The Tunguses use it to dye the hair of the rein-deer; and the women, in some parts of Siberia, wash themselves, and even their linen with it, as it is found to be of a saponaceous quality. It is now calculated that the Highlands of Scotland will in the next age be able to furnish the whole commerce of the island with timber for its shipping; and it is still to be regretted that so much barren land should be suffered to remain unplanted with this and other timber as we find in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire; all of which being connected with some dock-yard, ought not to lie useless to the community when the soil could be so advantageously employed. Plantations that are formed exclusively of larch destroy the heath and all other vegetation; but, after a few years, a fine grass springs up, that is so valuable for grazing, that it has been let from ten shillings to five pounds per acre for this purpose, which, previous to its being planted, would not bring as many pence. Sir John Hay, Bart., and the Duke of Atholl, have had extraordinary instances of this advantage; but it is observed, that when Scotch firs, or other trees, are mixed in the plantations, this benefit is not derived. COMMON LAUREL.-PRUNUS LAUROCERASUS. Natural order, Pomacea; Rosacea, Juss. A genus of the Icosandria Monogynia class. "In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay green ! THIS eastern evergreen, which exhibits its large glossy leaves in all our shrubberies, and contributes so considerably to the vernal appearance of our winter walks, seems to have escaped the notice of the ancient Greek and Roman naturalists, although it is a native of the same latitude and longitude from whence Lucullus procured the cherry-tree, which was thought worthy to be placed in the most conspicuous situation amongst the Armenian treasures which he exhibited in his triumphal entry into Rome. The common laurel came into Europe with the name of Trebezon curmasi, which means the plum or date of Trebisond; and as its leaf something resembled the ancient laurus or bay, it was supposed to be a species of that plant; and as the fruit bears resemblance to our small black cherry, it was called the Bay cherry, and Laurocerasus, Laurel cherry. As it now seldom has any name added to that of laurel, many persons mistake this shrub for the laurel so celebrated of old for crowning both the victor and the poet; and this error is more frequent, from our having changed the name of the laurus into bay. The common laurel was first made known to this part of the world by His Excellency David Ungnad, who, whilst ambassador from the Emperor of Germany at Constantinople, sent, in the year 1576, a collection of rare shrubs and trees to Clusius, the celebrated botanist, at Vienna; but owing to the severity of the weather whilst on their journey, and the carelessness of those who brought them, they all perished, excepting the horse-chesnut and the laurel, and Clusius relates that the latter was almost dead when it arrived. He put it into a stove in the same state as it arrived, and in the same tub of earth. The following spring he took it out, cut off the dead and withered branches, and set it in a shady place. In the autumn it began to shoot from the root; and he then removed the living part into another tub, and attended it with great care. As it advanced he laid down the branches which took root, and he distributed the plants amongst his friends and men of eminence. Thus the laurel became known throughout Europe. Clusius's plant died without flowering; but another which he gave to Aicholtz flowered in May 1583; and also another a few years afterwards with Joachim Camerarius at Nuremberg. * The laurel is not mentioned by Gerard in 1597, and we may therefore conclude that it was not then known in England. Parkinson says, in his " Garden of Pleasant Flowers," which was published in 1629, that it grew in the garden of Master James Cole at Highgate, where it had blossomed and ripened fruit, and that it was preserved by throwing a blanket over it every winter. Cole was a merchant in London, who appears to have bestowed much pains and expense in collecting rare plants. Gerard calls him his "loving friend," on which account we conclude he had not received the laurel when he published his Herbal; yet we find that Cole, as well as Gerard, was in friendly correspondence with *Clus. Hist. Clusius, and we cannot well account for the length of intervening time before they received plants of the laurel. Clusius died in April 1609; and, as Parkinson says, in 1629, Cole's laurel had then "flowered divers times, and borne ripe fruit also," he must have received it early in the seventeenth century. Parkinson tells us, that he had procured the laurel from Master Cole, and that he had also received its seed from Italy, under the title of Laurus regia, the " King's bay;" but it having no affinity with the bay, Bellonius named it Laurocerasus," and I should," says Parkinson," have placed it in my orchard amongst the sorts of cherries; but the beautifulnesse of the plant caused me rather to insert it here, in the Garden of Pleasant Flowers." Evelyn says, that he was told by a noble personage, that the laurel was first brought to England by the Countess of Arundel, wife to Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surry, to whom this country is indebted for the Arundelian Marbles. In referring to the history of this ancient family, we find that the Countess of Arundel set out for Italy in 1614, for the purpose of accompanying her two sons to England. It is, therefore, probable that this evergreen |