126 TSUGA, OR HEMLOCK SPRUCE FIRS 
purchase of more poison drug from the innermost 
recesses of his private purse | 
Phocion, the Athenian general, was another of 
these inconsiderately treated victims of a State’s 
parsimony. He complained bitterly—and not with- 
out good reason, we think—that he was called upon 
to subscribe the money from his personal income 
upon ‘‘extras,’’ for the purpose of enabling the 
executioner to brew the dose in proportions strong 
enough to accomplish its purpose. 
But, as we have said, this graceful tree, known as 
the Hemlock Spruce, in our midst, though it may 
have contrived a nominal connection with the poison- 
ous plant, is quite absolved from any participation 
in these scenes described. 
The Hemlock plant (Conium Maculatum) is a 
smooth, purple-spotted, hollow-stemmed biennial, 
which is practically full of poison in root, seed, stem, 
and leaf, and which grows in hedgerow and ditch,— 
a plant that is credited with killing children who 
partake of it in mistake for parsnips ; and violently 
disagreeing with others who, lured on by the joys 
of musical delight, attempt the use of its hollow stem 
for penny-whistle purposes. And while on the 
subject, let it not be forgotten by experimentalists 
in these directions, and also by the guardians of flocks 
and herds, that there are other Hemlocks—for instance, 
the Water Hemlock ((Enanthe Crocata)—of um- 
belliferous affinity and like evil reputation, deservedly 
credited upon /flagrante-delicto evidences, of distri-. 
buting, with fatal .results, its‘ poisonous properties 
to man and beast. The Hemlock Spruce, on the 
other hand, is a dignified tree, with a grave and 
massive squareness of outline, with a record behind 
free and flawless .of crime, that occupies frontal 
positions on many a lawn and pleasure-ground ; and, 
moreover, is a tree which no one has ever repented 
