SEPTEMBER 25, 1875.] 
IHE 
GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
Lincolnshire a snake’s sin worn round the head is a 
cure for headache. iin in was in former COMM 
regarded as a mean s win 
notion we find bre undi A nM in old writers. "Thus 
Holy States (1642), says that :—** A 
E MET ug an rime реро, who 10 oked 
aud е Жең in Old L А нт — 
“ Не hath left off o' late to feed on snakes ; 
eard's turned white again 
lin witha and other old "gir «Y * the ils 
ties of Von rs’ flesh; and Don n his 
** made to assist 
the Bas- Poitou district were formerly in great request 
for use in i. confection kno enice treacle. 
The curing of the bite of a viper has brought 
жун» гоб remarkable remedi m Pliny 
ards it see ho have been considered that ^ 
Ы hair of the dog th it you," or, in other word 
the A и we of the vier taken inwardly, or applied 
to the e only cure 5 old 
English абы ѕауѕ на ** the true Christian tiet only 
kills the viper, but, E the skilful Late makes 
antidote and tr eacle in "su ickshire 
at the present day the fat of e rh is "applied to 
e wound which it has ma 
The follow wing curious illustration E the l- 
n saying, ‘* Fiat experimentum in c " 
d from the vestry book o 
correspondent of Votes and 
és, 1762 :—'* At a vestry meeting held ye 14th 
day of January it is agreed that the viper woman do 
make a trial on grs nons at a — na week." 
John Lovell, who a pa ubt 
uper, do 
selected as the “үйе diy ? on which p». бан 
was to be made by the ** уірег уота An editorial 
as an effectual d = the bite "s a viper, Their 
experiment was es d at Windsor, in May, 1734, 
before Dr. Denham r. Water land, and again on 
pu L 1734 pen рео Fellows "of the Royal 
interesting account of a орен: will be dd in 
Hone's Zable "imer p. 796. 
ther 
chicken | which has been hastily killed for this > purpose. 
lour 
sign that the poison has been near EA the 
СЕЗ but if it retains its natural hue, the po will 
veia its effect v the bitten man, An almost exactly 
e Hot 
meet in conan and that by joyning heads е орет 
— a kind of bubble is for чя which t 
` rest, by свие hissing, blow on till it passes end 
through the body, and then it Манеа ey hardens 
ing, which whoever finds (as 
n are 
rı lei roe 
snake-stones.” The subj ese snake-stones is, 
however, too lengthy to enter upon here. 2, M. 
—I am much obliged t pO ir the use- 
t of —€— e 
cert ost power a few days E petite ай ini 
they were not paralysed or giddy. C. Z., Hou 
Si been SWALLOWING THEIR Younc.—I have 
No interest in rS gman Rust, of Eridge Castle, or in 
that part of the country, but his statement t need not 
be doubted. Some years ago I knew a place in Sussex, 
канра: a miles from Tunbridge Wells, which I may 
adders' home, fo 
w e young w 
tinctly seen to enter the mouth of the old one, "ich 
was killed and opened, when not six, as ‘stated, 
i und, It w 
r И. H. Humphrey, Bart., near Andov 
Mol? de Ерѕ.] 
BRITISH GARDENERS.—XXVI. 
THOMAS BLAIR, 
Mr. THOMAS BLAIR, whose portrait we publish 
to-day, was — in the year 1819, at Aberdour, Fife- 
shire. as early sent to the parish school, where 
he ёна | until he was fifteen years of age, at which 
period he went to Fordell, the seat of Admiral Sir 
Philip C. H. Durham, and there he served his appren- 
ticeship under Mr. Robert Foulis, who is still head 
gardener and land ad ect situation which he has 
filled for nearly fifty yea 
After going through "the different departments of 
the garden establishment, under the careful direction 
of Mr. Foulis, he re moved, for further improvement, 
to rei tut, gham, in East ^ ун mee oted as one 
of the com- 
lants and to study their 
menced to the native p 
names xm peculiarities, with etri assistance of a com- 
panion, who has any years in America, 
After spending nearly two cii at Whittingham, he 
engaged to dE и эче an in the 
ill, however, continued 
to pay some attention to the eollecting d wild plants, 
the west of Scotl rdi bere ound 
f 
or them, so that 
rambles over hill an in their PE and the 
were, he tells us, always rewarded with something 
interesting. 
** Having served tw o years at Castle Temple, I left 
3E writes the. subject of our memoir, ** and 
went to Mr. J: í on 
at that time 
e among Lye 
Jackson to are — e of the ex 
Royal 
=, Clermont; , ander Mr. Malle- 
am, House, Fife 
shire, where I spent e years comfortably ; but, 
being desirous to oun in my profession, i entered 
ic department | t 
| 
| 
| 
ws service of G. C. Arbuthnot, Esq., Mavis Bank; 
ear Edinburgh, whose gardens were about to 
fenavited and improved, and remained there between 
two and three years, when Mr. Jackson, of Kingston 
(who had not forgotten my former services), offered 
as, Tn. Aspen 
“ I left Bank Grove i in i the spring of 1862, and io 
recommended by Dr. Lindley to Admiral Sir Geo 
adm 
all w. ave seen them. t Genge. Broke 
Midleton’ 5 s taste for the beautiful i irn well kno 
e is 
agricultural societies in the neighbourhood," 
* 
Foreign Correspondence, 
BOTANISING IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN ALrs, 
I have been so pressingly occupied since my return 
from the South- Eastern rn Alps that I have not till now 
a 
nie to do a m pes of A oe (about 29,000 
feet) during the three weeks I was away. I left 
London on July 7 and se ен Lans le 
ended mountains south. 
c of the Pass to. to an altitude of about 9000 feet, and 
obtaine lutea 
mula pedemontana, Saxifraga planifolia, and S. 
yan sag p rua Loss арм» an 
t was raining and blowing 
use Du digger 
On 10 I made a careful examination of the 
рохе overlooking ihe Susa Valley on the south- 
tof the. Tres dom the Roche Melon. 
weather was c Шаг, after quur d s атэ 
and the Tes down m nex grand d descri 
o me, and not found on the 
flowering s 
and the oum leathery and ri 
d from the 
screes 
I approached the Roche Melon 
plants, i ing Saxifraga biflo:  cenisia, 
and Viola — ae latter a lovely little species 
resembling V. nummulariifolia of the y 
and will, I жй like it, be impatient of iren E 
n hours 
St. Dalmazzo 2000 feet), 
—— tolerable quarters at the s/abilimento. 
| the morning of the 13th I started at 7 A. M. up the 
| Miniera Valley to obtain the Orange Lily, which 
grows there in the greatest profusion ; I also observed 
it on both sides of the valley between the village of 
Tenda and th l di " is may be the 
Lilium croceum of some RÀ es it is certainly 
the Orange Lily of E 
the L, croceum of Corsica, The Corsican plant, which 
393 
