In some places the plants are pulled up by the roots, and, after having been carefully cleansed from earth or other impurities, they are sliced and cut in pieces, into small hand-baskets or nets. In these the pieces are boiled, for a little while, in water, by which the juice is extracted; and successive basketfuls are boiled in the same liquor, until it becomes thick and of dark colour. The fluid part is subsequently evaporated, and what remains is put into gourd shells for sale. Other methods of inspissating or drying the juice are to pour it into bladders left open at the top, and suspended in the sun; or to place it in broad shallow trays of wood, pewter or tin, exposed to the sun every dry day, until the fluid parts are exhaled, and a perfect resin is formed, which is then packed up for sale. There is a kind called _Caballine_ or _horse aloes_, which has a rank and unpleasant smell, but in taste is not much more disagreeable than either of the others. In its properties it agrees nearly with hepatic aloes, but it is chiefly employed by farriers in horse medicines. The medical properties of aloes have long been known and established: and their extensive application in medicine is, perhaps, the best proof that can be adduced of their utility. In the arts aloes are, in several respects, useful. But, particularly, the leaves of the Socotrine aloes afford a beautiful violet colour which does not require the aid of any mordant to fix it; the same also is capable of being formed into a fine transparent colour for painting in miniature. 108. _The GREAT, or AMERICAN ALOE_ (Agave Americana), _is a large plant, the leaves of which are thick, fleshy, and spinous at the edge, and the stem branched and of great height._ _The flowers of this plant are distinguished by having the tube of the corolla narrowed in the middle, the stamens longer than the corolla, and the style longer than the stamens._