10 



ERYTHEA. 



4 



In the face of all modern improvements in that line, this 

 root is still used bj many Spanish laundresses, who declare 

 that it whitens and cleanses as nothing else will. It is 

 reduced to a pulp and then used as ordinary soap. Einsing 

 must be very thorough, for any particle left in the fabric is 

 exceedingly irritating to the skin; in fact, on this account 



novices are advised not to use it. 



Ca life 



bles a good-sized parsnip, was also much used for cleausing 

 purposes, and is yet, to some extent. In many parts of 

 Southern California this plant is so abundant that every 

 farmer has bushels of potential cleanliness stored away under 

 nis hedge-rows. 



When 



n lien on summer afternoons, the Chlorogalum pomeri- 

 dianumh^ng^ forth her numberless airy white lilies, no one 

 uninitiated into the mystery of her existence would be so 

 malevolent as to suggest that she draws her sustenance from 

 any hiug so prosaic as a scrub brush; and yet so it is. 



Ihe larger bulb consists of layers of soapy material inter- 

 spersed with sti'ong woody fibers, the whole forming an ideal 

 utensil of the above named sort. It is still used for laundry 

 purposes and for house cleaning, but proves rather heroic 



eri-r T^- ''^ ''^''' P"^°* °^"^^ ^^ t^k^^ i^to consid- 

 eration. It IS popularly known among the Spanish as Amole. 



4 



OPEN LETTERS. 



* « 



«f 



a correct and lawful plant nomencUt^rr'' I . T7 ^T 



read Mr. Meeliau'. rllv ^^Trul, ™' ""1^ ''»™ =''''° 



November, page Ue/fn wV k rsa^/Jtt?' \'^' 



Willi correct nomenclature but adl t W ■ «>''"P'''l"^''^ 



^e standard lexicons and ^edt Zl^:Z^i:iCS. 



