344 
CULTURE AND PROPAGATION OF HERBS. 
in Martinique. They were also 'sent to Paris from Canton, by M. 
Lamy. 
1789. The Baron cle Wimpfern carried out the first seeds of 
narcissus, hyacinth, and violet ever known in St. Domingo. 
1790. The plants taken to Jamaica hy the Earl of Efiery have 
succeeded beyond expectation, Gazzerat wheat, barley, Ashmood 
rice, pulse, &c. as also a species of mangosteen. 
1793. Admiral Blytli brought the bread fruit-tree to the West 
Indies. 
June 1799. Mr. L. Millington sent some East India seeds to be 
distributed in Barbadoes, and a plant of the teak-tree was preserved. 
1809. The spice plantation of La Gabrielle is specially protected 
by an article of the capitulation of Cayenne. 
Rice was carried to Carolina in the following manner :—Thos. 
Smith, the governor in 1683, had been at Madagascar, the country 
of rice, when a ship from that country with slaves was driven in dis¬ 
tress. Mr. Smith expressed a wish to try some rice in his garden, 
the cook gave him a small bag, he sowed it in a place now called 
“ Longitude Lane,” the crop was distributed, and from this small 
beginning did the staple article of Carolina take its origin. 
The history of Indigo in America is also very curious. At one 
time it was the second staple produce of Carolina. Mrs. Punkney 
received some Indigo seeds for her garden from her father, the go¬ 
vernor of Antigua. She planted them in March, 1742, the Indigo 
was cut down by the frost, she planted again in April, and it was 
lost again. She tried again and having succeeded, she distributed 
the seed. Hence the culture became common, and in a few years it 
was an article of export.— Pitkin’s Stat. Amer. 
I. Somerset. 
ARTICLE IV. 
ON THE NATURAL HISTORY, CULTURE, AND PROPAGATION 
OF HERBS. 
By JOSEPH PAXTON, F. L. S. H. S. 
Balm, Melissa officinalis, called by the ancient Greeks Melisso- 
phyllum, or Bee-leaf, receives its generic name from the Greek word 
Meli, honey, because bees gather an abundance of honey from its 
flowers. Its smell has been supposed to be very attractive to bees, 
and hence arose the custom of dressing hives with balm and honey 
or sugar, previous to taking a swarm, a practice which still prevails. 
