THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE ECONOMIC USES OF LEAVES. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



Setting aside many of the most important leaves which furnish staples 

 of commerce, like tobacco, tea, indigo, senna, &c, there are many local 

 uses which deserve notice, and the object of the following remarks is to 

 bring a few of these prominently forward in a collected form. 



The leaves of many trees furnish occasional fodder for cattle — espe- 

 cially several of the Mimosa in India, Australia, and the Cape Colony. 

 From others an essential oil is distilled, as from the orange, cinnamon, 

 and lemon grass. 



From the large leaves of the Cannabis sativa, bhang, an intoxicating 

 drug is produced, and they are also smoked to cause the same effect. 

 They have been imported into this country under the name of guaza. 



The leaves of coltsfoot (Tusselago far far) have long been smoked for 

 chest complaints, and are said to form the chief ingredient in British 

 herb tobacco. The leaves of milfoil or yarrow (Achilloea millefolium'), 

 another plant equally common with the last, have been recommended to 

 smokers in lieu of tobacco, and are occasionally used for that purpose. 

 The leaves of rhubarb are sometimes smoked by those who are too poor to 

 furnish themselves with a regular supply of tobacco, and those who have 

 used them state that although devoid of strength, they are not a bad 

 substitute when tobacco is not to be obtained. For the same purposes 

 they are collected and used in Thibet and on the slopes of the Himalayas. 

 The leaves of the bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) are used in the north 

 of Europe when hops are scarce, to give a bitter flavour to beer, and 

 have been also adopted as a tobacco substitute. 



The Virginia or stags horn sumach (Rhus typhina) supplies leaves 

 which are dried and used by some of the native American tribes for 

 smoking. The Indians of the Mississippi and the Missouri use the leaves 

 of another sumach (Rhus copallino), and Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata), 



VOL. III. Q 



