liquor. We are told by Linnæus that the Swedes prepare a beer from them, which they consider very efficacious in scorbutic cases; and that for the same purpose the Laplanders drink an infusion of them, as we do tea or coffee. Juniper wine is sometimes made, and is said to be a very wholesome one. Who would suppose that the word Gin has most likely a common origin with a female name famous in poetry and romance-Ginevra, or Gineura? The Italian word for Juniper is Ginebro, or Ginepro, which, by an alteration common to the South, becomes Ginevro. The French word is Genevre, corrupted into our word Geneva. The name of Ariosto's favourite lady was Gineura, which gave him occasion to immortalize the Juniper-tree, as Petrarch did the laurel. He says, in one of his sonnets, that with the leave of Apollo and Bacchus he will be crowned with Juniper, and not with the bay or the ivy: Quell' arboscel, che in le solinghe rive A l'aria spiega i rami orridi ed irti, E se benigno influsso di pianeta, Lunghe vigilie, od amorosi sproni, Ma che un Ginebro sia che mi coroni." ARIOSTO, SONN. 7. "The shrub that on solitary shores spreads to the air its dark and bristled branches, outscenting pines, and firs, and myrtles; still green in summer's heat, and winter's cold; bears the name of her who precribes terms and laws to my troubled soul: laws that I will not be turned from following, either by rocks, or whirlpools; either in the wintry season, or the summer. And if the benign influences of the planet, long watchings, or amorous zeal, are to conduct me to that height of honour, I will not (Phoebus and Bacchus pardon me) that their leaves should declare me for a poet, but that a Juniper should crown my brow." Tasso, in his miscellaneous poems, has two sonnets to a similar purpose. Before the use of carpets in Europe, the richest people used to strew their apartments with dried leaves and rushes. Queen Elizabeth walked on no better floor. The gentlemen and ladies in Boccaccio are luxurious enough to walk on flowers of Juniper. "This jocund company," says an old translation," having received licence from their queen to disport themselves, the gentlemen walked with the ladies into a goodly garden, making chaplets and nosegays of divers flowers, and singing silently to themselves. When they had spent the time limited by the queen, they returned into the house, where they found that Parmeno had effectually executed his office; for when they entered into the hall, they saw the tables covered with delicate white napery, and the glasses looking like silver, they were so transparently clear;-all the room besides strewed with flowers of Juniper." As the passage has to do with gardens and flowers, and is a very elegant one besides, the reader will not object to a quotation of the whole of it: "When the queen and all the rest had washed, according as Parmeno gave order, so every one was seated at the table: the viands, delicately dressed, were served in, and excellent wines plentifully delivered: none attending but the three servants, and little or no loud tabletalk passing among them. Dinner being ended, and the table withdrawn, all the ladies, and the gentlemen likewise, being skilful both in singing and dancing, and playing on instruments artificially, the queen commanded that divers instruments should be brought; and as she gave charge, Dioneus took a lute, and Fiametta a viol-de-gamba, and began to play an excellent dance: whereupon the queen, with the rest of the ladies, and the other two young gentle-men (having sent their attending servants to dinner), paced forth a dance very majestically, and when the dance was ended, sung sundry excellent canzonets, outwearing so the time until Parmeno commanded them all to rest, because the hour did necessarily require it. The gentlemen having their chambers severed from the ladies, curiously strewed with flowers, and their beds adorned in exquisite manner, as those of the ladies were not a jot inferior to them. The silence of the night bestowed sweet rest on them all. In the morning, the queen and all the rest being risen, accounting overmuch sleep to be very hurtful, they walked abroad into a goodly meadow, where the grass grew verdantly, and the beams of the sun heated not over violently, because the shades of fair-spreading trees gave a temperate calmness, cool and gentle winds fanning their sweet breath pleasingly among them." The company then sit down, and the celebrated novels commence. It is still a common custom in Sweden to strew the floors with sprigs of Juniper *. KALMIA. RHODORACEE. DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. So named by Linnæus in honour of Peter Kalm, professor at Abo in Sweden. THE Kalmias are handsome shrubs, bearing flowers in clusters, of a rose or peach colour. The Broad-leaved species grows much higher than the others: they must be * See Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. obtained from a nursery, and will require to be watered pretty liberally. They are natives of North America. LARKSPU R. DELPHINIUM. RANUNCULACEA. FOLYANDRIA TRIGYNIA. The Latin name was given to this plant from an idea that the buds had some resemblance to a dolphin.-French, Dauphinelle; piedd'alouette; l'eperon de chevalier [knight's spur]; la consoude royale [royal comfrey]; l'herbe Saint Othilie.-Italian, speronella [little spur]; sperone di cavaliere; consolida reale; fior regio [king flower.] -English, larkspur; lark's-claws; lark's-heel; lark's-toe, on account of the spur-shaped nectary at the back of the flower. THE Branching or Wild Larkspur grows naturally in many parts of Europe: it varies in colour. From the flowers, when blue, a good ink has been made, with the addition of a little alum. All the Larkspurs are hardy, and may be easily raised from seed; but as the perennial kinds do not flower the first year, it is better to procure them from a nursery. The annual kinds, by sowing in succession in September, October, March, and April, may be had in blossom from the beginning of June to the end of September: one seed in a pot of at least six inches. They do not well bear transplanting. ་ Those sown in the autumn will produce the strongest flowers. They should stand abroad, and in dry summer weather be watered a little every evening; but water must be given sparingly in the winter. Linnæus and some others are of opinion that the Larkspur is the hyacinth of the poets; but this opinion is considered as unfounded. Professor Martyn has determined the Martagon lily to be the ancient hyacinth, and the learned Heyne coincides with him. (See Hyacinth.) LAUREL. PRUNUS LAURO-CERASUS. ROSACEA. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. French, le laurier-cerise.—Italian, lauro regio; lauro di Trebisonda. THE Laurel, which has been frequently confounded with the Laurus Nobilis, or Sweet Bay, does not even belong to the same genus. Among the species of Laurus are many valuable trees, as the camphor, sassafras, cassia, cinnamon, &c.; but the common Laurel is not one of that family. This Laurel was formerly called the Cherry-Bay, or Bay-Cherry, and was preserved in green-houses in the winter. The only protection against the climate now afforded it is in planting it in a warm aspect, or against a warm wall, to preserve it from frost. In warm countries, the Laurel will grow to a great size; so that in some parts of Italy there are large woods of them. Where they are numerous, and near together, they defend each other, and are not liable to injury by frost but when in pots, the roots should be covered with a little straw in severe winters. In dry winter weather, when not frosty, it may be watered once a week ; in the summer, every evening when there is no rain. : The Portugal is much hardier than the common Laurel. They may be increased by cuttings of the same year's shoots, which should be planted in September. If a small part of the former year's wood be left at the bottom, they will root faster. They should be planted five or six inches deep, in a soft, loamy earth, and the earth pressed close to them. Evelyn says, that if the Lauro-cerasus, or Cherry-laurel, were not always suffered to run so low and shrubby, it |