424 
ON  TRAGACANTH  AND  ITS  ADULTERATION. 
In  some  places  also  the  peasants  occasionally  puncture  the  bark 
with  the  point  of  the  knife.  If  the  weather  be  hot  and  dry,  the 
gum  is  white  and  clean ;  but  if  the  atmosphere  be  damp  and  the 
heat  but  moderate,  the  gum  requires  a  longer  time  to  dry,  and 
assumes  a  yellow  or  brown  tinge.  High  winds  are  favorable  for 
drying,  but  the  gum  accumulates  a  certain  proportion  of  earth, 
Whilst  the  peasants  are  engaged  in  this  labor,  they  pick  off  from 
the  shrubs  the  gum  which  exudes  naturally,  and  it  is  this  which 
chiefly  constitutes  the  quality  known  in  England  as  Common  or 
Sorts, 
The  whole  of  the  tragacanth  gathered  is  mixed  and  sold  to 
native  merchants,  who  send  it  to  Smyrna  for  re-sale  in  bags  con- 
taining about  two  hundred  weight  each.  In  this  state  it  is  termed 
rough  gum,  and  contains  as  follows  : 
Flaky  or  leaf  gum,  perfectly  white    40  to  50  per  cent. 
Ditto    ditto    discolored  or  brown    15  25 
Vermicelli  gum       .  .        10  15 
Common  or  sorts  ...  35  10 
The  finest  parcels  contain  the  most  vermicelli,  which  is  noth- 
ing more  than  the  siftings  of  the  leaf  gum  which  is  broken  by 
carriage  from  the  interior  and  by  removing  from  one  place  to 
another,  together  with  the  small  vermicular  masses  termed 
Sesame  seed,  which  are  collected  with  the  leaf  gum. 
When  gum  tragacanth  is  purchased  for  shipment  to  Europe,  it 
is  prepared  in  the  following  manner : — The  large,  white,  flaky, 
or  leaf  gum,  termed  French  quality,  is  first  picked  out,  and  the 
residue  is  sifted  through  a  coarse  sieve  ;  what  remains  upon  the 
sieve  is  common  or  sorts  gum,  mixed  with  discolored  leaf,  which 
is  returned  to  the  pickers,  who  then  remove  the  slightly  dis- 
colored leaf  gum,  which  is  termed  English  quality.  The 
remainder  is  then  examined,  and  any  stones  or  very  black,  dirty 
pieces,  are  thrown  aside  as  refuse,  the  rest,  composed  of  naturally- 
exuded  gum  and  brown  leaf,  is  termed  common  or  sorts. 
The  head-man  or  master-picker  then  re-sifts  with  a  finer  sieve 
whatever  gum  passed  through  the  first,  occasionally  throwing 
out  any  straw  or  light  substance  which  rests  at  the  top.  The 
gum  remaining  upon  the  sieve  after  this  second  sifting  is  given 
to  women  to  pick  at  their  own  houses.  They  separate  the  white 
from  the  brown,  and  the  brown  from  the  common.  The  first  is 
mixed  with  the  French  quality,  the  second  with  the  English, 
