362 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 11, i860. 
attempts to do so have failed. I am informed that there is a variety 
with bright red flowers. I received a few seeds from near Dublin, 
but they did not germinate. 
Another flower of my childhood, the Evergreen Candytuft 
(Iberis sempervirens), is often seen in old gardens much more so 
than in bedding gardens, although it is sometimes used to ad¬ 
vantage there. It is a plant that will grow and flower in the 
same situation for a lifetime. Old plants are sometimes allowed 
to grow to a large size, and when in flower are like a sheet of 
snow. If it overgrows the bounds assigned to it, it may be 
easily cut in, and will bear it almost as well as Box-edging. 
The above two plants ought to be in every garden ; and I have 
no dotibt, if properly taken care of, will give satisfaction.— 
Rustic Robin. 
ABOUT THE DANDELION. 
This very common plant that adorns our grass plats and 
pasture-grounds with its bright, golden-coloured flowers from 
the first opening of spring until late in September, grows spon¬ 
taneously in the four quarters of the globe—from near the poles 
to beneath the equator; on the margin of rivers and streams, as 
well as on sterile rocks ; has various qualities that are seldom met 
together in any description, if ever heretofore combined in one, 
I shall not stop to describe this very common and well-known 
plant. Dr. Gray, in his late “ Manual of Botany,” reverses the 
old name, “ Leontodon taraxacum ,” no doubt for sufficient 
reason, to that of Taraxacum dens-leonis. 
Our common English name, “ Dandelion,” is a corruption 
from the French name, “ Dent-de-leon,” which, like the German 
name, “ Lowenzahn ,” and the old Greek name, “ Leontodon ,” 
has its allusion, from the runcinately-toothed leaves, to the tooth 
or teeth of a lion. Another common English name is also after 
the French name, derived from its diuretic qualities. The other 
German names of “ Pfaffenrohrlein” and “ Dotterbluhmen,” are 
not so clear. Thus much as to its name. Next its properties. 
Medicinally. —The pharmacopoeias recognise only the root, 
as being by far the most efficacious. It should not be employed 
till full grown, when the aqueous juices have become milky and 
bitter, in the months of July to September, and either used fresh 
or when carefully dried. 
It yields its active qualities to water by boiling, and i3 used in 
the form of decoction, extract, or simple infusion. A crystallisable 
principle has been extracted from the juice of the root called 
taraxacin. It is bitter and somewhat acrid. The root is slightly 
tonic, diuretic, and aperient, and seems to have a specific action 
upon the liver, exciting it when languid to secretion, and resolv¬ 
ing its chronic engorgments, and is a popular remedy with many 
practitioners, in this country, and in Germany particularly, in 
derangements of the hepatic apparatus, and of the digestive 
organs generally. Bi-tartrate of potassa added to the decoction 
improves its aperient effect, and aromatics correct a tendency to 
griping or flatulence. This is a brief statement of its leading 
medical qualities. Then as a 
Culinary. —The tender leaves in spring, used in compound 
salads, are equal to those of Endive or Succory. The fusiform 
roots are eaten raw as salad by the French, and boiled by the 
Germans like Salsafy or Scorzonera. Dried and ground into 
powder, they afforded a substitute for Coffee, in all respects equal 
to that of Chicory root. As a 
Weed, it ia difficult to extirpate, because every inch of root, 
according to Loudon, will form buds and fibres, and thus con¬ 
stitute a new plant; besides, myriads of seeds are annually 
wafted over the country by means of the pappus, making the 
plant more abundant than welcome to the farmers. As 
Fodder, swine are fond of it, and goats will eat it, but sheep 
and cows dislike it, and by horses it is refused. By way of con¬ 
clusion, we will notice it as the 
Rustic Oracle, as it is called in the “ language of flowers.” 
After blossoming the inner involucre closes, the slender beak of 
the seeds elongates and raises up the pappus while the fruit is 
forming, the whole involucre became reflexed, displaying the 
pappus in a globular head round the central disk, forming what 
are termed “ puff-balls.” Who is there that has not delighted 
in youth to scatter these feathered seeds by a puff of the breath, 
to see them carried off like miniature parachutes, and sailing over 
the green sward or meadow, thus wantonly, perhaps, aiding their 
distribution ? A custom prevailed among rustic swains, when 
separated from the objects of their love, to carefully pluck one of 
those feathered spheres, charge each of the little feathers com¬ 
posing it with a tender thought, turn towards the ‘abode of the 
loved one, blow, and the little aerial travellers were bidden faith¬ 
fully to convey the secret message to his or her feet. Did they 
desire to know whether the dear one thought of them, they would 
blow again, and if a single feathered seed remained, it was a proof 
they were not forgotten. 
But enough of this. I will only add, that the Dandelion 
attracted very early attention. Friends Howitt speak of it as 
Dandelion, with globe of down. 
The schoolboy’s clock, in every town, 
Which the truant puffs amain. 
To conjure lost hours back again. 
J. Stauffer, in Horticulturist .— (The Prairie Farmer.) 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Catalogue of Fresh Imported Bulbous Flower Boots, Sfc., fie. 
Sutton and Sons, Beading. — In this catalogue are included, 
besides the usual kinds of Dutch Flower Roots, good collections 
of Gladiolus, select Geraniums, Trees, Shrubs, and Plants, and 
Choice Garden Seeds. 
Autumn Catalogue of Butch, Cape, and other Flowering Bulbs, 
by Hooper Sf Co., Covent Garden. —This is an excellent catalogue 
extending to forty pages, and contains a great deal of useful in¬ 
formation on the subjects enumerated. The articles on cultiva¬ 
tion are well written. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Light and Dark Fuchsias (Dublin ).—The best selection of Fuchsias 
that we know of without going to fancy prices is in the “ Illustrated 
Bouquet;” and we con verify their character from our own knowledge of 
all of them. Best 12 light Fuchsias ■.—Mrs. Story. Countess of Burlington, 
Queen Victoria, Queen of Hanover, Fair Diana, Royal Victoria, England's 
Glory, Clio, Silver Swan, Fairest of the Fair, Maid of Kent, and Duchess 
of Lancaster ; but add Venus de Medici, a lilac kind. Best 12 dark 
Fuchsias :—Prince Albert, Souvenir de Chiswick, Prince of Wales, Won¬ 
derful, Catherine Hayes, Charlemagne, Ponna Joaquin a, Tr istram Shandy, 
Etoile du Nord, Emperor Napoleon, Hendersonii, Pilot, and Malakoff. 
Cuttings op Pinks, &c. (N. B .).—We have not spare space just now 
to answer your queries fully. If you will send five postage stamps with 
your directions, and order “ Florists’ Flowers for the Many,” you will 
have the information you ask for, and much more. 
Moving Asparagus (A. Loftus ).—We recommend you to plant fresh 
beds next spring with three-year-oid plants, and to let one or more of your 
old plants remain for two years to supply your table until the new beds 
come into production. Under similar circumstances we knew four old 
beds, half of each of which were cut away, and the shrubs there planted 
hid the halves allowed to remain. These remaining halves, being more 
regularly soaked than before with liquid manure, yielded as much Asparagus 
as the four entire beds did before. 
Crystal Pat.acf. Scarlet Geranium (TF. P. Maddison ).—No one will 
he able to identify the Crystal Palace. Scarlet by a cut specimen, even if he 
had it fresh gathered ; because many more of the same breed are about, 
and come so near to each other, that the best judge of them would need to 
see a bed or row of each growing together to he able to decide. It is more 
by the effect than any outward mark that this kind took the lead of the 
fashion. 
Books—Late Grapes (J. IT .),—You ought to find a definition of all the 
terms in “ Findley’s Elements of Botany,” if you have the last edition, 
which is much more full than the first. We cannot recommend you any¬ 
thing better. What you do not find there can be got from any Latin 
Dictionary. Two good Grapes for hanging are, Black Prince and Lady 
Downe's Seedling. 
POULTRY AND BEE-KEEPER’S CHRONICLE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
September 19th, 20th, and 21st. Portsmouth. Hon. Sec., Mr. E. Clarke, 
26, Wish Street, Southsea, Hants. Entries close August 11, 
September 25th. Bridgnorth. Sec., Mr. Richard Taylor, Bridgnorth. 
October 4th. Middleton Agricultural. Sec., Mr. T. Mills. Entries 
close September 27th. 
October 9th, 10th, and 11th. Worcester. Hon. Sec., Mr. G. Griffiths. 
December 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. Birmingham. Sec., Mr. John B. Lythall, 
Offices, Unity BuildiDgs, Temple Street, Birmingham. Entries close 
November 1. 
N.B .—Secretaries will oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
“WHAT WOULD LIFE BE WITHOUT A 
GRIEVANCE ?” 
That is a charming paper in the “Spectator” which re¬ 
presents mankind as dissatisfied, because every man believed he 
had the heaviest burden and the most intolerable affliction to- 
bear. It serves our purpose only thus far, and, therefore, we 
