THE ECONOMIC HOUSE 57 
family to which locust and acacia belong. It is sometimes called 
“‘Campeachy wood" because it is especially abundant around the Bay 
of Campeachy. ‘The tree rarely exceeds 45 feet in height. The wood 
is much used in dyeing cotton cloth, silk, wook, and leather, but is 
especially valued in dyeing black silks and black woolen goods. The 
coal tar dyes have superseded many of the dyewoods, but not logwoods 
Logwood chips may be used with various acids and salts to produce 
a wide range of colors, including blue, purple, violet, dark reds, light 
reds, green, and black. Both the extract and the decoction of log- 
wood are used in medicine. 
Hamelia patens, or SCARLET Busn, or SCARLET Porson, or RAT Polson, 
is a shrub from tropical America that belongs to the Rubiaceae, the 
family to which coffee belongs. It is valued as an ornamental shrub 
because of its purplish leaves and orange-red flowers. 
Hevea brasiliensis, or PARA RUBBER TREE, or CAOUTCHOUC TREE, a 
native of the Amazon region, belongs to the Euphorbiaceae, the family 
to which our flowering spurge belongs. This tree, which reaches a 
height of 60 feet in 8 years, is the chief source of Para rubber. It 
begins yielding when a few years old. A 6 year old tree will yield about 
a pound of rubber a year; an older tree will yield more. Rubber is 
made from the milky sap which exudes when incisions are made in 
the tree. The sap thickens upon exposure to the air. A coating of 
the thickened sap is laid on clay moulds which are suspended over 
slow fires. When the first coat is dry a second is added, and so on, 
until the required thickness is obtained. When the drying is com- 
pleted, the mass is removed from the mould, and is the raw rubber of 
commerce. For many years after the substance was first introduced 
into Europe by the early Spanish explorers, its only use was in rubbing 
out pencil marks from paper; hence its name of “rubber.” It was 
in 1842 that it was discovered that rubber possessed the power of 
absorbing sulphur, and it is since that discovery that rubber has come 
to be one of the most important vegetable products known to man. 
Hibiscus. The collection includes 7 species, of which the following 
are the most interesting: 
Hibiscus elatus, or MouNTAIN MaHoE, or Cusa Bast, a small tree 
from the West Indies, belongs to the Malvaceae, the family to which 
our mallows belong. The flowers are very ornamental, of a primrose 
yellow, changing to orange and deep red. The durable wood has 
timber value. The fiber, known as Cuba bast, is used for tying cigars, 
etc. 
Hibiscus tiliaceus (Paritium tiliaceue), or Bota, or MoHAUNT, is a 
related species found throughout the tropics. It is one of the most 
abundant trees in the South Sea Islands, where it is valued for its 
ornamental large yellow flowers. The light, tough, durable wood is 
used for many purposes. The porous bark is made into cordage and 
matting, or is eaten by the natives when food is scarce. 
Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis, or CHINESE Hisiscus, is a related species 
that is a native of China. The large, bright rose-red flowers are the 
