April 29. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
59 
your health, arul the smiles of fortune, so far countenance 
your pursuits, as to enable you to return to your native 
country in a state of independence and happiness. 
How often have I taken a retrospect of the pleasure we 
enjoyed from the ideal views and fruitless wishes of our 
future situations in life, when we passed the long evenings 
in the little room behind the shop, and with our cigar and 
grog we banished care from our cheerful hearts. Although 
our wishes were then founded on imagination, yet were they 
rational and innocent, and may they yet be realised at some 
future period. 
But ah ! how soon is the strongest tie of friendship dis¬ 
solved by time and distance. The poor “ parson” never had 
one scrape of a pen from you since you left St. Lucia, 
although he ■wrote to you twice; but I assure you not one 
of your West India accpiaintance wishes you better, or 
whose sentiments of friendship are more pure and unalter¬ 
able. But you will think I personate the parson too much 
by this serious strain, and that I ought to say something of 
news of your acquaintance; but as Mr. Horne tells me he 
is to write to you by this packet, I shall leave the task to 
him. I shall only tell you he is in partnership with Patrick 
Connor, and doing very well; he also acts as hospital mate. 
“ The parson,” God be thanked, is not the most unlucky ; and, 
notwithstanding your forgetfulness of him, I am confident 
our former friendship is not so erased out of your breast 
but you will be glad to know how he fares. The lung has 
appointed him to superintend the botanic garden in this 
island, formerly in the possession of Dr. Young, and he is 
countenanced and supported by gentlemen of the first class 
in England. He is in possession of one of the pleasantest 
spots perhaps in the West Indies, and he often wishes in 
his solitary hours for you to partake of the pleasure of his 
rural scenes. 
But, dear Smith, I have a great charge invested in me, 
and to discharge my duty requires every exertion of both 
mind and body. And what do you think of picking up a 
few seeds for me in your leisure hours, and for your amuse¬ 
ment ? In so doing, you would be of great assistance to me, 
as you are in a country where everything you see will be new 
here, and consequently valuable; the most common things 
do not despise, they are often the most valuable. You must 
have many spare moments, and by devoting them this way 
it will soon become pleasing to you, and will be a credit to 
you. It is from medical men who travel that improvements 
to natural history are expected, and what an untrodden field 
have you. You may do a great deal with little trouble or 
attracting your attention from your necessary concerns. 
Take my word for it, you cannot employ your time better, 
and it may prove more advantageous to you than you may 
imagine ; for nothing recommends a medical man more, or 
renders him more conspicuous, than such disquisitions. 
But you will say, you know nothing of natural history, and 
it would be vanity for you to do anything that way. That is 
nothing—I knew nothing of it once; and you well know 
that natural philosophy has not been always the most im¬ 
proved by its professors. Everything you meet with will be 
valuable; you have only to pick them up, and write the 
common name of the country, and their properties, if known 
there, on the paper you inclose them in. 
Will you be so land as to send me seeds, or any natural 
production that comes in your way, as animals, fishes, 
minerals, &c., and specimens of plants— i. e., a piece of 
the branch with its flowers dryed—and any observation you 
may make on the natural face of the country, phenomena 
of nature, natural disposition, manners, and tradition of the 
natives; and you should particularly observe the diseases 
and mode of treatment. 
My dear sir, I recommend these things to you for your 
| own advantage, and if you allot some of your spare time 
| that way you will soon be sensible of it, and may be of great 
service "to me, as I particularly want the East India plants. 
I And, depend upon it, whatever assistance you give me in 
my pursuits, or any of your observations, shall be faithfully 
laid before the President of the Royal Society. 
I wish I was a year or two with you, to range your woods 
and wilds. I have many things to say to you, but time will 
not permit. Do not become so nabobish as to quite forget 
your friends in this poor corner of the world. 
GOSSIP. 
It is most gratifying to witness tho energy with which 
the public are bestirring themselves to save the Crystal 
Palme, and to retain it in its present position. The 
condemnation of the two Commissioners who were so 
complaisant as to sign Lord Seymour’s Report is equally 
general and loud. Sir Joseph Paxton is indefatigable 
in his exertions to preserve his magnificent creation, 
and be is sanguine of success. Well blowing that the 
command of money is as efficient in saving Crystal 
Palaces as it is in saving nations, when war is waged 
against them, he consulted some of tho members of the 
monied interest as to the extent to which he could be 
sustained. He placed his designs before them, and these 
were so well received, that he was informed in reply, 
that five hundred thousand pounds would be forth¬ 
coming to carry out bis intentions. What those inten¬ 
tions are, we do not profess to know, and we hope he 
will keep them secret, for imagination will work 
wonders in his favour, whereas, if he published his 
projects, hundreds of critics would “ sound their horns 
as they danced on each beam. 1 ' 
At the Meeting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society, 
on the 8th of this month, a paper by Mr. James Fulton 
was read, On the Economic Uses of Chicory. 
“ The author, after giving a general account of the history 
of the chicory plant, and alluding to the antiquity of its 
cultivation, proceeded to point out the vide range of 
economic uses to which it might be made applicable, and 
urged the importance of extending its cultivation. Its ex- : 
tensive use as an ingredient in coffee over the whole of Con¬ 
tinental Europe is well known. As a forage plant, it is ' 
known to form some of the best meadows in the south of 
France and Lombardy, succeeding hi all seasons ; while its | 
use, as a salad, is likewise extensive. Since 1835, large j 
quantities of the root have been imported to Britain from 
the Continent; it is now cultivated in several parts of Eng¬ 
land for the purpose of supplementing coffee, and as the 
plant is capable of bearing all the varieties of climate in 
Europe, being successfully cultivated from Italy to St. 
Petersburg, Mr. Fulton could see no reasonable objection to 
the extension of its cultivation throughout Britain, in order 
to supply our own markets. He stated that the popular idea 
of chicory giving an unpleasant flavour to coffee is erro¬ 
neous, and entered into a detail of facts to show that an 
admixture of chicory was a great improvement to the flavour 
of coffee, adducing the experience of extensive dealers to 
prove the accuracy of this statement. He also considered 
the mixture an improvement in a physiological point of 
view. It had occurred to Mr. Fulton, that the bitter of the 
chicory root might be employed as a substitute for hops, 
and he had accordingly got manufactured a small brewing 
which had been successful, showing that the root not only 
communicates a pleasant bitter, but that it likewise in some 
measure substitutes the malt by a large amount of saccharine i 
matter. Mr. Fulton had found the cultivation of chicory to | 
be very easy, and had already published his views on this ! 
part of the subject, in the Transactions of the Highland and 
Agricultural Society. His crops had given a much larger , 
money return than either potatoes or turnips on the same 
soil. It appeared to him that it was in remote districts of 
the) country where the culture of chicory could be exten¬ 
sively pursued with the greatest advantage, the article being 
so light and convenient of transit, and free from the casual¬ 
ties, in all its processes of growth and preparation, which 
other crops are liable to, and where the risk and cost of 
transportation reduce so much the net value of our bulky 
green crops. The paper was illustrated by an interesting 
series of specimens showing the chicory in its various 
stages of preparation, as a substitute for coffee; also, ale 
brewed from chicory.” 
