DICOTYLEDONEJE. 69 



trees, though they arrive at no great size with us ; 

 but the walnut is of great importance, as well for tim- 

 ber as a profitable fruit-tree. The wood is universally 

 preferred for gun-stocks, and in time of war com- 

 mands high prices. It may be said, that the power 

 and projects of Bonaparte were not more fatal to 

 the soldiers of England than to her finest walnut 

 trees. Thousands upon thousands of these lofty 

 ornaments of the old baronial halls of England, were 

 sacrificed to repel the threats of the despot, or to the 

 golden temptations of the timber dealers. 



The Piper acece are mostly inconsiderable shrubs, 

 or diminutive, trailing, twining herbs. The well- 

 known qualities of their berries as a spice is, how- 

 ever, an excellence which obtains for them a dis- 

 tinguished place in the hortus dietetica. The leaves 

 of the Piper Betel are universally used as a luxury 

 indeed as a necessary of life, in India ; hence the 

 plant is extensively cultivated*, and with consider- 

 able advantage to the owners. 



* As the manner of cultivating the betel leaves is one of the 

 most perfect processes of agriculture practised in Coromandel, a 

 short account of it may be interesting : A shady spot, liable to be 

 inundated in the rainy season, or capable of having water intro- 

 duced upon it from a tank or river, is chosen and fenced in. The 

 surface is divided into parallel beds about six feet wide, with deep 

 trenches between. Along the middle of each bed a row of jEschy- 

 nomene grandiflora are planted about four feet apart. These 

 beautiful trees are of a slender and quick growth ; at the bottom of 

 each, two or three plants of the pepper are put in ; these grow lux- 



