to The flowers are small, scarlet and yellow. The fruit is an oval pointed pod, enclosing from ten to thirty compressed nuts, an inch in diameter, enveloped in a soft sweet pulp, of a refreshing taste. When ripe, the pulp and seeds are separated from the pod, and laid on platforms, in masses, sweat for two days, when they are washed and dried in the sun. The fresh fruit of the chocolate tree eaten raw, is highly antiscorbutic. And the nuts when roasted and ground, are moulded into cakes of chocolate, a highly esteemed, nutricious, and wholesome food. In France small cakes of chocolate sweetened with sugar, and of various forms, are prepared for eating; a fine and nutritious article of food, thus rendered portable, and in great demand. The tree is raised from seeds and from cuttings. COFFEE. (Coffee Arabica.) The origin of this tree has been assigned to Arabia, and by some to Ethiopia. An evergreen tree, rising from eight to eighteen feet; with leaves like a bay tree, or laurel; the flowers pure white like snow, they resemble the jasmine, and have a fragrant odor. When in full bloom, they resemble trees in the leaf covered with snow. The fruit which is produced in clusters, is a drupe, of a deep red color, resembling a cherry; the pulp of a sweetish, unpleasant taste ; it encloses two berries. The pulp is separated by a fluted roller and movable breast board, and by washing; when dried the inner covering or skin is broken by a heavy roller. Coffee should be roasted moderately and infused immediately after. Good coffee has an aromatic flavor, and is deemed wholesome; it is medicinal, and when used immoderately causes wakefulness. Coffee may be cultivated in the peninsula of Forida. A climate where the temperature is seldom below 55° is most suitable; a soil on gentle declivities. The trees may be set 5 or 6 feet asunder; they begin to yield good crops at three years of age, and the average produce of a tree is two and a half pounds. The consumption of coffee is very great in Mohammedan countries, and especially Turkey, where their religion forbids the use of wine and spirituous liquors. In our own country its consumption is already very great and is rapidly increasing; 15,000 tons we now annually consume. A native of the East and West Indies; and an eminently useful tree to the inhabitants of those countries. It rises with a straight trunk to the height of sixty feet. The leaves issue near its summit; they are from twelve to fourteen feet in length, with numerous alternate, sharp pointed leaflets. The flowers grow near the summit in clusters; the fruit in large clusters of from ten to twelve, is enveloped in strong husks; it is a drupe, very large, ovate, with three sharp longitudinal ribs; the shell is a hard, brown, bony substance, almost incorruptible; to its inner surface, the kernel adheres, which is white, firm and sweet. While the fruit is young, its capacious centre is filled with a milky liquor, very sweet, agreeable and wholesome; as the fruit grows older, the milk becomes sharp and cooling, and is of great service in putrid and inflammatory fevers; and highly antiscorbutic. The sap drawn from the trunk, produces by fermentation, wine and vinegar, and by distillation Arrack. The husks form very strong and elastic cordage and cables. From the leaves are formed baskets, brooms, and parasols, mats, hammocks, sail cloth, &c. The tree is raised from the nuts planted in a moist soil. There is a small but very excellent variety, not larger than a walnut; a native of Chili. DURION. (Durio zibethina.) Loudon. A lofty East Indian tree, with leaves like a cherry, the flowers in clusters of a pale yellow. The fruit the size of a man's head, roundish or oblong, it resembles a rolled up hedgehog, with a hard skin or rind. The pulp is of a creamy substance, of a delicate taste. Rumphius says it is, much the most excellent fruit of India. Its smell is at first, heavy and unpleasant, but those accustomed to this fruit, consider it the most excellent of all. MANGO TREE. (Mangifera indica.) A large spreading East Indian tree, with lanceolate shining green leaves, of a resinous smell. The fruit is a drupe, kidney shaped, some as large as a man's fist; covered with a smooth, softish, pale green, yellow, or half red skin, and containing an ovate, woody, fibrous, compressed nut or stone, within which is an ovate kernel, soft and pulpy like a damascene plum. "When ripe it is replete with a fine agreeable juice. It eats like an apple, but is more juicy. It is esteemed very wholesome, and except pine apples, it is preferred to any other fruit in India.” Raised from cuttings or from seeds. MANGOSTAN. (Gorcinia mangostana.) Loudon. A native of the Molucca Islands, but cultivated in Java and Malacca. An elegant tree, rising twenty feet, with a parabolic head, a taper stem, branching like a fir tree, with oval leaves seven or eight inches long. The flower like a single rose. The fruit round, the size of an orange, the shell like the pomegranate. The seeds are disposed like those of the orange, and surrounded by a soft juicy pulp of a rose color, of a delicious flavor, partaking of the strawberry and the grape, and esteemed the richest fruit in the world. It is wholesome alike for those in health or in sickness. MAMMEE. (Mammea Americana.) A native of the Carribee Islands. The tree grows tall and handsome; the leaves are oval, shining, of a coriaceous consistence; the flowers in peduncles are large, white, of a sweet odor. The fruit is roundish, of the size of an egg. In its flavor and consistence, it is not unlike an apricot. It is eaten either in its raw state and alone, or in slices in sugar and wine; or it is preserved in sugar. PALM TREE OR DATE. (Phænix dactylifera.) A native of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the other warm countries; it there rises to the height of 100 or 150 feet. In Europe it grows as far north as Geneva and Nice; it flourishes also in Spain. No tree perhaps, is more useful for its fruits, thoughout Barbary and Egypt, the deserts of Northern Africa and Arabia. The fruit is an oval drupe, of a yellowish color; the pulp soft, saccharine, of a vinous flavor; it encloses a large oblong stone. The date constitutes an important article of food in many countries. They are imported in a half dried state. A strong and excellent liquor is obtained from the fruit by fermentation, which is much used in Mohammedan countries. From the fruit also palm oil is made. This oil is used as a substitute for butter, and possesses a strong and agreeable odor. The tree is raised from seeds and suckers; they commence bearing at from three to six years of age. ber is eminently useful and almost incorruptible. ROSE-APPLE. (Eugenia.) Loudon. Bon Jard. JAMROSADE. E. JAMBOS. The tim A tree from India, rising to the height of from ten to thirty feet; leaves long, lanceolate and shining. The flowers are in clusters, of a yellowish white. The fruit the size of hen's egg, with the taste of an apricot, and of the flavor of the rose. Some are white, some are red, and some are yellow. MALAY APPLE. (E. Mallaccanesis.) Another species; the tree and the leaves are larger. The fruit is ovate, an inch and a half in diameter, fleshy, with a sweet odor like the rose, agreeable to the taste and sight, and deemed wholesome. Common in most of the South Sea Islands. They are raised from seeds, and require a warm, moist atmosphere. TAMARIND. (Tamarindus.) Phillips. So called from Tamar (Date in Arabic). The tamarind is cultivated in Arabia, Palestine, Egypt, and the East and West Indies. The tree is very large, with spreading branches and thick beautiful foliage. The leaves are pinnate, smooth, oblong, entire, of a bright green; they close at night. The fruit is a pod from two to five inches long, inclosing from two to five seeds. The outer pod is thick, the inner as thin as parchment, inclosing the pulp, which is a soft pulpy substance. The fruit may be preserved in jars, with alternate layers of sugar. But in the West Indies the following mode is adopted. The ripe fruit is taken out of the pod, and placed in layers in a cask; and the boiling syrup from the first copper in the boiling house, just before it begins to granulate, is poured in till the cask is filled; when cool the cask is headed. TRYPHASIA. (Aurantiola.) Hort. Soc. Cat. THREE LEAVED TRYPHASIA. Limonia trifoliata. The fruit resembles a small orange, and is aromatic. It rises to a compact shrub or tree. |