198 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
esteemed. When prepared for use, the nuts are cut into narrow pieces, 
and wrapped up with a small quantity of lime in the leaves of the betel 
pepper, (Chavica betel,) and chewed. The mastication of the betel is 
considered wholesome by those using it, stimulating the nervous system 
like tea, coffee, and tobacco. It stains the teeth and lips blaek, 
and produces a kind of intoxication when too freely indulged in, 
It is calculated that one hundred millions of people use this nut. It 
contains a large quantity of tannin, and is used for dyeing cotton and 
making ink, and a species of catechu, by boiling the nuts in water when 
the fruit is tender; the water becomes red, thick, and starch-like, and 
is afterward evaporated to a proper consistency. 
Cow tree.—This name is applied to Brosimum galactodendron, (Arcto- 
carpacee,) a tree attaining a height of 100 feet in the forests of Vene- 
zuela. Its milk, which is obtained by making incisions in the trunk, so 
closely resembles the milk of the cow, both in appearance and quality, 
that it is commonly used as an article of food by the inhabitants of the 
places where the tree is abundant. Unlike many other vegetable milky 
juices, it is perfectly wholesome and very nourishing, possessing an 
agreeable taste like that of sweet cream, and a pleasant balsamic odor, 
its only unpleasant quality being a slight degree of stickiness. The 
chemical analysis of this milk has shown it to possess a composition- 
closely resembling some animal substances; and, like animal milk, it 
quickly forms a yellow cheesy scum upon its surface, and after a few 
days of exposure to the atmosphere turns sour and putrefies. It con- 
tains upward of 30 per cent. of a resinous substance cailed galaectine. 
Clusia galactodendron, (Clusiacec.)—A native tree of Venezuela, which, 
according to M. Desvaux, is oue of the Palo de Vica or cow-trees of 
South America. It has a thick bark, covered with rough tubereules, and 
its internal tissue becomes red when exposed to the air. In extracting 
the milk from this tree the inhabitants make incisions through the bark 
till the wood is reached. These cuts are said to be made only before 
full moon, it being imagined that the milk flows more freely then than 
at any other time. One tree will yield a quart in an hour. The milk is 
freely used by all, especially by children, but it has an astringent taste, 
which is characteristic of all such vegetable milks. 
Cow tree of Guiana.—This is the Tabernemontana utilis, (Apocynacee,) 
which, when tapped, yields a copious supply of thick sweet milk, resem- 
bling that of the cow in appearance, and perfectly bland and wholesome, 
but rather sticky, from the presence of caoutchoue. 
Chicory or succory, Vichorium intybus, (Composite.)—A perennial plant, 
native of Europe, but naturalized here, and now a common plant, not to 
Say a troublesome weed, over a large portion of this country. Its long 
tap-root is used to mix with coffee. It is roasted. and ground to a coarse 
powder, and many persons prefer the mixture to the pure coffee bean. 
It is entirely destitute of those properties which render coffee an agree- 
able and nutritive beverage, while it possesses medicinal properties 
closely resembling those of the dandelion, which would render it unfitted 
for constant use in its pure condition. It is said that much of the pre- 
pared chicory is mixed with carrot, turnip, oak-bark tan, mahogany 
sawdust, &c. The leaves when blanched in winter are used as a salad, 
and are much esteemed for this purpose. In France it is known as 
Barbe du Capucin. 
Symplocos Alstonia, (Styracacee,) is a branching shrub, growing 8 or 10 
feet high, with shining evergreen foliage. Itis a native of New Grenada, 
where the leaves are scorched, similar to the mode of preparing mate, 
