264 November 1748. 



the ancients : their fcent however is none of the 

 moft agreeable. In fome places it was cuftoma- 

 ry to adorn thechurchesonChriftmas-dayorNew- 

 year's-day with the fine branches of this tree, 

 which are then thick covered with leaves. 



BUT thefe trees are known for another remark- 

 able quality ; their leaves are poifon to fome ani- 

 mals, and food for others : experience has taught 

 the -people that when fheep eat of thefe leaves, 

 they either die immediately, or fall very fick, and 

 recover with great difficulty. The young and 

 more tender fheep are killed by a fmall portion, 

 but the elder ones can bear a ftronger dofe. Yet 

 this food will likewife prove mortal to them, if 

 they take too much of it : the fame noxious ef- 

 fe6l it mews in regard to calves which eat too 

 much of the leaves : they either die, or do not 

 recover eafily. I can remember, that in the au- 

 tumn of the year 1748, feme calves eat of the 

 leaves, but fell very fick, fwelled, foamed at the 

 mouth, and could hardly {land, however they 

 were cured by giving them gunpowder and other 

 medicines : the fheep are moft expofed to be 

 tempted by thefe leaves in winter ; for, after hav-^ 

 ing been kept in ftables for fome months, they 

 are greedy of all greens, efpecially if the fnow 

 ftill lies upon the fields, and therefore the green 

 but poifonous leaves of the Kalmia are to them 

 very tempting. Horfes, oxen, and cows, which 

 have eaten them, have likewife been very ill af- 

 ter the meal, and though none of them ever died 

 of eating thefe leaves, yet moft people believed, 

 that if they took too great a portion of them, 

 death would certainly be the refult. For it has 



been 



