356 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



Mr. J. Tradescant, junior, in 1656. The wood is used 

 under the name of fustec, young fustick, (to distinguish 

 it from the yellow wood of the Alorus tinctoria, or old 

 fustick, for which it is used as a substitute,) as an orange 

 dye, — but the colour is not durable. The bark is used 

 as a substitute for the Peruvian bark in intermittent 

 fever. The leaves are said to fetch a high price in the 

 markets of Spain and Italy, where they are sold to dress 

 Spanish skins, for which they are accounted excellent. 



The Virginian Sumach, Wins typliinum, is a native 

 of North America: the young branches are covered 

 with a soft velvet-like down, resembhng that of a stag's 

 hom, both in colour and texture, whence it has vulgarly 

 the name of StagVhorn tree. The flowers are produced 

 in close tufts at the ends of the branches, in July; and 

 are succeeded by seeds enclosed in purple, woolly, suc- 

 culent covers, so that these bunches are of a beautiful 

 colour in the autumn. 



This species also is used for tanning leather. It was 

 cultivated here in 1629. 



The Scarlet Sumach, Rhus glabrum^ is also a North 

 American : it grows in woods, high glades, and old 

 corn-fields. The fruit remains on the shmb all the 

 winter, but the leaves fall early in the autumn. Its 

 height is about nine feet ; the blossoms are deep red, as 

 also are the berries, which are used for dyeing that colour : 

 they are very sour ; but children eat them with impu- 

 nity. On cutting the stem, a yellow juice flows from 

 between the bark and the wood ; one or two of the outer 

 circles of the stem are white, the innermost of a yellowish 

 green ; in the middle is a pith, half an inch or more in 

 diameter, of a brown colour, and so loose that it is easily 

 pushed out with a stick. The branches and berries. 



