98 
ALOE VULGARIS. 
shops six kinds of Aloes are met with, viz. Socotrine, Barbadoes or 
Hepatic, Caballine, commonly called Horse Aloes, Red Aloes, Mo- 
cha Aloes, and Indian or Mozambique Aloes : these three last are 
little known but to the dealers in this drug. It is more than 
probable that the difference in these several kinds of Aloes, is owing 
more to the mode of preparing the juice, than to the species of 
Aloe from which it is produced. 
The following account of the culture of the Aloe at Barbadoes, 
and the method of preparing the extract, we have transcribed from 
a paper on the subject, communicated by Mr. MilHngton to the 
Medical Journal, vol. viii. — The lands in the vicinity of the sea, 
that is, from two or three miles, which are rather subject to drought 
than otherwise, and are so stony and shallow, as not to admit of 
planting sugar canes, are generally found to answer best for the 
Aloe plant. The stones, at least the largest, are first picked up, the 
land is then ploughed lightly, and carefully cleared of noxious weeds, 
lined at one foot distance from row to row, and the young plants 
set like cabbages, at about five or six inches from each other. This 
regular mode of lining and setting the plants, is practised by the 
most exact planters, in order to facilitate the weeding of them by the 
hand, very frequently ; for if they are not kept perfectly clean and 
free from weeds, the produce will be but very small. They will 
bear being planted in any season of the year, even in the driest, as 
they will live on the surface of the earth for many weeks without a 
drop of rain. The most general time, however, of planting them, 
is from April to June. In the March following, the labourers 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, while 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 
blades in the tub, bunch by bunch. When the first tub is thus packed 
quite full, a second is begun, each labourer having two; by the time 
the second is full, 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 for manure, and the juice is poured out into ajar. 
The tub is then filled with blades, and so alternately, till the 
labourer has produced his jar full, or about four gallons and a half, 
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. 
