274 Domestic JVbtices. 



awaken a suitable attention in returning spring, when the minutest 

 flower is welcomed as a friend. — K. 



Phytolacca decdndra. — In your Magazine for this month, you make 

 an extract from Loudon respecting the Phytolacca decandra, and in- 

 quire of your readers whether they have ever known it to be used as 

 spinach or asparagus. I have frequently seen it on the table dressed 

 like spinach ; and, in the absence of most other vegetables that might 

 serve for that purpose at the time it springs up, it is by no means disa- 

 greeable. It was formerly gathered oftener than at present. Dr. Bige- 

 low is correct in saying the root is a powerful emetic. It was formerly 

 an important article in the materia medica of the negroes, who pre- 

 pared it by steeping a few hours in spirit. I have been told by those 

 who have taken it, that it operates with great violence ; but this is rather 

 a recommendation to the ignorant than otherwise. I do not conceive, 

 however, that its emetic properties alone would prevent the sprouts 

 from beins; safely used as an esculent : a portion of some plants is said 

 to be medicinal, while another part is poisonous, and still another part 

 edible. The mandrake has been mstanced as an example. — Yours, P., 

 June, 1836. 



Cultivation of the Tea Plant. — We have lately noticed a paragraph, 

 going the rounds of the papers, stating that Mr. John Piatt, of Marietta, 

 Ohio, has succeeded in cultivating the genuine ( ?) teaplant of China. He 

 has for ten years past cultivated it successfully, and confidently believes 

 that, from the experiments he has made, to which he has been at con- 

 siderable expense, he has discovered the art of drying and manufactur- 

 ing the leaves, so as to produce tea equal in quality to the imported 

 young hyson of commerce. He also has, in his possession, samples of 

 his own manufacture, which he will exhibit to any persons desirous to 

 ascertain the fact. Mr Piatt offers to give, gratis, to any gentleman 

 wishing to try the experiment, fresh seed of last year's crop, with in- 

 structions in regard to the manner of planting and rearing it. He is 

 satisfied that it can be raised and cured in this country with good profit. 

 This is the first instance in which we have heard of the tea plant ever 

 having been grown, otherwise than in a green-house, in this country. It 

 is, in our climate, a tender shrub, requiring protection from frost, and 

 making quite a slow growth. Did this information not come to us in 

 such a questionless shape, we should be inclined to believe that the tea 

 shrub, so called by Mr. Piatt, was not the Thea Bohea of botanists, 

 and the true tea plant of China. We should be extremely glad to 

 know, and any of our correspondents in the neighborhood of Mr. Piatt 

 will greatly oblige us, if they can give us any information in regard to 

 this plant. The climate of Ohio is nearly the same as our own, and it 

 will be a matter of astonishment to us, if it stands the winter unpro- 

 tected. What course Mr. Piatt has taken to raise the plants success- 

 fully, and to procure seed, we are not aware of. We have long believed 

 that the climate of Florida, and, perhaps, other southern states, would 

 be favorable for the production of tea ; but the expense which would 

 be likely to attend its manufacture, so as to compete with the Chinese, 

 would forever prevent it from being cultivated as an article of domestic 

 produce. Perhaps a poor sort of tea mifijht be made, by compression 

 of the leaves in the same manner that the Shakers put up their medicinal 

 herbs ; but in any other manner, we doubt the propriety of trying the 

 experiment. — Condi. 



