From the bark of a tree, the Cinchona, we get one of our most useful and powerful medicines. The bark is known under the name of Peruvian bark, and there are several preparations from it—quinine being the one most generally used. It is a valuable medicine everywhere, but is especially so in the hot countries where it grows, for very malignant fevers prevail in those localities. It got its name, Cinchona, from the first European who used it. The Countess Chinchon of Spain, while living in Peru was attacked by one of the terrible fevers of the country, and was near dying, when she heard that in such fevers the natives cured themselves with the bark of a tree. She tried it, and recovered; and, after she got well, she took pains to make known the virtues of this bark, and gave away great quantities of it. It is now a very important article of export from Peru, and a source of great wealth. There are other barks of plants and trees used in medicine. A great many are useful as dyes. The inner bark of a species of oak furnishes us with corks. Some trees have aromatic barks. The black birch of our own woods is highly spiced. Of some the flavor is so pleasant that they are used as spices. Cinnamon bark, for instance, which, of course, you know all about. So you see that even in the bark of vegetables there are pleasant things stored away, and wonderful secrets, if we choose to take the trouble to get at them. The fragrance of a plant, if it has any, we expect to find in its blossoms. But this quality is not confined to the flowers. It is found sometimes in the leaves, occasionally in the bark, and very frequently in the fruit. We are familiar with the fragrance of strawberries, raspberries, peaches, grapes, bananas, lemons, and oranges; and many others might be named. In fact nearly all eatable fruits have some sort of a pleasant odor, though in some it is very faint. Sometimes the fragrance is in the nuts. There are but few examples of this. The Black Walnut has an agreeable smell. The most famous of fragrant nuts is the Nutmeg, with which we are all familiar in the spice-boxes. But perhaps you don’t know how beautifully it looks growing upon the tree. So we will break off a branch for you to look at. [Illustration: BRANCH OF A NUTMEG TREE.] This nut ripens under the hot sun of India. Not only is the nut itself fragrant, but the second coat of its envelope, or shell, that you see in the picture, also has a pleasing perfume of its own, entirely distinct from its nut. This you are also familiar with in the spice box, broken up into thin yellow chips, and called Mace. No more delicious fragrance can be found than that of a South American bean, the Vanilla. As for leaves, you can think of a great many fragrant kinds in a few minutes, not only green-house plants, like some of the geraniums, but many of the weeds of the fields. Some vegetables produce very remarkable fruits. [Illustration: FRUIT OF THE BREAD FRUIT TREE, REDUCED IN SIZE.]