232 Observations upon the Myrtus 
years he resided there, to the study of the trees and plants 
which might be cultivated with advantage, and had made such 
progress in this study, as to be able to send to the West India 
Company in France no less than three hundred additional 
plants found in their Possessions, and worthy the attention of 
the public. His account of the tree is as follows : 
The Myrtle-Wazx tree is one of the greatest blessings with 
which nature has enriched Louisiana, as in this conntry the 
bees lodge their honey in the earth to save it from the ravages 
of the bears who are very fond of it, and don’t value their 
stiogse One would beapt to take it, at first sight, both from 
its bark and its height, for that kind of laurel used in the 
kitchens. It rises in several stems from the root ; its leaf is 
like that of the laurel, but not so thick nor of such a lively 
green. It bears its fruit in bunches like a nosegay, rising from 
the same place in various stalks about two inches long : at 
the end of each of those stalks is a little pea, containing a 
kernel in a nut, whick last is wholly covered with wax. The 
fruit, which is very plentiful, is easily gathered, as the shrub 
is very flexible. The tree thrives as well in the shade of other 
trees as in the open air, im watery places and cold countries? 
as well as in dry grounds and hot climates ; for I have been 
told that some of them have been found in Canada, a country 
as cold as Denmark. 
This tree yields two kinds of wax, one a whitish yellow, 
and the other green. It was a long time before they learned 
to separate them, and they prepared the wax at first in the 
following manner. ‘They threw the grains and the stalks into 
a large kettle of boiling water, and when the wax was de- 
tached from them, they scummed off the grains, When the 
water cooled, the wax floated in a cake at the top, and being 
cut small, bleache in ashorter time than bees wax- They 
now prepare it in this manner ; they throw boiling water up- 
on the stalks and grains till they are entirely floated, and 2 
they 
