247 
TIIE COTTAGE GARDEN EE AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 20, 1858. 
it will continue to ascend, seems impossible to say. 
Certainly the tree is in excellent health, and though 
well and regularly clothed all the way up with branches, 
it is not unwieldy, the habit being more sprightly 
and tapering than dense. This fine tree is about being 
removed some miles, and it is to be hoped it will 
flourish as well in its new abode as in its present one. 
Araucaria Cunninghamii. — About fifteen feet 
high. This slow-growing plant is seldom seen in a 
healthy condition. This one, however, looks pretty 
well; still, at the best, it is not at home, out of doors, 
anywhere in this country. I believe it is sometimes 
called Cunninghamia lanceolata. 
In mentioning the above, it is proper to describe the 
situation they are growing in, as well as the soil. The 
latter is, certainly, not the one to look at, that would 
invite farmers, in many districts, as being likely to be a 
fertile one. A pale-coloured, fine, sandy loam, resting 
on sandstone, and containing more moisture in its 
composition than most soils. In fact, it was this abund¬ 
ance of moisture that caused the plants to grow so well, 
especially the Picea section, and also Abies Pouglasii ; 
while, on the other hand, the Deodars were not re¬ 
markable, and the Cedars of Lebanon were not quite at 
home; and, as a proof that any situation does not suit 
all kinds alike, I may remark, that, at the place I write 
from, there are Deodars much more healthy and 
vigorous than any I saw at Bruschley; some other 
i species, also, seem to thrive quite as well with us, yet 
we cannot compete with them in the Picea section, and 
the noble Douglas Pine. There may also be a some- 
] thing in the situations which it will be difficult to ac¬ 
count for, as in altitude we must be pretty near equal; 
but several plants seemed to stand the winter, at 
! Bruschley, that I have not noticed to do so well else¬ 
where. Finns excelsa seemed to thrive as well as any, 
and even the Mexican Spruce, P. Montezuma, did not 
look as if it had ever suffered from the cold ; but 
' Picea Webbiana, one of the most handsome of the 
Silver Firs, occasionally looses its leader, as it does 
elsewhere. 
I cannot close these remarks, without a notice of a 
fine specimen of the double white Camellia, which 
has been growing out of doors there for many years. 
In the catalogue it was described as twelve feet high, 
the same in width, and 3000 bloom-buds upon it. 
Whether all these points be exactly correct, or not, it 
is not necessary here to say ; but it would be difficult to 
imagine a finer plant anywhere : it is compact and dense 
in foliage, and every tip set with a cluster of from four 
to eight or ten buds, the most forward of which was 
on the point of bursting. This fine plant, I was told, 
had braved upwards of thirty winters unprotected, and 
| looked as if it might survive several centuries where 
| it then was. It was growing on a lawn, apart from 
any other plants ; but other detached shrubs, scattered 
about, might protect it a little. I have seen healthy 
! plants of Camellias—against walls, and now and then 
one partially so—in the open ground, but this is 
I certainly the finest I ever saw anywhere. The situation, 
it is necessary to say, was a slightly elevated one. The 
surrounding country partaking of that undulating 
character so often met with. Oaks and some other 
trees thrive well, while Apple and other fruit trees 
| were hopelessly covered with moss, which was said to 
be owing to the superabundant moisture. 
To the tourist, who may happen to visit the rural 
I village of Bruschley, the clipped Yews in the church¬ 
yard will be interesting. These are arranged in pairs, 
by the side of the principal entrance, and are all alike 
in shape and height, the latter being about 30 feet or 
more, the stem of the trees being naked for six or 
eight feet from the ground, when the heads spread 
out uniformly all around, and are clipped with mathe¬ 
matical precision into a conical shape, the largest 
diameter being, I should think, about eight feet; but 
so repeated has been this clipping, that it looks as if 
a small bird could not find its way inside anywhere. 
Altogether, I should say they are unrivalled for sym¬ 
metry ; there are five or six pairs of these venerable 
monitors of the living as well as sentinels of the dead. 
How long they may have occupied their present position 
might, no doubt, be easily learned; but no one can 
say how long they may continue there. If one may 
judge by their healthy appearance, many generations 
of human beings may pass them, in health and in 
death, ere these worthy occupiers of such sacred 
ground bow to the wise decrees of a never-erring Pro¬ 
vidence. J. Robson. 
DANDELION COFFEE. 
Every remark as to the comeatable uses of weeds, or 
common horticultural produce, must be very useful, when 
put into such language as can convey, without much trouble 
or thought, the mode and practice of a beneficial result. 
I the more readily put pen to paper on a remedial subject, 
seeing that others, in your last number, have not thought it 
out of place to discuss these matters in that periodical. 
Gardeners, in general, are wedded to certain vegetables as 
salubrificators. Some rank the Cresses as great anti¬ 
scorbutics; others the Onion tribe, as purifiers and anti- 
spasmodics; and many the Lettuce, as expectorant and 
narcotic. All gardeners—from exposure to the sun especially, 
and vicissitudes of the seasons and climate, or artificial 
temperatures—suffer either from rheumatic pains, the con¬ 
sequence of impeded perspiration, or stomach and hepatic, or 
renal affections; butl am not going to write anything about 
medical matters, further than to observe, that my old friend 
next door has great faith in Dandelion ( Taraxacum ) root, 
as a panacea for liver complaints in general; and, as his 
mode of preparation is worth noticing, I give it to your 
readers. 
You know all about digging it; doit now, and cut the 
roots into small pieces about the size of horse-beans. Put 
them to dry in an oven, or on a stove; they will shrink to 
the size of a coffee berry. When a cup of coffee is wanted, 
just substitute the dried pieces of Dandelion root for chicory, 
in the mill,—say a fourth part; grind it together with the 
coffee, and no one living can detect it.—W. H. 
[In support of our correspondent, we quote the following 
from Mr. Hogg’s “Vegetable Kingdom”: — “The Dan¬ 
delion (Taraxacum Pens Leonis ), if blanched and eaten 
young, makes an excellent salad. It is sufficiently abundant, 
and we are sometimes surprised it is not more used than it 
is, considering the valuable properties it possesses. When 
the leaves have attained maturity, they are considered me¬ 
dicinal, and serve the purpose of tonics. But it is in the 
root that the greatest virtue resides. When dried, the root 
has a somewhat sweet, mucilaginous, and bitter taste. The 
milky juice was found, on analysis, to contain bitter ex¬ 
tractive, gum, caoutchouc, saline matter, a trace ot resin, ] 
and a free acid, starch or inulin, and saccharine matter. 
Mannite is found in the infusion, but does not exist in the | 
root, and is formed by spontaneous changes, consequent on 
exposure. A peculiar crystallizable principle was discovered 
in the juice by M. Pollex, which he called taraxacin. It is 
bitter and somewhat acrid, fusible, but not volatile, spa¬ 
ringly soluble-in cold water, but very soluble in boiling 
water, alcohol, and ether. It is now regarded as’slightly 
tonic, diuretic, and aperient, and also as having a specific 
action on the liver, exciting it, when languid, to secretion, 
and resolving its chronic engorgements. In congestion and 
chronic inflammation of the liver and spleen, in cases of 
suspended or deficient biliary secretion, and in dropsical 
affections dependent on obstruction of the abdominal viscera, 
it has a marked effect, if employed with a due regard to the 
degree of excitement. When roasted and ground, it makes 
an excellent substitute for coffee; and on one occasion, ■ 
when locusts had devoured the harvest in the island of ; 
Minorca, the inhabitants subsisted on this root. The extract j 
of the root is said to act with effect in diseases of the liver j 
