HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



G5 



Majoram, Rosmary, and otlier fragrant herbs." 

 "For fruits they have a sort called //'7/«r/5." Again: 

 " In the forest of Savernac (i.e. Savernake) grows a 

 kind of sweet Eerne : " " in the Eenus of Cambridge- 

 shire grows Scordium or Water Germander : " "in 

 the Isle of Axholme grows a sweet kind of shrub 

 called Gales, as alsoPd?/5in the Moores [I know not 

 what that is], and dead roots of Firrc-wood which 

 in burning give a rank sweet smell." Again : " At 

 Strattou in Cornwall grows the best Garlick in all 

 the Countrey. It may be old Mr. diamond, (uncle 

 and great-uncle to, at least, 300 persons) owed part 

 of the cause of his great age, to his living so near 

 the best Garlick, the countreyman's Treacle." He 

 states elsewhere that the countrymen in Cornwall 

 are great eaters of garlic for health's sake; whence 

 they call it there, the Countryman's Treacle. — 

 E. T., M.A. 



Medicago akbokea. — I wish to correct an 

 error in the paragraph under this head in last 

 month's Science-Gossip. It was stated that the 

 plant forms beautiful hedges at Florence, close by the 

 sea, instead of Leghorn. The shrub is now (Feb- 

 ruary) in full flower in Mr. Balchin's Nursery at 

 Hove, and is a perfect picture, at least ten feet 

 high.— T. B. jr., BrhjMon. 



The Potato Disease. — Our readers will re- 

 member that in an article on this subject which 

 appeared in our columns in the autumn of 1S72, 

 Prof. Dyer recommended the culture of an early 

 potato, one that would be fully grown before the 

 period when the potato disease set in. The Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England have now offered 

 two prizes for disease-proof potatoes, one of £100 

 for earhj tubers which shall be disease-proof for 

 three years, and another of the same sum for a late 

 potato, to be tested for the same period. A policy 

 like this is worth any number of prize essays. 



Seaside Shrubs. — It is most desirable that in 

 selecting shrubs, &c. for the most exposed spots on 

 the seashore, it should first be ascertained which 

 are most appropriate and best calculated to stand 

 the strong winds and salt spray from the sea. Elms, 

 sycamores, and chestnuts have been planted on 

 the new UnderclifF-road at Brighton, and have, of 

 course, all died ; there are, however, British shrubs 

 whicli not only thrive by the seaside, but (one at 

 least) never found at a distance from it ; in fact, the 

 sea-air, saturated as it is with saline matter, is its 

 natural element. The Stalwort or Sea-blight {Salsola 

 frut'icosa, L. ; Swada fruticosa, Forsk) is a shrub 

 that is only indigenous on the seashore, or in saline 

 plains and other places where the soil is impreg. 

 nated with salt : it is one of the rarer British 

 species, found only on some parts of the eastern 

 and southern coasts ; it is a shrubby, erect, branch, 

 ing, evergreen perennial, from three to four feet 



high, with thick, succulent, and bluntish green 

 leaves and small .'stalkless flowers (see Hooker's 

 "British Flora" and the "Treasury of Botany"). 

 Several strong clumps of tlie shrub may be seen in 

 Mr. Spary's Nursery at Brighton. There is an. 

 other shrub which, though not confined to the sea- 

 side, is found to thrive on the most exposed parts 

 of the coast, viz., the Ilippophae rhamnoides, or sea- 

 buckthorn ; it is indigenous on exposed sandy cliffs 

 in the town of Folkestone, at the back of and above 

 the Coast Guard Station. It is described by II. G. G., 

 in the last December number of Sciexce-Gossip, 

 as growing on the coast of Norfolk in abundance 

 for about half a mile in extent, in spots clumped 

 together in dense masses and covered with orange, 

 coloured berries; it is indigenous on the sand- 

 hills and cliffs on the coast of Kent, Essex, Norfolki 

 Lincoln, and Yorkshire, also on the Firth, the 

 Clyde, in Islay, and Kintore in Scotland; it is 

 dioecious, the male and female flowers being on 

 different plants ; the pretty orange-coloured berries 

 will therefore not be produced unless the two sexes 

 are near to each other. For a fuller description of 

 it the reader is referred to the December number 

 of Science-Gossip. It appears that seaside plants 

 have generally small leaves, which are but little 

 aifected by the strong cutting winds. It is hoped 

 that this notice will induce a reference by the 

 readers of Science-Gossip to other shrubs found 

 applicable to exposed seaside spots. — T. B. IF. 



Acclimatization of Eucalypti. — In a letter 

 in the Times, 17tli January, 1874, it was stated that 

 some Eucalypti (blue gum-trees) had been grown in 

 the open air at East Grinstead, Sussex, and that 

 they had survived two winters without anyprotec 

 tion. The leaves of the Eucalyptus manufactured 

 into cigars, were shown at the Great Exhibition at 

 Paris, 1SG7, and recommended as being very efB- 

 cacious in aiding digestion. And in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle it is stated that a species of this plant had 

 been recently used on the Continent in the place of 

 lint, the leaves being merely laid on the wounds. 

 Their balsamic nature not only cures, but after a 

 few hours all unpleasant odour ceases. — E. G. G. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Ancient Volcanoes of the Highlands. 

 — This was the subject of a paper recently read 

 before the Geological Society by J. W. Judd, F.G.S. 

 That the rocks forming the great plateaus of the 

 Hebrides and the north of Ireland are really the 

 vestiges of innumerable lava-streams, is a fact 

 which has long been recognized by geologists. That 

 these lavas were of suba'&rial and not subaqueous 

 origin is proved by the absence of all contempora- 

 neous interbedded sedimentary rocks, by the evi- 

 deutly terrestrial origin of the surfaces on which. 



