ALOES. 



631 



surface of tlie eartli fur many week? -vrithout a drop of rain. The most general 

 time of planting them, however, is from April to June. 



In the March following, the laborers carry a parcel of tubs and jars into the 

 field, and each takes a slip or breadth of it, and begins by laying hold of a bunch 

 of the blades, as much as he can conveniently grasp with one hand, whilst with 

 the other he cuts it just above the surface of the earth as quickly as possible 

 (that the juice may not be wasted), and then places the branches in the tub 

 bunch by bunch or handful by handful. When the first tub is thus packed 

 quite full, a second is begun (each laborer having two) ; and by the time the 

 second is filled, all the juice is generally drained out of the blades in the first 

 tub. The blades are then lightly taken out and thrown over the land by way 

 of manure, and the juice is poured out into a jar. The tub is then filled again 

 with blades, and so alternately, till the laborer has produced his jar full, or 

 about four gallons and a half of juice, which is often done in six or seven hours, 

 and he has then the remainder of the day to himself, it being his employer's 

 interest to get each day's operation as quickly done as possible. It may be 

 observed that although aloes are often cut m nine, ten, or twelve months after 

 being planted, they are not in perfection till the second or third year, and that 

 they will be productive for a length of time, say ten or twelve years, or even 

 for a longer time, if good dung or manure of any kind is stirred over the field 

 once in three or four years, or oftener if convenient. 



The aloe juice Avill keep for several weeks without injury. It is therefore 

 not boiled till a sufficient quantity is procured to make it an object for the 

 boiling house. In the large way, three boilers or coppers are placed to one 

 fire, though some have but two, and the s-nall planters only one boiler. The 

 boilers are filled with the juice, and as it ripens or becomes more inspissated 

 by a con taut but regular tire, it is ladled from boiler to boiler, and fresh juice 

 is added to that farthest from the fire, till the juice in that nearest the fire (by 

 much the smallest of the three) becomes of a proper consistency, to be skipped 

 or latUed out into gourds or other small vessels used for its final reception. The 

 proper time to skip or ladle it out of the last boiler is when it has arrived at 

 what is termed a resin height, or when it cuts freely or in thin flakes from the 

 edges of a small wooden slice that is dipped from time to time into the boiler 

 for that purpose. A little lime water is used by some aloe boilers during the 

 process, when the ebullition is too great. 



Ca.pe Aloes is the produce chiefly of A. sj)icata, and A. Com- 

 melini, which are fouud growing wild in great ahnndauce in the 

 interior of the Cape Colony. It has not the dark opaque appear- 

 ance of the other species. About fifty miles from Cape Town is 

 a mountainous tract, ahnos^t entirely covered with numerous 

 species and varieties of the plant, and some of the extensive arid 

 plains in the iuterior of the colony are crowded with it. The set- 

 tlers go forth and pitch their waggous and camps on these spots to 

 obtain the produce. The shipments from Table Bay and the eastern 

 port of Algoa Bay are verj considerable. The odor of the Cape 

 aloes is stronger and more disagreeable than that of the Socotrine 

 or Barbados, and the color is more like gamboge. It is brought 

 over in chests and skins, the latter being perferred. 



Mr. Greorge Dunsterville, surgeon of Algoa Bay, gives the 

 following description of the manufacture ot Cape aloes : — 



A shallow pit is dug, in which is spread a bullock's hide or sheep's skin. 

 The leaves of the aloe plants in the immediate vicinity of this pit are stripped 

 off and piled up on the skin to variable heights. These are left for a few days. 

 The juice exudes from the leaves, and is received by the skin beneath. The 

 Hottentot then collects in a basket or other convenient article the produce ol 

 many heaps, which is then put into an iron pot capable of holding eighteen or 



