the death in quick succession of all her near relatives, she shut herself up alone, and that her first companion in her loneliness was a goat. She kept the animal as a pet until its death, when, after extravagant mourning, she found solace in her hens.

The gap of years between her youth and her old age is not bridged. She must gradually have grown more and more eccentric, more and more devoted to the little feathered family that meant more to her than any human companionship. The oldest inhabitants of the Vineyard cannot recall that Nancy Luce was ever anything but "peculiar"-a grave offense in a country community.

She grew to be an authority on the likes and dislikes, the ailments and cures of poultry. People must have come to her for advice about their own barnyard flocks. Presently she began sending contributions to the Vineyard Gazette, the island's weekly newspaper, quaint recipes for the ills of hens, suggestions for their comfort, adjurations gestions for their comfort, adjurations to treat them with kindliness and affection.

Number 1

The issue of January 25, 1861, contains an editorial entitled "The Evil that is Upon Us," which, bewailing the wicked stubbornness of the southern representatives in Congress, urges that a discussion of the subject of the emancipation of the slaves "kindly and intelligently," with "southern Christians who know more than we do of the matter," might prevent the horror of a civil war. On the same page is a contribution signed Nancy Luce, which reads:

Mr. Editor:

I send you a piece for you to put in your paper if you please, without charging it to me.

My pullets commenced laying 4 months of age. My bantie sort lay as well in winter as they do in summer. They must have good fine meal scalded with milk, and warm bread made of milk and good southern corn, and warm milk to drink in winter. and a warm clean house. Take good care of your hens, or you can't have eggs. In summer they must have good southern corn, and good fine meal scalded with milk, and eat it cold. Be good to your hens, and not cruel. Consider how you would feel, if you could not help yourselves, and folks was cruel to you and let you suffer. I have kept about 8 hens, which laying rising 1500 eggs a

year.

The interest that was developed in her unique life until people from all parts of the country visited her home and wrote about her was roused first in Rodolphus W. Crocker, of Vineyard Haven. Mr. Crocker was a stagecoach driver, and his business took him to all parts of the island. He saw Nancy frequently, noticed her peculiarities, presently he began to tell others of her. His friends began to go to the little gray house up-island to see the Lady of the Hens. Almost overnight the pathetic and lonely little woman was a figure on the island.

Tourists were taken to see her as one of the sights of the resort. Her fame spread beyond the confines of Martha's Vineyard. Pictures of her and of her home began to adorn the guide-books. Mr. Crocker and his brother stage-drivers (spiritual fath

ers of today's cheery holdup-men presiding over taxi-meters) coined revenue from the curiosity of the visitors.

Nancy presently saw that she too could get some return for all the staring she underwent. She began to sell her photograph and the pamphlets containing instruction on the care of hens, and some of her own remarkable poetry, some of which is extant today, printed in West Tisbury in 1871.

She never welcomed the visitors, even after she recognized the advantage of her publicity and began selling her pamphlets. The famous graveyard of the hens was guarded by a high

board fence with three rows of nails pointing upward around the top. Boys were probably the worst predators she feared, but they doubtless annoyed her almost to the point of persecution, for the poor old woman seems to have suffered a sort of persecution mania. before her death.

Through her writings the note of her own physical suffering sounds over and over. She was in poor health some years before she died, and she speaks of her illness with stoic patience and resignation. Her own pains did not rouse her to a pitch of indignation. as did the bare idea of harm coming to her pets.

On a hand-ruled paper, preserved today by a collector of Vineyard antiques, Nancy printed in even, clear characters, a long poem entitled "Sickness". It begins:

"I cannot endure my hard fortune,
To undergo sickness so long,
And cannot ride to have comfort,
I want comfort as much as others.
I cannot walk, not stur, but a few
minutes,

It hurts me so bad."

But a few lines further on she says: "I milk my cow, I care for my hens, I cannot live without cow and hens." The letters are shaded and decorated with dots and lines in artistic curves that remind one of hand-illuminated manuscript. A hymn-book, printed in 1818, has its yellowed fly-leaves closely written in the fine sloping hand that girls were taught a hundred years ago. The clearness testifies to Nancy's eyesight. Though the verses deal mostly with Nancy's own illness and pain, one illuminating page reads:

"Good behavior of foreign folks
From camp-meeting.
They behaved well,

And they bought books off me, I cannot live without them." To this day the old camp-meeting ground on the Vineyard is the scene. of religious revival each revival each summer. Fifty years ago the coming of the camp-meeting was looked forward to all through the winter. It was the big social occasion of the year, when the biggest crowds were on the island.

Nancy's seal of approval stamps the "foreign folks", which meant to her anyone not a dweller on the little island.

Considerable imagination must have been exercised in naming the beloved hens. Among the names we find Teedie Tanie, Joatia Jolota, Meleenie Otanie, and many equally quaint blending of syllables.

B in Nancy's writing, shared a gravestone, as they seem to have shared a Of place in their mistress' heart. Ada Queetie Nancy wrote in one of her slender volumes:

EAUTY LINNA and Ada Queetie, the "banties" so often referred to

"She could do 54 wonderful cunning things.

Poor Sissy could do 39,

They would do part of them without telling,

And do all the rest of them with telling."

"Sissy" doubtless was Beauty Linna, the other "bantie". But of all the hens the favorite was Tweedle Tedel Bebbee Pinky. It was Pinky's death that inspired a long elegy, beginning:

"Poor Pinky, that dear little heart,
She is gone, sore broke in her,
Died in distress, poor little heart,
O it was heart-rending.

O sick I do feel ever since, I am left broken-hearted, She was my own heart within me, She had more than common wit." Of the 27 stanzas that follow, one sheds light on the character of the departed:

"O dreadful melancholy do I feel for my dear,

She laid eggs until three days before her death,

She laid the most eggs, this four years round,

Than any hen I have on earth."

The gravestone records that Pinky lived to the ripe age of nine years.

These pets are said to have lived in the cellar, where each one had its own box, curtained decently with calico. But the beloved Pinky (whose full name, please recall, was Tweedle Tedel Bebbee Pinky) had her own snug nest on the hearth in Nancy's bed

room.

When she had her photograph taken for her pamphlets she wore an oldfashioned gown of printed silk, with a little apron and cap to match, and a string of gold beads around her neck. Of course a hen was in the picture, clasped with just the amount of affection and nonchalance with which a rotogravure belle clasps a Pekinese today.

In her later years she did not dress so tastefully. A visitor to her house. in the last years of her life describes her thus in the pages of the Atlantic Monthly:

"An old tester bedstead and a mas

sive mahogany bureau seem to glower at us from behind her; a heavilybeamed and smoke-darkened ceiling frowns from overhead; and a broad, paneled chimney-piece forms the prospect upon which her gaze is bent rather than on us. Whenever her glance. does turn upon us we meet it with a thrill a thrill at first of repulsion, then of eeriness; next pity half-blots out both sensations, but not wholly, for she is a grotesque figure.

"From under a short woolen skirt protrude her feet clad in carpet slippers, and the loose blouse that covers her narrow and humped body is fastened with big brass buttons. Over her head, down on her forehead, and close under her chin, so that not one strand of hair is visible, is drawn a thick woolen hood. This accents the unusual length and pallor of her face, which reminds one of an unlighted dwelling. Her dark, heavy eyes, unshaded by eyelashes, are eloquent of pain and reproach. But it is her hands that bear chief witness to her sufferings, for they are gaunt and colorless— so colorless indeed that they look as if no ruddy drop of blood had ever warmed them.

"She talks most about her physical suffering, and scolds us shrilly for having come at such an unheard-of hour-it's four o'clock in the afternoon -expecting to see her pets, which have all been put to bed."

The house was one of those oldfashioned gray shingled buildings, so admired and coveted by summer visitors today on Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod. (When they get possession of one, they make a tea-room of it). In Nancy's day the window-frames were painted bright green. At one end of the house was the enclosure with the high fence already described, and on it a sign used to hang,

"I forbid anyone to come to these premises on the Sabbath."

Sylvia Chatfield Bates, who chose Martha's Vineyard as the setting for her novel, "The Geranium Lady", embodied Nancy Luce in the story as "old Betty Latch, whose lover had been a sailor who had sailed for New South Wales and never returned. Old Betty had taken consolation in her hens." Vineyard folk had no difficulty. in recognizing Nancy in this character of old Betty.

In 1902 The Reader printed Nancy's photograph and two pages of comment on her poetry. The editor said of her:

"We reproduce the photograph of this author not because she is a shining light in literature, but because it is so much more interesting than the faces (Continued on page 48)

D

UCH has been written about the California Big Trees. Their heights, shapes, diameters, beauty, economic importance, and particularly their ages have furnished material for both prose and poetry. But very little has been published regarding the native shrubs of California. It is the purpose of this article to give to the readers of the OVERLAND MONTHLY a brief account of the potential economic value of these shrubs.

There are approximately seven hundred species of shrubs now growing wild within the confines of the State. Many of these during the course of past ages have spread into California. by a northern floristic invasion. Some have had their origin in Mexico, and later migrated in a northerly direction. The primary factor favoring this northern migration was the increasing aridity of the southern portion of the State. Others have spread into the State from the adjacent Rocky Mountain region. About a hundred and twentyfive of the seven hundred species are strictly peculiar or endemic, i.e., they are not found growing wild outside the State. Their origin and subsequent ancestry furnishes one of the most perplexing but fascinating problems of Systematic Botany.

In making a survey of the economic

By HOWARD E. McMINN

value of these shrubs one finds that he can group them into two divisions: those with pronounced positive values and those with seemingly negative ones. In the former group may be placed those shrubs that contain rubber producing compounds, those that furnish medicinal extracts, those that possess tannin in large quantities, those that may be used for forage plants, those that furnish honey materials, those that aid in preventing water runoff-this would include all shrubs of the hill and mountain regions, and of particular interest to the writer, those that have ornamental possibil

ities.

In the latter group may be placed those that are classed as weeds-fortunately very few of the native shrubs are included in this group, those that have poisonous qualities, and those that have abundant, light, windblown pollen which is an active factor in causing hay fever and asthma. Several of the species belong to both

groups.

SHRUBS WITH ORNAMENTAL POSSIBILITIES

The department of Botany at Mills College under the direction of the

writer has been bringing together a collection of as many native shrubs as will grow in the climate of the San Francisco Bay region. One of the purposes of bringing together such a collection was for studying the native shrubs in respect to their ornamental possibilities.

In making such a study one must take into account at least two sets of considerations. The first has to do with the ornamental assets of the shrub itself, and the second with the problems of transplanting and propagating forms which are found to pos

sess ornamental characteristics. The

general growth form, whether erect, ascending, drooping or prostrate; character of the foliage, whether deciduous or evergreen; the size, shape, fragrance, and beauty of the flowers; and the character of the fruit; are some of the characteristics that must be considered in studying the ornamental assets of a shrub. The first of these sets of considerations can be studied to a large extent in the field, but the problems of propagating and watching the behavior of transplanted shrubs can best be done in an experimental garden such as Mills College has begun.

It is common knowledge that many wild plants when brought under cul

tural treatment, respond to such treatment, and often some characters are so modified as to make them desirable for economic purposes. Many species of shrubs, such as Flowering Currant, Rose, Burning Bush, and Willow can be propagated readily by cuttings or by layering, while others, as the Oak and Toyon, can be grown from seeds. Some, however, of the most beautiful of our native shrubs do not lend themselves easily to these means of propagation, and it is, therefore, necessary to dig up the entire plant for transplanting into the experimental garden.

At the present writing about two hundred species have been transplanted from the wild state to the garden and about a hundred and fifty of these have become established. Several of Several of these can be highly recommended for ornamental planting. Several are grown by European gardeners and are considered by them as worthy of first rank among ornamental shrubs, but since they grow here all about us in their native habitats, we usually consider them brush or chaparral. It is rather difficult to discriminate among many of these beautiful shrubs since all have certain ornamental qualifications, but in order to emphasize some of the more important ones, I shall discuss them in reference to their adaptability for certain types of planting.

Hedge Plants

A discussion of the various types of hedges and their uses is not within the scope of this article. And since the majority of hedges, particularly those in California, are of the evergreen type, I shall recommend only those native shrubs that do not shed all their leaves at a given season. One of the best hedges I have ever seen is made of our native Evergreen Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia). Its glossy, somewhat Holly-like foliage, its numerous clusters of white flowers, and rather compact arrangement of branches make it a most desirable plant for a medium or tall-growing hedge. I can also recommend the use of the Catalina Cherry (Prunus integrifolia), three species of Mountain Lilac (Ceanothus thyrsiyorus, C. divaricatus, C. spinosus), Sumac (Rhus integrifolia), Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) and Lenscale (Atriplex lentiformis breweri), having seen them used as hedges in the various parts of California. They are holding up and serving their purposes as well as the majority of introduced species. The Lenscale with ashy gray foliage is well adapted and used to a great extent in Southern California, especially at La Jolla, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Berried Shrubs

One seldom finds even the smallest home garden planted today in which the berried shrubs do not have a place. The many varieties of introduced Crataegae and Cotoneasters furnish the planter with most excellent material from which to choose. Many of the same effects produced by the use of these exotics have been duplicated however by the use of some of the California shrubs. The Christmas Berry or Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos), and the California Sumacs (Rhus sp.) have been used by Pomona College at Claremont, California, with excellent results in developing their new campus planting plan.

Several species of native Currants and Gooseberries, although with deciduous foliage, have quite showy flowers and berried fruits. Since these plants are easily propagated by layering and from cuttings, they could be

A fine evergreen ornamental (Trichostema lanatum) taken from the mountains of Ventura County. It is remarkable for its long spikes of purple woolly flowers with long protruding stamens and style.

used in mixed plantings with the above-mentioned evergreen berriedshrubs. The Flowering Currants (Ribes malvaceum, R. sanguineum var. glutinosum), the Fuchsia Flowering Gooseberry (Ribes speciosum), Yellow Flowering Gooseberry (Ribes aureum var. tenuiflorum), Hillside

Gooseberry (Ribes Californicum), Canon Gooseberry (Ribes menziesii), and Ribes roezli are a few of these deciduous shrubs that have been tried out in the Mills shrub garden and found worthy of future use on account of their flowers as well as their berried fruits.

The Coffey Berry (Rhamnus californica and varieties), Red Berry (Rhamnus crocea and varieties), Snow Berry (Symphoricarpos racemosus), June Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), Elderberry (Sambucus species), and Barberry (Berberis species)

are other native berried-shrubs suitable for ornamental use.

Brilliant Flowering Shrubs Included in this group are many of the choicest native ornamentals. The Poppy Family furnishes three highly decorative shrubs, the Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida) and two species of Romneya-Matillija Poppy. The Matillija Poppies are already much used in ornamental planting in California and seem to do particularly well in the warmer parts of the State. The brilliant yellow flowers of the Bush Poppy are large and numerous but the plants are rather difficult to transplant.

One of the most gorgeous flowering shrubs found growing in California is the California Slippery Elm (Fremontia californica). The golden yellow or orange colored flowers are as large as dollars and often clothe the branches to form a mass of color unexcelled by anything I have ever seen in the mountains. These shrubs grow in the lower Sierra and Coast Ranges. I have seen especially fine clumps growing in the Topatopa Mountains. of Ventura County. They are not difficult to transplant if placed in well drained soils.

The Mountain Lilacs (Ceanothus species) with profuse clusters of small, white, blue, purple or lavender flowers are common shrubs of the chaparral vegetation of California. Their great diversity of form, character of foliage, variation in flowering time. and color of their flowers place them among the most beautiful of our native flowering shrubs. Several of the species have found their place along with the exotics in home gardens. I have seen them used as hedges, for covering unsightly backgrounds, and in single and group plantings at Atascadero, Montecito, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Claremont, and numerous other places throughout California. Some are well suited for moist shady places, while others thrive best on welldrained sunny slopes.

The Red Bud (Cercis occidentalis), generally found growing near the banks of streams, has been introduced into ornamental planting at several places in the central and northern coast parts of the State. It grows abundantly in Mendocino and Lake counties and in the foothills of the Sierras. In the spring when in full bloom the crimson flowers, thickly covering the branchlets, form a mass of color of unusual richness. The beautiful foliage, although deciduous, forms an excellent background for the purpletinged fruit pods which develop in great clusters during the summer.

One could write at length describing the numerous native California shrubs which, on account of their flowers, are suitable for ornamental uses, but I shall close this group by mentioning a few that I have either tried out in the garden or have seen growing in cultivation. They include forms of Mallow, Barberry, Flowering Currant, Pentstemon, Manzanita, Azalea, Flowering Dogwood, Salmon Berry, Mock Orange, Huckleberry, Chemise. Toy

on,

Wild Sage, Spiraea, Lupine, Honeysuckle, Yerba Santa, Rose, Gilia, and some of the members of the Daisy or Sunflower family.

In this group I recommend the use of several species of the native Buckwheats (Eriogonum). Many are lowgrowing suffrutescent plants with ash colored foliage and sulphur-yellow, orange, pink, or white flowers which are borne in late summer and persist for a long period. They do well in dry places.

While botanizing in Ventura County in the early summer of 1923, I found an evergreen shrub of medium height with many erect stems. These stems were terminated by long spikes of purple flowers. I transplanted one of the plants (Trichostemma, lanatum) to the shrub garden and it has proven a most desirable plant for ornamental use. Its long flowering period (June-October), its clean evergreen foliage, and general form make it a desirable plant for mixed plantings fronting taller shrubs.

A number of the Lupines and Pentstemons have beautiful flowers but as a general thing they do not hold out. well when transplanted and used alone. In addition to those shrubs listed under Berried Shrubs and Brilliant Flowering Shrubs, the following may be used for fronting purposes: Sweet Scented Shrub (Calycanthus), Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus), Cali

(Rhus trilobata), Creek Dogwood (Cornus pubescens), Twin Berry (Lonicera involucrata), Bush Sunflower (Encelia), Chaparral Broom (Baccharis pilularis), and Old Man (Artemisia californica).

Hay Fever Shrubs

The pollen from a few of the shrubs has been found to be a cause of hayfever. Only those, however, that are wind-pollinated can be placed in this group. Most plants with highly colored blossoms and nectar glands are insect pollinated and consequently their pollens are seldom found to be the cause of hay-fever. The wind pollinated shrubs usually have small inconspicuous flowers with abundant very light pollen easily carried to great distances by the wind. The Alder (Alnus), Walnut (Juglans), Sagebrush (Artemisia), Scale or Salt Bush (Atriplex), Birch (Betula). Chinquapin (Castanea), Hazelnut (Corylus), Alkali-Blite (Suaeda), Franseria, Silk-tassel Bush (Garrya), Oak (Quercus), Greasewood (Sarcobatus), and Iodine-bush (Spirostachys) are native shrubs with wind blown pollen that have actually been proved to be causes of hay-fever.

Dr. George Piness of Los Angeles, a specialist in the field of hay-fever

and asthma, is carrying out extensive research upon these wind-blown pollens. Botanical surveys are being made in order to ascertain the distribution, time of pollination, and abundance of these plants. Pollens are secured and extracts prepared from them for skin reaction tests, which consist of intradermal injections of very dilute solutions. If an injection. from a given species results in a raised reddened "wheal", it is concluded that the individual is sensitive to that particular pollen and then a treatment is begun for the purpose of desensitizing the patient.

This treatment consists of injections. from the specific pollen which caused the hay-fever, and are given at weekly intervals for a period of six to sixteen weeks or until no further reaction is obtained. This should be completed prior to the pollinating period of the particular species which is found to be Some the cause of the hay-fever. people are sensitive to the pollen of only one species, or at most a few,

while others are sensitive to that of many species; in which case it is necessary to carry out treatment for desensitization with all the pollens if total immunity is to be secured. If one is troubled with this malady it would be well to consider the nature of the pollens before planting shrubbery about the home.