6 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



five inches long. It will bear the open air, and, when the 

 weather is dry, should be watered every evening. The 

 young suckers from the roots must be taken off every 

 year, or they will starve the parent plant : they may be 

 planted in February or October, and should be placed in 

 the shade till they have taken root. The fruit of this shrub 

 is about the size of a hazel-nut, and has the taste of the 

 peach-kernel. 



Plutarch mentions a great drinker of wine, who, by the 

 use of bitter almonds, used to escape being intoxicated. 

 The Italians, upon their favourite modern principle of 

 contra-stimulants, suppose this very likely ; and so it may 

 be ; but it need not be added, that to tamper in this manner 

 with diseases seems very dangerous. 



Thunberg tells us, that at the Cape, the wood of the 

 Almond-tree is made into lasts, and heels for shoes. 



The Egyptians purify the muddy water of the Nile by 

 putting it into jars rubbed inside with a paste of bitter 

 almonds. 



ALOE. 



ASPHODELE-iE. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA 



THE derivation of this name is uncertain. Beginning 

 with the syllable Al, it is, perhaps, of Arabian origin ; 

 especially as the plant is much venerated in the East. In 

 the Hebrew, a cognate language, it is called ahalah : some 

 derive Aloes from the Greek als [the sea] ; others from the 

 Latin, adolendo ; but this can only refer to the Aloe-wood, 

 which is used in sacrifices for its fragrance. On the whole 

 it is probable the name was first applied to the aloe-wood, 

 and hence transferred to the common Aloes, on account of 

 their bitterness. Its medicinal virtues were made known 

 to us by Dioscorides, the physician of Cleopatra ; and it is 



