CHAP. XLII. flOSA'CK.*:. rE'KASUS. 719 



taste, and the peculiar flavour of prussic acid, which is common to bitter 

 almonds, and to the kernels generally of the ^mygdaleae. The flowers have 

 a similar flavour ; and the powdered leaves excite sneezing. The leaves, in 

 consequence of their flavour, are used in a green state in custards, puddings, 

 blancmange, and other culinary and confectionery articles, but always in very 

 small quantities. The distilled water from these leaves Is a virulent poison ; 

 and the case of Sir Theodosius Boughton, who was poisoned by it in 1780, 

 by his brother-in-law, Captain Donaldson, who was executed for the murder, 

 is well known. On brutes the effect of laurel water is almost instantaneous. 

 The case of Sir Theodosius Boughton, which was the subject of universal 

 conversation at the time it occurred, Professor Burnet observes, "has rendered 

 the poisonous properties of laurel water familiar to every one ; and the fear 

 it excited has unnecessarily extended the evil character of the leaves to the 

 fruit, which is harmless, and, although not pleasant, is in some places made 

 into puddings." Fortunately, the poison of the laurel, and of all the Amyg- 

 daleae, being prussic acid, the smell of that article is now so well known, 

 and it is so difficult to be disguised, that few persons making use of it for 

 illegal purposes can hope to escape detection. In France, the laurel is 

 frequently planted in tubs, and trained in imitation of orange trees ; and in 

 London, the commencement of the orange season is announced at some of 

 the shops dealing in that fruit, by a branch of laurel being affixed to the door, 

 stuck all over with oranges, to imitate an orange tree covered with ripe 

 fruit. 



Soil, Situation, $c. Any soil tolerably dry will suit the common laurel ; but, 

 to thrive, it requires a sheltered situation, and a deep free soil. It thrives 

 better as an undergrowth than, perhaps, any other ligneous plant, with the 

 exception of the box and the holly. When treated in this manner, it requires 

 to be cut down occasionally, or to have its branches pegged down to the 

 ground, in order to insure a constant supply of young shoots from them ; 

 otherwise the plants are apt to become naked below. As it ripens seeds 

 almost every year, in the neighbourhood of London, it might readily be pro- 

 pagated by them ; but the most rapid, and the most common, mode is, by 

 cuttings of the summer's shoots, taken off in autumn, with a small portion 

 of the last year's wood, and planted in sandy soil in a shady border. These 

 will root the following spring, and make good plants by next autumn. It is 

 also propagated by layers ; and, in the French nurseries, by grafting on the 

 common wild cherry; but such plants, unless the graft is made on the root, 

 are of very short duration. We are not aware that any attempt has been 

 made to fertilise flowers of this species with those of the Portugal laurel, or 

 of the Carolina bird cherry, though, perhaps, something worth the trouble 

 might be obtained by so doing. 



Statistics. There are large plants ot the common laurel, drawn up among other trees, in almost all 

 the old places in the neighbourhood of London. At Syon, at Claremont, and in the arboretum at 

 Kew, there are straggling stems, 20ft. to 30ft. in height ; but we are not aware of there being any 

 detached bushes of this species, in the neighbourhood of London, to be compared with those to by 

 found in some places in Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland, in Angusshire, at Kinnaird Castle, the 



common laurel, 20 years planted, is 15 ft. high, the diameter of the head 36ft. In Argyllshire, at 

 Minward, 31 ft. high, the diameter of the head 56 ft., and of the trunk 6 ft. 9 in., the trunk branching 

 off at 2| ft. from the ground ; another tree, at the same place, has a trunk which girts 4 ft. 11 in. : both 



trees are supposed to have been planted upwards of 130 years. In Stirlingshire, at Airthrie Castle, 

 4.3 years planted, it is 42 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. in diameter, and the diameter of the head 37 ft. ; 

 at West Plean, 24 years planted, it is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 10 in., and of the head 17 ft. 

 In Ireland, in Tippcrary, in the Clonmel Nursery, 25 years planted, it is 25 ft. high, and the diameter 

 of the space covered by the branches is 60 ft. In Wicklow, at Shelton Abbey, 90 years planted, it is 

 4o ft. high, the diameter of the trunk is 6ft., and of the head 101 ft. The head is oval, and is sup- 

 ported by a conglomeration of branches, which unite about 1$ ft. from the ground. It stands in alight 

 loamy soil, on a substratum of shingle. There can be little doubt that this is the largest common 

 laurel in the world. In 1825, this tree was measured by Mr. Mackay of the Trinity College Botanic 

 Garden at Dublin, when it was found 24ft. high, and the head 224 ft. 6 in. in circumference (Dub. 

 Phil. Joiirn., vol. i. p. 439.) ; so that, if the dimensions taken by Mr. Mackay, and those sent to us, are 

 both correct, the rate of increase of this tree must be no less remarkable than its magnitude. 



Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, 1 ft. high, 

 8s. per 100; and from 2ft. to 3ft. high, 16s. per 100: at Bollwyller, where 

 it is marked in the catalogue as requiring to be protected through the winter, 

 1 franc 50 cents : and at New York, where it is also tender, 1 dollar. 



3 c 



