1 04 Domestic Notices : — England. 



We should be glad if Dr. Mease would supply us with any further in- 

 formation in his power respecting this fruit ; its taste, when ripe, in a wild 

 state ; whether cultivation has yet had any effect on it ; and whether he 

 thinks it likely ever to become useful in the kitchen or the dessert. — Cond. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. — This Society was established in 

 February, 1829; and we have just received a pamphlet, containing the char- 

 ter, constitution, by-laws, &c, of the Institution, with a letter announcing 

 our being elected an honorary member. For this honour, which we duly 

 prize, we hope the present acknowledgment will be deemed satisfactory. 

 The constitution of the Society is modeled a good deal on that of London ; 

 the by-laws, however, are of quite a different description : there is no gag- 

 ging clause; and there is an article which provides that "lecturers on botany 

 and vegetable physiology, on entomology so far as it relates to horticulture, 

 and on horticultural science, shall be appointed. They shall be nominated 

 by the council, at a stated meeting of the Society, and elected at that or a 

 subsequent stated meeting, by a majority of votes." There is something 

 grand and refreshing in the simple form of the Act of Incorporation, as 

 compared with the highly aristocratical royal charters of the London, Paris, 

 and Berlin Societies. In the printed letter, he informs us that, for such 

 favours of seeds, plants, scions, or trees, as may be procured or transmitted 

 to the Society, it will afford them "great pleasure to reciprocate." — Cond. 



Urdssica olerdcea var. arborescens. — This valuable plant has been, this 

 month, introduced into Philadelphia. Mr. Elias Durand, an apothecary, 

 who knew its value in France, sent to his brother for a parcel of the seed ; 

 and he lately received 2 lbs. of it, which he presented to the Horticultural 

 Society of Pennsylvania. It has been widely distributed, and we promise 

 ourselves great benefits from the naturalisation of the plant. In the southern 

 states, where artificial grasses are but rarely attended to, these cabbages will 

 be invaluable for stock. In this state, and further north, they will require 

 to be protected by Indian corn stalks, capped by a sheaf of straw, during the 

 winter. Mr. Durand says that the leaves, in France, are constantly used in 

 soup ; and that, after they have been bitten by frost, they are delicious when 

 boiled. The same remark is made in respect to the sprouts, which succeed 

 in the autumn to the leaves previously detached. As " bacon and greens " 

 constitute a dish as fully national in the southern states as the pot d feu 

 among the tiers etat, or soup with the bonnes gens in France ; the abundance 

 of food which this cabbage furnishes to man and beast will render it a fa- 

 vourite vegetable with the people of the south, among whom, with some 

 exceptions, horticulture, I am sorry to say, is little attended to. — J. M. 

 Philadelphia, April, 1829. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



The Medico-Botanical Society.— There has lately been, what is vulgarly called a " blow up " at 

 tins Society, and our active friend, Mr. Frost, the founder and director, has, it is said, lost his 

 directorship. The entire Society, we think, might have been " blown up," without any loss to 

 the public. The object of the Society is to look out for new medicinal plants; but we cannot 

 bring ourselves to attach much importance to the multiplication of medicines. The Society, how- 

 ever, go upon the old doctrine of specifics, and are looking after them. But it is well known that 

 as the healing art has improved, the materia medica has diminished. As mankind become en- 

 lightened and ameliorated in their physical condition, there will be proportionably less occasion 

 f< r both medical men and medicines. One of the greatest opprobriums of the metropolis is the 

 multitude ot chemists' shops, and shops for patent or quack medicines, in which are displayed 

 an array of phials of wrath truly alarming to the imagination. A healthy state of societv, by 

 which we mean a state in which every man and woman is actively and usefully employed," will 

 require little more doctoring than what every individual may do for himself or his family ; with 

 the exception of the office of the surgeon. Nine tenths of the diseases in England, among the 

 active classes, are the consequence of bad or insufficient food ; and, among the inactive classes, of 

 too much or too rich food, and the neglect of exercise. Every medical man knows this, and 

 knows also that when the time comes in which labour and property shall be more equally distri- 

 butea, as, for instance, they are at present in France, what is called the respectability, that is the 

 money-making part, of the physician's occupation, will be gone; the guinea trade will cease. 

 With this view of things, we consider the Medico-Botanical Society as one of the least necessary 



