140 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



its durability. Exposed to the action of wind and sun galax 

 leaves retain their beauty for eight or ten days. 



The leaves are gathered only during the fall, \vinter and 

 early spring. During the late spring and summer the leaves 

 are soft and succulent, hence perishable. For the rest of the 

 year they are tough, having a leathery feeling. The collecting 

 season is from October 1 to March 15. 



During the fall and early winter the leaves are deep green 

 in color, later, due to the action of frost and sun, the color 

 changes to a deep bronze. The bronze leaves are the more 

 highly prized. Green leaves are available throughout the sea- 

 son as leaves which are densely shaded do not change in color. 



The work of gathering the leaves is largely left to the 

 women and children. It is a common sight to see several 

 women and perhaps a dozen children starting early in the 

 morning for the galax beds. 



The leaves are pulled, not cut. \Miere the entire petiole 

 is not taken it has been found that the leaves wilt in a few days. 

 As the leaves are pulled they are put loose into large cloth 

 sacks. Crushing them down and filling the sacks very full 

 does not hurt the leaves. Each night the leaves are carried 

 home. A good puller will gather ten to twelve thousand leaves 

 per day. 



To be marketable tliQ leaves must be assorted as to size 

 and color and neatly tied into bunches of twenty-seven leaves 

 each. Forty of these bunches count as one thousand leaves. 

 The reason twenty-seven leaves are pfit into each bunch is to 

 allow for culling. Only perfect leaves are salable. Should 

 there be any damaged leaves in a bunch they are pulled out by 

 the merchant who buys them. Two leaves can be taken from 

 each bunch and still forty bunches will make the one thousand 

 leaves. 



