XIV. 

 THE MANCHINEEL NOT POISON TO THE BIRDS. 



[HE vast regions of the Tropical forest are 

 as a storehouse in which Nature prepares 

 her ingredients for the good or ill of man 

 her medicines and her poisons. 

 Tribes of plants or trees may be called bene- 

 factors of mankind, such as the bountiful palm, 

 the banana, and the plantain. 



Other families have deadly juices running 

 through their tissues. They are not calculated to 

 bless, but to destroy. Some of these dangerous 

 plants are fair to look upon. 



There is a tree which bears a number of bright 

 red apples. The smell of the apples is very plea- 



