: is peculiarly adapted to such purposes in consequence of its great beauty, hardness, and durability, by means of which it may be carved into splendid ornaments, and will take the most exquisite polish. It is said, too, to be almost indestructible by worms or in water, and to be bullet-proof: hence the Spaniards used to make their vessels of mahogany and Captain Franklin took with him to the shores of the Arctic Sea boats constructed in England of that wood, as being the lightest (in consequence of the thinness of the planks) and the most portable, combined with great strength. Although the Spaniards were, in all probability, the first to bring this wood into use, and although the French must be allowed to produce the most highly-finished and oramental work from it, it is into England that by far the largest importations of it are made, and where it is most extensively employed. Jamaica formerly yielded the greatest quantity of this wood, and the old Jamaica mahogany is still reckoned, I believe, more valuable than that afforded by other countries. The quality depends much on the situation where the tree grows. In an elevated stony spot, where one would imagine there was scarcely soil to give nourishment to the roots, the wood is found to be of a superior grain and texture; whereas in low and alluvial situations, however vigorous and luxuriant the plant may be, the quality of the timber is always inferior, more light and porous, and of a paler colour. The first discovery of the beauty of mahogany wood is attributed to the carpenter on board Sir Walter Raleigh's ship, at the time that vessel lay in some harbour in the island of Trinidad, in 1595. Dr. Gibbons brought it into notice in England. He was an eminent physician about the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th century; and a box for holding candles, and then a bureau, made of a block of mahogany, were given to him by his brother, a West Indian captain. At Honduras, a period of two hundred years is considered to be necessary from the time of the plant springing from seed to that of its perfection and fitness for cutting; an operation which commences about the month of August. The gangs of labourers engaged in this work consist of from twenty to fifty cach, but few exceed the latter number. They are composed of slaves and free persons, without any comparative distinction of rank; and it very frequently occurs that the conductor of such work, here styled the captain, is a slave. Each gang has also one person belonging to it termed the huntsman, who is generally selected from the most intelligent of his fellows; and his chief occupation is to search the woods, or, as it is called in this country, the bush, to find employment for the whole. Accordingly, about the beginning of August, the huntsman is despatched upon his important mission, and if the owner be employed upon his own ground, this is seldom a work of much labour or difficulty. He cuts his way into the most elevated situation among the thickest woods, where he climbs the tallest tree he can find, and thence minutely surveys the surrounding country. At this season the leaves of the mahogany tree are invariably of a yellow-reddish hue; and an eye accustomed to this kind of exercise can, at a great distance, discern the places where the wood is most abundant. To such a spot are his steps directed; and without compass or other guide than what his recollection affords, he never fails to reach the exact point at which he aims. On some occasions no ordinary stratagem is necessary to be resorted to by the hunstman, to prevent others from availing themselves of the advantage of his discoveries; for if his steps be traced by those who are engaged in the same pursuit, which is a very common occurrence, all his ingenuity must be exerted to beguile them from the true scent. In this, however, he is not always successful, being followed by those who are entirely aware of the arts he may use, and whose eyes are so quick, that the lightest turn of a leaf, or the faintest impression of a foot, is unerringly perceived; even the dried leaves which may be strewed upon the ground often help to conduct to the secret spot; and it consequently happens that persons so engaged must frequently undergo the disappointment of finding an advantage they had promised to themselves seized on by others. The hidden treasure being, however, detected, the next operation is the felling of a sufficient number of trees to employ the gang during the season. The mahogany tree is commonly cut about ten or twelve feet from the ground, a stage being erected for the axeman employed in levelling it: this, to an observer, would appear a labour of much danger; but it is very rarely that an accident happens to the people engaged in it. The trunk of the tree, from the dimensions of the wood it furnishes, is deemed the most valuable; but for purposes of an ornamental kind, the limbs or branches are generally preferred, the grain of them being much closer, and the veins more rich and variegated. A sufficient number of trees being now felled to occupy the gang during the season, they commence cutting the roads, which may fairly be estimated as two-thirds of the labour and expense. Each mahogany work forms in itself a small village on the bank of a river; the choice of situation being always regulated by the proxi GATHERING OF MEDICINAL ROOTS. 221 mity of such river to the mahogany intended as the object of future research." BRING FLOWERS. BRING flowers, young flowers, for the festal board, Bring flowers to strew the conqueror's path,— They have tales of the joyous woods to tell; They were born to blush in her shining hair; Bring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride! For this through its leaves hath the white-rose burst, Though they smile in vain for what once was ours, They speak of hope to the fainting heart, With a voice of promise they come and part; They sleep in dust through the wintry hours, They break forth in glory.-Bring flowers, bright flowers! GATHERING OF MEDICINAL ROOTS.-According to M. Kittel, roots should always be gathered in the autumn. This rule is without exception for all plants not annuals, with this difference, that the roots of biennuals should be gathered in the first year, whilst those of the rest may be gathered any year in their lifetime; but the roots gathered before the flowering year are always more charged with active principles than those which have often supported a stem and U 2 flowers; so that roots of the first, second, and third year are better than older roots. This is especially the case with aromatic and narcotic roots-as arnica, briony, gentian, belladonna, angelica, liquorice, sarsaparilla, dandelion, fennel, &c. &c. The volatile, bitter, aromatic, nauseous, and, in general, all active peculiar principles, are more abundant in the cortical layers of the roots than in the woody part. For these reasons, M. Kittel says that fresh roots should never be allowed to be bought and sold for medicinal use, except in the autumn and winter. LINNEUS.-Linnæus, the celebrated botanist, conceived the idea of propagating cochineal in Europe; and, after many fruitless efforts, he at length succeeded in obtaining, through the medium of one of his pupils, who was in Mexico, a nopal covered with cochinillas. The plant arrived at Upsal at a moment when he was busily engaged; but his gardener immediately planted it; and cleared it so effectually of what he imagined to be vermin, that when Linnæus hastened to view this rare acquisition, he did not find a single insect alive. METHOD OF REVIVING PLANTS, &c.-This is called a proved method of reviving plants, &c., when their leaves and buds are faded, and their bark and roots hard and nearly dry, by M. de Droste, of Hulshof. The directions are, to dissolve camphor to saturation in alcohol, adding the former until it remains solid at the bottom; a sufficient quantity of rain or river water is then to have the alcoholic solution added to it, in the proportion of four drops to one ounce of water. As the camphor comes in contact with the water, it will form a thin solid film, which is to be well beaten up with the water; for a short time the camphor will float in the water in small flocculi, but will ultimately combine with the fluid and disappear. Plants which had been removed from the earth, and have suffered by a journey or otherwise, should be plunged into this camphorated water, so that they may be entirely covered; in about two, or at most three hours, the contracted leaves will expand again, the young faded and dependent shoots will erect themselves, and the dried bark will become smooth and full. That being effected, the plant is to be placed in good earth, copiously watered with rain or river water, and protected from the too powerful action of the sun, until the roots have taken good hold of the ground. When large plants, as trees, are to be revived, their roots are to be plunged into the camphorated water for three hours; the trunk and even the head of the tree being frequently wetted with the same water, so as to retain them in CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO. 223 a properly moistened state. But it is always best, if possible, to immerse the whole of the plant. Shoots, sprigs, slips, and roots are to be treated in a similar manner. If plants thus treated are not restored in four hours, their death may be considered as certain, for they cannot be recalled to life by any artificial means. They should, consequently, never be left more than four hours in the camphorated bath; because the exciting action of the camphor, when it is continued for a longer period, may injure the plants instead of doing good to them. It is not necessary to say that the final prosperity of the plants, thus reanimated by the camphor water, must depend upon the particular properties of the former, the state of their roots, and the pains that are taken with them. The camphor produces no other effect than to restore life to plants nearly dead; after that, all proceeds according to the ordinary laws, and their ultimate state must be left to art and nature. CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO.-This plant, at its full height, is as tall as a common-sized man; the stalk is straight, hairy, and clammy; the leaves alternately of a faded yellowish green, and, towards the lower part of the plant, of a great size. The tobacco seeds are first sown in beds, where, having remained a month, the young sprouts are in the first rainy weather transplanted, and the earth raised about them : within the space of another month they grow near a foot high; after which the people top them and prune off the bottom leaves, leaving only seven or eight on the stalk, that they may be the better fed; after which these leaves in six weeks time come to their full growth. The planters prune off the suckers, and clear them of the hornworm twice a week, which is called worming and suckering. This last work lasts three weeks or a month, by which time the leaf, from being green, begins to turn brownish, and to spot and thicken, which is the sign of its ripening. They cut the plants down as fast as they ripen, heap them up, and let them lie a night to sweat. The next day they carry them to the tobacco-house, where every plant is hung up at a convenient distance from each other for about a month or six weeks; they take them down in moist weather, else they would crumble to dust. After this they are laid upon sticks, and covered up close in the tobacco-house for a week or a fortnight to sweat; and then opening the bulk in a wet day, they are stripped and sorted, the top leaves being the best, and the bottom the worst tobacco. The last work is to pack it in hogsheads, or to bundle it up, which is also done in a wet season; for in the curing of tobacco, wet seasons are as |