THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— October 14, 18S6. 19 
fis their most powerful means of repelling the invasions 
■ of their enemies, by the facilities with which they can 
j empoison water with it. C. Codua is even more 
I oisouous than the last, and is used by the same people 
(the Corkhalese) for the same purpose. Iu Sweden the 
country-people strew their floors and pavements on 
holidays with the flowers of Trullius Europeans, which 
have a pleasant smell, as do also those of Westmoreland 
and some parts of Scotland, where they go out iu parties 
to gather them for the decoration, not only of their doors 
and apartments, but also for garlands to decorate their 
persons. According to Kalm a decoction of the whole 
plant is said to cure scrofula. Helleborus niger , 
-Black Hellebore, or Christmas Rose, is one of the 
most powerful drastic purgatives, the rise of which 
may be followed by very serious results; but in smaller 
doses it is diuretic and emmenagogue, and by some con¬ 
sidered as an alterative. It has been much recommended 
in mania, melancholy, dropsy, scabies, and worms; and 
when taken in too large doses it causes violent vomit¬ 
ings, inflammation of the stomach, vertigo, tremblings, 
convulsions, cramps, and death. H. fcetulus, a native 
of England, though of less powerful properties than the 
Black Hellebore, is violently cathartic. The leaves, 
when dried, are a popular remedy against worms; but 
great caution is necessary in the administration, as 
instances of fatal effects have been recorded. The root 
of Copt is trifolia affords an agreeable and powerful 
stomachic bitter, and is much used in America as a cure 
for thrush in the mouths of children. The leaves and 
stalks are used by the Indians to dye of a fine yellow 
colour several kinds of work made of skins; and with 
them the French also dye wools of a yellow colour. 
The seeds of Nigella saliva have a piquant and acrid 
flavour, somewhat analogous to that of pepper; and 
they are used in Germany and Asia as a spice for 
seasoning dishes. The species of Aquilegia, or Colum- 
biues, though not possessing the same virulent properties 
of those already mentioned, still belong to the same 
family, and are to be regarded with suspicion. A tinc¬ 
ture of the flowers of A. vulgaris has been recom¬ 
mended as antiphlogistic, for strengthening the gums, 
and for scorbutic ulcers in the mouth ; but Linnaeus 
states that, given internally, he lias known children lose 
their lives by an over-dose of it. From the seeds of 
Delphinium staphisagria an alkaloid substance, called 
Delpldne, is extracted, which exerts violent poisonous 
properties in very small doses, acting chicily on the 
nervous system. The seeds of the plant are so violently 
emetic and cathartic as never to be administered in¬ 
ternally, but are principally applied to some kinds of 
cutaneous eruptions, and in powder for destroying the 
pediculi of the head. 
The Reonie.e are the least dangerous of this re¬ 
markable family; but even some of them must be used 
with caution. The berries of Actcaa spicata are poisonous, 
and the root astringent. The juice of the berries mixed 
with alum furnishes a black dye, and the root has been 
found useful in some nervous affections. Botrophis 
acUcoides (A. ramosa) is simply astringent, and the root 
is considered by the Americans as an antidote to poison 
and to the bite of the rattlesnake. The wood and bark 
of Xanthorhiza apiifolia furnish an excellent tonic 
bitter. The roots of Pceonia officinalis, when fresh, have 
a stio ig and nauseous smell, which they partly lose 
when dried. Among the ancients they were highly 
praised as most powerful antispasmodics, and as one of 
the most efficacious remedies against epilepsy, convul¬ 
sion, and hysteria; but they are now totally disregarded 
for medical properties. 
STUD HOUSE, HAMPTON COURT. 
I have so many subjects in hand just now, that I am 
forced to “give a turn” to each, without finishing any 
one of them, or taking time to gather my own impres¬ 
sions from the different quarters for a grand field-day. 
If “ some power the gift would give” me to show you 
the Stud House as others have seen it in the time of 
the Georges, I have sufficient nerve yet left me for the 
task: it is better as it is, however. It is now in the oc¬ 
cupation of a highland mhonar, or great lord, the 
Lord Chamberlain of Her Majesty’s Household, the 
Marquis of Breadalbane ; but they spell the subject of 
Lis title wrong in these latter days—it should be Braed- 
Albin, or Broad Scotland ; but no matter, the Scottish 
clans arc birds of a feather everywhere, and that com¬ 
pelled me to hurry off from Sbrubland Park the other 
day to keep an engagement at the Stud House, about 
matters of state affairs, of course. 1 never was there 
before. 
The “park” at Hampton Court was first laid out, 
like the garden, in the Dutch style, and there are still 
long avenues with double-planted rows of trees on each 
side, radiating off from the front ef the palace like 
a pair of tongs with more legs than a pair, with level 
green sward between them. A few scores of highland 
“ sturks,” alias Scotch bullocks, and some hundreds of 
fallow deer, graze here at ease and comfort, and shade 
and shelter themselves in the avenues. Half-way down, 
and in the centre, between two rows of these avenues, 
stands the Stud House establishment, within a ring fence, 
nearly of the ring shape, and comprising about a dozen 
or fifteen acres in the whole, five of which are occupied 
by the kitchen-garden ; the rest are not what they once 
were, or are likely to be again. 
During the last two reigns, the trees, shrubs, and 
other things here were allowed to grow more after the 
“ natural system ” than by the rules and stint of gar¬ 
deners ; and this “ natural order ” of things extended 
beyond fifteen years of the present reign, or until my 
Lord Breadalbane came into possession, in virtue of Lis 
high office, down at Taymouth Castle and up above the 
household. Before bis Lordship’s day the Master of the 
Hoi - se had this house and grounds with his office from 
the government of the day, who very probably paid a 
good round sum for keeping the gardens on the natural 
system ; but they have been proving a very different 
system at Kew ever since 1840, which turns out so well 
already, that the Marquis of Breadalbane takes a leaf 
out of their books there, and hands it over to Mr. Veitch, 
who, in his turn, puts it into the hands of Mr. Kidd, 
formerly gardener to the late Colonial Secretary, Sir W. 
Molesworth. Mr. Kidd is well known among his fellows 
as a first-class man, and from among them all I never 
heard a breath against him farther than that he never 
would marry; but I can testify, from what I saw here, 
that he has enough before him for the next two years to 
think of nothing else. 
As long, however, as a place is going under revision, 
it is a point of honour among gardeners not to say 
much about it. Mr. Kidd has had more experience of 
that kind of work which is needed hero than most of us 
who are old enough to be his father, tie is the only 
man in the kingdom who has ever grown the Fuchsia 
spectabilis above ten feet high, and flowered it equally 
well; while exhibition men could hardly keep a leaf on 
it, and uever brought it up in their collections. He is, 
also, the only man who has surprised the writer for the 
last twenty years. 1 have seen many wonderful sights 
in the time.it is true; but I thought I could never be 
taken by surprise in the gardening way; yet such is the 
case, most certainly and unreservedly. For the first 
time in my experience I began to have misgivings 
about people believing my report; but after a good deal 
