ARBUTUS. 
ton# after -iV mvdichje had been left off, they continued 
free from pain or inconvenience in making water, though 
the cathetei fhcwed that the calculus ftill remained: that 
others, who feenr'ed to be cured, relapled on -leaving oft' 
the medicine, were again relieved on repeating its life, and 
this for fevers 1 times fuccelTively ; while others obtained 
from it only temporary and precarious relief, the com¬ 
plaints being often as fevere during the continuance of the 
lrcedicihoas when it was not ufed. The trials of the uva 
urfi-rna.de in this country have by no means anfwered ex- 
pcclJitibn. Sometimes the patients found no relief, but 
thought their complaints rather aggravated than allevia¬ 
ted ; whilft, in other calculous and nephritic cafes, the 
lympfoius have been almoft entirely removed. Perhaps 
upon the whole, we lliall find it no better than other ve¬ 
getable, aftringents ; fome of which have long been ufed 
by the country people, in gravelly complaints, and with 
■very great advantage ; though hitherto unnoticed by the 
regular practitioners. But, whatever may be the event of 
its medical qualities, the whole plant is certainly very fer- 
v.ceable in dying.an afti-colour, but particularly in tanning 
leather. In tilts view it may deferve attention, in thole 
countries where whole mountains are covered with this 
trailing Ihrub, and they have fcarcely timber ftifticient for 
their occonomical purpofes. The berries are a food for 
grous, and other game. 
10. A i burns thymifolia, or tliyme-leaved arbutus : ftems 
procumbent; leaves oval, acute, obfeurely ferrate, llrigofe 
underneath, flowers axillary, eight-ftamened. This has 
the ftruihire of the cranberry, but all the parts are larger. 
The ftem is imbricate, with brilile-fhaped feales. Native 
of North America, in fw.amps ; and extremely abundant 
there. The berries are brought to market at Philadelphia, 
late in autumn; and tire tiled for tarts and other kinds of 
paltry. Quantities of them are lent over, preferved, to 
Europe, and to the Weft Indies. They are much ufed 
by our paftry-cooks in London, but are inferior to cran¬ 
berries of our own growth. The Swedes in America call 
them tranb&r, and the French in Canada atopa , from the 
Indians. 
Propagation and Culture. The heft method of propaga¬ 
ting the common arbutus is from feeds. When the fruit 
is perfectly ripe, which is from the middle of November 
to the end of December, it fttould be gathered, and mixed 
whole with dry fand, to preferve it until the time of flaw¬ 
ing. The fureft method of railing the plants, is to fow 
the feeds in pots, which fltould be plunged into an old 
bed of tanners bark, that has loft its heat, covering the 
bed with glaftes, &c. to keep out froft ; this fttould be 
done in December. If the feeds are good, and, as the 
fpring advances, the pots are refrefhed with water, the 
plants will come up the beginning of April, when they 
fttould be frequently but fparingly watered, and conftantly 
kept clean from weeds. As the fummer advances, if the 
plants are (haded in the heat of the day, it will greatly 
promote their growth ; but in warm weather they muff 
be open all night to receive the dew, and fhould only be 
covered in the middle of the day ; with this management, 
the plants will rife to the height of five or fix inches the 
firft fummer. The beginning of October, thefe plants 
may be lhaken out of the pots, and their roots carefully 
feparated, planting them fingly in fmall pots filled with 
light earth ; then plunge the roots into art old bed of tan¬ 
ners bark, under a common frame, obferving to fhade 
them from the fun in the middle of the day, and to give 
them water as they may require : in this bed the pots 
IhouldLetnain during the winter, obferving to expofe the 
plants to the open air, at all times when the weather is fa¬ 
vourable ; but in frofty weather they muft be covered, 
otherwife they will be in danger, if the feafon proves fe¬ 
vere. The fpring following the plants may be removed 
to a very gentle hot-bed, which will require no other co¬ 
vering but mats. This will enable them to make ftrong 
(hoots early in the fummer, whereby they will be in a bet¬ 
ter condition to bear the cold of the fucceeding winter: 
in this bed the plants may continue molt part of the fum¬ 
mer ; for, if the pots are taken out and fet upon the 
ground, the fmallnefs of their fize will occalion the earth 
in them to dry fo fart, that watering will fcarcely preferve 
the plants alive ; but, if they are kept growing all the 
fummer, they will be more than a foot high by the next 
autumn ; but it will be advifable to fereen them from the 
froft during their continuance in pots, by plunging them 
into the ground in a warm place, and covering them with 
mats in bad weather. When the plants are grown to be 
two or three feet high, you may ftiake them out of the 
pots, and plant them in the open ground in the places 
where they are to remain; but this Ihould be done in 
April, that they may have taken good root before the 
winter, which would be apt to damage them if newly- 
planted ; and, as all the earth about their roofs may be 
thus preferved, there will be no fear of fucceeding at this 
feafon. Thefe plants are tolerably hardy, and are feldom 
hurt, except in extreme hard winters, which many times 
kill the young and tender branches, but rarely aeftroy the 
roots ; therefore, however dead they may appear after a 
hard winter, yet 1 would advife the letting them remain 
till the fucceeding fummer lias fufficiently demonftrated 
what are living and what are dead ; for the winters of 
1728-9, and 1739-40, gave 11s great reafon to believe moft 
of the trees of this kind were deftroyed ; and many people 
were fo bally, as to dig tip or cut down many of their trees; 
w hereas all thofe who had patience to let them remain, 
found that fcarcely one in five hundred failed to come out 
again the next fummer, and many of them made hand- 
lome plants that feafon. This tree delights in a moift foil, 
for, when it is planted in dry ground, it feldom produces 
much fruit; the flowers coming forth in autumn, if the 
winter proves fevere, are generally deftroyed, which has 
occalioned their producing very little fruit in England for 
feveral years: therefore, in order to obtain fruit, the trees 
Ihould be placed in a warm fituation; and, where the 
ground is not naturally moift, there fhould be a good 
quantity of loam and rotten neat’s dung laid about their 
roots ; and, if the fpring fhould prove dry, they muft be 
plentifully watered, in order to have plenty of fruit. The 
very beft feafon for tranfplanting the arbutus is in Sep¬ 
tember, at which time the blolfoms are beginning to ap- 
.pear; and, at that feafon, if it fhould prove very dry, and 
they are kept moift, they will take root very foon : but, 
towards the beginning of November, their roots fhould be 
well covered with mulch, to keep out the froft. 
The following direflions are added from Mr. Boutcher’s 
excellent Treatife on Foreft-trees. The feeds ripening at 
different times muft r.ot be gathered all at once. Thofe 
fruits which are ripe, may eafily be known by their turn¬ 
ing of a deep brownifh tawney colour; examine therefore 
your trees every two or three days. They retain their 
growing quality a very fliort time. Sow the feeds rubbed 
out with the fand in pots the middle of March. If the 
quantity you intend to raife be large, prepare a moderate 
hot-bed of tanners bark; lay on fix inches deep of the 
fineft rich loofe mould, fow the feeds, and cover them not 
more than one-fixth of an incli deep : in five or fix weeks 
the plants will appear. The fecond fpring, Mr. Boutcher 
recommends to remove them into penny pots, which fhould 
be plunged into the hot-bed till Auguft, hardening them 
gradually by expofmg them to the open air in moift calm 
weather. Then they may be placed in a warm fpot under 
a hedge, till Odtober, where they may be expofed all the 
winter, mats only being thrown over them in bad weather. 
The following fpring take out the furface mould, fill the 
pots again witli rich earth, remove them to a fhady border 
till autumn, watering them in dry weather every fecond 
or third evening ; and then let them ftand during winter 
under a wall or hedge where they may have the fun. 
Having now flood two feafons in the pots, fhake them out 
cautioufly, and cut off the mouldy or mufty roots ; plunge 
them in water and earth for an hour, and then place the*n 
in twopenny pots, where they may continue two or three 
.ye&rs j 
