ely short, but perhaps by hybridization and careful attention its
culture might become valuable to the Colony. The pod is elliptical,
and the cotton which bursts from it at maturity is snow-white. It
is used for stuffing pillows and mattresses. It was a common thing,
before the American occupation, to see (wild) cotton-trees planted
along the highroad to serve as telegraph-posts; by the time the seed
is fully ripe, every leaf has fallen, and nothing but the bursting
pods remain hanging to the branches.

The _Buri Palm_ is a handsome species, of tall growth, with fan-like
leaves. Its juice serves as a beverage resembling _tuba_. The trunk
yields a sago flour. The leaves are beaten on boulder stones to extract
a fibre for rope-making, of great strength and in constant demand.

The _Dita Tree_, said to be of the family of the _Apocynese_ and
known to botanists as _Alstonia scholaris_, is possibly a species of
cinchona. The pulverized bark has a bitter taste like quinine, and
is successfully used by the natives to allay fever. A Manila chemist
once extracted from the bark a substance which he called _ditaine_,
the yield of crystallizable alkaloid being 2 per cent.

_Palma Brava_ (_Coripha minor_) (Tagalog, _Banga_), [147] is a species
of palm, the trunk of which is of great local value. It is immensely
strong, and will resist the action of water for years. These trees are
employed as piles for quay and pier making--for bridges, stockades,
and in any works where strength, elasticity, and resistance to water
are required in combination. When split, a fibrous pith is found
in the centre much resembling cocoanut coir, but the ligneous shell
of the stem still retains its qualities of strength and flexibility,
and is used for vehicle-shafts, coolies' carrying-poles, and a variety
of other purposes.

_Bambusa_ (_Bambusa arundinacea_) is a graminifolious plant--one of the
most charmingly picturesque and useful adornments of Nature bestowed
exuberantly on the Philippine Islands. It grows in thick tufts in
the woods and on the banks of rivers. Its uses are innumerable, and
it has not only become one of the articles of primary necessity to
the native, but of incalculable value to all in the Colony.

There are many kinds of bamboos, distinct in formation and size. The
Tagalog generic name for knotted bamboo is _Cauayan_; the Spanish
name is _Cana espina_. The most common species grows to a height of
about 60 feet, with a diameter