No. 129.] 553 



Three millions of peasants belonging to the estates of Count 

 Alexis Bobvinsky, pay all their dues in beets, which is very good 

 for both parties, 



Lotus tetragonolobus, or Asparagus pea, found growing in the 

 Island of Ocsel, by Dr. Johnson, in a wild state, is very much 

 sought for on account of its excellent taste. It grows in rather 

 wet soil to about one and hardly two feet high, and well supplies 

 the place of clover — cattle very fond of it, bush and peas to- 

 gether. It flourishes in places too wet for clover. 



Wine. — The Crimea produced, in 1850, six hundred fifty-two 

 thousand three hundred and seventy wedros, twenty bottles 

 eaeh. 



[''Algeria : By Moll." Presented by Alexander Vattemare.] 



The Jlgave Americana is extremely scattered through all Al- 

 geria. It is used to make hedges to keep cattle in or out of fields, 

 and it is impenetrable by them. The fibre is used to make cord- 

 age, mats and coarse cloths, which are remarkable for their solid- 

 ity and brilliancy. This plant flourishes in the worst soils. The 

 natives obtain from it a very sugary drink susceptible of alcoholic 

 fermentation, by cutting the flower bunches before the flowers 

 are out and receiving the sap from it in a vessel, which is soon 

 filled by it. 



[Annales do la Societe d' Horticulture, Ac, Paris, Dec, 1851. Translated by H. Meigs.J 



Populus Dilatafa^ a specific for curing Hydrophobia. — We have 

 often had occasion to mention plants presented as specifics in that 

 frightful malady. The Annals of the Society of St. Petersburgh 

 state, that the Bragora Anthelminthica Kunthii, or the Abyssinian 

 cucumber, recommended in 1847 by Hericourt, had not succeed- 

 ed in curing hydrophobia. In Bohemia there is a man by the 

 name of Schweida, living at Bzy, who notoriously cures that 

 terrible disorder. 



Prince Joseph de Schwarzenberg, from motives of humanity, 

 bought his secret to give it to the profession. After many happy 

 cures by it the Prince gave a house and lands to Schweida for 

 life. The remedy is a powder and bathing. It had been 



