ALOE. 
107 
a jar. The tub is then filled again with blades, and 
so alternately, till the labourer 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 
employers interest to get each day’s business as 
quickly done as possible. It may be observed, that 
although aloes are often cut in nine, ten, or twelve 
months after being planted, they are not in per- 
fection till the second and third year; and that they 
will be productive for a length of time, say, ten or 
twelve years, or even for a much longer time, if 
good dung, or manure of any kind, is strewed over 
the field once in three or four years, or oftener if 
convenient. 
“ The aloe juice will 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, either of iron or of copper, are placed to 
one fire, though some have but two, and the small 
planters only one. The boilers are filled with the 
juice; and as it ripens or becomes more inspissated, 
by a constant but regular fire, it is ladled forward 
from boiler to boiler, and fresh juice is added to 
that furthest from the fire, till the juice in that 
nearest to the fire (by much the smallest of the 
three, and commonly called by the name of tatch , 
as in the manufactory of sugar) becomes of a proper 
consistency to be skipped or ladled out into gourds, 
or other small vessels, used for its final reception. The 
