General Notices. 315 



of chalk drainage ; the remainder is composed of rich turfy loam and peat. 

 From its luxuriant and healthy state, it would evidently admit of being cul- 

 tivated in a warmer atmosphere, so as to produce its flower in December, 

 which would materially enhance its value, from there being so few flowers 

 in blossom at that season of the year. After flowering, and during the 

 summer months, it will be advisable to allow it plenty of air, in order to 

 preserve it in health, and a proper state for flowering the subsequent season. 

 In a border of the conservatory, its more natural situation, the period of 

 flowering is March, where, if it is carefully impregnated, it will produce 

 seeds, which is, I believe, the only mode of propagation, except occasion- 

 ally by layers of the young shoots. — G. P. A.L.S. Jan. 28. 1830. 



Argenione mexicdna. — Lunan, in his Hortus Jamaicensis, gives a curious 

 history of the discovery of the narcotic properties of the seeds of this plant. 

 It appears that one night a runaway negro visited a sheep farm, guarded by 

 an old and infirm watchman, and desired him to select the finest of the 

 flock for his supper. The old man, conscious of his inability to resist, 

 yielded an apparent consent, but asked his visitor to smoke a pipe with him 

 first, to which he consented ; the old man then slily mixed a few grains of 

 ^rgemone seeds with the tobacco, before giving it to his visitor, who took it, 

 unsuspicious of harm, but before he had half smoked out the pipe, he fell 

 into profound sleep, during which the watchman had him secured and 

 bound; and finding himself on awaking a prisoner, he declared the old man 

 had used Obeah. Such is an abstract of Lunan's tale, which furnishes 

 some useful practical suggestions. — W. Hamilton. Oxford Place, Plymouth, 

 March 1. 1830. 



The Dolichos tetragonolobus is a most valuable agricultural plant ; as, when 

 sown about November, December, or January, it covers the ground with a 

 dense mass of vegetation, effectually securing the soil from the action of 

 the sun, and affording a most nutritious pasturage to cows, who devour it 

 greedily when penned upon it, giving an increased quantity of milk, and 

 enriching the ground both with their manure, and with the quantity of un- 

 consumed vegetable matter which they tread into the ground. The plant, 

 flowers about July and August, and, if sown near that time, flowers and dies 

 without any luxuriance of growth. The pods resemble those of the Stizo- 

 lobium pruriens, but want the stinging pubescence. They are, however, 

 when young, often mistaken for this last, and eradicated in consequence. 

 The young beans resemble Windsor beans, and are excellent for the table; 

 but as they advance to maturity they become unwholesome, and produce 

 disorders of the stomach and bowels. — Id. 



The Cow Tree, Palo de Vaca, or milk tree of Demerara, of which plants 

 were lately brought to this country by Mr. Fanning of Caraccas, has been 

 examined by Mr. Arnott of Edinburgh, who, from specimens not very perfect, 

 considers it to be a Tabernsemontana. Mr. Don thought it a Brosimum. 

 Mr. Arnott has little doubt of its belonging to Jpocyneae, though he observes 

 the usual properties of the milk of this order are deleterious. . "■ Future 

 observations may, however, perhaps ascertain similar mild qualities in other 

 species of Tabernaemontana, especially in their young branches, or when 

 the sap is on the ascent, and before it is elaborated. Among the Jscle- 

 piadece of Brown, which have similar baneful properties, and which many 

 botanists indeed consider a mere section of Jpocynese, an instance is also 

 known of the milk being wholesome. I allude to a plant found in Ceylon, 

 which the natives call Kiriaghuna, from kiri (milk), and who employ its 

 milky juice when the milk of animals cannot be procured ; its leaves are 

 even boiled by them as a substitute in such dishes as require to be dressed 

 with milk : it is the Gymnema lactiferum of Brown. The young shoots of 

 several species of plants belonging to both the Asclepikdece and Jpocyneae 

 are used as food." ( Jameson's Journal, p. 320., April 1830.) 



The Meloncito d'Olor, Ciicumis sp.? — No notice has yet I believe been 



