hardships of transplanting, it very rapidly ac- 
quires both height and breadth. It thrives under 
the shade and drip of larger trees, in situations 
where few other ornamental shrubs will grow, 
and therefore is eminently adapted for the fore- 
grounds of ornamental plantations. But in ex- 
posed districts, it requires protection from north 
and north-east winds, in order to its either attain- 
ing a good size or possessing tolerable beauty.— 
The principal varieties of the common bay are 
the wave-leaved, Zaurus nobilis undulata, growing 
to the height of about 4 feet ; the willow-leaved, 
L. n. salicifolia, about 6 feet high ; the variegated 
leaved, LZ. n. variegata, about 20 feet high ; the 
curled-leaved, LZ. n. erispa, about 20 feet high ; 
the double-flowered, LZ. n. flore pleno, about 20 
feet high; and the broad-leaved, L. x. latifolia, a 
half-tender variety from China. 
The bay-tree may be propagated from either 
layers, cuttings, or berries. Stools ought to be spe- 
cially planted for layers; and in winter, after these 
have shot about a yard, the branches ought to be 
bent to the ground, slit in the joint, stripped of 
any leaves which occur toward their top, and 
pegged down into the soil. The layers will be 
fully rooted in a twelvemonth; and the young 
plants ought to be detached in spring, planted 
out in a nursery bed, and constantly watered 
during the continuance of dry weather. Cuttings 
should be taken off in April, planted in a moder- 
ate hot-bed, kept constantly moist by waterings, 
and sheltered from the sun in summer, and from 
frost in winter.—Berries intended for sowing, 
ought not to be gathered from the tree till about 
the end of January; and must be sown, either 
broadcast or in drills, about half an inch deep, in 
fine smooth mould. The young plants will appear 
toward the end of spring; they must be duly 
watered aud weeded during summer; and they 
ought, early in winter, to be protected by rows 
of furze bushes or branches stuck in between 
the drills. In the second spring, or after they 
have stood during two winters, the strongest 
may be transplanted into nursery beds. 
The leaves and the berries of the bay-tree have 
a sweet fragrant odour, and an aromatic, astrin- 
gent taste. They have carminative and narcotic 
properties ; they were formerly used in human 
pharmacy for coughs, hysteria, flatulent colic, 
and obstructed menstruation ; and they are still 
employed, in combination with other stimulants, 
as an external application for various complaints. 
A very minute proportion of prussic acid occurs 
in water distilled from the berries and the leaves ; 
and this most potent element not only gives the 
leaves their chief medicinal power, but also ren- 
ders them observably poisonous. Dr. A. T. Thom- 
son says,—“ Having found great advantage from 
the use of prussic acid, largely diluted, as a local 
application in impetigo, I have lately employed in- 
fusions of bay-berries, with nearly the same benefi- 
cial results.” An oil which is obtained by boiling 
the berries in water, possesses the same medicinal 
| 376 | BAY-TREE. | 
properties as the berries themselves, and is im- 
ported from the Straits. The simple expressed oil 
is insipid. Bay leaves are used in farriery only 
as an ingredient in fomentations. The leaves 
wrapped round the wedges of liquorice juice in 
commerce, to prevent them from adhering to one 
another, are dried bay-leaves. 
The Indian bay, Royal bay, or Portugal bay, 
Laurus Indica, grows wild in the Madeira and 
Canary Islands; and it was introduced thence at 
an early period into Portugal, and in 1665 into 
Great Britain. It has for centuries been so plen- 
tiful in Portugal, as to appear there like a native 
plant. In a genial climate it grows to the height 
of 30 or 40 feet; but in England, it requires 
to be grown in tubs or large pots, and to be 
treated as strictly a greenhouse plant. Its leaves 
are larger than those of the common bay, thick, 
smooth, lightish green, and standing on reddish 
footstalks ; its branches are regularly disposed on 
every side; its male flowers havea whitish green 
colour, and are produced in long bunches; and 
its berries are much larger than those of the 
common bay. 
The Carolina bay, Laurus Carolinensis, abounds 
in various parts of North America, but especially 
in Carolina, and is there called the red bay. In 
some situations near the sea, it rises to a con- 
siderable height with a straight stem, and is a 
somewhat important timber tree; but in inland 
districts, it grows to be only a large shrub. Its 
timber has a fine grain, and is in much esteem 
for cabinets. Its leaves are much larger than 
those of the common bay; their under side is a 
little woolly; their edges are a little reflexed; | 
and their veins run transversely from the midrib | 
to the edges. The male flowers have a yellowish 
green colour, and come out in long bunches from 
the wings of the leaves; and the female flowers are 
produced in loose bunches, and stand on red and | 
rather long footstalks. The berries are blue, and 
sitinred cups. This speciesis a greenhouse plant | 
in Great Britain. Two principal varieties of it 
are the obtuse and the pubescent,—odtusa and 
pubescens. 
The summer bay, Laurus estivalis, is a native 
of swampy places, and of the sides of brooks and 
rivers in Virginia. It isa tall deciduous shrub, and 
is sometimes called the deciduous bay; though 
six other species of the same genus are also 
deciduous. In arich moist soil, it grows to the 
height of about 16 feet; but in some soils of a 
different character, it attains scarcely one-half of 
that height. Its branches are smooth, purplish, 
and not numerous, and they look well during 
even their leafless season; its leaves are oval, 
spear-shaped, about two or three inches in length, 
smooth and green in their upper surface, rough 
and veined in their under surface, and placed in 
mutually opposite pairs along the branches ; and 
the flowers are small, white, inconspicuous, and 
are produced from the sides of the branches in 
May. 
