:>S2 editor's table. 



agaric, kc. In short, they had quite a Imwk j^Iiarmacopasia, wrapping them nji in ])lanlccts, 

 nsing fomentations, steam and vapor batlis, and giving nettle seeds and luitter! A green 

 lizard cnt up, or a tortoise out of the shell, cured them when in consumption ! Queer old 

 l>ractitioners were the hawk doctors. 



Clfsia. — One of the plants noticed in the trip to Cuba as the emhlem of ingratitude, is 

 the Clusia. As we remarked elsewhere, the botany of the Island is a terra inroijniln to 

 Northern men, and their knowledge is put to a severe test during a short residence like 

 our own ; having lost the leaves, and, indeed, our whole collection of plants, we referred 

 to a correspondent in Havana for confirmation of the species. Tlie search for the name of 

 the plant has revealed, from an obscure corner, the history of the individual after whom 

 the Clusia is named, and it is as thoroughly a melancholy story as well can be recorded of 

 a scientific man. 



"The Clusia was so called, after the celebrated Charles de I'Ecluse, born at Artois, in 1526, 

 and died in 1609. He was one of the most excellent botanists who ever lived, and author 

 of many works whose value will only cease with the world. But he is not more known for 

 his mental excellence than for his personal calamities. In his early youth, he undertook 

 to travel through Portugal, Spain, England, Hungary, and other countries, in pursuit of 

 plants — no easy task in those days. By excessive fatigue, he contracted, so soon as his 

 twenty-fourth year, a dropsical complaint, of which he was afterwards cured with chicory, 

 by the celebrated Bondelet. At the age of thirty-nine, he broke his right arm, during one 

 of his botanical rambles ; and a short time afterwards, his right thigh. When fifty-five, he 

 dislocated his left ankle, while at Vienna ; and eight years after, his right hip. Having 

 been unskilfully treated, he was ever after obliged to walk with crutches. The consequent 

 deprivation of his natural exercise brought on other diseases, among not the least distress- 

 ing of whicli were calculus and hernia. After having been the Director of the Imperial 

 Garden of Vienna for fourteen years, he returned to his native country (Flanders). He was 

 named Professor of Botany at Leydcn, where he gave botanical lectures for sixteen years, 

 when he died, overwhelmed by the multitude of his bodily infirmities, but retaining his 

 faculties unimpaired to the last." — Loudon^s Encyclopo'dia of Plants, p. 866. 



M. BoxPLAXD. — According to late news from Corrientes, M. Aime Bonpland has, in spite 

 of his very advanced age, set out on a new botanical excursion to the State of Paraguay, 

 the results of which are to benefit the collections of flie I^ational Museum at Corrientes, 

 founded by M. Bonpland himself. The length of life of the two friends, Humboldt and 

 Bonpland, is extraordinary. 



Thcjopsis dolabrata, is the name of a new evergreen with the foliage of a deep green on 

 one side, and silver-white on the other, possessing ornamental qualities that make it desir- 

 able. It is a tall tree, with a thick trunk, and a hard, red wood, in request in its native 

 country (Japan), for building purposes. Its head is pyramidal, and formed of spreading, 

 or even drooping branches. Its hardiness has not yet been established. 



Roses. — The new and favorite roses of England, and France, and Belgium, all bloomed 

 magnificently at Rosedale (Mr. Buist's garden, near Philadelphia), the present season, viz : 

 Bacchus, Lord Raglan, Emperor Napoleon, General Jacqueminot, Salet, &c., and will soon be 

 ready for disj^ersion among amateurs of this most charming of flowers. 



The Osage Orange. — As a tree for trimming into varied shapes, we possess nothing more 

 patient of the sheai-s than the Madura. It grows rapidly, and will take any form required. 



