Chapter L: Section VI (4)

In making cheroots women only are employed, the number of those so
engaged in the factory at Manila being generally about 4,000. Beside
these, a large body of men are employed at another place in the
composition of cigarillos, or small cigars, kept together by an
envelope of white paper in place of tobacco; these being the
description most smoked by the Indians. The flavor of Manila
cheroots is peculiar to themselves, being quite different from that
made of any other sort of tobacco; the greatest characteristic
probably being its slightly soporific tendency, which has caused
many persons in the habit of using it to imagine that opium is
employed in the preparatory treatment of the tobacco, which,
however, is not the case.

The cigars are made up by the hands of women in large rooms of the
factory, each of them containing from 800 to 1,000 souls. These are
all seated, or squatted, Indian like, on their haunches, upon the
floor, round tables, at each of which there is an old woman
presiding to keep the young ones in order, about a dozen of them
being the complement of a table. All of them are supplied with a
certain weight of tobacco, of the first, second, or third qualities
used in composing a cigar, and are obliged to account for a
proportionate number of cheroots, the weight and size of which are
by these means kept equal. As they use stones for beating out the
leaf on the wooden tables before which they are seated, the noise
produced by them while making them up is deafening, and generally
sufficient to make no one desirous of protracting a visit to the
place. The workers are well recompensed by the government, as very
many of them earn from six to ten dollars a month for their labor;
and as that amount is amply sufficient to provide them with all
their comforts, and to leave a large balance for their expenses in
dress, &c., they are seldom very constant laborers, and never enter
the factory on Sundays, or, at least, on as great an annual number
of feast days as there are Sundays in a year.

The Japanese grow a good deal of tobacco for their own consumption, which is very considerable. They consider that from Sasma as the best, then that from Nangasakay, Sinday, &c. The worst comes from the province of Tzyngaru; it is strong, of a black color, and has a disgusting taste and smell. The tobacco from Sasma is, indeed, also strong, but it has an agreeable taste and smell, and is of a bright yellow color. The tobacco from Nangasakay is very weak, in taste and smell perhaps the best, and of a bright brown color. The tobacco from Sinday is very good. The Japanese manufacture the tobacco so well, says Capt. Golownin, (Recollections of Japan,) that though I was before no friend to smoking, and even when I was at Jamaica could but seldom persuade myself to smoke an Havana cigar, yet I smoked the Japanese tobacco very frequently, and with great pleasure.

The culture of tobacco is a very profitable article for the laborers, seeing that the produce is obtained from grounds which have already given the first crop. The qualities of Java tobacco are more and more prized in the European markets, the preparation and assortment are not yet all that could be desired, but they have progressed in this branch, and the contracts made with the new adventurers assure them of a considerable benefit. But before the Java tobaccos can find an assured opening in the European markets, it is necessary that the cultivators should make use of seed from the Havana or Manila. The residencies of Rembang, Sourabaya, Samarang, Chinbou, and Tagal, present districts suited for its culture; it has been carried on with success for a good many years in the residencies of Treanger, Pakalongan, and Kedu, but only for the consumption of the interior, and of the Archipelago.

Tobacco is cultivated in Celebes, but merely in sufficient quantity for local consumption. It is exclusively grown by the Bantik population--the mode of preparation is the same as in Java; it is chopped very fine and mostly flavored with arrack. When bought in large quantities, it may be had for thirty cents the pound; but in smaller quantities it costs double that price.

Tobacco is cultivated in New South Wales with much success. Australia produces a leaf equal to Virginia, or the most fertile parts of Kentucky, but the great difficulty is to extract the superabundant "nitre." The first crop in New South Wales exceeds one ton per acre, and the second crop off the same plants, yields about half the weight of the first. In 1844 there were about 871 acres in cultivation in New South Wales with tobacco, and the produce was returned at 6,382 cwts. In New England, New South Wales, as fine a "fig" as could be wished for is manufactured under the superintendence of a thorough-bred Virginia tobacco manufacturer--but the impossibility of extracting the nitre by the heating, or any other process, renders the flavor rank and disagreeable. Perhaps cheroots, or the lower numbers of cigars, manufactured from the Australian leaf, might prove more successful.

In Sydney the time for sowing tobacco seed is September, but in Van Diemen's Land it should be a month later, as tobacco plants cannot stand the frost. The ground should be made fine, and in narrow beds three feet wide from path to path, to allow for weeding without stepping on the beds. The seed, being small, should not be raked in; but after the ground is raked fine, and perfectly clean, and well pulverised, mix the seed with wood ashes, and sow over the beds, and pat in with the spade, or tread in with the naked feet, which is preferable. The ground should be moist, but not much watered, or it moulds the plants. When about as large as moderate sized cabbage plants, they should be put out--three feet or three feet six in the rows, and five feet apart between the rows. When the plant rises to about two feet high, it will throw out suckers at each leaf, which must be carefully taken off with the finger and thumb, and all bottom and decayed leaves that touch the ground taken off. When the tobacco plant throws out flower, it must be topped off, leaving about twelve leaves in the stalk to ripen and come to maturity. When the leaves feel thick between the finger and thumb, and assume a mottled appearance, they are fit to cut.

In "Tegg's New South Wales Almanac" it is stated that the end of July is the usual time for sowing the seed. In order, however, to prevent the plants from being subsequently destroyed by frost, care must be taken not to sow the seed until the frost has ceased in any respective locality (unless raised in a frame). Tobacco requires a rich light soil, and well manured.

By the instructions for cultivating it, the plant must be three feet apart each way, which would give 4,840 plants to an acre; assuming that each plant would yield half a pound for the first crop, this would give 2,420 lbs. to an acre, which is only 180 lbs. in excess of a ton. In New South Wales several parties use the tobacco stems for sheep wash. One pound of tobacco is sufficient to wash five sheep on an average (one washing), which would give 12,100 sheep to one acre.

Assuming that only one crop was grown in New Zealand in one year, of 2,420 lbs. to an acre, at 3d. per pound, (which is about half the market price of a fair sample of tobacco in bond,) it would amount to £30 5s. per acre.

Three rows of Indian corn are planted outside the tobacco plants to shelter them from the wind. In order to save seed, a few plants are allowed to flower. The Virginian tobacco is the largest; it is known by a pink flower; the _Nicotiana rustica_ (common green) has a yellow flower.

A planter in Northern Australia furnishes the following directions:--

The land selected for the growth of tobacco ought to be of the most
fertile description, of a friable description, and upon which no
water can rest within eighteen inches of the surface. Newly cleared
brush lands of this nature are the most prolific; upon such, after
good tillage, put the plants about four feet or more apart, in rows,
and five feet six inches asunder. In interior or old ground, plant
proportionately closer. Before topping or nipping off the head, all
the lower leaves (that is such as may touch the ground) ought to be
broken off, leaving only from five to seven for the crop, which will
yield a greater weight and be of a superior quality than if double
that number were left. When ripe, a dry and cloudy day should be
selected to cut it, as the sun destroys its quality after cutting.
It ought then to lie sufficiently long upon the ground so as to welt
before carting to the sheds, hanging up each stalk next morning so
as not to touch its fellow.

The drying sheds ought to be built upon an elevated or dry spot,
with a hoarded flour of rough split stuff, fifteen or eighteen
inches from the ground, with apertures as windows to admit or to
exclude the external atmosphere. In damp weather close all the doors
and windows, also every night; in contrary weather open all.

In these drying houses the stalks should remain suspended until the
vegetable moisture is entirely evaporated, so that on a dry day the
stems of the leaves will break like a glass pipe, and the finer
parts crumble into snuff upon compression; after which, in humid
weather, they will become quite pliable; then strip the leaves off
the stems, make them up into hands, and pack them tightly into a
close bin: when full, cover it with boards and old bagged stuff,
upon which place heavy weights. In this state it undergoes the
sweating process, which, in this colony, is little understood or not
properly attended to, and yet, upon the skill displayed thereon, the
quality of the tobacco greatly depends. I will therefore give some
general directions upon this portion of the planter's office. If the
tobacco happen to be too damp when put into the bin, it will attain
either an injurious or a destructive degree of heat; it must
therefore he watched for some days after it is packed. To an
experienced operator I would say, if the heat exceed 80 degrees of
temperature, immediately unpack and re-hang the whole, waiting its
condition as before explained, before it is again put into the
sweating bin. Should the degree of heat be below that stated, it may
remain for weeks or until the heat has subsided. I have generally
removed it from the sweating process in about fourteen or twenty
days, sometimes considerably longer, regulating that act by the odor
and color of the leaf. If, however, it appears to be attaining a
very dark brown color and its heat not subsided, it should be taken
out and closely pressed into large cases or casks, when it will
again attain a gentle heat called the "second sweating," as is
invariably the case with the hogsheads of the American leaf tobacco:
this again improves its quality. Here the grower's operations
terminate.

It may be necessary to remark, that how skilful and experienced
soever the grower may be, it is hardly possible for him to produce a
good article upon a small scale; for with a less quantity than one
ton to place in the sweating bin at a time, the requisite heat to
insure success will not be generated. I would further observe, that
the practice of the colonists in growing what they term a "second
crop" is most injurious to their interests, their lands, and the
quality and character of the colonial tobacco. The American planter
never attempts it. I would therefore strongly recommend its
discontinuance, and also never to crop one piece of land with
tobacco more than two or three years in succession. The Americans
rarely take more than two crops unless the land be new; after which
they sow it down with grasses, in which state it remains for two or
three years until it is again planted with tobacco. I would
recommend this plan to the growers.

The character of the American tobacco has been greatly advanced in
the mercantile world by an ordinance regulating that source of
national wealth. The planters are thereby obligated to deposit their
crops in warehouses, over which sworn inspectors preside, who
rigidly examine every hogshead, and if found to be of mercantile
quality, grant the owner a certificate, by which instrument only he
sells his produce. The purchaser is hereby safe in buying these
certificates. The tobacco to which they refer is delivered to the
holder on presentation to the inspector. I mention this not as
applicable here at present, but it most probably may hereafter.

When the colony is suffering severely for the want of labor, it may
by some be deemed inopportune in offering remarks upon this article
of commerce. To such dissentients I will remark, that a great
portion of the work can be performed by women and children. A moiety
of our anticipated increase of population will be available for this
hitherto mismanaged source of wealth. At present the quantity grown
in the colony is equal to three-fourths of its consumption, and
which production is of a very inferior quality to the imported.
These facts tend to show that my notice of the subject is not
inopportune, and particularly so when the object is to point out
those errors so generally adopted by the tobacco growers here. Years
of practical experience, of personal observation upon the
plantations of North America, and my having been, I believe, the
grower of the greatest quantity of tobacco in the colony, qualify me
to afford instructions thereon; whereby, if attended to, our tobacco
will become fully equal to the American, as was proved to be the
case by the crops I grew here (upwards of 40 tons),[56] which were
sold in Sydney by the Commissariat Department at public auction, at
an advance of twenty per cent. more than the imported leaf. As the
duty on tobacco is about to be reduced, the present production may
fall off, unless an immediate improvement in its quality take place.
Instead of being importers of tobacco, we should, if it was grown
here to perfection, be exporters of it to all our sister colonies;
and in its raw state, also to the European markets. At present, for
home consumption, there is a greater profit to be made by its
cultivation, if skilfully managed, than in any part of the world;
for the duty upon imported is a positive bonus to the grower.

In 1849-50 there were fifteen manufactories of tobacco on a small scale in New South Wales, but these were reduced in 1851 to six.

Many samples of tobacco grown in the colony have been pronounced by competent judges equal to Virginian, but a very considerable prejudice exists against it. There is, however, no doubt that the dealers dispose of a great deal as American tobacco, and get a best price for it. The reduction of the import duties on foreign tobacco, recently made by the Legislative Council, will probably retard the progress of the colonial production and manufacture of this article; but with an abundance of labor there is no question that this branch of industry will be again profitably resorted to. The quantity of tobacco manufactured in New South Wales, in 1847, was 1,321 cwt.; in 1848, 714 cwt.; in 1849, 2,758 cwt.; in 1850, 3,833 cwt.; in 1851, 4,841 cwt.

A correspondent of the _Adelaide Observer_ recommends its culture in South Australia, and supplies the following useful information:--

Without entering into botanical details, I will simply state that
the plant is of a shrubby nature, about five feet high, and ought
not to be planted nearer than four feet from each other, in rows
five feet apart--thus allowing for each plant a space of ground four
feet by five, or 20 square feet. An acre will consequently furnish
sufficient room for 2,178 plants.

The tobacco plant will thrive in almost any climate, from the torrid
zone to the temperature of Great Britain. It luxuriates in rich
alluvial valleys, where the soil is either of a _loamy_ or a _peaty_
nature.

Maiden soil is not recommended. The ground should be trenched,
worked as fine as possible, and well manured. Tobacco will not
answer unless the subsoil is thoroughly broken. The best manure is
that obtained from the bullock-yard, and bark from the tan yard; and
by two or three ploughings the earth can be brought to a proper
consistency, and fit for the reception of the plants.

The usual method adopted in New South Wales, is to raise the plants
in a warm, sheltered bed, neither exposed to wind nor to the sun's
rays; but if the weather is dry, they should be well watered night
and morning. The time of sowing is the end of August or the
beginning of September in the latitude of Sydney, according to the
state of the weather; and they may be transplanted when they have
attained their sixth leaf, which is generally about a month or five
weeks after they are up.

The period is rather later in this colony, and care should be taken
that the plants have gained sufficient strength in the ground after
transplanting to withstand the effect of the hot winds, and, if
practicable, the aspect should be either N.E. or N.W., and the rows
should incline towards either of these points.

The most suitable spots in this colony for the cultivation of
tobacco, are Lyndoch Valley and the districts round the town of
Willunga and Morphett Vale.

The greatest care is required from the cultivator to prevent the
destruction of the plant from its greatest enemy, the black grub.
Daily search should be made for it, and not a plant should be left
unexamined; they make their appearance about the beginning of
November, when the plants have scarcely had time to take root. The
soil between the rows should be kept constantly stirred with a
three-pronged fork, that air and the sun's rays may be admitted,
which latter are as indispensable to the growing plant as injurious
to the seedling. The labor is great, and from first to last requires
the constant attention of one man throughout the year, with an
additional hand for about six weeks during the process of curing.

The profits even in bad seasons are considerable; but when the
season and soil are favorable, they average upwards of 100 per cent.
The consumption of tobacco is great in this colony, not only for
personal use, but for sheep-wash; and the profits may be
considerably greater for the lower leaves, which, owing to their
gritty nature, cannot be manufactured, but may be advantageously
cured for wash.

It is not my office to argue the point as to the advantages which
may accrue from a free trade in tobacco; but this I know, and
confidently assert it, from actual experiments made in this
province, that a more lucrative article cannot be grown.

The consumption in South America, in 1850, was 147,178 lbs.; and the
annual increase since 1840 has been a higher percentage than the
increase of population, chiefly owing to extension in sheep-farming.

The probable expense of cultivation per acre may be as under:--

£ s. d.
Rent 0 10 0
Labor, 12 months 52 0 0
Ditto, 2 months 8 10 0
Ploughing three times 2 2 0
Harrowing twice 1 0 0
Manure, say 2 10 0
Seed, say 0 10 0
----------
£67 2 0

The Sydney average quantity is said to be 11-1/3 cwt. per acre,
say 10 cwt.; and the cost price per lb. will be 14½d., or £6 15s.
4d. per cwt. The profit will at once be seen on this article of
consumption.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous Drugs.--The blood tree (_Croton gossypifolia_), an evergreen shrub, native of the Trinidad mountains, is remarkable for yielding, when wounded, a thick juice resembling blood in color, which is one of the most powerful astringents I know of, and as such would be valuable to medical science. The bark of _Croton Cascarilla_ is, as we have seen in a former section, aromatic, and the seeds of _C. Tiglium_, the physic nut, are purgative; so are those of the purging nut (_Jatropha multifida_), and another species (_J. gossypifolia_).

The pods of cow-itch (_Mucuna pruriens_) act as a vermifuge; the roots of the _Ruellia tuberosa_, or manyroot, and the bulbs of the white lily (_Pancratium Carribæum_ and _maritimum_), are emetic. The Indian root or bastard ipecacuan (_Asclepias curassavica_) has medicinal properties. _A. tuberosa_ is used as a mild cathartic, and a remedy for a variety of disorders. _Hydrastis canadensis_, or Canadian yellow root, is a valuable bitter, and furnishes a useful yellow dye. _Knowltonia vesicatoria_ is used commonly as a blister in the Cape Colony. _Ranunculus saleratus_ (the _R. indicus_ of Roxburgh, and _B. camosus_ of Wallich), common in India, is also used by the natives for blistering purposes.

A kind of sedge rush, common in swampy places in the West India islands, the _Adme cyperus_, enjoys a reputation for the cure of yellow fever. It is also stated to be cordial, diuretic and cephalic, serviceable in the first stages of the dropsy, good in vomitings, fluxes, &c.

Dr. Impey, the residentiary surgeon of Malwa, has just confidence in the indigenous drugs in use by the natives of the East, many of which are quite unknown in European practice. He believes that, in the Indian bazaars and the jungle, drugs having precisely the same effect as those of Europe may be discovered, and has recently drawn up a list of ninety substances, which are perfect substitutes for an equal number of European medicines. The class of tonics, in particular, is most amply supplied, and the Englishman is not the only animal who suffers from disorders of the digestive organs.

My friend Dr. Hamilton, of Plymouth, recently brought under the notice of the profession the medical properties of the prickly poppy or Mexican thistle (_Argemone Mexicana_). It is indigenous to and grows wild in the greatest profusion throughout the whole of the Caribbean islands, and may be found at every season of the year covered with its bright golden blossoms, and bearing its prickly capsules in all their several stages of maturity. It is an annual plant, attaining a height of about two feet, growing abundantly in low and hot uncultivated spots. Its stem is round and prickly, furnished with alternate branches and thorny leaves. The seeds possess an emetic quality. The whole plant abounds in a yellow milky juice, resembling gamboge in color, and not improbably possessing properties similar to the seeds. In Nevis the oil is obtained from the bruised seeds by boiling, and sold by the negroes in small phials, containing about an ounce each, under the name of "thistle oil," at the price of a quarter of a dollar each. The usual dose for dry bellyache is thirty drops upon a lump of sugar, and its effect is perfectly magical, relieving the pain instantaneously, throwing the patient into a profound and refreshing sleep, and in a few hours relieving the bowels gently of the contents. This oil seems fitted to compete in utility with the far more costly and less agreeable oil of the croton.

The seeds of the sandbox (_Hura crepitans_) when bruised, operate powerfully as emetico-cathartic. It is probable that an oil might be obtained from them similar in its operation to the thistle oil.

A cucurbitaceous fruit, one of the Luffas (called by Von Martius _Luffa purgans_), a tribe closely allied to the colocynth and mornordicas, growing in South America, is a powerful purgative, and is used in the province of Pernambuco, where it is called Cabacinha. The fruit is about the size of a small pear and resembles the wild cucumber. An infusion of a fourth part of one of these fruits is administered chiefly in the form of an injection.

Another species (_Luffa drastica_, of Martius) is also employed for the same purpose.

The _Luffa purgans_ grows spontaneously in the suburbs of Recieffe, the capital of the province of Pernambuco, and flowers in November and December. The fruit is a drastic purgative, and an infusion of it is used either internally or in the form of clyster. The tincture is prepared by macerating, for twenty-eight hours or more, four of the fruit deprived of the seeds in a bottle of spirit 21 degrees. The dose is three or four ounces daily, which occasions much sickness.

* * * * *

Poisons.--The vegetable kingdom (observes Mr. Simple), to which man is largely indebted for the materials of food, clothing, and shelter, produces also some of the most deadly poisons with which science, experience, or accident, has made him acquainted. In examining the poisonous productions of the vegetable kingdom, we find that their properties are generally due to the presence of some acid or alkali contained in the plant from which they are derived. Oil of bitter almonds and cherry laurel water are poisonous in consequence of containing prussic acid. Opium owes its activity to the alkaloid morphia. The Upas-tiente derives its energetic powers from the alkaloid strychnia; conia is the active principle of hemlock; veratria of hellebore; aconita of monk's hood; and although there are several poisonous plants in which the active principle has not yet been detected, there can be little doubt that such a principle exists, although it has hitherto eluded the researches of the chemist.--("Pharmaceutical Journal," vol. 2, p. 17.)

The bark taken from the roots of the Jamaica dogwood (_Piscidia erythrina_), which is extensively distributed throughout the Archipelago of the Antilles, is used for stupefying fish. The pounded root is mixed with slaked lime and the low wines or lees of the distillery, and the mixture is put into small baskets or sacks, and so suffered to wash out gradually, coloring the water to a reddish hue. The fish rise to the surface in a few minutes, when they float as if dead.

The expressed juice of the root of _Maranta Arundinacea_ is stated to be a valuable antidote to some vegetable poisons, and also serviceable in cases of bites or stings of venomous insects or reptiles. One of the most popular remedies for the bites of snakes is a decoction of the leaves of the Guaco, or snake plant, of South America, a species of willow which flourishes along the banks of the streams in the sultry regions shaded by other trees. It is said to be both a preventive and cure.

Mr. Edward Otto, writing from Cuba to the "Gardener's Magazine" for May, 1842, p. 286, describes the guaco as a tree growing from four to eight feet in height, with beautiful dark green leaves, having a brown tinge round the margin. The blossoms are small, of a bluish brown, and hang like loose bunches of grapes at the points of the shoots, or even on the stem itself, as it has seldom branches. The milky sap is said to have poisonous effects. "I was told (he adds) that this plant is used efficiently in cholera and yellow fever." This tree is said to be the _Camæladia ilicifolia_ of Swartz, common in Antigua and Hayti, being known in Antigua by the popular name of the holly-leaved maiden plum.

* * * * *

ALOES.--The drug called aloes is the bitter, resinous, inspissated juice of the leaves of various species of an arborescent plant of the lily family, with a developed stem and large succulent leaves, growing principally in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and having a wide extent of range, being produced in Borneo and the East, Africa, Arabia, and the West Indies; many are also natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The plant will thrive in almost any soil, and, when once established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.

The cultivation and manufacture are of the most simple kind. The usual mode of propagating the plants is by suckers; and all the care required is to keep them free from weeds.

From the high price which the best Barbados aloes fetches in the market, £7 per cwt., its culture might be profitably extended to many of the other islands. The aloes plant is indigenous to the soil of Jamaica, and although handled by thousands of the peasantry and others, there is not perhaps one in five thousand who understands its properties or the value of the plant. With the Jamaicans it is commonly used in fever cases, by slicing the leaves, permitting the juice to escape partially, and then applying them to the head with bandages;--this is the only generally known property which it possesses there.

A series of trials made recently in Paris proved that cordage manufactured from the fibre of this plant grown in Algiers, was far preferable in comparative strength to that manufactured from hemp. Cables, of equal size, showed that that made of the aloe raised a weight of one-fifth more than that of hemp.

The drug is imported into this country under the names of Socotrine, East Indian or Hepatic, Barbados, Cape and Caballine aloes. It contains a substance called Aloetine, which some regard as its active principle. The various species now defined are--_Aloe spicata_, _vulgaris_, _Socotrina_, _Indica_, _rubescens_, _Arabica_, _linguæ-formis_ and _Commelina_. The average imports in 1841 and 1842 were only about 170,780 cwts.; it is now much larger, and a great portion of the supply is drawn from the Cape colony.

The mode of preparing the drug, which I have myself seen in the West Indies, is exceedingly simple. When the plant has arrived at proper maturity, the laborers go into the field with tubs and knives, and cut the largest and most succulent leaves close to the stalk; these are placed upright in the tubs, side by side, so that the sap may flow out of the wound. Sometimes a longitudinal incision is made from top to bottom of the leaf, to facilitate the discharge. The crude juice thus obtained is placed in shallow flat-bottomed receivers, and exposed to the sun until it has acquired sufficient consistency to be packed in gourds for exportation. In preparing the coarser kind, or horse aloes, the leaves are cut into junks and thrown into the tubs, there to lie till the juice is pretty well drained out; they are then squeezed by the hand, and water, in the proportion of one quart to ten of juice, is added, after which it is boiled to a due consistence and emptied into large shallow coolers.

The following analysis by M. Edmond Robiquet of a specimen of Socotrine aloes, obtained from M. Chevallier, is given in the sixth volume of the "Pharmaceutical Journal," p. 277. The constituents in 100 parts were:--

Pure aloes (Aloetine) 85.00
Ulmate of potash 2.00
Sulphate of lime 2.00
Carbonate of potash }
-------------lime } traces.
Phosphate of lime }
Gallic acid .25
Albumen 8.

The true Socotrine aloes is the produce of _A. Socotrina_, which grows abundantly in the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. Lieutenant Wellstead says, the hills on the west side of the island are covered for an extent of miles with aloe plants. The aloe grows spontaneously on the limestone mountains of Socotra, from 500 to 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. The produce is brought to Tamarida and Colliseah, the principal town and harbor for exports. In 1833, the best quality sold for 2s. a pound, while for the more indifferent the price was 13d. The value is much impaired by the careless manner in which the aloes is gathered and packed. Aloes once formed the staple of its traffic, for which it was chiefly resorted to; but only small quantities are now exported. It was formerly shipped by the way of Smyrna and Alexandria, but is usually now brought by the way of Bombay; Melinda, on the Zanzibar coast, and Maccula on the Arabian shore, furnish the greater part of that sold in Europe as Socotrine aloes. It comes home in chests or packages of 150 to 200 lbs. wrapt in skins of the gazelle, sometimes in casks holding half a ton or more. It is somewhat transparent, of a garnet or yellowish red color. The smell is not very unpleasant, approaching to myrrh. Socotrine aloes, although long considered the best kind, is now below Barbados aloes in commercial value.

About two tons were imported from Socotra in 1833, but a much larger quantity could be obtained if required.

The price of Socotrine aloes in the Liverpool market, in the early part of 1853, was 30s. to £6 the cwt.; of Cape, 30s. to 32s.

_East Indian_, or _Hepatic aloes_.-- The real hepatic aloes, so called from its liver color, is believed to be the produce of _A. Arabica_, or _perfoliala_, which grows in Yemen in Arabia, from whence it is exported by the way of Bombay to Europe. According to Dr. Thomson and the "Materia Medica," it is duller in its color than the other kinds, is bitterer, and has a less pleasant aroma than the Socotrine aloes. It should not be liquid, which deteriorates the quality.

_A. Indica_--a species with reddish flowers, common in dry situations, in the north-west provinces of India, is that from which an inferior sort of the drug is produced. It is obtained in Guzerat, Salem, and Trichinopoly, and fetches a local price of 2d. to 3d. a pound. In the Bombay market, Socotrine aloes fetches wholesale 16s. to 20s. the Surat maund of 41 lbs., and Maccula aloes only 9s.

_Barbados aloes_, is the produce of _A. vulgaris_, or _A. barbadensis_, a native of the Cape colony, and is often passed off for the Hepatic. It is brought home in calabashes, or large gourd shells, containing from 60 to 70 lbs. each, or more. It is duskier in hue than the East Indian species, being a darkish brown or black, and the taste is more nauseous and intensely bitter.

In 1786 one hogshead and 409 gourds of aloes were exported from Barbados. In 1827, there were about 96,000 packages shipped from the island. In 1844, there were 4,600 packages exported. The exports have fallen off considerably, only about 850 gourds having been shipped in the season of 1849-50; but in 1851 it increased to 2,505 gourds.

_Caballine_, or _Horse-aloes_, is the coarsest species or refuse of the Barbados aloes, and from its rank fetid smell is only useful for veterinary medicine. It is also obtained from Spain and Senegal.

A very good description of the mode of cultivating and preparing the aloes in Barbados is given in the 8th vol. of the "London Medical Journal":--

The lands in the vicinity of the sea, that is from two to three
miles, which are rather subject to drought than otherwise, and are
so strong and shallow as not to admit of the planting of sugar-canes
with any prospect of success, are generally found to answer best for
the aloe-plant. The stones, at least the larger ones, are first
picked up, and either packed in heaps upon the most shallow barren
spots, or laid round the field as a dry wall. The land is then
lightly ploughed and very carefully cleared of all noxious weeds,
lined at one foot distance from row to row, and the young plants set
like cabbages, at about five or six inches from each other. This
regular mode of lining and setting the plants is practised only by
the most exact planters, in order to facilitate the frequent weeding
by hand; because if the ground be not kept perfectly clean and free
from weeds, the produce will be very small. Aloes will bear being
planted in any season of the year, even in the dryest, as they will
live on the surface of the earth for many weeks without a drop of
rain. The most general time of planting them, however, is from April
to June.

In the March following, the laborers carry a parcel of tubs and jars
into the field, and each takes a slip or breadth of it, and begins
by laying hold of a bunch of the blades, as much as he can
conveniently grasp with one hand, whilst with the other he cuts it
just above the surface of the earth as quickly as possible (that the
juice may not be wasted), and then places the branches in the tub
bunch by bunch or handful by handful. When the first tub is thus
packed quite full, a second is begun (each laborer having two); and
by the time the second is filled, all the juice is generally drained
out of the blades in the first tub. The blades are then lightly
taken out and thrown over the land by way of manure, and the juice
is poured out into a jar. The tub is then filled again with blades,
and so alternately, till the laborer 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 employer's interest to get each day's operation 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 perfection till the second or third year, and that they
will be productive for a length of time, say ten or twelve years, or
even for a longer time, if good dung or manure of any kind is
stirred 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,
or coppers are placed to one fire, though some have but two, and the
small planters only one boiler. The boilers are filled with the
juice, and as it ripens or becomes more inspissated by a constant
but regular fire, it is ladled from boiler to boiler, and fresh
juice is added to that farthest from the fire, till the juice in
that nearest the fire (by much the smallest of the three) becomes of
a proper consistency, to be skipped or ladled out into gourds or
other small vessels used for its final reception. The proper time to
skip or ladle it out of the last boiler is when it has arrived at
what is termed a resin height, or when it cuts freely or in thin
flakes from the edges of a small wooden slice that is dipped from
time to time into the boiler for that purpose. A little lime water
is used by some aloe boilers during the process, when the ebullition
is too great.

CAPE ALOES is the produce chiefly of _A. spicata_, and _A. Commelini_, which are found growing wild in great abundance in the interior of the Cape Colony. It has not the dark opaque appearance of the other species. About fifty miles from Cape Town is a mountainous tract, almost entirely covered with numerous species and varieties of the plant, and some of the extensive arid plains in the interior of the colony are crowded with it. The settlers go forth and pitch their waggous and campa on these spots to obtain the produce. The shipments from Table Bay and the eastern port of Algoa Bay are very considerable. The odor of the Cape aloes is stronger and more disagreeable than that of the Socotrine or Barbados, and the color is more like gamboge. It is brought over in chests and skins, the latter being preferred.

Mr. George Dunsterville, surgeon of Algoa Bay, gives the following description of the manufacture of Cape aloes:--

A shallow pit is dug, in which is spread a bullock's hide or sheep's
skin. The leaves of the aloe plants in the immediate vicinity of
this pit are stripped off and piled up on the skin to variable
heights. These are left for a few days. The juice exudes from the
leaves, and is received by the skin beneath. The Hottentot then
collects in a basket or other convenient article the produce of many
heaps, which is then put into an iron pot capable of holding
eighteen or twenty gallons. Fire is applied to effect evaporation,
during which the contents of the pot are constantly stirred to
prevent burning. The cooled liquor is then poured into wooden cases
of about three feet square by one foot deep, or into goat or sheep
skins, and thus is filled for the market. In the colony aloes
realises about 2¼ d. to 3½ d. per pound. The Hottentots and Dutch
boors employ indiscriminately different species of aloe in the
preparation of the drug.

The Cape aloes, which _is_ usually prized the highest in the English
market, is that made at the Missionary institution of Bethelsdorp (a
small village about nine miles from Algoa Bay, and chiefly inhabited
by Hottentots and their missionary teachers). Its superiority arises
not from the employment of a particular species of aloe, for all
species are used, but from the greater care and attention paid to
what is technically called the cooking of the aloes; that is, the
evaporation, and to the absence of all adulterating substances
(fragments of limestone, sand, earth, &c.), often introduced by
manufacturers.

Mr. Moodie, in his "Ten Years' Residence in Southern Africa," gives a somewhat similar account.

Mr. Bunbury states that, about the neighbourhood of Graham's Town, three large kinds of aloe are very abundant, which form striking and characteristic features of the scenery; they grow irregularly scattered over the parched and naked faces of the hills, but most abundantly among the low broken ledges and knolls of sandstone rock, and are often seen spiring up above the evergreen bushes in the ravines, and crowning the cliffs. One kind grows to the height of a man. They are plants of a strange, rigid, and ungraceful appearance, but with very handsome flowers, which form tall and dense spikes, of a fine coral-red color in two of the species _(A. arborescens_ and _lineata?_), and of an orange scarlet in the third _(A. glaucescens?_). When in blossom they are conspicuous at a great distance, and might easily be mistaken, when seen from far off, for soldiers in red uniforms.

The importance of this indigenous plant to the Cape Colony, may be estimated from the following figures:--

AMOUNT OF ALOES, THE PRODUCE OF THE COLONY, AND VALUE THEREOF,
EXPORTED IN THE YEARS ENDING 5TH JANUARY 1841, 1842, AND 1846.
lbs £
1841 485,574 8,821
1842 602,620 11,877
1846 266,725 3,018

EXPORTS AND VALUE FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE.
lbs. £
1835 68,042 474
1836 30,808 285
1837 13,400 115
1838 28,867 306
1839 75,500 918
1840 82,478 1,145
1841 220,214 4,271
1842 283,305 5,003
1844 318,035 3,225

EXPORTS AND VALUE FROM THE WESTERN PROVINCE.
lbs. £
1841 242,860 4,175
1842 379,315 6,874
1844 506,796 6,586

ASAFOETIDA.---This drug of commerce is procured from the milky juice of _Ferula asafoetida_, a plant recently described by Dr. Falconer, under the name of _Narthex asafoetida_. It is found in Persia, the mountains of Chorasan, the central table land of Affghanistan, and some seeds of it, sent to this country by Dr. Falconer, germinated in the Botanical Garden at Edinburgh, and are now vigorous thriving plants of six years growth. Its leaves have a resemblance to those of a pæony; the fruit is distinguished by divided and interrupted vittae, which form a network on the surface. The perennial roots grow to a very large size, and are seldom of any use until after four or five years' growth. The asafoetida is procured by taking successive slices off the top of the root and collecting the milky juice., which is allowed to concrete into masses of a fetid resinous gummy matter, with a sulphur oil, similar to that of garlic, which is probably its active ingredient.

An inferior sort is obtained from _F. persica_, another species with very much divided leaves, growing chiefly in the southern provinces of Persia. It comes over usually in casks and cases. The British consumption of the drug is about 10,000 lbs. a year. A little is procured from Scinde. In 1825 the quantity imported was 106,770 lbs., in 1839 only 24 cwts.

The wholesale price in the Liverpool market, in January 1853, was £1 to £3 10s. the cwt.

CAMPHOR.--The Camphor tree (_Camphora officinarum_, _Laurus Camphora_) is a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, of the laurel tribe, with black and purple veins. Camphor is procured from all parts of the tree, but it is obtained principally from the wood by distillation, and subsequent sublimation.

Many plants, such as the cinnamon tree, supply a kind of camphor, but the common camphor of the shops is the produce chiefly of _C. officinarum._

Two kinds of unrefined camphor are known in commerce.--1. The Dutch, which is brought from Batavia, and is said to be the produce of Japan. This is imported in tubs covered by matting and each surrounded by a second tub, secured on the outside by hoops of twisted cane. Each tub contains about one cwt. Most of this goes to the continent. 2. Ordinary crude camphor is imported from Singapore and Bombay, in square chests lined with lead-foil, and containing 1¼ to 1½ cwts. It is chiefly produced in the island of Formosa, and is brought by the Chin Chew junks in very large quantities to Canton, whence foreign markets get supplied.--("Pereira's Materia Medica.")

In the southern part of Japan the tree grows in such abundance that, notwithstanding the great consumption of it in the country, large quantities are exported. Koempfer says, that the Japanese camphor is made by a simple decoction of the wood and roots, but bears no proportion in value to that of Borneo. There is also an imitation of camphor in Japan, but every body can distinguish it from the genuine.

The camphor of Sumatra is procured from the stem of a large tree, _Dryobalanops Camphora_, Colebrook; _D. aromatica_, Graertner. It is secreted in crystalline masses naturally into cavities of the wood. It supplies this camphor only after attaining a considerable age. In its young state it yields, however, by incision, a pale yellow liquid, called the liquid camphor of Borneo and Sumatra, which consists of resin and a volatile oil having a camphorated odor.

An account of this tree, and of the mode of procuring the peculiar and high-priced camphor which it yields, is given by Dr. Junghuhn, who has travelled lately in Sumatra, and Prof. De Vriese, of Leyden, in the "Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief" for 1851. An abstract of the memoir, translated into English by Miss De Vriese, is published in "Hooker's Journal of Botany " for February and March 1852:--

The Dryobalanops is a gigantic tree, rising for fifty or even a
hundred feet above those which compose the chief mass of the forests
where they grow, just as the steeples of the churches appear above
the roofs of the houses in a town. The trunks of the full-grown
trees are from 7 to 10 feet in diameter at the very base, and from 5
to 8 feet higher up; they rise to the height of 100 or 130 feet, and
their ample crown is from 50 to 70 feet in diameter. The tree has a
limited range, being confined to the seaward slope of the mountains
of southwestern Sumatra, most abundant on the lower slopes and the
outlying hills of the alluvial plain, and extending in latitude from
1deg. 10m. to 2deg. 20m. N., and perhaps further to the north.
Camphor oil occurs in all the trees, and is most abundant in the
younger branches and leaves. The solid camphor is found only on the
trunks of older trees, especially in fissures of the wood, and in
smaller quantity than is generally supposed. Colebrooke, and authors
who have copied from him, assert that camphor is found in the heart
of the tree in such a quantity as to fill a cavity of the thickness
of a man's arm, and that a single tree yields about eleven pounds.
The price of this camphor, which at Padang sells for about 340
dollars per hundred weight, suffices to show that the account is
much exaggerated. The camphor occurs only in small fissures, from
which the natives, having felled the trees and split up the wood,
scrape it off with small splinters or with their nails. From the
oldest and richest trees they rarely collect more than two ounces.
After a long stay in the woods, frequently of three months, during
which they may fell a hundred trees, a party of thirty persons
rarely bring away more than 15 or 20 pounds of solid camphor, worth
from 200 to 250 dollars. The variety and price of this costly
substance are enhanced by a custom which has immemorially prevailed
among the Battas, of delaying the burial of every person who during
his life had a claim to the title of Rajah (of which each village
has one) until some rice, sown on the day of his death, has sprung
up, grown and borne fruit. The corpse, till then kept above ground
among the living, is now, with these ears of rice, committed to the
earth, like the grain six months before; and thus the hope is
emblematically expressed that, as a new life arises from the seed,
so another life shall begin for man after his death. During this
time the corpse is kept in the house, enclosed in a coffin made of
the hollowed trunk of a Durion, and the whole space between the
coffin and the body is filled with pounded camphor, for the purchase
of which the family of the deceased Rajah frequently impoverish
themselves. The camphor oil is collected by incisions at the base of
the trunk, from which the clear balsamic juice is very slowly
discharged.

In Sumatra the best camphor is obtained in a district called Barus, and all good camphor bears that local name. It appears that the tree is cut down to obtain the gum and that not in one tenth of the trees is it found. Barus camphor is getting scarce, as the tree must be destroyed before it is ascertained whether it is productive or not. About 800 piculs are annually sent to China. The proportion between Malay and Chinese camphor is as eighteen to one; the former is more fragrant and not so pungent as the latter.

Nine hundred and eighty-three tubs of camphor were exported from Java in 1843; 625 bales were imported in 1843, the produce of the Japanese empire; and 559 piculs exported from Canton in 1844.

The price of unrefined camphor in the Liverpool market in July, 1853, was £4 to £4 10s. the cwt. There have been no imports there direct in the last two years.

Camphor (says Dr. Ure) is found in a great many plants and is
secreted in parity by several laurels; it occurs combined with the
essential oils of many of the _labiacæ_; but it is extracted for
manufacturing purposes only from the _Laurus Camphora_, which
abounds in China and Japan, as well as from a tree which grows in
Sumatra and Borneo, called in the country _kapur barus_, from the
name of the place where it is most common. The camphor exists, ready
formed, in these vegetables between the wood and the bark; but it
does not exude spontaneously. On cleaving the tree _Laurus
Sumatrensis (Qy. Dryobalanops Camphora)_, masses of camphor are
found in the pith. The wood of the Laurus is cut into small pieces
and put, with plenty of water, into large iron boilers, which are
covered with an earthen capital or dome, lined within with rice
straw. As the water boils, the camphor rises with the steam, and
attaches itself as a sublimate to the stalks, under the form of
granulations of a grey color. In this state it is picked off the
straw and packed up for exportation to Europe."--(" Dictionary of
Arts and Manufactures.")

The price of camphor at Canton in July, 1850, was from fourteen to fifteen dollars per picul.

Cinchona.--Peruvian or Jesuit's Bark--One of the most valuable and powerful astringents and tonics used in medicine, is the produce of several species of cinchona, natives of the Andes, from 11 north latitude to 20 south latitude, at elevations varying from 1,200 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in a dry rocky soil. There are at least twelve trees which are supposed to furnish the barks of commerce, and great obscurity prevails as to the species whence the various kinds of cinchona bark are derived. The names of yellow, red, and pale bark have been very vaguely applied, and are by no means well defined. Dr. Lindley mentions twenty-six varieties; of which twenty-one are well known. The barks are met with either in thick, large, flat pieces, or in thinner pieces, which curl inwards during drying, and are called quilled.