830 LESS IMPORTANT MINOR PRODUCE. 



to the extent of 5,000 and more yearly. The forests of the 

 Fichtelgebirge, the Spessart, the Schwarzwarld, etc., yield 

 large quantities of these berries. When fully ripe, large wooden 

 combs are used to strip off the berries into baskets. Only a 

 small part of the produce is now used for brandy ; it is chiefly 

 made into wine, partly to convert white wine into red wine 

 and partly as bilberry wine, which is sold at Frankfort-on- 

 Maine and other places as a medicinal beverage ; it has also 

 been sent in large quantities to the south of France to be mixed 

 with grape-wine and sold as claret.* Bilberries may be also 

 eaten fresh, cooked or dried. 



It is well known what enormous quantities of wild straw- 

 berries, raspberries, alderberries, etc., are gathered annually. 

 In the village of Frammersbach, in the Spessart, children 

 yearly collect these berries to the value of 200. 



Mistletoe-berries are here and there collected for making 

 bird-lime. [Branches of mistletoe for Christmas form a yearly 

 article of trade from Normandy to London, whole steamer-loads 

 arriving from the Norman apple-orchards. Tr.] 



10. Other Items. 



Among the multifarious forest plants, which are used indus- 

 trially or medicinally, may be mentioned : Willow blossom, 

 for apiculture ; orchid-bulbs, as salep ; spores of Equisetnm 

 clavatum, for artificial lightning : roots of valerian and ber- 

 berry (Beriberis vidgaris) and flowers and fruits of a number of 

 shrubs and herbs, Arnica, Atropa, Colchicum, etc., for medicine. 



The beetle Spanish-fly (Lytta vesicatoria) also is collected 

 for sale in Hungary. 



[The items of minor forest produce exported from the Indian 

 Forests, such as medicinal drugs, dyes, paper material (Bhabar- 

 grass Ischcemum angustifolium Daphne papyrdcea, bamboo, 

 etc.), textile fibres, lac, wild-silk, honey and wax, besides those 

 already mentioned in former chapters of the present book, are 

 far too numerous to be described here. Eeference on the 

 subject is invited to Watts' Dictionary of Indian Economic 

 products, and Troup's Forest Utilization. Tr.] 



* B. Laxis, in " Hiinclclsblatt fiir WjiMem-u^ni^i','' IS'.U. No. '_';;. 



