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fuilaining three or four fmall yellow fiowefs, which 
have five oval concave petals, and eight (lamina in 
the male flowers, which are upon different plants from 
the hermaphrodite flowers, which have an oval ger- 
men, that afterward becomes an oval berry, which, 
when ripe, is blue, but thofe plants do not produce 
fruit in England. 
The eighth fort grows naturally in North America, 
in fwampy lands ; this rifes with a fhrubby branching 
ftalk eight or ten feet high, covered with a purple 
bark. The leaves are placed oppofite, and are near 
two inches long and one broad, fmooth on their up- 
per fide, but are veined on their under, where they 
are rough. This hath not as yet produced flowers 
here, but the berries which were fent me from Ma- 
ryland were red, and nearly the fize and ihape of the 
common Bay-berry. 
The Camphire-tree grows naturally in Japan, and in 
feveral parts of India, and alfo at the Cape of Good 
Hope, where it rifes to a tree of middling ftature, di- 
viding into many fmall branches, garnifhed with oval 
ipeaf-ftiaped leaves, fmooth on their upper fide, hav- 
ing three longitudinal veins which unite above the 
bafe •, if thefe are bruifed, they emit a ftrong odour 
of Camphire, as alfo the branches when broken. 
Thefe are male and hermaphrodite on different trees ■, 
I have only feen thofe of the male, which has flowered 
plentifully in England j thefe were fmall, and cpm- 
pofed of five concave yellow petals, very like thofe of 
the Saffafras-tree, and were produced three or four 
upon each foot-ftalk, in like manner. 
The tenth fort was difcovered by the late Dr. Houf 
toun at La Vera Cruz ; this rifes with a woody ftalk to 
the height of twenty feet, dividing into many branches, 
which are covered with a gray rough bark ; at the ex- 
tremity of the branches are produced the foot-ftalks, 
which are unequal in length, but divide into feveral 
fmaller, each fuilaining a duller of fmall white 
flowers, which are colledted into a head or fmall um- 
bel, having one general involucrum ^ thefe are male 
and hermaphrodite on different trees. The herma- 
phrodite flowers are fucceeded by oval berries, not 
quite fo large as thofe of the common Bay. The 
leaves of this tree are about two inches long and one 
broad, rounded at the top and entire. Handing upon 
very fhort foot-ftalks. 
The Saffafras-tree is commonly propagated by the 
berries, which are brought from America ; but thefe 
berries generally lie in the ground a whole year, and 
fometimes two or three years before they grow, when 
they are fown in the fpring •, therefore the fureft me- 
thod of obtaining the plants will be, to get the berries 
put into a tub of earth foon after they are ripe, and 
fent over in the earth and as foon as they arrive, to 
fow the berries on a bed of light ground, putting them 
two inches in the earth *, and if the ipring fhould 
prove dry, the bed muft be frequently watered, and 
Ihaded from the great heat of the fun in the middle 
of the day * with this management many of the plants 
will come up the firft feafon, but as a great many of 
the berries will lie in the ground till the next fpring, 
fo the bed fhould not be difturbed, but wait until the 
feafon after, to fee what will come up. The firft win- 
ter after the plants come up, they fhould be protected 
from the froft, efpecially in the autumn ; for the firft 
early froft at that feafon is apt to pinch the fhoots of 
thefe plants, which, when young, are tender and 
full of fap, fo will do them more injury than the 
fevere froft of the winter •, for when the extreme part 
of the fhoots are killed, it greatly affects the whole 
plant. 
When the plants have grown a year in the feed-bed, 
they may be tranfplanted into a nurfery, where they 
may Hand one or two years to get ftrength, and may 
then be tranfplanted into the places where they are to 
remain for good. 
There have been fome of thefe plants propagated by 
layers, but thefe are commonly two, and fometimes 
three years before they put out roots ^ and if they are 
not duly watered in dry weather, they rarely take 
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foot % fo that it is uncertain, whether one in three 1 of 
thefe layers do fucceed, which makes thefe plants 
very fcarce in England at prefent. 
The wood of this fhrub is frequently ufed to make 
tea, which is efteemed a great antifcorbutic ; and in 
Carolina they frequently give a decodlion of the wood 
and leaves in intermitting fevers ; but the flowers of 
the fhrub are' gathered, and dried by the mail curious., 
and are ufed for tea. 
The Benjamin-tree, as it is falfly called, may be pro- 
pagated in the fame manner as the Saffafras, by 
fowing of the berries : thefe generally lie long in the 
ground, fo that unlefs they are brought over in earth, 
in the fame way as before direbled, they often fail, or 
at lead remain long in the ground ; but this is now 
frequently propagated by layers in England, which 
put out roots pretty freely, when the young fhoots 
are chofen to make layers. 
The eighth fort is alfo a native of the fame country 
with the laft, and may be propagated by feeds in the 
fame manner as thofe, and require the fame treat- 
ment. This may alfo be propagated by layers, which 
put out roots pretty freely and as the fbrubs do not 
produce feeds in England, fo this is the beft method 
to propagate them. 
Thefe three forts will live in the open air in England, 
but the Saffafras is often injured by very fevere frofts, 
efpecially if they are in an expofed fituation j therefore 
thefe plants fhould have a warm fituation and a loofe 
foil ; and in moift ground this, and alfo the eighth 
fort, will thrive much better than in a dry foil ; for 
when they are planted on a hot gravelly foil, they fre- 
quently die in fummer when the feafon proves dry. 
They are all of them now much cultivated in Eng- 
land, to add to the variety of fhrubs, but they are not 
very ornamental plants ; though indeed the Saffafras 
makes a good appearance in fummer, when it is fully 
clothed with its large leaves, which being of different 
fliapes, makes an agreeable variety, when intermixed 
with fhrufos of the fame growth. 
The Camphire-tree is very near a-kin to the Cinna- 
mon-tree, from which it differs in the leaves, thofe 
of the Cinnamon-tree having three ribs running lon- 
gitudinally from the foot-ftalk to the point, where 
they foon diminifii ; whereas the ribs of the leaves of 
this tree are fmall, and extend toward the fides, and 
have a fmooth ihining furface : they are both male 
and hermaphrodite in different trees. 
In Europe this tree is propagated by layers, which 
are generally two years, and fometimes longer, before 
they take root, fo that the plants are very fcarce ; and 
as all thofe which I have feen flower are male trees, 
fo there can be no hopes of procuring feeds from them 
here : but if the berries of this, and alfo of the Cin- 
namon-tree, were procured from the places of their 
growth, and planted in tubs of earth, as hath been 
directed for the Saffafras-tree, there may be a num- 
ber of thefe plants procured in England : and if they 
were fent to the Britifli colonies in America, they 
might be there cultivated, fo as to become a public 
advantage ; efpecially the Cinnamon-tree, which will 
grow as well in fome of our iflands in the Weft-Indies, 
as it does in the native places of its growth, and in a 
few years the trees might be had in plenty j for they 
propagate eafily by the berries, as the French expe- 
rienced in their American iflands. The Portugueze' 
brought fome of the Cinnamon-trees from the Eaft- 
Indies, and planted them on the ifland of Princes, on 
the coaft of Africa, where they now abound, having 
fpread over a great part of the ifland ; there is alfo 
one tree now growing at the Madeiras, which I 
have been informed is a male, fo never produces 
berries. 
The Camphire-tree does not require any artificial heat 
in winter, fo that if they are placed in a warm dry 
, green-houfe they will thrive very well. During the 
winter feafon they muft be fparingly watered, and in 
the fummer they ftiould be placed abroad in a warm 
fituation, where they may be defended from ftrong 
winds, and not too much expofed to the diredt rays- 
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