358 PLANTS AND PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. [December, 



botany, I cannot comprehend Mr. Tapper's meaning. The fol- 

 lowing is a passage from chapter 5, called ' Hidden Uses' : — 



" Not long to charm away disease hath the Crocus yielded up its bulb, 

 Nor the Willow lent its bark, nor the Nightshade its vanquished poison ; 

 Not long hath the twisted leaf, the fragrant gift of China ; 

 Nor that nutritious root, the boon of far Peru. 



" Even so there be virtues yet unknown in the wasted foliage of the Elm, 

 In the sun-dried Harebell of the downs, and the Hyacinth drinking in the 



meadow. 

 In the Sycamore's winged fruit, and the facet-cut cones of the Cedar ; — 

 And the Pansy and Geranium live not alone for beauty. 

 Nor the waxen flower of the Arbute, though it dieth in a day. 



" The world may laugh at famine when forest-trees yield bread, 

 When Acorns give out fragrant drink, and the sap of the Linden is as fatness, 

 For every green herb, from the Lotus to the Darnel, 

 Is rich -with dehcate aids to help incurious man." 



I wish to know what particular Nightshade, Crocus, and Willow, 

 is respectively referred to as "having power to charm away 

 disease " ? 



The tuberous root above named may be intended for the 

 Potato. But did this plant come from Peru ? Did it not come 

 from Virginia, with Drake or Raleigh ? There was, I think, a 

 plant which came from Peru called Sisarum peruvianum, or 

 Skyrrets of Peru ; but the introduction of it was a long time 

 ago, so Gerarde tells us. 



Leaving in darkness the unknown virtues of the " foliage of 

 the Elm," I wish to know what the " sun-dried Harebell of the 

 down " is ; and the " Hyacinth in the meadows drinking." 



I conclude Arbute is intended for Arbutus, but is there one, 

 the flowers of which " die in a day" ? 



I am puzzled about the "fragrant drink" of the Acorn, and 

 the "fat sap of the Linden." In Hooker's 'British Flora' 1 

 find a quotation from some writer under Lime-tree, who says its 

 flowers " at dewy eve distilling odours." 



The " delicate aids " of the Darnel I must leave as mysterious, 

 for I only know the one which botanists call Lolium temulentum, 

 and the property of this is anything but delicate, and it would 

 be well were its uses, in Mr. Tupper's language, hidden. 



S. B. 



