BOOK 111 CHAP. Vm. ;;7 



grows luxuriantly where the ground has be:n manured with dung. 

 It is a very beneficial plant in every fcttlement where poultry is 

 bred; for moft forts of birds, and eipecially thofe of the crawed 

 kin.d, feed heartily on its feeds. 



In the months of March and April is found, in the infide pith of 

 the foot-ftalk, an hard, knotty fubftance, of an oval form, and 

 yellowifh colour. This, powdered and applied to the nofe, excites 

 a ftronger fneezing than white hellebore. - 



The young tops of this plant, boiled and buttered, have fomc- 

 times been given in the belly-ache. One or two of the feeds, pow- 

 dered, and added to any other purging medicine, add confiderably 

 to its operation, and have therefore been compounded, by fome 

 pratStitioners, with the ^/7«/. ex duobus, to quicken their effe£t, and 

 keep them moift. 



114. Cass AD A. — latropha foll'is pahnatU^ came fuhlaSted^ ^c. 



Browne, p. 349. 



This plant, which furniflies the Brafilians with great part of their 

 fuftenance, is much cultivated in this ifland. It thrives beft in a 

 free, mixed foil, and is propagated by the bud, or germ, in the fol- 

 lowing manner. The ground is firft cleared, and hoed into fhallow 

 holes, of about ten inches or a foot fquare, and feldom above three 

 or four inches in depth, and without much regularity. A number 

 of the full-grown plants being provided, they are cut into junks, 

 of about fix or feven inches in length, as far as they are found to 

 be tough and woody, and well-furniftied with fwelling, full grown, 

 hardy buds. Of thefe, one or two are laid in every hole, and co- 

 vered over with mould from the adjoining bank. The ground muft 

 be kept clean till the plants rife to a fufficient height ; the plants 

 moulded up; and the growth of weeds prevented. They come to 

 perfection in about eight months ; but the roots will remain in the 

 ground for a confiderable time uninjured, if the want of frefh plants, 

 or bad weather, fhould make it neceiiiuy to cut the ftalks. When 

 the leaves wither, and the plant bloffoms, the roots are fit to dig. 

 They are then (in good land) nearly as thick as a man's thigh. . 

 They are taken out for ufe, as occafion requires, and then prepared, 

 viz. after being well-waflied and fcraped, and then rubbed into a 

 kind of pulpy meal with an iron grater, they are put into flrong 

 Vol. III. 5 G ' lineii 



