JULY. 155 



from the clews of night by its leaves, which, 

 when darkness comes on, rise close around the 

 flower, and protect it from the damp air. 



The henbane, {Hyoscyanms niger,) so often 

 smoked by country people for tooth-ache, and 

 so useful also to the physician, has a greenish 

 yellow flower, pencilled all over with purple 

 lines. The seeds found in its "belted pod" 

 are often a plaything for children ; and profes- 

 sor Martjm says he has eaten them without 

 any ill effects, while other botanists affirm that 

 the seeds have deprived persons of the use of 

 their limbs, and even of reason. To all the 

 inferior animals, except swine, they are poison- 

 ous. The whole plant is covered witli hairs, 

 and the peculiar odour that proceeds from it 

 would at once point it out to the botanist as a 

 poisonous flower. 



Those curious plants the horsetails, (Equise- 

 tum,) now put forth their cones or catkins, 

 some of them by river-sides, many under 

 hedges, or in fields. They have long leaves, 

 set in whorls round the stem, each leaf not 

 thicker than a common cord. We pay but 

 little regard to these plants, but to the house- 

 wives of olden times they were of great service. 

 The pewter kitchen utensils were daily scoured 

 into brightness with this plant, which was once 

 called pewterwort. It was sold in the London 

 streets, both for this purpose and also for 

 cleaning those wooden platters and bowls, 

 almost unknown in modern kitchens, but which, 

 in other days, held the roast beef of Old Eng- 



