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were from one to two shillings apiece; and eight and sixpence were given for a few strawberries.

Two of the most active introducers of foreign seeds and plants, in England, were the excellent Peter Collinson, and Sir Joseph Banks. But even in England the adoption of plants, till of late years, was comparatively slow a. The Jerusalem artichoke, a native of Brazil, has a valuable root, and is well worthy an extensive propagation. It was introduced to England in 1617: and yet it is even now more known by name than in use. In respect to pines, of those most known in Great Britain, the Scotch alone is indigenous. The common larch came from the Alps in 1629 ; and from America the balm of Gilead in 1696; the Weymouth in 1705; and the frankincense in 1736. The Aleppo came from the Levant in 1732 the spruce from Norway; and the silver pine from the Alps in 1739; while the Jersey came from North America even so lately as 1748. In respect to the relative value of these woods, it is only within these few years, that the larch has been known to be almost equal to the oak for internal uses.

The lichen is, says an author, whose name we have neg

a The number of exotics in this country, previous to the time of Elizabeth,

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The two first larches ever seen in Scotland are still alive at Dunkeld, in the park of his Grace the Duke of Athol. They were brought in two garden flower-pots from Switzerland, and put into a greenhouse. They were afterwards transplanted into the park. From these two patriarchs, introduced in 1738, have sprung all the larches now in Scotland. The first fig-trees (1562) are said to be still at Lambeth; the first lime-trees at Dartford; and the first mulberry-trees (1596) at Sion House, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland.

lected to note, "the first plant, that vegetates on naked rocks, covering them with a kind of tapestry, and drawing its nourishment, perhaps, chiefly from the air. After it perishes, earth enough is left for other mosses to root themselves; and after some ages, a soil is produced, sufficient for the growth of more succulent vegetables. In this manner, perhaps, the whole earth has been gradually covered with vegetation, after it was raised out of the primeval ocean, by subterranean fires.”

This plant (the lichen) grows, I believe, in all cold countries. It graces a thousand rocks, and gives elegance to a thousand castles, and monastic ruins. The last time I saw it was on the rocks of Snowdon; and I could not behold it without remembering lines; not, perhaps, to be surpassed in the entire range of British descriptive poetry. Even Lucretius has nothing superior to them.

Where frowning Snowdon bends his dizzy brow,
O'er Conway, listening to the surge below;
Retiring LICHEN climbs the topmost stone,

And drinks the aerial solitude alone.

Bright shine the stars, unnumber'd, o'er her head,
And the cold moon-beams gild her flinty bed;

While round the rifted rocks hoarse whirlwinds breathe,

And, dark with thunder, sail the clouds beneath.

DARWIN, Loves of the Plants.

Every soil would produce plants, if those, peculiar to their natures, were planted in it. Even the white sand of Eastern Louisiana produces cedars, pines, and ever-green oaks. The Tartarian box-thorn will grow in soils, replete with nitre; and sycamores among rocks on sea coasts, where most other trees wither and perish. In the great desert of Arabia, too, are found stalks of rosemary and lavender, shedding an agreeable perfume over a dreary wilderness, which the wild palm renders comparatively rich.

In Chili there are many medicinal plants which are natural to France and Spain. Trefoil, mallows, and mint are, also, indigenous. In many parts of that country, the fruits of

Europe flourish so well, that Frazier assures us they are in bud, in flower, green, and ripe, at the same time. In the Chilian deserts, white strawberries are as large as walnuts; and minerals have no effect whatever upon the life of vegetables. The plant, which most impoverishes the soil in South America, is the indigo.

One of the most fragrant shrubs of the East,-one of the most elegantly formed, too,-Limonia pentaphylla, grows on the uncultivated lands of the Coromandel coast. It flowers all the year. "The whole plant," says Dr. Roxburgh a, "when lying in the shade, diffuses a pleasant fragrant scent, which I cannot describe. The flowers are exquisitely fragrant."

The Madhuca has very peculiar flowers. They resemble berries, which look more like fruits than flowers. They hang in clusters, and never expand. Their seeds are replete with a thick oil, of the consistence of butter. The tree grows in barren soils, and seems to destroy all the brushwood and small trees near it. The fruit and flower are, nevertheless, of great use to the poor; and as it yields equally in a dry season, as in a wet one, it ought to be planted throughout the whole continent of Asia.

How come Mangoes, which grow in America; grapes, that luxuriate in Europe; parrots, that people the woods of Madagascar; and green turtle, that visit the shores of the West Indies, to be found in the isles of Condore, on the

a Plants of the Coast of Coromandel, vol. i. 59. fol.

b Mr. Hamilton, speaking of this tree in the neighbourhood of Chatra Ramga, observes,-"Notwithstanding its utility, I have never observed, nor can I find any of my acquaintance who have ever remarked, one single tree in this neighbourhood, in its infant state. We can see, every where, full-grown trees in great abundance; but we never meet with any young plants: and we are all at a loss to know how they came here. This sufficiently marks the character of the lower orders in their supine indolence. As to the Zemindar, speaking to one of that order, one day, upon the subject, he replied, 'It is the food of poor people; how then should I know any thing about it!'"-Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 304, 305.

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coast of Cochin-China? and why, since they have thus borrowed from the four quarters of the world, have these islands not repaid the obligation, by propagating a tree they possess, which exudes a juice, that, if boiled, becomes tar, and if boiled long, becomes pitch?

Many valuable trees might be introduced to this country. Active as we have been to naturalise flowers and shrubs, for their beauty and variety, we have been remiss in this. Had our forefathers been equally so, we should have been destitute of some of our best fruits, and one of our best timber trees; the larch. The laburnum is scarcely known, except for ornament and yet so highly is it prized by cabinet-makers, that a considerable quantity was sold at Brechin Castle a, at halfa-guinea a foot. Many trees from Van Diemen's Land, New Holland, and Terra del Fuego, might, doubtless, be introduced with advantage.

At the limits of the Arctic circle there is a breed of cows so small, as not to be larger than sucking calves. Their milk is almost all cream; sweet and delicious: and so thick, that it draws out in strings. This goodness in milk arises from the plant on which the cows feed, viz. the lichen rangeferinus. This lichen has a slight flavour of turpentine: it eats something like a lettuce; and its inward part resembles endive, bleached as white as snow. It flourishes best where trees have been conflagrated ". The rein-deer dig for it in the snow; it being so highly nutritive and agreeable to their palate, that it is both meat and drink to them. This plant might, doubtless, be cultivated in other climates besides those immediately in the arctic circle.

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Cloves, cinnamon, and nutmegs should be introduced to

a November 1819. Sang's Planter's Calendar, p. 91.

b Flora Lapponica, p. 332. "The grasses of regions in the Arctic Circle retain their seeds all the winter, and furnish nourishment for birds, which arrive upon the melting of the snow."-Richardson's Suppl. to Parry's Second Voy., p. 344. 4to. c Clarke, Scandinavia, p. 566. 4to. d Brackenbridge, Voy. to South Americ. i. 154.

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the Brazils; and the farinaceous palm of the Nicobar Islands, which yields a highly nutritive fruit, and weighs from 17 to 24lbs., might be easily naturalized in the Caribbees and Antilles. St. Lucia, one of the former, had, when first discovered, neither canes, cocoas, nor coffee-trees: but in 1772 it had 978 pieces of land in the cultivation of the cane; 367 plots of coffee; 1,321,600 cocoa plants; and 5,595,889 coffee trees.

The green orange of Arcot, unknown in Europe, and but partially distributed in India, should be planted in every part of that continent. But of all trees, the Mungustana deserves the most assiduous attention, in respect to propagation. The fruit of this tree is acknowledged by all persons, who have tasted it, let their partialities and antipathies, in other respects, be what they may,—to be the most exquisite of all fruits and yet it has been but little propagated. Indeed, it seems to resist almost every attempt of the kind. It was introduced into the Isle of France in 1754; but with little success. It was brought from Bantam to Java; and hence it has been particularly known and described. It bears fruit and blossoms at the same time. The fruit is round; purple; resting in a green calyx; and its top bears a corona. Its flavour has a little sweetness, with a mixture of acid: and it melts in the mouth like whipped cream.

If some plants ought to be largely propagated for their uses, others ought to be so for their beauty. In India, there are several flowers, that should be cultivated in every practicable region of the earth. Of these may be distinguished the Pichula, and the Camalata. The former blossoms during the rainy season; and, with the Asclepias winding round it, forms one of the most lovely botanical pictures in all India. The latter is so beautiful in its colour and form, and has a scent

a Garcinia Mangostana.

Dampier, Voy. vol. iii. 124. Crawford, Hist. Ind. Archipel. vol. i. 417.

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