126 NOTICES OP BOOKS. 



Europe. Yet the greater part of this information, it is candidly ac- 

 knowledged, is due, not so much to scientific research in that now 

 widely extended Colony, as to the experience of the Colonial farmer, 

 residing in the more remote parts of the interior, to occasional tra- 

 vellers, or to the wandering native. 



As specimens of the information we shall make brief extracts from 



■ 



the account of two drugs which are articles of export. After descri- 

 bing the Bucku-leaves (Diosma crenata, DC.) and their properties, it is 

 observed, " In trade this valuable drug is often adulterated by the sub- 

 stitution of less powerful sorts of the same family of plants, which, 

 although of a similar smell, are by no means equal to it in their the- 

 rapeutical effects. One of these plants is the Diosma (Barosma) serra- 

 tifolia, Lodd., a species common in the district of Swellendara, and 

 another, the Empleurum semdatum, Sol., easily distinguished by its 

 linear-lanceolate, serrated leaves. The true Diosma crenata is a native 

 of the mountains of Hottentot's Holland, Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, 

 Talbagh, and Worcester." — And of the " Cape Aloes" under Aloe 

 ferox, he observes, " They are procured from several species of this ex- 

 tensive genus, so peculiar to South Africa. The Aloeferox> Linn., a na- 

 tive of Swellendam, is generally acknowledged to yield the best extract. 

 That obtained from the Aloe Africana, Mill., is almost equally good, but 

 not so bitter, nor so powerful as a drastic. It is the produce of the eastern 

 districts. The Aloe commonly used by the Colonists, is prepared from 

 the Aloe plicatilis, Mill., whose extract is a much milder purgative, 

 and much resembles the Barbadoes Aloes. It inhabits the mountain- 

 ous range near the Paarl, Drakenstein, and Fransche Hoek. It is 

 much to be regretted that the farmers do not take more trouble in 

 purifying this valuable drug." » 



At the Great London Exhibition of 1851, and that of Paris in 1855, 

 nearly the whole of the "Vegetable Products" sent from South Africa 

 were collected and sent through the indefatigable zeal of the botanists 

 Dr. Pappe and Mr. Zeyher. No attempt seems to be made by Govern- 

 ment to lay open the botanical resources of the Colony. A " Botanic 

 Garden," as it is called, has indeed been formed at Cape Town, but 

 we do not find that it has been in any way beneficial to the country, 

 or that it carries on correspondence and interchange of plants with the 

 Mother Couutry, or with other Colonial gardens. The services of Mr. 

 Zeyher, who was for some time the Colonial Botanist, are entirely dift- 



