152 
THF, COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 21. 
in a wild state. Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculut), widely 
spread over South Russia, was brought, probably from the 
shores of the Black Sea, in more recent times. The first 
mention on record is by Simon Seth, in the middle of the 
twelfth century, but it appears to have been scarcely known 
as a condiment till the sixteenth century. 
Among textile plants, Flax (Linum usitatissimum) was 
extensively cultivated and used by the ancient Egyptians, 
and formed a considerable article of trade between them 
and the Greeks, who, besides weaving its fibres, were 
acquainted with the medicinal properties of its seeds, which 
they even mixed with their bread. It was cultivated in 
Italy by the Estrucan Falisci in the time of Silius Italicus, 
but was thought little of by the early Romans, who wore 
! cliielly woollen clothing, till the time of the Empire, and 
even then its cultivation was not much favoured, in the 
belief that it exhausted the soil. In modern Italy it has 
been more generally grown, but still rather for looal con- 
I sumption than for exportation. 
With regard to the origin of the species there is still 
considerable doubt. Professor Targioni follows other 
botanists in considering it as a common European plant; 
and it certainly is found wild in most countries where it is 
or has been cultivated; but all the evidence we possess 
tends to show that (with characters assigned to the species 
by botanists) it is everywhere rather escaped from cultivation 
than really wild. Planclmn, the last monograpliist of the 
genus, divides it into two species, neither of them known 
in their original indigenous stations. The species nearest 
allied, L. angustifolium,is indeed a common European one; 
but, amongst other characters, the differences in the size 
and colour of the petals, generally constant among Linums, 
prevent our pronouncing for their identity without further 
evidence. 
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is of East Indian origin. It is 
common in the hills and mountains of Northern India, and 
was very early cultivated throughout the East, though more 
for its intoxicating properties than for the. fibre. Herodotus 
mentions it as grown by the Scythians, Dioscorides alludes 
to the strength of the ropes made from its fibre, and Galen 
to its medicinal properties. It was introduced into Italy by 
the Romans, apparently under the Empire, and much later 
than flax. It is now an object of extensive culture in the 
plains of Lombardy, and in the Romagna. 
Colton (Gossypium) was imported from India by the 
ancient Egyptians, by the Greeks, and by the Romans, but 
J appears never to have been cultivated in Europe till the 
Moors introduced it into Spain towards the twelfth century, 
although some assert that it was already grown in Sicily in 
the eleventh century. From Spain it was carried to 
Southern Italy, where there was much of it in the time of 
Porta, who died in 1515. Its culture is still kept up in 
Calabria and about Naples, and under Napoleon's con- 
I tinental regime it was in some measure profitable, but is 
now of no importance. In Tuscany it has been repeatedly 
tried, but as often abandoned, the crop being in that climate 
far too uncertain to afford any chances of profit. 
Among tinctorial plants, Wood (Isatis tinctoria), much 
cultivated in early days for its blue dye, has now been 
generally replaced by the importation of indigo, excepting 
some partial use as a foundation for the darker colours. It 
was well known to the ancients, for its use for dyeing wool is 
spoken of as habitual by Dioscorides, Vitruvius, Pliny, and 
Galen; and the ancient Britons, according to Cresar, and 
the Dacians and Sarmatians, according to Pomponius Mela 
and Pliny, were in the habit of colouring their bodies with 
it. Ancient authors distinguished the wild and the cultivated 
woad, but the former was probably some very different plant, 
and they, perhaps, only knew the real one in a state of 
cultivation. It was certainly grown in Spain before the 
twelfth century, and extensively so in Tuscany during the 
flourishing times of the wool trade, in the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries, and up to the sixteenth. After that, 
however, it gradually diminished, as indigo came to be im¬ 
ported from America. To stop this decay, protective regula¬ 
tions prohibiting the importation of indigo were enacted in 
the Roman states in 1652, but they had but little success 
in the encouragement of the woad-growers ; even Napoleon’s 
continental system gave them but a short temporary stimulus, 
and they have now quite disappeared from central Italy, 
i 
As a wild plant the woad has an extensive range over Europe 
and the temperate parts of Asia, but in the former continent 
it is probably only really indigenous in the southern and 
eastern districts. In England, at least, it is only to bo 
found wild where it has escaped from cultivation. 
Madder (Rubin tinctoria), furnishing the well-known 
beautiful scarlet dye, is another among the earliest culti¬ 
vated for tinctorial purposes. Two sorts were known in the 
days of Dioscorides, and are still distinguished by botanists, J 
but whether they be really species or races which have j 
acquired a degree of permanency by long cultivation remains i 
to be ascertained. The one, the cultivated Rubia tinctoria, 
with a thick, succulent, intensely-coloured root, and annual 
stems and leaves, is said to be of Eastern origin, and is only \ 
found in Europe where escaped from cultivation; the other, \ 
the Rubia peregrina, is common in a wild state in the south 
of Europe. Its leaves and stems are of longer duration, and 
the root is much smaller and paler coloured, but is occasion¬ 
ally collected for the dyer even in the present day. In 
Tuscany, the cultivation of the more valuable R. tinctoria 
has been frequently attempted, but generally abandoned as 
not sufficiently profitable, owing either to unfavourable local 
circumstances, or to bad management, the dyer importing it 
from the Levant at a very low rate. The Marquis Cosimo 
Ridolphi, however, whose name is so frequently mentioned 
in these pages in connection with the improvement and 
extension of the agriculture of his country, appears recently 
to have mot with better success in the establishment of the 
growth of madder in the neighbourhood of Spoleto. 
{To be continued.) 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Tiie Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary. —The following unasked-for 
testimony conies from an amateur of a character that rentiers it doubly 
gratifying and valuable:—“ Seeing that a correspondent, “Mary,” enquires 
about the price of “ The Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary ,” reminds me 
that I owe such a debt of gratitude to that admirable book, for its lucid, 
and simple, and yet most comprehensive instructions, that I should be 
most ungrateful were I not to bear this public testimony to its value. 
“ My knowledge of gardening, until I procured the work, was, indeed, 
but a “smattering,” and I now think, without much vanity, 1 may say, 
that I am as well up in horticultural knowledge as nine out of ten 
amateurs, although I have not a great deal of time to give up to horti¬ 
cultural pursuits.— Tiie Cottage Gardener’s Friend.” 
Frigi homo .(hi. S.) —We did not know that the maker had moved. 
Perhaps he will advertize where orders may be now sent. You can only 
obtain cuttings of Chrysanthemums from private friends. 
Hares and Raubits ( W. Thompson). —We do not think that a hand 
of gas-tar applied round the stems of the trees, as you propose, would 
do them any injury. Do not paint the stems with it any higher than is 
absolutely necessary. 
Names of Plants ( G. Grey). —Yours is the Pinus strobus , or I 
Weymouth Pine. Sent by post, “ The Gardeners’ Almanack ” would be 
eighteenpence. (A Subscriber).— Pines, and all other coniferous plants, j 
are very difficult to discriminate by hits of branches without their seed- 
cones. Of yours, 5. is Juniperus succica. 6. Pinus, species uncertain. 
7- Photenia arbutifolia. 8. Photenia serruluta. 9. Cvpressus, un¬ 
certain which. (F. F. W. Malvern Wells). Your Fern is Platyloma 
rotundifolia. It was introduced in 1824, and requires a greenhouse. 
Tyro’s puzzling bits of coniferous plants are two small for any one to be ! 
certain about them; but we believe the following to be correct:—1. Thuja 
occidentalU. 2. Thuja orientalis. 3. Juniperus virginiana. 4. Cuprcs- 
sus sempervirens, 5. Uncertain. 6. Juniperus prostrata. 7- Juniperus 
communis, or variety. 8. Juniperus sabina. 0. Alonsoa linearis. 
Names of Apples (ilf. 31 . Weald of Kent).— No. 2. Lewis’ In¬ 
comparable. 3. Pitmaston Russet Nonpariel. 4. Knobbed ltusset. 5. 
Also Knobbed Russet. There was no No. I. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar ; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County of 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ¬ 
church, City of London.—November 21, 1854. 
2UHmttScmrntS. 
In December will be Published , 
THE 
POULTRY - KEEPER’S POCKET ALMANACK 
AND 
DIARY OF PROCEEDINGS IN THE POULTRY-YARD. 
Besides tiie usual contents of an Almanack, it will contain 
a ruled Diary for recording all that goes on in the Poultry- 
yard, and much useful information concerning Fowls, liy 
I well-known contributors to The Cottage Gardener. 
