rows to the height of thirty feet. The Cork
Tree attains to a very great age.

Where is the Tree found?

In Spain, Italy, France, and many other countries. The true cork is
the produce of the broad-leaved tree.

What are its uses?

Cork is employed in various ways, but especially for stopping vessels
containing liquids, and, on account of its buoyancy in water, in the
construction of life boats. It is also used in the manufacture of life
preservers and cork jackets. The greatest quantities are brought from
Catalonia, in Spain. The uses of Cork were well known to the ancients.

To what particular use did the Egyptians put it?

They made coffins of it, lined with a resinous composition, which
preserved the bodies of the dead uncorrupted.

What is Cochineal?

A drug used by the dyers, for dyeing crimsons and scarlets; and for
making carmine, a brilliant red used in painting, and several of the
arts.

Is it a plant?

No, it is an insect. The form of the Cochineal is oval; it is about
the size of a small pea, and has six legs armed with claws, and a
trunk by which it sucks its nourishment.

What is its habitation?

It breeds in a fruit resembling a pear; the plant which bears it is
about five or six feet high; at the top of the fruit grows a red
flower, which when full blown, falls upon it; the fruit then appears
full of little red insects, having very small wings. These are the
Cochineals.

How are they caught?

By spreading a cloth under the plant, and shaking it with poles, till
the insects quit it and fly about, which they cannot do many minutes,
but soon tumble down dead into the cloth; where they are left till
quite dry.

Does the insect change its color when it is dead?

When the insect flies, it is red; when it is fallen, black; and when
first dried, it is greyish; it afterwards changes to a purplish grey,
powdered over with a kind of white dust.

From what countries is the Cochineal brought?

From the West Indies, Jamaica, Mexico, and other parts of America.

What are Cloves?

The dried flower-buds of the Clove Tree, anciently a native of the
Moluccas; but afterwards transplanted by the Dutch (who traded in
them,) to other islands, particularly that of Ternate. It is now found
in most of the East Indian Islands.

Describe the Clove Tree.

It is a large handsome tree of the myrtle kind; its leaves resemble
those of the laurel. Though the Clove Tree is cultivated to