PEPPER. ASH. 27 



MOTHER. 



It was common Privet, Ligus'trum vulga're, of 

 which hedges are often made, as it grows very fast. 

 The purple colour upon cards is prepared from its 

 berries ; which are filled with a spongy violet- 

 coloured pulp, and make also a good green dye, 

 with the addition of alum. 



EDWARD. 



Are there many useful plants in the class Di- 



andria ? 



MOTHER. 



Not so many as in several of the other classes ; 

 but I will mention a few of them. 



The black Pepper plant, Pi'per ni'grum, is a 

 native of the East and West Indies, and some of 

 the South Sea Islands. It is cultivated with great 

 success in the Molucca Islands, Java and Sumatra, 

 and exported from them to every part of the world 

 where regular trade is carried on. White pepper 

 was formerly thought to be a different species from 

 the black ; but it is really nothing more than the 

 ripe berries deprived of their skin, by steeping them 

 in water, after which they are dried in the sun. 

 It is this berry, ground into powder, that you see 

 used every day at dinner. 



The common Ash, Frax'inus excel'sior*, is a 

 native of England ; and is placed, by Withering, in 

 * In the twenty-third class, Polygamia, of Linnaeus. 



