73 
naturally adapted to our country, and which have as yet re¬ 
ceived but little attention, the labour of the farmer would 
certainly be employed to the best advantage in the cultiva¬ 
tion of them. Of these I shall notice a few. 
The Sinapis or Mustard is a plant, which might yield no 
trilling profit to the American cultivator. Small clusters of 
it are seen growing in our fields and gardens ; but whether it 
is a native of the country, or merely the fruit of chance, I am 
not able to determine. In some catalogues, however, it is 
marked as an exotic ; but our climate is congenial to its 
habit, and almost every soil is adapted to its growth. A gen¬ 
tleman from Orange county, in this state, has informed me, 
that he collected from half an acre of but tolerable land, four¬ 
teen bushels of the seed, which he believed equal in quality 
to that of the Sinapis Arvensis, commonly known by the 
name of Durham mustard. There are many species of this 
herb, but it would be well for the cultivator to confine his 
attention to the one just mentioned, the seed of which is more 
abundant and of a better quality than in the other kinds. The 
high price given for imported mustard, and the facility with 
which it can be raised, induce a belief that farmers general¬ 
ly might find their account in making it an article of culture 
and traffic. 
The curious and beautiful Candle Berry Myrtle (Myrica 
Caerifera) is very abundant in many parts of the United States. 
The wax which this tree yields would amply compensate 
the trouble of. obtaining it. In Maryland, on the shores of 
the Chesapeake, and near most of the streams which flow in¬ 
to that bay, it is found in large quantities. It is also scat¬ 
tered ofer this state growing in a wet soil, and very rarely 
exceeding five or six feet in height. The plant, however, 
is not confined to marshy grounds. I have seen it on up¬ 
land in Connecticut, rising to the height of 10 or 12 feet. 
This species indeed is rarely seen, and the berries are not so 
abundant in this as in the other kinds.* In Louisiana there 
* I rather think the Connecticut Myrtle wax tree is only a variety 
of the species which is found in a wet soil. 
