The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-03

l and crisp bus by m5king inclslons in the trunk peculiar, grayish milk oozes out, which $ tolerably thick and of an agree able balmy smell.
 Natives Receive Milk.
 The natives gather around these trees at sunrise and bring large bowls with them to receive the milk. for toward noon | day the heat of the sun changes the milk to sour. However, the milk will harden into q toothsome gum, much as the fanjl- far breaking of the milk weed sstalk by our own schooiboys will ooze the white juice of the weed, which the air turns to gum. The gum of the COW tree acts as good assuf ger of thlrct
 It is a curiDs and pnzzling sight to the | stranger to see the trunks of these trees hristling with plugs. as he will see them, for the drawer of milk from hole in tree will plug 1t Up when his needs are supplied, to keep the tree from unneces- sary waste.
 Three odd and useful trees are the | butter tree" of Central Africa, the low tree" of Malabar. The first of mama tree" of Calabria. and the ''tal- these bears a nut from the kernel of which the natives produce butter which | so African travellers inform us, much resembles butter obtained from cows milk and which will remain sweet year.
 The mama tree is so called because 1 from a sap which is tapped from the tree I in August q sweet gum is evaporated, which has no little food value, and some commercial substance in the drug trade. | The 'tallow tree of MuiaDar yields from the seeds of it's fruit, by boiling an ex- oellent tallow, which serves as a valu- l able iluininant, both as oil and by can dies which are made from 1t. l It is a most remarkable tree too, that flourishes on the island of Ferro, one of the larger of the Canary group. The Island Is so dry that not even small rivulet is to be found, and for that ab- | sence of water a curious compensation is made by tree such as IS not to be found elsewhere. Tho leaves of this tree are long and narrow, and they continue green the year through.
 The gentle mystery of this tree is a cloud that hovers about 1t constantly; this is condensed to water, which sat- urates the leaves and falling from them in constant drops keeps the cisterns which are in excavations beneath them always full of water. It is the absence of all water save this so strangely col lected by the rain tree that keeps the island sparsey poPulatea for the trees are but few and the supply of water is not sufficient for the needs of a larger | poulatlon.
 We have in our own country at least two strange creations among trees-the "soap tree' which grows in Florida, al- though it is not indigenous and the witch tree" T he latter is more p-op- erly. a bush or shrub, and is peculiar to the 1nscarora gulches in Nevada
 The soap tree was brought from Ja- pan, where it is common. It is a pro- life bearer of berries about the size of cherry, and of the yellow color of a common bar of soap. From these berries | xrith bn n1a thoN contain. a good soap is fabricated; but In Japan the berries are used as a substi- tute for soap just as they come from the trees.
 The witch tree is a dwarf tree it's stem rarely as large around as aman arm, and seldom taller than eight feet It has nnumeranle branches and inter- tvining twlgs. It's foliage IS so luminous that at night it can be plainly distn- guished a mile or more away: while ac- cording to a letter to the writer from a resident of Tuso arora, in close proximity to one of these trees, fine print is easily read.
 This tree is evidently species of bay, nd the luminous property of it's leaves Is parasitic. It consists of gummy subsiaf ce which Iron being transferred to the hand by the rubbing of leaves upon it. imparts to it the same phospho- rescent glow while the glow disappears from the leaves.
 A unique tree on the island of Goa, near Bombay, is the 'sorrowful tree" as the natives term 1t. That name is given to it because the tree has a dropping, sad ap- pearance during the day time but its lesrect changes as the sun goes down; then it's leaves open and no longer droop, and fragrant Blossoms come into bloom upon 1t. The moment the sun shows it. self in the east the blooms close. the leaves begin to droop, and the petals of the recent sweet blossoms fall to the ground. This tree blooms thus all the year round.
 Oldest Living Trees.
 The baobab trees of Senegambia are | believed to be the oldest living trees on earth. Some scientists have put the age of one of these trees at 6,000 years. and the. conscientious ard conservative I.iv- ingstone was positive that one he exam ined was not less than 1,40O years old This Is the tree that sends out the inn mense branches that bend to the ground for support. although they grow some times 10 length of seventy-five feet be- fore they bend downward
 There is legend about a tree of Tihet called tEe tree of ten thousand ma- ges, which runs like this
 Far away in the dreary land of Am Do. in Tibet, is a green valley in which, in tartar tent was born a beautiful boy named rsong-Kaba From his birth he had long white beard and flowing hair and could speak perfectly his native 1 tongue.
 | His manners were majestic and his words were full of wisdom. When he was three years old he resolved to cut off lis hair and live a solitary life; so his l mother shaved his head and threw his l long flowing locks upon the ground out side their tent door. From his hair sprang the wonderful tree l Tsong- Kaba lived many wears. did