They are excessively numerous in some parts of Chile, and valuable on account of a sort of treacle made from the sap.

On one estate near Petorca they tried to count them, but failed, after having numbered several hundred thousand.

Every year in the early spring, in August, very many are cut down, and when the trunk is lying on the ground, the crown of leaves is lopped off.

The sap then immediately begins to flow from the upper end, and continues so doing for some months: it is, however, necessary that a thin slice should be shaved off from that end every morning, so as to expose a fresh surface.

A good tree will give ninety gallons, and all this must have been contained in the vessels of the apparently dry trunk.