OF FOREST-TREES. 



81 



the berries mitigate inflammations of the eyes, and consolidate broken 

 bones : a decoction of the juice, leaves, and berries, dyes the hair black, 

 et enecat vitiligines, as Dioscorides says, lib. i. cap. cxxviii. There is an 

 excellent sweet water extracted from the distilled leaves and flowers. 



The varieties of this rare shrub, when furnishing the gardens and porti- 

 coes as long as the season and weather suit, and even in the severest win- 

 ters, when placed in the conclave, may be cut and contrived into various 

 figures : they are of divers variegations, most likely to be produced by 

 seeds, as our learned Mr. Ray believes, rather than by layers, suckers, or 

 slips, or from any difference of species. In the mean time, let gardeners 

 make such trials, whilst those most worth the culture are the Small and 

 Broad-leaved, theTarentine, the Belgic, the Double-flowered, and several 

 more among the curious. The Myrtle, of old, was sacred to Venus, and 

 so called from a virgin (Myrsine) beloved of Minerva. Garlands of the 

 leaves and blossoms impaled the brows of inc?'uentous victors at ovations. * 



CANDLEBERBY.TUEE\ 



And now if here, for the name only, I mention the MYRTUS 

 BRABANTICA, or CANDLEBERRY SHRUB, (which our plan- 

 tations in Virginia and other places have in plenty,) let it be admitted : 

 it bears a berry which, being boiled in water, yields a suet or pinguid 

 substance, of a green colour ; after being scummed and taken off, they 



^ A Myrtle crown was worn by the general to whom an ovation was decreed ; but at 

 a TRIUMPH the victor always wore a Laurel one. The reason of this is given by Plutarch 

 in the Life of Marcellus, vis;. Thg,t as an ov/vTiON was decreed for some remarkable success 

 obtained by treaty, or without much bloodshed, it was proper that the general at his 

 public appearance, should be crowned with the tree sacred to Venus, who, of all the deities, 

 was supposed to be the most averse to the horrors of war. 



* This is the MYRICA (cerifera) foliis lanceolatis sijbserratis, caule arborescente. 

 Lin. Sp. PI. 1453. The candleberry-tree. 



It is of the class and order Dioecia Tetrandria. 



This tree grows naturally in Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Kalm says that it 

 thrives best near the sea, never having seen it at any distance from the shore. From it is 

 obtained a green wax, with which the Americans make candles. For the method of pre- 

 paring the wax, consult Catesby's History of Carolina. 



