28 THE PLANT WORLD. 



Calamus draco, a slender-stemmed palm, found in Malaysia. The 

 fruit is about the size of a cherry, and is covered with imbricated red 

 scales, which are coated with the resinous gum. The fruits are vio- 

 lently shaken in a bag till the resin drops olT. It is used for varnish- 

 inof and staininof wood. A similar resin is obtained from Draco^na 

 draco, a tree growing on the west coast of Africa, and the Canary 

 Islands. A red, gummy substance collects at the bases of the leaves, 

 which after the leaves fall, is scraped off and made into hard lumps. 

 A famous tree of this species was thought to be the oldest in the world. 

 It grew in Teneritfe, 70 feet high, and 48 feet in circumference. It 

 was destroyed by a storm in 1867, and a piece of one of the branches 

 is preserved in the Kew xMuseum. 



Turpentine, resin, tar and pitch are products mostly of the coni- 

 fers, of pines, firs and hemlocks. Dammar resin comes from about 6 

 species of firs, growing in tropical regions. Damniara orientaUs grows 

 on high mountains of the Molucca Islands. The resin, at first thin and 

 viscous, hardens and is used in varnishing and dressing cloths. Dcun- 

 inara australls comes from New Zealand, from trees often 200 feet 

 high; IJ. vJfensis, found on the Fiji Islands, drops its resin so that 

 lumps of 50 pounds weight have been found under the trees. A tall 

 tree common on the lower Alps is the silver fir, [Ahles j)ectinata). The 

 turpentine collects in the higher parts of the tree, in bladder-like 

 blisters. Men climb the tree, puncture the bladders, catch the liquid, 

 which flows freely, in vessels, and descend with it to the purifying fires. 

 The best turpentine is American, the product of Finns australis, or 

 J\ pahistrls, only the last is a misnomer, for this tree does not grow 

 in swamps. It cjuickly occupies worn-out cotton fields. Canada pro- 

 duces an inferior turpentine from Abies halsamiea, which is used in 

 varnishes and for mounting microscopic objects. In our southern pine, 

 a pocket is cut in the tree, and left to fill. In al)Out 10 days, 3 pints 

 or so may be collected. The fluid is taken out, another cutting is made 

 and left to fill, and so on. One person can attend to the emptying of 

 4,000 pockets, and the yield of these in a single season will be 16 

 barrels of 320 pounds each. By distilling crude turpentine and water, 

 spirits of turpentine are obtained. The litiuids arrange themselves in 

 two layers, the spirits of turpentine uppermost. Rosin is the residuum 

 after distillation, when the volatile oil has evaporated. 



[To he continued.'] 



