SLOE. 145 
children. The wood is pleasingly veined, and is much 
valued by turners. 
159. The SLOE is a small, round, and nearly black kind 
of plum (Prunus spinosa), of extremely austere taste, which is 
common in thickets and hedges throughout nearly every part 
of England. 
The shrub that produces it has thorny branches, and the 
fruit-stalks are single. 
The harshness and austerity of the sloe are prover- 
bial. Its juice, if mixed with British made wines, com- 
municates to them a red colour, and an astringent 
flavour, somewhat resembling that of port wine ; a fact 
too well known to some of the dealers in that favourite 
liquor. The juice of unripe sloes, dried over a gentle 
fire, so nearly resembles the Egyptian acacia (273), that 
it has in many instances been substituted for that sub- 
stance ; it is, however, harder, heavier, of darker colour, 
and somewhat sharper taste than the genuine kind. A 
conserve of this fruit, made with three times its weight 
of double-refined sugar, has been used with success as 
a gargle for sore throats. 
An infusion of the fioiuers in water, or the flowers 
boiled in milk, are sometimes employed medicinally ; 
and the bark, reduced to powder, has been efficaciously 
administered in agues. If boiled in ley, the bark yields 
a red dye. The young and tender leaves of the sloe 
afford a substitute for tea, but some persons consider 
them unwholesome. The juice of the fruit, mixed with 
green vitriol, becomes an indelible black fluid, either 
for dyeing linen, or as writing-ink. The wood, being 
extremely tough, is converted into walking-sticks, and 
made into the teeth of rakes ; it is also sometimes 
used by turners. Dr. Withering has remarked, that, 
from certain effects which he observed to follow the 
prick of the thorns of the sloe, he was inclined to con- 
sider they had some poisonous quality, especially in 
autumn. 
VOL. II. H 
