The leaves of the Common Tutsan were formerly applied to fresh wounds, whence it obtained the French name, la toute-saine, and our name, Tutsan. It is a native of this country, and most other parts of Europe.

The Perforated Hypericum, or St. John's Wort,-in French, le millepertius [the many-pierced]; l'herbe de St. Jean; le trucheran; le trescalan jaune: in Italian, pilatro; iperico; perforata-is common in woods, hedges, &c. in almost every part of Europe. The specific name, Perforated, refers to the leaves, which, if held up to the light, will be found to be pierced all over with a number of very minute holes.

"Hypericon was there, the herb of war,

Pierced through with wounds, and seam'd with many a scar." On account of its balsamic qualities, it is useful in medicine: an infusion of it is made in the manner of tea: and an infusion of the flowers and young tops, in oil, is used externally in wounds, &c. The flowers tinge spirits and oils with a fine purple colour; and the dried plant boiled with alum dyes wool yellow.

Mistaking the meaning of some of the medical writers, who, from a supposition of its utility in hypochondriacal disorders, have given it the fanciful name of fuga dæmonum [devil's flight], the common people in France and Germany gather it with great ceremony on St. John'sday, and hang it in their windows as a charm against storms, thunder, and evil spirits. In Scotland, also, it is carried about as a charm against witchcraft and enchantment: and they fancy it cures ropy milk, which they suppose to be under some malignant influence. Pennant says, that in Wales it is customary to stick sprigs of St. John's Wort over every door on the eve of St. John's day; and Stow, in his Survey of London, tells us that, " on the vigil of St.

John the Baptist, every man's door being shadowed with green birch, long fennel, St. John's Wort, orpine, white lilies, and such like, garnished upon with garlands of beautiful flowers, had also lamps of glass with oil burning in them all the night*."

In Lower Saxony, the peasant girls, on the eve of St. John, hang sprigs of this plant against their bed's head, or the walls of their chamber: if it remains fresh on the fol

lowing morning, they are persuaded they will be married within a year; but if, on the contrary, it droops and fades, they have no hope of marriage within that time. Mr. Drummond, in his First Steps to Botany, quotes some interesting lines on this subject, translated from the German :

"The young maid stole through the cottage-door,

And blush'd as she sought the plant of power;

Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light!

I must gather the mystic St. John's-wort to-night,
The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide
If the coming year will make me a bride.'

And the glow-worm came

With its silvery flame,

And sparkled and shone

Through the night of St. John,

And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied.
With noiseless tread

To her chamber she sped,

Where the spectral moon her white beams shed:
"Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power!'
But it drooped its head, that plant of power,
And died the mute death of the voiceless flower,
And a withered wreath on the ground it lay,
More fit for a burial than bridal day.

And the glow-worm came

With its silvery flame,

And sparkled and shone

Through the night of St. John,

As they closed the cold grave o'er the maid's cold clay."

There may formerly have been a similar custom in England, or it may be to the custom of Saxony that Harte alludes, where enumerating certain flowers, he adds

"And that which on the Baptist's vigil sends

To nymphs and swains the vision of their friends."

As the flowers, rubbed between the fingers, yield a red juice, it has also obtained the name of sanguis hominis [human blood] among fanciful medical writers.

Cowper speaks of the Hypericum as remarkably full of blossom: the species vary in this particular:

"Hypericum all bloom, so thick a swarm

Of flowers, like flies clothing her slender rods,
That scarce a leaf appears."

INDIAN CORN.

ZEA.

GRAMINEE.

MONOECIA TRIANDRIA.

Called also Maize; Turkey Corn.-French, le mais; mayz; blé de Turquie; blé d'Espagne [Spanish corn]; blé de Guinée [Guinea corn]; blé d'Inde [Indian corn]; gros millet des Indes [great Indian millet].-Italian, gran Turco, furmento Turco [Turkey wheat]; formentone; grano d'India; meliga.

THIS corn should be sown early in April, in large deep pots. It may be sown, at first, several in one pot, and afterwards removed; transplanting them into separate pots about the end of May. It will not grow so high in a pot as in the open ground, but is worth raising in this manner for the sake of its long elegant leaves. It should stand in the open air, and, in dry weather, be watered every even

ing. If there be convenient room for it in-doors, the seed may be sown a month earlier, and kept under cover till the beginning or middle of April. The plant will decay in the autumn.

This corn is in many places made into bread for the poor people; according to Kay, this custom prevails in Padua ; or, at least, did an hundred and fifty years since.

Mr. Southey tells us, that in Brazil a spirituous liquor is prepared from it*. Koster says, that "boiled maize is a common breakfast for the slaves of the cotton districts; the dish resembles thick pease-soup, and is far from being unpalatable, if sugar or treacle is added. It is called ango de milho (milho is their name for maize) +."

INDIAN PINK.

DIANTHUS CHINENSIS.

Called also China Pink.-French, l'œillet de la Chine.

THE Indian Pink is generally considered as an annual plant, and therefore the roots are not often preserved; but, if they are planted in a dry soil, they will often produce finer flowers the second year than the first, and in greater number. It is a very ornamental plant, from the various and beautiful colours of its blossoms. It may be sown early in April; if in a pot six inches wide, only one; but they look better sown in a box, many together, about six inches apart. They may stand abroad: in dry weather they should be watered three times a week. They will flower from July till the approach of frost; if they are then cut down, the root will generally put out new stalks,. and flower well the next year.

* Southey's Brazil, vol. iii. p. 255.
+ Koster's ditto, vol. ii. p. 189.

IPOMOEA.

CONVOLVULACEÆ.

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

This genus is very nearly allied to the Convolvulus, and the name is derived from Greek words, expressive of its similarity to that flower.

THE Ipomoea is very beautiful, but unfortunately very tender, being chiefly Indian. One species in particular would be desirable. The Ipomoea Quamoclit-in French, Jasmin rouge de l'Inde [Red Indian Jasmine]; Fleur de Cardinal [Cardinal-flower].-Italian, Quamoclito which is the most beautiful of them all, in colour and in form, in leaf and in flower. "It is a beautiful climber," says Sir W. Jones; "its blossoms are remarkably elegant, and of a rosy red." It has the scent of cloves. It is called by the Indians, Camalata, or Love's-creeper.

There are two kinds which may be procured at a nursery, and preserved through the summer in an inhabited room: the Coccinea, or Scarlet-flowered Ipomoea, and the Nightshade-leaved, the blossoms of which are of a pale rose colour. The earth must be kept moderately moist, but water must be given but in small quantities at one time. The plant will require support.

There is a species of the Ipomoea, which, from one root, may be carried over an arbour three hundred feet in length; it is a perennial species, and is called in Jamaica, the Seven-year-vine, or Spanish Arbour-vine.

"The Camalata," says Sir W. Jones, "is the most lovely of its order, both in the colour and form of its flowers; its elegant blossoms are celestial rosy red, Love's proper hue,' and have justly procured it the name of Camalata, or Love's-creeper. Camalata may also mean a mythological plant, by which all desires are granted to such as inherit the heaven of India; and if ever flower was worthy of Paradise, it is our charming Ipomoea."