TREES THAT MANUFACTURE 105 



the plant process of photosynthesis by which the 

 tree-leaves, breathing in atmospheric carbon diox- 

 ide, combine it with certain soil elements to form 

 starch, which, being transformed into sugar, is con- 

 veyed as sap to all parts of the organism. 



To describe in detail just how the various tree- 

 products are manufactured would make a book in 

 itself. We shall have to content ourselves with 

 considering only a few. Among the many oils 

 cocoanut-oil, castor-oil and camphor-oil are good 

 examples. The lilac, apple, peach, rose, cherry, 

 orange or almost any flowering tree manufactures 

 perfume. In cases like the magnolia the flowers 

 are so highly perfumed as to be almost nauseating. 

 The perfume is not always found in the flowers; 

 sometimes, as in the sandal wood and sassafras, 

 the wood itself is perfumed. These woods |are 

 frequently burned for their perfume. 



There are numerous trees which manufacture 

 gum ; the gum-amber and the chicle are the best ex- 

 amples. Even such common trees as the cherry and 

 the plum exude a vegetable mucilage which might 

 be classified as gum. The gum of commerce comes 

 from Africa and Arabia. The trees which manu- 

 facture it are the sahel, fatack and hiebar. The 

 first produces a white gum held in much esteem 

 and called vereck: the other two turn out the red 



