40* Culture of the Carolina Wax Tree. 



attention of your experimental readers to the cultivation of a 

 shrub which appears well suited to the mild climate of our 

 southern and western, if not likewise of our northern and 

 midland counties ; and which, while adding considerably to 

 our national resources, promises a rich harvest of reward to 

 those whose public spirit leads them to prosecute the specul- 

 ation with skill, industry, and spirit. 



The shrub to which I allude is the Myrica Carolinensis, or 

 Broad-leaved Wax Tree of Carolina, a hardy plant, perfectly 

 acclimated in France, where it flourishes luxuriantly in a 

 sandy and blackish turf, rising from the height of four to six 

 or even seven feet, producing in general an abundant crop of 

 derries every year, and requiring little care in its culture. It 

 is readily propagated, either by sowing the seeds in spring, 

 and afterwards transplanting, or, which is the most expedi- 

 tious method, and equally successful, by taking off the young 

 shoots, which rise in profusion at the base of the larger shrubs, 

 and planting these out at the distance of about three feet 

 from each other. The Myrica Carolinensis succeeds wherever 

 the soil is light and rather moist ; and has been long known 

 to flourish even in the dry sands of Prussia. In this latter 

 kingdom, as we learn from an interesting memoir of Charles 

 Louis Cader, inserted in the Annales de Chimie, it was suc- 

 cessfully cultivated by the late Mr. Sulzer in a garden on the 

 banks of the Spree, half a league from the city of Berlin, 

 in latitude 52° 53', which is nearly a degree and a half farther 

 north than London, and where the mean annual temperature 

 is only 2° 9' higher than that of London. Here the wax 

 tree attracted the peculiar notice of every visitor by the deli- 

 cious odour of its leaves, which they preserved a long time, 

 and the fragrance of its berries. The wax obtained from these 

 berries was also so highly odoriferous, that a single candle 

 formed from it not only perfumed the room in which it was 

 lighted during the period of its burning, but also for a very 

 considerable time after it was extinguished. 



From what has been said we may, I think, fairly conclude 

 that this valuable plant is capable of being successfully culti- 

 vated in the light sandy soils of a considerable part of Hamp- 

 shire, in the Isle of Wight, in the vicinity of Plymouth, and 

 in many parts of the open, and, at present, neglected tract 

 in the neighbourhood of the Lizard, where acres, now not 

 worth 2s. 6d. an acre for their produce above ground, might 

 be made almost to rival on their surface the wealth which 

 they conceal in their bowels. 



In America, to which we are indebted for this valuable 

 production, a very fertile shrub will yield nearly 7 lbs. of 



