PLANT JUICES AND THEIR COMMERCIAL VALUES. 189 



very fond of this, and settle themselves near the trees at the time of 

 the sap-flowing. It tastes m;ich like milk, and is nourishing. An 

 enterprising Englishman once imported 1,000 trees to England, hop- 

 ing to sell them for a guinea each and make a philanthropic small 

 fortune. They proved to be a different species of Brosiinuin which 

 produced little milk, and moreover would not bear transportation to 

 a colder climate. They could be grown only in hot-houses. They 

 could not be sold, and the investment proved a total failure. 



The cow-tree of Para, Miviusops data, growing 100 feet high, 

 gives out a milky juice, thick, tasting like rich cream. After being- 

 exposed to the air it hardens and forms a serviceable glue. 



The Dogbane family produces several such trees. Negroes of 

 Sierra Leone drink the milk from Ronpcllia gj'ata, a creeper, with 

 pretty pink and white blossoms. The fruit is a follicle, filled also with 

 a pleasant-tasting white juice. Another such tree of the same family 

 is Col/op/iora, called Cuma by the natives. It grows along the Rio 

 Negro, and is recognized by its handsome corymbs of red flowers, and 

 verticels in threes of leaves and branches. From the wounded bark a 

 rich milk flows, which the natives drink, putting their mouths to the 

 opening and drinking as from a cup. It is very pure, except that it 

 contains a little caoutchouc. A cow-tree of British Guiana possesses 

 similar properties and yields a good milk. 



The milky juice of many species, especially of Euphorbias, is 

 poisonous. A succulent, much-branched, nearly leafless tree of South 

 Africa is fatal to zebras. Whole herds have been killed by drinking 

 water in which branches from this tree had been placed. This is the 

 E. arbo7'ca. The Exccecaria agalloc/uii/i, a native of India of this fam- 

 ily, exudes a very acrid juice, said to cure leprosy. It is thus used in 

 the Fiji Islands. A man afflicted with this terrible disease is sus- 

 pended over a slow fire made from wood of this tree, his body first 

 having been rubbed with the leaves. The poisonous smoke wraps the 

 body of the wretched patient, and is breathed. ' The agony induced 

 by the treatment often renders the man unconscious, and not unfre- 

 cpently causes death. If he survives, his body is well scraped and 

 bathed, and it is said that cases of cure are on record. 



{To be conii'nued.) 



An apparently very distinct new birch from Alaska is described, 

 under the name of Betula Kenaica, in the June number of the 

 Botanical Gazette^ by Mr. W. H. Evans. It is a tree 30 to 50 feet 

 high and 12 to 18 inches in diameter. It is found on the Kenai 

 peninsula in the vicinity of Cook Inlet. 



