size, but lose one third of their weight; cooled by tossing into the air; ground for use.

IV. Uses.

In a raw state used medicinally; has a sweetish taste. A pleasant beverage; stimulating property called caffeine; excellent drink for residents in fenny districts and damp places; an antidote to vegetable poisons, as tobacco, laudanum, opium, &c. Caffaic acid, extracted from decayed berries, produces a bright green colour. Powdered coffee generally adulterated with burnt bread, rye, wheat, and chicory. roots of endive (a species of dandelion), cut into small pieces and roasted; on the continent used by the poor as a substitute for coffee; largely cultivated in Belgium, Germany, Channel Isles, and England; its presence easily detected; a spoonful of the mixture dropped into a glass of water; the chicory sinks, staining the water a deep red.

V. History and Statistics.

The properties of the berry first discovered by a Mahometan doctor about the middle of the fifteenth century, who had observed the natives drink a decoction of the bruised berries; on his return from his travels, he took some as a medicine, found it removed headache, enlivened the spirits, and prevented sleep. Other accounts say, the prior of a monastery, seeing the wild goats become very lively and frisky after browsing upon the coffee plants, administered a decoction of the berries to his monks, to keep them awake during their vigils. Its introduction into Arabia, Turkey, Syria, greatly opposed; now supplies the Turks and Ma

hometans generally with a substitute for wine; why? First sold in Paris and London about 1650. In the reign of the second Charles, a license required for its sale. "Coffee-houses suppressed in 1675; now very common; several hundred in the metropolis alone, as it may be sold when and where people choose. Fifty millions of pounds consumed annually.

I. Description of Appearance, Qualities, &c.

LIGHT; very buoyant, specific gravity only one fourth that of water; dry; soft; compressible; elastic; appears very porous, not so in reality, the pores not communicating with each other. Bark of a tree

"The cork tree's furrow'd rind."

II. Localities of Cultivation, &c.

Native of the warmer regions of the temperate zones. Cultivated in Italy, Spain, Southern France, Algeria, &c., in forests and parks (unknown in the New World). Grown occasionally in England as a curiosity. Species of oak; botanical name, Quercus suber; evergreen; principal forest-tree where oaks are wanting; sometimes, therefore, the "king of the forest."

III. Preparation of the Bark.

Stripped from the tree when fifteen years old; tree allowed eight years to recover; process then

repeated; a tree bears this operation ten or eleven times; bark improves as the age of the tree increases. Procured in long strips, in thickness some two or three inches; slit vertically and horizontally at the top and bottom of the trunk; removed with a peculiarly shaped knife; sometimes, after incised, left to shed itself. Soaked in water; dried and partly scorched; hence black appearance of the outside; this renders it more imporous -heat closes the pores; flattened under heavy weights while heated; packed in bales; exported; five hundred tons imported into England annually.

IV. Uses.

Applications varied, important, and numerous, both among ourselves and foreign nations; e. g. :—

1. Corks.-Liquids formerly kept in casks and jars stopped with clay, pitch, plaster of Paris, and similar substances; afterwards drawn into bottles, the necks stopped with pieces of bark "corks;"

first used in the seventeenth century; made by cork-cutters in most cities and towns of the kingdom; cut into slips; cleverly rounded with a sharp knife.

2. In the construction of life-boats, &c. Floats of cork used by fishermen in very ancient times, as by the Romans. Much cork used in a life-boatthe gunwales (edges) lined on both sides to the depth of two feet, and the seats filled with it; thus rendered extremely buoyant. Employed in making life-belts, cloaks, capes, and jackets, designed to save from drowning.

3. In the manufacture of hats. Cut into thin veneers for the foundation of hats; very light. Veneers extremely thin; some have been printed upon instead of paper.

4. In making models.—A material excellent for imitating ruins, decayed walls, &c.; models of towns, castles, cathedrals, churches, abbeys, remarkable ruins, made of it; very beautiful and valuable.

5. For soles of boots and shoes, &c. Good preservative from damp; affords comfortable protection to the feet; used in this manner by the Chinese as well as by ourselves. Burnt cork made into Spanish black. Also useful for artificial limbs, cork legs, arms, &c.

6. In Kamptulicon. A compound of cork and caoutchouc; a good sheeting for ships of war; its great elasticity causes the balls to rebound.

7. Foreign uses.-By the Spaniards and Portuguese very extensively applied to numerous useful purposes: e. g., made into bee-hives, baskets, plates, cups, tubs, and other domestic utensils; a substitute for slates and tiles in covering roofs; lining for damp walls.

LESSON XIV. THE COTTON PLANT.

EXHIBIT a cotton-pod, pieces of manufactured goods, and a print of the plant. Question out the

particulars.

I. Appearance of the Plant.

Belongs to the same class as our hollyhock and mallow; ten or twelve different species; chiefly three cultivated.

1. The herbaceous: most important; an annual; two feet high; foliage, dark green, in shape like the sycamore; flower, pale yellow with purple centre;

followed by three-celled capsule or pod, about the size of a walnut; each cell filled with a white, soft, downy, fibrous stuff, and a number of small seeds (like grape seeds); this white or buff mass is

raw cotton.

2. The shrubby: biennial or perennial, according to climate; reaches the height of twelve feet.

3. The arborescent: largest twenty feet high; not much cultivated; produce least valuable.

II. Regions where cultivated.

Grows naturally in Asia, Africa, and the New World. Cultivated in the Birman Empire, India, China; Egypt, Central Africa (about Lake Tchad, the Niger, and Senegal); United States (North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Ohio, Alabama), Mexico, West Indies, Colombia, Brazil; the southern countries of Europe to a very small Sea Islands cotton the finest ; produced near Charlestown (North America), on sandy plains near the coast. Upland or bowed cotton grown inland. America chiefly supplies Lancashire; why?

extent.

III. Method of Propagation, Gathering, &c.

Propagated by seeds on sandy soils; sown along ridges five feet apart; often blighted by frosts or cold winds; attacked by the "cut-worm," which eats off the tender plant; thinned of all weak ones; repeatedly hoed and weeded; in autumn caterpillars destroy whole plantations — e.g, a field of four hundred acres ruined by them in a few days. The cotton-fields present a very beautiful appearance. When ripe, the capsules burst; harvest about six months after the plant

D