The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-24
MILK FROM TREES
Several Trees That Produce Useful and Milky
 Juices.
SMALLER PLANTS DO SAME
The Cow Tree of Venezuela Gives the Natives Good
 Food.

OOt'
 The coW-tree of Venezuela yields a milk of good quality. It forms large forests along the sea coasts of that country. Its milk, which is obtained by making incisions in the trunk, 50 closely resembles that from the COW, both in appearance and quality, that it is commonly used by the natives as an article of food. Unlike many other vebetable milks, it is perfectly whole some and very nourishing, possessing an agreeable taste, like that of sweet cream, and a pleasant balsamic odor, says the London Telegraph, Its only unpleasant property is slight amount of suckiness. The chemical analysis of this milk has shown it to possess a composition closely resembling some animal substances and, like animal milk, 1t quickly fvsms yelow,cheesy scum upon its surface, and after a few days exposure to the atmosphere turns sour.
 Ceylon also possesses eow-tree the milk-sap of which, according to Bur mann's Narratives" is used by the Cingalese exactly in the same way as we use milk. Another notable produc- tion of this beautiful island Is the co- coanut palm (Cocos nucifera), one of the most striking and characteristic trees of other tropical shores also. The fruit it produces in the form of a hard. brown, oval nut lined inside with white flesh, Is familiar to every body. If opened when fresh 1t Is found to contain a quantity of milk like liquid which is exceedingly nutri- tlous. and furnishes drink for the ! monkeys and other animals that abound in the vicinity. 1t is also, no doubt, a provision of Nature for in- | ducing the seeding plant to shoot forth when the fruit drops into suit able rootlng-bed.
 l Who has not seen our indigenous wolf's milk or spurge, the white, milky juice of which (often called de- vil's molk, and in Somersetshire the Virgin Mary's nipple) popular super stition recommends as an application to destroy warts. The spurge genus, which gives its name to the order Eu- | phorbiaceae, comprises a large num- Der of species distributed throughout the whole world, All possess to a l greater or less extent a milky juice containing active medicinal qualities Other species are employed by the natives wherein to poison their ar rows and one species is found in Bra gil the milk of which. when it flows forth from the stem in the dark, emlts a bright, phosphoric light
 Caoutchouc is the name given to the elastic gummy substance which Is pop ularly known as india rubber, but which is in modern commerce the in- spssated juice of various trees and plants growing in tropical climates, where the heat seems to exert a dis | tinct Influence in it's perfect forma- ton The tree that originally furnish cd 1t is a cally as Hevea Brazilensis, and 1t is owing to a Frenchman that l 1t became such an important article In our manufacture and commerce The rubber exists in the tree in the form | of thin white milk and is obtained by making incsions in the trunk from which 1t exudes; it is collected in little earthen vessels. and afterward 1 converted Into the black homogeneous l elastic mass familiar to us as rubber by being dried over smoking fire. The trees are tapped during the dry season, the milky fluid is then coagu- lated by the smoking process of the ! art of vulcanizing this material and the introduction of gutta percha ere ated an extensive branch in our man ufactures.
 Other trees possessing this milky fluid are grown in various parts. and l include Castilloa elastics, which pro- | duces Panama rubber, and Ficus elas- l tica, largely grown in the East for the purpose. Funtumia elastica and Lan- l dolphia, woody climber. are West | African trees. Manhot Glaziovii pro- | duces the Ceara rubber. and is closely | related to the plant which provides the well known commodity tapioca Then we have Guayni rubber obtained | from an herbaceous plant of the sun | flower order, named Parthenium ar | gentatum. Another species yields milky juice. in which the natives dip the points of their fighting appliances, In the forests of British Guiana grows a tree which the natives call Hya Hya. It's bark and pith are so rich ! in milk that moderate sized stem thrown into a forest brook colors the water quite white and milky. The l juice. instead of being acid and dras- | tic, like that of many allied genera, 1 Is bland and wholesome and when drawn from the stem yields thick, sweet milk. like that from the COW. and Is largely used as refreshing l drink, The breadfruit tree is an i'm | portant food staple of the tropical is- ! lands in the Pacific Ocean. Besides the fruit, which is cooked and eaten, the milk sap is turned to account in the form of a viscous lateX.
 On tree of giant girth. but seldom more than fifteen feet high. rest the umbrageous crown branches of the [ banyan or holy fig of India. so called 1 from its dedication to religious ob- 1 servances; these branches often run q hundred feet horizontally out from the trunk. sending down to the ground at various intervals. long. straight roots, which quickly penetrate and take firm hold. thus becoming props 10 the long branches. The Brahmins use the leaves as plates from which to eat, and bird lime is manufactured from the tenacious milky juice which exudes
 Opium is well known commodity in the East and is made from the milk