Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1913-12-12
THE BAYBERRY CANDLE.
Reasons for Popularity Real Article
DeliciousIy Fragrant Some

interesting and its U.S. in Colonial
times was first from necessity, from
which state ii arose to fashion and
finally became the harbinger IF gooe
luck and plenty when burned at the
Christmas season.
Robert Beverly. ia The History
OF Virginia, published in l765
wrote as follows: At the mouths
Of their rivulets and all along upon
the sea and bay and near many of
their creeks and swamps, shrub
grows, bearing a berry of which
they make hard. brittle wax Of q Gu
rious green color, which by refining
becomes almost transparent. OF this
they make candles which are never
greasy TO the touch and DO not
melt with lying in the hottest
weather; neither does the stuff of
these ever offend the sense ike
that of tsllow candle, but, in
ste ad, of being dissgreeable, if an
accident puts the candle our, it
yie Ids a pleasant fragrance to all who
are in the room, insomueh that
nice people often put them out on
purpose to have the incense of the
expiring stuff I"
This early English botsnist in
mis- quaint description struck upon one
truth which people in general DO not
know lit is in snuffiing che candle
that the fragrance is best detected.
The bsyberry bush is common alon G
the coast from Maine to Florida, in
the sandy soil along waterways. 1t
bears little estkins of flowers in the
spring which resemble pine Genes.
Later these ripen into tiny round
nutlets. Small resinous pellets of
wax cover the nulet which become
silvsry white when ripe. OF such
great Importance as this vegetable
wax in New England that in certain
districts stringent laws we're passed
prohibiting the gathering of the ber-
ries before September Is under pen
atty of q fine of 10 shillings In
Louisiana they bordered. the bayou
with bayberrY bushes and sometimes
defined the boundaries of the plan
tations with them. Rice, tobacco
and candleberries" are mentioned
as profitable exports as early as 1903.
The extracting of the wax and
our flying it is tedious task, but the
gathering of the berries is by far
the most troublesome. Mosquitoes
in myriads make the bushes their
home and, unless a very breezy day is
chosen. il is almost impossible TO
strip the berries from the stems.
When a bucketful of them is OBJ
tanned, however, one may feel salts
fed that ABOUT two pounds of wax
may be extracted under favorable
circumstances. Many ways are given
for the extraction of the wax, but
experience is the only way to success.
Place the berries in deep recepta-
Gle with quantities OF water AMI
boil for half an hour The next requi-
site is quick cooling, as otherwise
the wax settled back on the berries
and all the trouble of gathering and
boiling is for naught. Therefore,
save the berries until cold day or
evening makes the task worth while.
The wax comes to the top in the
form of scum and quickly hard ms
into a wax of indescribably beautiful
oale green. The later the berries
are gathered the yellower becomes
the wax until late 0cto Der gathering
gives a wax almost yellow. The
berries yield better if freed from all
twigs and leaves and two boilings
will be enough to secure the pure
wax. II it is not quite clean, boil
the wax without water and pour
through cheesecloth. 1t should then
be ready for moulding into candles or
for the more interesting though far
more troublesome dipping"
The dips show by far the more
ancient method of candle-makidg.
In the Commercial Museum, in the
Philippine Section, are shown some
long wax candles made by dipping
the wick into the hot wax. This
method is most laborous, as but a
chin layer of wax remains at each
dipping. Our ancestors soon found
that moulding the candles was. far
more expeditions and easy, and no
doubt called down blessings upon
the head of the forgotten tinsmith
who invented the moulds, which held
four, six, eight, twelve and in rare
cases twenty-four candles. The labor
f stringing the wicks into the tubes
is slight when compared to the many,
many dips necessary to one wick
before the candle ."dip" is com
oletej. The candle moulds OF Colo
NAL times, like the spoon moulds of
the same period, were free " loaned
and travelled from house to house in
community.
To make the wax go as far as
possible, the poorer and less refined
people mixed tsllow with the bay
berry wax. This naturally made the
fragrance much less. 1t also makes
the color dull, and instea Of a live.
bright green or yellow-green color.
the candles are dull and brownish.
Much boiling changes the tone of the
green, but pure bayberry wax has
always the live bright color which
stamps it as genuine. Many candles
of commerce are of the mixed variety
and must be disappointment to the
purchaser who thought she was buy.
ing a pure candle at a low price.
The price of the pure article is never
low. Another method of producing
an odor is by dipping the wick in oil
IF cinnamon This aaarna foo -no,;