552 
Analyses of Books. 
[September, 
The apple tree of the English version of the Old Testament is 
considered, on the authority of Canon Tristram, to be the apri- 
cot, which is exceedingly common in Palestine. 
Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis possesses a singular property. Its red 
flowers when bruised turn black, and are then used for “ colouring 
the eye-brows and blacking shoes.” It is possible that this plant, 
which flourishes in Australia as well as in its native China, might 
be of service in dyeing. 
A similar remark might be made concerning the red juice of 
the blood-berry ( Rivina humilis), which is used in South Carolina 
as rouge, and the red juice of Baloghia lucida (the Norfolk Island 
“ bloodwood ”). 
Brier-root pipes, it appears, are made not from the root of the 
brier, but of the bruyere, a small tree of the heath family (Erica 
arborea), growing in Southern Europe and in Algeria. 
We differ from the author in his statement that the Chinese 
green dye Lo-kao is extensively imported into this country and 
France. It was at one time met with in commerce, but is now 
superseded by the aniline greens. 
We find Mr. White classes camwood and barwood as identical. 
The products met with under these names in the market show a 
decided difference when applied to tincftorial purposes, the co- 
louring matter of camwood being the more soluble of the two. 
Chica, sometimes used as a red dye, is, we learn, a monopoly 
in the hands of certain missionaries. 
Concerning the cow-tree of Venezuela a curious incident is 
recorded. In 1830 a speculator introduced a thousand young 
trees into this country, and offered them for sale, quite forgetting 
that a tree from Venezuela could only flourish here in a hot- 
house ! It further turned out that his cow-trees were not the 
genuine species described by Humboldt, but a species of 
Achr as. 
Concerning cudbear and orchil we cannot agree with Mr. 
White. Cudbear is now, and has for a long time been, obtained 
from the “ orchella,” the process of manufacture being different. 
Saffron the author speaks of as a “ valuable dye.” This is no 
longer the case, as we have a perfedt plethora of yellow dyes, 
many of them far superior to saffron in beauty and perma- 
nence. 
This work will prove of no small value to all who take an inte- 
rest in the vegetable kingdom, and who wish to know the original 
sources and the uses of our cultivated plants. It is least to be 
depended upon in the tindtorial department of technology. 
