346 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[November, 



"The list of vegetable medicines in use at that 

 time was large. In 1671 appeared 'Salmon's 

 English Herbal,' a ponderous quarto of over 1,300 

 pages, profusely illustrated, in which there are de- 

 scribed 752 herbs of English growth, including 

 almost every variety of wild and cultivated plant 

 and shrub then growing in Britain, and to most of 

 them are ascribed virtues of an astonishing char- 

 acter. As a specimen, take the common garden 

 sage. This is said to be ' hot and dry in the third 

 degree, astringent, anodyne, carminative, digestive, 

 discussive, diuretick and traumatick, cephalick, 

 neurotick, stomachick, hysterick, arthritick, em- 

 menagogick, sudorifick, alexipharmick and ana- 

 leptick.' It is said to be good against a vertigo, 

 lethargy, headache from a cold cause, palsie, con- 

 vulsions, spitting blood, weakness of the nerves, 

 poison, the bitings of serpents and other venomous 

 creatures, the plague and ■ other malarial and 

 pestilential diseases, catarrhs, rheumatisms, &c." 

 Some idea may be formed as to what is embraced 

 in the et cetera by reading the succeeding pages, 

 where details of the various preparations of this 

 herb are given and their wonderful properties 

 dwelt on. The preparations are, 1st, the green 

 leaves; 2d, the juice; 3d, the essence; 4th, an in- 

 fusion in wine or water ; 5th, a powder of the 

 leaves; 6th, an oil or ointment; 7th, a cataplasm; 

 8th, pills ; 9th, a gargarism ; loth, a distilled 

 ^yater; nth, a spirituous tincture; 12th, an acid 

 tincture; 13th, an oily tincture; 14th, a spirit; 

 15th, a distilled oil ; l6th, the potestates or powers ; 

 17th, an elixir: and i8th, a conserve of the 

 flowers." 



Orchard and Garden. — New gardening papers 

 are coming out as thick as blackberries. Under 

 the above title, we have the first number of a 

 monthly. It is published (and we presume, edi- 

 ted) by J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, New Jersey. 



Popular Gardening.— This is the title of another 

 serial candidate for popular favor in the gardening 

 world. The first number appeared on the ist 

 of October. It is conducted by Elias A. Long, 

 of Buffalo, is a monthly, and but 60 cents a year. 

 Its aim seems to be to give numerous brief prac- 

 tical hints and notes about gardening generally 

 and flower culture particularly. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Intelligent Readers. — We have before us a 

 letter, giving some praise to our magazine for the 

 general intelligence displayed by correspondents 

 who write for it ; and another correspondent calls 

 attention to his copying a paper from our pages 

 for an agricultural paper, but which was not 

 "agricultural enough for its columns" in the 

 opinion of the editor. 



We often wonder at the idea of a farmer many 

 agricultural editors evidently have. Sometimes 

 they give wood cut illustrations, and generally he 

 is depicited as a weather-beaten old dowdy, his 

 clothing suggesting that he made a change of 

 linen only once a year on Thanksgiving Days, 

 and with a vacant stare on his face, as if even the 

 sight of the alphabet would insult him. Now and 

 then we find him painted as a frowsy looking sub- 

 ject for entomological study, at the end of a string 

 attached to the hind leg of a hog, with the animal 

 leading him on ; and somehow our thoughts wan- 

 der to that editor who is trying to lead that same 

 old farmer in pretty much the same old slough. 

 It is a queer association, but we cannot help it. 



It is strange that a live agricultural editor 

 should regard the farmer as but little above the 

 beast that perisheth, with no other concern in life 

 but his belly full of corn ! Horticulturists are at 

 any rate not of that class ; you may not find one 

 that is satisfied with mere husks of swine. We 

 have always felt in managing this magazine, that 

 we were dealing with the most intelligent circle in 

 the community, and that it was a privilege to be 

 admitted as a reader of the magazine into this 

 circle. It is a real pleasure to find by these occa- 

 sional letters that our efforts are appreciated. 



Where to Locate. — Mr. R. C. Poppey now 

 complains that he has not been fairly treated 

 in turn. He writes from Wilmington, Mass, 

 that he can be found by any one who may 

 ! " want to know where he is gone to," and that the 

 postmaster at Elmira will give any inquiring 

 mind his full address. He did come on " trial one 

 month," and that trial was so satisfactory to Mr. 

 Rawson that he remained one year with him. Mr. 

 P. sends testimonials from former employers that 

 his character and abilities are in every way satis- 

 l factory. 



As we have been dragged into these personal 

 matters, it is but fair that this much more be given. 



Mr. P. protests that the only object he had was 

 to offer the opinion that there was a good opening 

 for a first-class florist in Elmira. If he had said 

 that there were some florists in a small way, or 

 florists of some other character with room for one 

 I with higher aims, or some such qualifications, his 

 communication would not have been open to any 

 criticism. But it gave the impression that there 

 were no other florists of any kind at Elmira, and 

 ' it was this impression that brought about the per- 

 sonal remarks, out of place in a journal like ours, 

 and which we regret. 



