NOBLE LAUREL-TREE. 413 



bay-tree; and that one of these trees sprang from Virgil's ashes, and is still grow- 

 ing over his tomb. In more recent times, the laurel was supposed to be a safe- 

 guard against lightning; and Madame dc (ienlis mentions the device of the Count 

 De Dunois, which was a bay-tree, witli the motto, " I defend tiie earth that bears 

 me." It was a custom, in the middle ages, to place wreaths of laurel, with the 

 berries attached, on the heads of those poets who had particularly distinguished 

 themselves; hence the expression, "poet laureate." The crowns, which have 

 for a long time encircled the heads of the young students in the European schools 

 of divinity, law, and of medicine, who have taken their degrees, are made of the 

 branches of this tree, garnished with the berries, and thus indicate the title of 

 bachelor or baccalaureate^ from the Ijatin bacca. laurefB, laurel berries. These 

 students, formerly, were not allowed to marry, lest the duties of husband and 

 father should take them from their literary pursuits; and, in time, all single men 

 were called bachelors. The statues of .^sculapius, crowned with sprigs of lau- 

 rel, announced the great confidence in which the ancients held the medicinal 

 virtues of this tree. The laurel is mentioned by Cliaucer as the crown of the 

 Knights of the Round Table. 



*S'6//, Propagation, iS^'c. The Laurus nobilis requires a good free soil, and it 

 will not thrive in the open air, in a climate much colder than that of London, in 

 England, or of Charleston, in South Carolina. It is generally propagated by 

 layers or cuttings, particularly the varieties;, but the species may readily be 

 increased from seeds. As it forms a dense conical bush, when not trained to a 

 single stem, it is well adapted for hedges. This tree is very tenacious of life, 

 and a root or stump of it will often send up suckers two years after it has appeared 

 to be dead. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of this tree, from its inferior size, is not much 

 used in construction, nor in the arts. The young branches are sometimes em- 

 ployed for the hoops of small casks. Both the leaves and berries were formerly 

 considered medicinal, being highly aromatic and stomachic ; they are also astrin- 

 gent and carminative. An infusion of them was not only considered beneficial, 

 when taken internally, but it was used in fomentations, &c. From the berries, 

 there is extracted a particular principle, called law'ine. The kernels of the fruit 

 yield an emollient and resolutive oil, called oil of laurel, which is employed as an 

 embrocation in materia medica, and in the veterinary art. The essential oil is 

 used in perfumery, and for scrubbing wainscots in chambers, in order to drive 

 away flies. The leaves impart a yellow colour to wool. The principal use of 

 this tree, however, is for hedges, and other purposes of ornament, though tlie 

 (eaves are much employed for flavouring custards, blanc-mange, &c. The flow- 

 ers aflbrd the best kind of honey, and are numerously frequented by bees. 



As an evergreen shrub, the laurel is not only beautiful in itself, but connected 

 as it is with many classical and interesting associations, it well deserves a place 

 in every collection. 



