USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



economics; but it is hard to believe it to have been 

 of much practical value among the rough pioneers 

 from whom the old Swedish traveler learned of it. 

 The Sugar Pine {Pinus Lamhertiana, Dough), that 

 noblest of Pacific Coast pines, owes its common name 

 to a sugary exudation from the heart-wood when the 

 tree has been cut into with an ax or been damaged 

 by fire. The bleeding sap forms irregular lumps and 

 nuggets, white when fresh and unstained, but more 

 often found brown from exposure and contact mth 

 fire. John Muir thought this sugar the best of 

 sweets. As to that, each must be his own judge; 

 but it certainly has an appeal to many. Moderation 

 should be exercised in its consumption, as it has a 

 decided laxative tendency. Of all ^'wild sugars,'^ 

 however, the sap of the Sugar Maple, the source 

 of commercial maple sugar, is without a peer. It 

 is too well known to call for more than mention 

 here. 



Our wild plants that have been experimented upon 

 for dyes by the color-loving Indians are very 

 numerous. The subject is too technical for me to 

 say just what value these various vegetable dyes 

 may have in the arts of civilization, but I may refer 

 briefly to a few. 



Imprimis, there is that familiar hedge-plant, the 



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