- 204 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
India. They are also used for preserving fish, which, under the name 
of tamarind-fish, are considered a delicacy. 
Vanilla.—The vanilla of commerce is the seed-pod of Vanilla aro- 
matica and V. planifolia, climbing orchids of South America. The best 
is said to be produced from V. planifolia, a Mexican species. When the 
vanilla pods are gathered, they are immersed for an instant in boiling 
water to blanch them; they are then dried and lightly smeared with oil 
to prevent evaporation. The dried pods, like the berries of pepper, 
change color while drying, grow brown, wrinkled, and soft, and shrink 
to one-fourth their original size. This aromatic is much used by con- 
fectioners, also by perfumers, distillers, &e. ; 
Mustard.—This condiment is prepared from the seeds of Sinapis nigra 
and S. alba, (Crucifere,) natives of Europe, but introduced and grow- 
ing wild in many places here. The seeds are crushed between rollers, 
pounded, and sifted frequently, to produce powdered mustard. The 
black, and the white are generally mixed, and the powder is frequently 
mixed with wheat flour and turmeric powder. The seeds contain but 
little, if any, starchy matter. Chemically, they contain a peculiar acid 
called myronie acid, which contains a portion of sulphur. 
VEGETABLE WAXES. 
Carnauba wax is produced by the wax palm of Brazil, Copernicia ceri- 
fera, which attains a height of 30 to 40 feet, and with a trunk only 6 to 
10 inches thick, composed of very hard wood, used for building purposes 
and ornamental veneering. The foliage, especially the young leaves, 
is coated with wax, which is obtained by first detaching the leaves from 
the plant, and shaking them so as to loosen the wax, each leaf furnish- 
ing about fifty grains of whitish, scaly powder, which is melted in pots 
and run into cakes. It is sometimes used to adulterate bees-wax, and 
has been tried for purposes of candle-making, but the lemon-colored tint 
of the raw wax has hitherto baffled all attempts at bleaching. ° 
Humbold’s palm wax.—The wax palm of New Grenada, Ceroxylon An- 
dicola, is found growing in great abundance in very elevated regions on 
the chain of mountains separating the courses of the rivers Magdalena 
and Cauca, in New Grenada, extending almost as high as the lower limit 
of perpetual snow, which is unusual in this tribe of plants, as the palms 
generally favor tropical climates. The trunk of this palm is of great 
height, starting from the ground with a diameter of about 10 to 12 inch- 
es, which thickness is maintained for the first halfof its height; it then 
swells out and again becomes contracted to its original dimensions as it 
reaches the top. These lofty trunks are covered with a coating of resin- 
like wax, which gives them a whitish, marble appearance. The wax is 
gathered by cutting down the plant and scraping the trunk with a blunt 
instrument, the average yield being twenty-five pounds to a tree. Itis 
then melted and run into calabashes, in which state it forms an article 
of commerce among the inhabitants. It is mixed with tallow and made 
into candles, as it burns too rapidly when used alone. 
Candleberry or myrtle wax.—This product is yielded by the genus My. 
ica, Which is widely scattered over the temperate regions of both hem- 
ispheres; in North and South America, Europe, Cape of Good Hope, 
Northern India, China, and Japan. The plants are mostly shrubs, 
with fragrant foliage. The fruits are nuts or drupes, covered with 
a coating of a waxy, resinous secretion, which is separated from the ber- 
ries by boiling them in water, stirring them during the ebuilition to facil- 
itate the separation of the wax, which appears on the surface, and is 
