ON VEGETABLE WAXES. 325 



it was to avoid the colour by despatch ; the decayed pulp conveying a 

 darkish, and the juice of it a greenish colour to the wax. The other defecator 

 is adapted to the berries in their season. It is of iron wire, and has a dash. 

 The berries, when sound, well winnowed and picked, will admit of their 

 being tossed about a little, either before or when full ripe. The vanes of 

 the dash are so shaped as, when set in motion, to hitch the berries in suc- 

 cession towards the surface of the water, thus affording additional facility 

 for each berry being rid of its wax. The application of either of these 

 instruments with a brass strainer and cock fitted to a mould (that will be 

 produced at the same time), will save four-fifths of the labour and time lost 

 in preparing water, gathering fuel, baling, mopping, and straining, as 

 described in the former process. In working either, one minute and a half 

 will suffice for its immersion with the berries in the boiler; more time than 

 this will extract the juice and discolour both the wax and the water. The 

 dregs and other substances that may have escaped in cleansing being 

 retained by the defecator, some warm water should be at hand in which to 

 rinse it after every second or third immersion. By attending to this par- 

 ticular, and to the time above specified, the same water will answer all day, 

 replacing that, of course, which was taken out with the wax in skimming. 



" The wax being the produce of the pulp, it is to be observed that the 

 latter will retain more or less of the former until the berries are quite ripe. 

 To ascertain this, let the berries remain in the water some time after 

 skimming ; and should any wax appear, it will be of the colour of the juice, 

 and will show at once that the berries are not ripe. However, as wax so 

 made is objectionable only from its colour, and is valuable to the farmers 

 and their servants, it may be procured by a second skimming until the 

 berries are seasoned, — care being taken that such skimmings are put into a 

 separate vessel from that in which the first skimmings are deposited. These 

 remarks are applicable to parties who, having commenced making wax at a 

 distance from their homes, may not find it convenient to return and wait 

 for the proper season. 



" I will conclude with remarking, that I have not found all the bushes in 

 any locality bearing berries the same year, and the coarsest kind have not 

 borne at all during the last five years, while others have borne yearly. This 

 would indicate sexual properties : yet, whilst admitting the possibility of 

 such qualities, I am aware that a large portion of bushes are barren both 

 from age and from an unfavourable position — having had berries at Deep 

 Kiver in 1850 from bushes that have not borne since ; and having found 

 the berries in my own neighbourhood drop from the bushes before attaining 

 half the usual size, year after year, some of them not even appearing larger 

 than pin-heads. 



" I have not found the plant bear under the fourth year in any situation." 



Azoees Candleberry (Myrica Faya). — This Mijrica is a native of 

 the Azores, or Western Islands, and Madeira. The berries are affirmed to be 

 ceriferous, like those of the other species ; but whether the wax is collected 

 and employed to any extent, we are not at present informed. 



Colombia Wax (Myrica macrocarpa). — This species yields an excellent 



