Opposed to this opinion, is that of Mr. Wilson, the 

 ornithologist, who says that he has found the crops 

 of these birds distended almost entirely with the 

 buds of the Kalmia, but that he has eaten freely of 

 the flesh of such of them, without any ill conse- 

 quence having arisen. 



Its noxious character has been strongly exhi- 

 bited on the rattlesnake. A few drops of a tiuctur'e 

 prepared from the leaves having been poured on 

 this reptile, it died shortly afterwards. And the 

 deleterious effects of the leaves on the human 

 system, are such as should excite a strict guard 

 against their being eaten by children. 



Kalm, himself, states that both sheep and calves 

 had died from eating them, and that cows and 

 horses had suffered greatly from the same cause. 

 On the other hand, when the ground is covered 

 with snow, stags browse them as their common 

 food, without any ill effects having been known to 

 arise from the use of the venison. 



In the cultivation of plants generally, but more 

 particularly those of difficult growth, attention 

 should always be given to the peculiar situation 

 of them in their native soil. Professor Kalm has 

 chiefly noticed the broad-leaved species, and found 

 it succeed best on the sides of hills, especially on 

 the north side; and says, on meeting with a steep 

 place near a brook, or on the side of a hill to- 

 wards a marsh, you are sure to find it. This alone 

 speaks pages to the attentive cultivator ; particu- 

 larly when he is told that vegetable earth or peat 

 constitutes its native soil, in a climate no milder 

 than our own. 



Hort. Kcw. 2, v. 3, 47. 



