A Poison- Plant • Odd coincidences occur. The, subject came
up one day last week of the poisdnous nature of the pyrethruth, which 'supplies the belt of insect destroyers:. Was the' garden hybrid pyrethrum also poisonous? On the following day a very interesting little pamphlet—a centenarY. advertise- ment of Staffor.l, Allen and Co.—reached me on the subject of drugs, scents and poisons, in which the garde a pyrethrum was acquitted. It is in general avoided by insects, but is not in the list of "plants that no bee sucks," and would be of no use for the arrows of Robert Bridges's Cupid. The British Empire is peculiarly self-sufficient in healing plants ; perhaps even England is if we used them properly. Though it has no poetic merit to warrant comparison with Kipling's Excellent Herbs Had Our Fathers of Old, there is a certain merit in the doggerel:
" English herbs, African fruits, Australian gums, Indian roots, Canadian beaver, New Zealand whale, All contribute to this Empire tale."
At any rate, English herbs are rightly given pride of place.
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