September 18. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
453 
is made by infusing the plant, either in a green or dry state, j 
in water, and communicating to it a slight acidulous taste 
by the addition of lemon juice; but when it has been suffi¬ 
ciently infused the herb should be removed, or the tea 
strained from it. 
BASIL. 
There are two sorts of Basil, the Sweet and the Bush Basil; 
the latter so-called from its dwarf, bushy habit of growth ; 
the former is that which is more generally cultivated. They 
are both used as pot-herbs for seasoning soups and sauces, 
and sometimes, also, they are sparingly introduced as an 
ingredient in salads ; in all cases they communicate the 
llavour of cloves. 
Both sorts of Basil being tender, they require to be raised 
on a slight hotbed in March, thinned out as they gain 
strength, and after being gradually hardened off, when they 
are three or four inches high, they are to be planted out on 
a warm border in June, nine inches apart, and watered till 
they are established. They will be ready for use at the end 
of June, and continue throughout the autumn, when the 
whole plant is to be pulled up and dried in a shady and 
airy place for winter use, as has been directed above for 
Balm. 
Besides the uses which we have mentioned in the culi¬ 
nary department, Basil has others attributed to it of a 
medicinal character. It is said to attenuate viscid phlegm 
and promote expectoration. The dried leaves reduced to 
a powder, and used as common snuff, some are wont to con¬ 
sider as more beneficial and less injurious than the narcotic 
weed of which snuff is made. 
Basil Vinegar. —Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with fresh 
green leaves of Sweet Basil, cover them with vinegar, and 
let them steep for ten days. If you wish to have a very 
strong essence, strain the liquor, put it on some fresh leaves, 
and let them steep for fourteen days more. This is a very 
agreeable addition to sauces, soups, and salad dressings. 
Dr. Kitchener says, “ It is a secret the makers of mock 
turtle may thank us for telling ; a tablespoonful put in when 
the soup is finished will impregnate a tureen of soup with 
the Basil and acid flavours, at very small cost, when fresh 
Basil and Lemons are extravagantly dear.”— Roger Ash- 
pole. 
NEW BOOKS. 
The Phytologist.* 
This is published monthly, price one shilling, and is de¬ 
voted to the investigation of British Plants, and a new series 
commenced in the May of the present year. It contains 
notes made during Botanical Tours, records of the habitats 
of British plants, of their times of flowering, history of bota¬ 
nical events, notices of relative publications, and answers to 
queries. Every collector of British Plants should possess 
it. The following extract will be evidence that its contents 
are not all mere technicalities :— 
“ On Popular Names of Plants .— IVaybred (not Waybread), 
the Ancient English Name of Plantago major. 
“ The Plantago major bears the above in old herbals, and 
this name Waybrede is by some supposed to imply that the 
plant has some connection with the staff of life, which is the 
support of all wayfarers, whether travelling along the high¬ 
way from cities and.towns to villages and hamlets, or jogging 
along through the occupations, employments, and cares of 
humanity, to that bourne whence no traveller returns. 
“ In reference to the first part of the compound term Way - 
Irede, there is no difference of opinion among our etymo¬ 
logical botanists. ‘ Waybrede,’ says Mr. Fox Talbot, in Ids 
‘ Etymologies,’ ‘ is an old name for the Plantain, a weed 
which grows very commonly by roadsides in England. But 
what has it to do with bread ? It affords no nourishment of 
any kind. The German name for it is Wegetritt, that is, 
Way-tread; a good name, because it is trodden underfoot, 
growing on the hardest roads, etc. I conjecture that the 
* The Phytologist: A Botanical Journal. W. Pamplin, 45, Frith 
Street, Soho Square. 
word Waybrede was mistaken by our old herbalists for Way- 
tread, etc.’—Etym. p. 412. 
“ Dr. Johnston (Bot, Eastern Borders) states that the 
various terms “ Waybrede, Wayfron , Weyborn , Weybret, 
merely express the wayside habit of the plant, which is the 
child of roadsides and pathways.” This is true, but it only 
accounts for the first half of the name. Mr. Talbot’s con¬ 
jecture, like the conjectures of many others fully as sapient 
as he, may be readily disposed of by the aid of a few ety¬ 
mological facts which were as accessible to the learned au¬ 
thor of the ‘Etymologies’ as they are to his humble servant, 
who ventures to help both these learned pundits, to correct 
the gratuitous conjectural assumption of the one, and to 
supply the omission of the other. 
“ First, the term way in English is equivalent to looeg or 
weg in Anglo-Saxon, teste Bosworth, on the authority of 
Adfric and Somner. The other part of the term, brede, Dr. 
Johnston might have found among the peasantry of his ain 
countrie , for they still use the form braid for broad , as braid 
claitli for broad cloth, teste Jamieson. The German name of 
the plant is Wegebreit, or Wegbreit (old German, Wega - 
breila), English, Waybread; from breiten or ausbreiten, to 
dilate, or become, or be broad; auch das Wegeblatt , or 
the Wayleaf: teste Heyse, Diet. 1828, in voce Weg. The 
Swedish name of the plant is Groblad, great or broad leaf 
The Danish name of the same is Veibred, from vei, a 
way, and bred, broad.'' 
About two hundred years ago, Parkinson summed up the 
same in one sentence. “ The English name is Waybredde, 
not Waybread, as divers corruptly call it.” Still earlier, 
Turner, in his “ Herbal,” says, “ in the north countrie it is 
called Waybrede or Grete Weybrede. Tire lesser kind is 
called Sharp Way bred." Now, of these three different 
modes of spelling we incline to think the last is the most 
correct, and that the popular name was intended to refer 
to the truth that the plant is mostly bred by the way-side. 
Withers’ Poems* 
The east of England, and its shoemakers in particular, have 
been distinguished for their poetic powers. In Withers, 
another is added to the list, and we can recommend his 
volume as one full of truthful, pleasing descriptions, and 
tuneful of nothing but good feeling. This is the more 
worthy of pi’aise when we know that some of them were 
composed within the walls of a workhouse. The volume 
was brought to our notice by Mr. Beaton, who received it 
from one of our correspondents, with a letter, from which 
this is an extract: 
“ The enclosed little hook was written by a poor man, a 
cobler, indeed, in a village close by. I know him well, and, 
in fact, no one can offer a word to his disparagement. You 
will find, though entirely a self-taught man, many evidences 
of the true spirit of poesy in his writings; of course, every 
allowance must be made for a few mistakes, both gram¬ 
matically and otherwise. There is one piece, Tea-Table 
Talk, page 128, which I think will amuse and interest you, 
and a thought has just struck me, that if you approve thereof, 
and could get it inserted in The Cottage Gardener, it 
might be the means of selling a few copies, which would be 
a great benefit to the poor author, and I do think would 
highly amuse the majority of your readers. The piece, 
Cholera, too, which prevailed in this neighbourhood last 
year, is well written; the last verse of the poem, dedicated 
to Mr. Tyson, contains a beautiful sentiment. ‘ Give us 
this day our daily bread,’ also, is well done. ‘ A Thing of 
Beauty is a joy for ever;' the first verse, I fancy, may be 
applied truthfully to D. Beaton, or I have greatly mistaken 
my man— 
’Tis not alone the song of bard 
That’s poetry to me, 
But things that many disregard,— 
The field, the flower, the tree; 
And all that’s beautiful and bright. 
Within this world of our’s; 
The dewy morning, rosy light, 
And evening’s silent hours. 
“You will be surprised, perhaps, when I tell you that the 
greater part of these poems were composed in the dark, 
* Poems upon Various Subjects. By J. R. Withers, Fordham, 
Cambridgeshire. Wertheim and Macintosh, Paternoster Row. 2s 6d. 
