CACAO FRUIT OR PODSEach pod contains some sixty seeds, arranged in five or eight rows (mostly five); the seeds are white when they are fresh, but brown and covered with a fragile skin or shell when dried. These seeds, which are not unlike beans or almonds, are imbedded in a mass of mucilaginous pulp, of a sweet but acid taste. The seeds only require to be extracted, cured and dried, to become the cacao-beans of commerce.
CACAO FRUIT OR PODS
Each pod contains some sixty seeds, arranged in five or eight rows (mostly five); the seeds are white when they are fresh, but brown and covered with a fragile skin or shell when dried. These seeds, which are not unlike beans or almonds, are imbedded in a mass of mucilaginous pulp, of a sweet but acid taste. The seeds only require to be extracted, cured and dried, to become the cacao-beans of commerce.
Apricot(Prunus Armeniaca). The tree attains a height of thirteen to sixteen feet, and shows its blossoms in the months of March and April. Its smooth leaves are oval, doubly serrated; and its white blossoms have a tinge of red. Its globular, velvet-like, downy fruits are a favorite dish for dessert.
Apricots are extensively grown in north India, Persia, south Europe and Egypt. Although grown in New York, the crop is only commercially important in California and Oregon, whence large quantities of the fresh and dried fruit are shipped to the eastern states and abroad.
HOW THE COCOA BEANS ARE DRIED AND ROASTED
Small crops of beans are spread out on the ground, or on a tray, or on a piece of matting, and dried in the sun. In other cases, artificial heat is used in specially constructed and equipped drying-houses.The beans are roasted, similar to coffee, in large iron drums to increase the aroma, make them more soluable in water, and improve their flavor. After being ground, and mixed with sugar, the product becomes chocolate—and is used in many ways.
Small crops of beans are spread out on the ground, or on a tray, or on a piece of matting, and dried in the sun. In other cases, artificial heat is used in specially constructed and equipped drying-houses.
The beans are roasted, similar to coffee, in large iron drums to increase the aroma, make them more soluable in water, and improve their flavor. After being ground, and mixed with sugar, the product becomes chocolate—and is used in many ways.
Cultivation in China antedates 2000 B. C. It was introduced into Europe at the time of Alexander the Great, about 325 B. C.
Bread-fruit(Artocarpus incisa), grows upon the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and has also been transplanted to those parts of America which lie in the Torrid Zone. It attains a very great height, and bears fruits weighing from three to four pounds. The latter are cut into slices, and after being dried and roasted are used as food. These fruits, when pounded and mixed with milk of the cocoanut, form a dough, which is either consumed raw or baked into bread. All parts of this tree are useful; its yellow wood is used for the construction of houses, from its fibres articles of clothing are made, and its sap is used for making birdlime. Its large leaves serve as tablecloths and napkins, and its blossoms when dried are an excellent tinder. The bread-fruit tree is therefore much cultivated.
Butternut(Juglans cinerea), a North American species of walnut. Its dark yellow wood takes a fine polish, and is used in cabinet work; the bark yields a brown dye, and the brown-husked, rugged nuts contain oil, and are very pleasant in flavor.
Cacao(Theobroma cacao), a small tree, native to Mexico, Central America and the north of South America, is cultivated also in Brazil, Guiana, Trinidad and Grenada. It has large, oblong, pointed, entire leaves and clusters of flowers with rose-colored calyx and yellowish petals. The fruit is yellow, from six to ten inches long, and from three to five broad, oblong, blunt, with ten longitudinal ridges externally, and five chambers, containing ten or twenty seeds each, internally. The thick, tough rind is almost woody. The seeds are dried, roasted, bruised, and winnowed, so as to remove their testa from the cocoa-nibs or cotyledons. These contain more than fifty per cent of fat or cocoa-butter, part of which is generally removed in the process of “preparing” cocoa. It is used in making chocolate “creams.” Cocoa is also a valuable article of food; contains a gently stimulating alkaloid, theobromine, a fragrant essential oil and a red coloring matter. Sugar and vanilla or other flavoring are added in the preparation of chocolate.
Cherry(Prunus avium), is a stately tree of from twenty-five to forty-five feet in height. It has a pyramidal crown; its smooth bark splits crosswise; its leaves are elliptical, and covered with down on their lower sides; its blossoms are snowy white and its fruits sweet and of different colors. The latter furnish an agreeable nourishment, whether consumed raw, boiled, or preserved. Cherry-brandy is also made from them. The Cherry is cultivated in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and the United States, and included among the fifteen leading fruits of the world. Ranks about eighth among fruits of the United States. Pennsylvania and California lead in production.
It was grown before the Christian Era in western Asia and southern Europe, and is mentioned in Vergil’sGeorgics.
Cinnamon(Cinnamomum zeylanicum), is largely grown in Ceylon. The bark is stripped off two-year-old shoots in May and November and dried in the sun, undergoing a slight fermentation. It rolls up into quills, the thinnest being the best. Cinnamon contains a fragrant essential oil and has long been valued as a spice. It has also some medicinal value as a cordial and stomachic. It is also cultivated for bark in Brazil, West Indies, Egypt, and Java, but cultivation is now declining in favor of coffee.
Clove(Eugenia caryophyllata), a small evergreen spice tree, native of the Moluccas. The fruits are imported as mother cloves, and the stalks are used to adulterate the spice when ground. The whole plant is aromatic from the presence of the essential oil of cloves, which occurs to the extent of sixteen to eighteen per cent in the flower-buds. The dried flower buds are the cloves of commerce. Cultivated on many tropical islands and coasts, chiefly in the Moluccas, Sumatra, Java, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Jamaica, and French Guiana. The oil of cloves is widely used in flavoring and perfumery and also in medicine.
Cocoa-nut(Cocos nucifera), a small genus of palms. The cocoa-nut palm is apparently a native of the Indian Archipelago, but has been dispersed throughout the tropics from early times, flourishing especially near the sea. It has a cylindric stem reaching two feet in diameter, and from sixty to one hundred feet in height; a crown of pinnate leaves, each eighteen to twenty feet long, with a sheathing and fibrous base, succeeded by bunches of from ten to twenty fruits. These are about a foot long, six or eight inches across, three-sided, with a stony shell and one seed filling its cavity. The seed contains a fleshy kernel and a milky liquid. No tree of the tropics has so many uses, every part of it being employed, and in southern India furnishing several of the chief necessaries of life. The wood of the outer part of the stem is used, under the name of Porcupine wood, for inlaying; the leaves for thatch, mats, hats, etc.; the fibrous part under the name of coir, for cordage, etc.; the shell for bottles, cups, spoons, and when properly burned, for excellent charcoal and lamp-black. The solid white kernel contains thirty-six per cent of oil known as copra oil, from which, by pressure, the solid stearine used for candles is separated from the liquid lamp-oil. The “milk,” when fresh, is an agreeable drink; and from the sap sugar is obtained, and, by fermentation, toddy, from which vinegar and by distillation, arrack are prepared. It is extensively cultivated on the coasts of India, the East and West India Islands, and Brazil, and recently in Florida.
Coffee Tree(Coffea Arabica), originally a native of Africa attains a height of twenty-five to thirty feet. It is generally, however, kept at a much inferior height, in order to facilitate the collection of the fruit. Its leaves are evergreen; its blossoms white and fragrant. The fruit is a red berry about the size of a cherry, which contains two kernels, lying closely side by side: the coffee beans. These coffee beans are used everywhere for the preparation of that coffee which has become an indispensable beverage for many millions of people. Commercially it is of great importance, being largely grown in Brazil, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Arabia, Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, India, and Hawaii. Brazil leads with a production of over one-half of the world’s crop. In the United States the consumption greatly exceeds that of tea.
Beginning of its cultivation is uncertain, but not ancient. It was introduced for cultivation in South America by the Dutch in 1718.
Date or Date-Palm(Phœnix dactylifera), a tree sixty to eighty feet high, with large pinnate leaves, cultivated in immense quantities in north Africa, western Asia and southern Europe. The stem is covered with leaf scars, and the flowers each have three sepals and three petals. The wood of the stem is used in building; huts are built of its leaves; the petioles are made into baskets and the fibre surrounding their bases into ropes and coarse cloth; the young leaf-bud or “cabbage” is sometimes eaten as a vegetable, or, if tapped, it yields a sugary sap which may be fermented; and even the seeds are ground into meal for camels. In central Arabia and some parts of north Africa the fruit forms the staple food of the inhabitants, camels, horses, and dogs. It is the chief source of wealth in Arabia. It was very anciently cultivated in Egypt and Babylonia and is thepalmof the Bible.
SCENES IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE COFFEE BERRY
METHOD OF DRYING COFFEE ON WOODEN TRAYS IN THE OPEN AIR, AS STILL PRACTICED IN ARABIA AND OTHER ORIENTAL COUNTRIES
METHOD OF DRYING COFFEE ON WOODEN TRAYS IN THE OPEN AIR, AS STILL PRACTICED IN ARABIA AND OTHER ORIENTAL COUNTRIES
WOMEN OF JAVA HULLING COFFEEThe “cherries” when gathered contain two seeds, or coffee beans. The coverings are removed from the seeds by “hulling.”
WOMEN OF JAVA HULLING COFFEE
The “cherries” when gathered contain two seeds, or coffee beans. The coverings are removed from the seeds by “hulling.”
SIZING, OR SORTING THE COFFEE BEANS FOR THE MARKET BY PASSING THEM THROUGH SIEVES MESHES
SIZING, OR SORTING THE COFFEE BEANS FOR THE MARKET BY PASSING THEM THROUGH SIEVES MESHES
Fig(Ficus Carica). The common fig is a native of the East. It is a low deciduous tree or shrub (fifteen to twenty-five feet), with large, deeply-lobed leaves, which are rough above and downy beneath. The branches are clothed with short hairs, and the bark is greenish. The fruit is produced singly in the axils of the leaves, is pear-shaped, and has a very short stalk; the color in some varieties is bluish-black; in others, red, purple, yellow, green or white. The fig is extensively cultivated in subtropical countries, particularly in Spain, Italy, and southern France, in Europe, and in southwestern Asia. It is also grown in the Gulf States and in California. All dried figs in the United States are produced in California. Commercial figs come largely from Asiatic Turkey, though Smyrna figs are now established in California.
Grape-fruit or Shaddock(Citrus decumanus), a tree, which, like the other species of the same genus, is a native of the East Indies, and has long been cultivated in the south of Europe. It is readily distinguished by its large leaves and broad-winged leaf-stalk; it has very large white flowers, and the fruit is also very large, sometimes weighing ten or even fourteen pounds, roundish, pale yellow; the rind thick, white, and spongy within, bitter; the pulp greenish and watery, subacid and subaromatic. It is a pleasant, cooling fruit, and much used for preserves. Finer and smaller than the shaddock proper is the Pomelo (also called Pummelo, and grape-fruit) a variety rather larger than an orange which bears its fruit in clusters. It was anciently cultivated and much prized fruit in India, China, East Indies and Pacific Islands. Now successfully established in Florida and California, and rapidly becoming popular table fruit in the United States.
Lemon(Citrus Limonum), a small tree or shrub closely related to the orange, apparently truly indigenous in the north of India, carried to Palestine and Egypt by the Arabs, and to Italy by the Crusaders, and now naturalized in the West Indies and elsewhere. The fruit is oval, and ends in a nipple-like point; the rind is thin, smooth, and not readily separable; and the juice is acid. There are numerous varieties, including the citron, bergamot, lime, and sweet lime. Cultivation in the United States is limited mostly to Southern California.
Lime(Citrus acida), is a variety of orange with small flowers, and small, very acid, fruit, varying in form but ending, like the lemon, in a nipple-like boss. It is said to have been anciently cultivated in India, from whence it has been widely diffused in tropical countries. It is widely imported in temperate regions, but sparingly used, being much less popular than the lemon. Now successfully grown in Florida, which produces a small crop.
Mango(Mangifera indica), a small tree indigenous to tropical Asia, but now cultivated throughout the tropics. It has scattered, entire leaves and small pink or yellow flowers. Though its glossy leaves make it valuable for shade, it is chiefly valued for its fruit, which varies considerably in size and flavor. In an unripe state it is used in pickles; but in India is largely eaten when ripe as a dessert fruit. The seeds, bark and resin have some medicinal value, apparently as astringents, and the wood, though soft, is used as timber.
Maté or Paraguay Tea(Ilex paraguayensis), a species of holly growing in Paraguay and south Brazil, which furnishes the chief non-alcoholic drink of South America. Though used immemorially by the Indians, the tree was first cultivated by the Jesuits. The dried leaves are packed in scrons or raw hides containing about two hundred pounds each. The infusion is prepared in a calabash or maté, usually silver-mounted, boiling water and sugar, with milk or lemon-juice, being added to the leaves (yerba), and the beverage taken very hot through a metal or reed tube or bombilla with a strainer at one end. Maté contains 1.85 per cent of caffein, acting as a restorative, much as tea does; but, being bitter, the taste for it has to be acquired.
Mulberry(Morus), allied to the nettle, hemp, and elm families. TheBlack Mulberry, mainly cultivated for its fruit, is perhaps a native of Armenia, but was early introduced into Greece, where its leaves are still used for feeding silkworms. The Asiatic species, or theWhite Mulberry, of which there are numerous varieties, mostly with white fruit, is that mainly cultivated in Japan, China, India and Italy for the silkworm. The fibrous inner bark of thePaper Mulberryis made into paper by the Chinese and Japanese, and into tapa cloth in the South Sea Islands. The so-called fruit is formed from a whole cluster of flowers which become fleshy, turn color and sweeten while they enlarge until they meet those of the other flowers, enclosing the true fruits, small dry capsules. Extensively grown for market near large cities in Europe and the United States.
Nutmeg(Myristica fragrans), an evergreen tree native to the East Indies, and now in cultivation in the East and West Indies and Brazil. The fruit is pear-shaped and about two inches across. The seed has a thin, hard shell enclosing the nutmeg, which is mottled in appearance. The largest and roundest nutmegs are the best, and though generally about one hundred and ten to the pound, they may be as few as sixty-eight. Nutmegs contain about twenty-five per cent of nutmeg butter or oil of mace, a vegetable fat now considerably employed in soap-making.
Olive(Olea europæa), a very valuable small tree, seldom more than thirty feet high, of slow growth, but sometimes exceeding twenty feet in girth and seven centuries in age. The wild olive has squarish, spinous branches; opposite evergreen, leathery, shortly-stalked leaves, hoary on their under surface, and small white flowers. The cultivated olive (var.sativa) differs in its rounder branches which have no spines, longer leaves and larger fruit. For pickling, the fruits are gathered unripe, soaked in an alkaline lye, and then bottled in brine. For oil, the ripe fruit, which usually yields sixty to seventy per cent, is squeezed, yielding virgin oil, and the marc or cake is wetted and re-pressed, and the kernels crushed and boiled to yield a second and third quality. The tree grows best on light or calcareous soils near the sea, and the value attached to its oil as an article of food in countries where butter can with difficulty be preserved made the tree from early times the symbol of peace and good-will. It is extensively cultivated in Mediterranean Europe, Syria, South Africa, Australia and California.
Orange(Citrus Aurantium), small evergreen trees, probably a native of southern China and Burma, but grows wild and spinous in Indian jungles. The scattered glossy leaves are remarkable for their double articulation, having one joint at each end of the winged leaf-stalk. The fragrant white or pinkish flowers have five sepals, five petals, and branched stamens. The fruit has a leathery rind, containing large spindle-shaped cells filled with watery juice. As the fruit takes some months to ripen, it occurs on the tree at the same time as the next year’s blossoms. There are two chief varieties or sub-species, the sweet or China orange, and the bitter, bigarade or Seville orange, but the Mandarin and Tangerine oranges are sometimes ranked as a distinct species. The principal orange-growing sections[142]of the United States are Florida, Louisiana and California.
TheMandarin OrangeorClove Orangehas fruit much broader than long, with a rind very loosely attached to the flesh, and small leaves; theTangerine Orangeis apparently derived from the mandarin. It is grown in Florida. TheJaffa Orangehas now a great reputation. TheMajorca Orangeis seedless. TheKum-quatfrom China and Japan, is little bigger than a gooseberry, and grows well in Australia. TheNavel Orange, nearly seedless, is a favorite variety with California growers.
Orange trees are often extremely fruitful, so that a tree twenty feet high and occupying a space of little more than twelve feet in diameter sometimes yields from three thousand to four thousand oranges in a year. One tree in Florida has often borne ten thousand oranges in a single season. The orange tree attains an age of at least one hundred to one hundred and fifty years. Young trees are less productive than old ones, and the fruit is also less juicy, has a thicker rind, and more numerous seeds.
Palmswere called by Linnæus “the princess of the vegetable kingdom,” and comprising over one thousand species, chiefly natives of the tropics. They have mostly cylindric, unbranched stems, bearing a tuft of large, often gigantic, leathery leaves at the top, the leaves being torn into segments. The leaves are sometimes spattered, and in most cases have a fibrous sheathing base to the leaf-stalk. The terminal leaf-bud is the “cabbage” which, in some species, is eaten. The fruit varies very much, with a hard seed, as in the date; drupaceous, as in the cocoa-nut; or covered with woody reflexed scales, as in the sago palm. The use of palms are innumerable. Beams, veneers, canes, thatch, fibre for cordage and matting, fans, hats, bowls, spoons, sago, sugar, wine, spirits, food, oil and wax are only some among the number. See alsoDate,Betel-nut,Cocoa-nut.
Peach(Amygdalus persica), probably a native of China. The nectarine is merely a smooth-fruited variety, differing, however, in flavor. The stone in both is coarsely furrowed. The flowers which appear before the leaves, are of a delicate pink. The fruit in the peach has a separable wooly skin. Though deliciously flavored and refreshing, since it contains eighty-five per cent of water and eight per cent of pectose and gum, it does not contain much nutriment. Peaches grow extensively in Europe and Asia and second only to the apple as an orchard fruit in the United States. California, Michigan, Georgia and Texas lead in production.
Pear(Pyrus communis), is a tree belonging to the same genus as the apple. It grows from thirty to seventy feet high, with a pyramidal outline; branches spinous in the wild state; leaves scattered and somewhat leathery; flowers in clusters; fruit with a fleshily-enlarged stalk, core near the apex and parchment-like, and black seeds. Gritty particles, due to groups of wood-cells, occur in the flesh. They are widely cultivated in temperate regions, but chiefly in France and the United States. Ranks fourth among American orchard fruits, being preceded by the apple, peach and plum. Chiefly grown in California, New York and Michigan.
Pecan(C. illinoensis), is a large, slender tree reaching a maximum height of one hundred and seventy feet and a diameter of six feet. It grows in moist soil, especially along streams, from Indiana to Iowa and Missouri, south to Kentucky and Texas. It is cultivated in the Southern States for its sweet, edible nut, which forms an important article of commerce.
Persimmon, the Virginian date-plum (Dios pyros virginiana), a moderately-sized tree of the United States, belonging to the ebony tribe, the round orange fruit of which, though austere, becomes edible when affected by frost. They are fermented into a beer and distilled for spirit in the Southern States. The bark has medicinal properties.
Plum(Prunus domestica), a small fruit-tree, native to Asia Minor and the Caucasus, and naturalized in most temperate parts of the world. The Damson or Damascus variety was grown by the Romans from very early times. Large quantities of many varieties, both home and foreign are grown, which are eaten raw, in tarts, and in preserves, or, when dried asprunes. Extensive cultivation is carried on throughout temperate regions. Third most important orchard fruit in the United States, exceeding eight million bushels, California growing two-thirds. All prunes produced in the United States grown in the Pacific States; first prune orchard planted at San Jose, California, in 1870.
Pomegranate(Punica Granatum), long valued in hot countries for the refreshing pulp of its fruit. It is a tree, fifteen to twenty-five feet in height, native to West Asia and North Africa. It has opposite, simple, entire leaves, and the flower has five scarlet or white petals. The fruit has a tough, leathery gold-colored, but partly reddened, exterior and numerous seeds each surrounded by a reddish pulp. This varies in flavor in the numerous cultivated varieties. The rind is rich in tannin, and is employed in tanning Morocco leather.
Walnut(Juglans regia), orCommon Walnutis a native of Persia and the Himalayas, but has long been cultivated in all parts of the south of Europe. It is a tree of sixty to ninety feet, with large spreading branches. The leaves have two to four pairs of leaflets, and a terminal one. The ripe fruit is one of the best of nuts. It yields a bland fixed oil, which, under the names of walnut oil and nut oil, is much used by painters as a drying oil. The timber of the walnut is of great value, and is much used by cabinet-makers. The wood of the roots is beautifully veined. Both the root and the husks of the walnut yield a dye, which is used for staining light-colored woods brown. Very similar to the common walnut, but more valuable, is theBlack Walnutof North America, found in most parts of the United States, except the most northern. See alsoButternut.
The trees previously mentioned are woody plants with only one stem, which begin to form branches at some distance from the ground. The shrubs, on the contrary, are woody plants in which the stem forms branches close to the ground, or even underground.
Banana(Musa sapientium), a handsome plant, long cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries for its fruit. The sheathing bases of the large, oblong leaves form a false stem twenty to thirty feet high. The spikes of irregular flowers are succeeded by a branch of one hundred to two hundred fruits, weighing together from fifty to eighty pounds. The long, berry-like fruits, as they ripen, convert nearly all their starch into sugar and pectose, and form a valuable[143]article of food, the staple food in many tropical countries, producing forty-four times the weight of food per acre yielded by the potato. It is produced in enormous quantities in the West Indies and Brazil, and shipped in constantly increasing volume to the United States and Europe. Beginning with a few hundred bunches in 1870, consumption in the United States has increased to upwards of five million dollars worth annually. Banana flour is becoming a staple article of food.
Its cultivation antedates historical records in India. Pliny mentions that the Greeks under Alexander the Great saw it in India.
The banana plant is the most wonderfully productive fruit in the world. It is a native of Asia, but most of our bananas come from the New World. Here the plant is full grown and the bananas ripe. From the time the suckers are planted to the gathering of the fruit is less than a year, so rapidly does the plant come to maturity.
The banana plant is the most wonderfully productive fruit in the world. It is a native of Asia, but most of our bananas come from the New World. Here the plant is full grown and the bananas ripe. From the time the suckers are planted to the gathering of the fruit is less than a year, so rapidly does the plant come to maturity.
Blueberry.SeeHuckleberry.
Cassava(Manihot utilissima), the bitter cassava, andM. Aipi, the sweet cassava, are both natives of tropical America. Both are shrubby plants, the former with yellow poisonous roots and seven-lobed leaves, the latter with reddish wholesome roots and five-lobed leaves. The coarsely-grated roots are baked into cassava cakes, from which the intoxicating drink piwarrie is prepared. The juice of the poisonous kind is rendered harmless by boiling, and is then the delicious sauce known as cassareep. If allowed to settle, it deposits a large quantity of starch, known as Brazilian arrowroot when simply sun-dried, or as tapioca when partly converted into dextrine by roasting on hot plates. It was long cultivated in Brazil, and, after Spanish discovery, extended to Africa and Asia.
Cranberry(Oxycoccus), a small evergreen shrub, that grows in bogs and marshy grounds, and is a small wiry shrub with creeping, thread-like branches, and small oval leaves rolled back at the edges. The berries are an excellent antiscorbutic, and hence furnish an excellent addition to sea stores. The American cranberry (O. macrocarpa) is larger and more upright with bigger leaves and berries. Large quantities are exported to Europe and other varieties are also imported into Britain and Germany from Russia and other parts of northern Europe.
Currant(Ribes rubrum), is an important shrub, bearing red, black and white fruit. Its branches are not prickly; its leaves have three to five lobes, greenish-yellow blossoms and the berries[144]hang in clusters like grapes. It is often planted in gardens for the sake of its fruit, but is also found in a wild state. Black currants are extensively grown in Continental Europe, Scotland and Canada; sparingly in the United States. In France theliqueur de cassisis made from the fruit. Red currants are very widely grown in Europe and the United States, chiefly for jellies. New York and Michigan lead in production.
The method of gathering bananas is practically the same wherever they are grown, and here we see the bunches being brought to the railway. Bananas need a great deal of water. They will only grow in a warm, damp atmosphere and if much rain does not fall they must be supplied with water artificially. This is done by having canals between the rows of plants.
The method of gathering bananas is practically the same wherever they are grown, and here we see the bunches being brought to the railway. Bananas need a great deal of water. They will only grow in a warm, damp atmosphere and if much rain does not fall they must be supplied with water artificially. This is done by having canals between the rows of plants.
Elder(Sambucus) has thorny branches, elliptical, serrated leaves and single, white blossoms which grow in such numbers that they sometimes resemble snow. Its fruit is black and blue. It grows from three to six feet high in copses, hedges and forests. Few of the species are considered of much value thoughS. Canadensisis used to make a domestic wine and jelly. The most ornamental of the species isS. pubens, which has large, loose panicles of bright scarlet berries. This species is occasionally found in moist high grounds from New York southward. It is very abundant and beautiful on the slopes of the Alleghany Mountains.
Gooseberry(Ribes Grossularia) has branches covered with spines, brown-reddish blossoms and berries of green, yellow or reddish color, which stand singly on the young shoots. It is frequently planted in gardens, and has many varieties. It is highly prized in northwestern Europe; not cultivated in southern Europe, and reaches highest perfection in England. In the United States, while widely grown, is of minor importance, ranking sixth among small fruits, being preceded by the strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, cranberry and currant.
Grape(Vitis Labrusca) has a climbing, knotty trunk, which sometimes attains a length of thirty to fifty feet; its leaves have from three to five lobes, and are coarsely serrated; its small, fragrant, greenish blossoms stand in panicles. The fruit of many varieties of vine, which have been produced by cultivation in the course of thousands of years is very different in color, size and flavor. It is either consumed raw and dried, or manufactured into wine.
In the United States the first vineyard was planted by Lord Delaware in 1610, but not extensively grown until after the introduction of the Concord grape during the last century. While the Concord, Catawba, Isabella, Hartford[145]and most of the cultivated varieties originated from the wild northern fox or plum grape,Vitis Labrusca, the Clinton grape was derived from the wild species,Vitis riparia, and most of the American wine grapes from the native summer grape,Vitis aestivalis.
Since 1860 grape culture has made remarkable progress, the last census showing a crop exceeding eight million dollars in value. New York produces one-third of the American grape crop and is followed by Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas, in order named. Notwithstanding the extensive culture of the European grape in the Pacific States, the American grape constitutes three-fifths in value of all grape products of the United States. Millions of young vines have been shipped to Europe to be top grafted with the European vine.
The grape shares leading rank with the apple among the world fruits. Chief products: raisins, currants and wine of great commercial importance. Raisin production largest in Spain, but important in southwestern Asia, Australia and California.Currantsare small, seedless raisins, mostly grown in Greece (name derived from Corinth). Wine is made throughout the world, total production estimated at four billion gallons, France, Italy and Spain contributing about three-fourths of this enormous amount. The European grape products of California—wine, raisins and table grapes,—amount in value to two-fifths of all grape products of the United States.
Remotely ancient in Egypt. Used by Lake Dwellers of the Bronze Age in Italy. Cultivated by the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. Introduced into China 120 B. C.
Huckleberry.The popular name of the genusGaylussacia, of which there are several species. TheDwarfhuckleberry, theBluehuckleberry and theBlackhuckleberry are common throughout the United States, the latter being the huckleberry of the Northern States. In New England the name is commonly restricted to the black berry species in distinction from the blue berry. The shrubs range in height from about three feet to twelve feet high. In New England canning huckleberries is an extensive if not exceedingly profitable industry. The crop is first picked by hand and afterwards with a “blueberry rake.” The Indians long ago gathered the fruit and dried it for use during wintertime.
Pepper Plant(Piper nigrum) is found all over the Torrid Zone. Its berries stand to the number of twenty to thirty on one spike; at first they are green, then they turn red, and finally black. The black pepper is prepared from the unripe fruit, the white from the ripe fruit, which loses its black shell by being put into salt water (sea water). Pepper is now the most commonly and widely used spice. It is extensively cultivated in East and West Indies, Siam and Malay Peninsula, whence millions of pounds are exported.
Cayenne pepper, or chili is much grown in tropical Africa and America, but less generally used than black pepper.
Pistaciais a small tree, about twenty feet high, and native to Persia and Syria, but now cultivated in all parts of southern Europe and northern Africa. Flowers in racemes, fruit ovate and about the size of an olive. Pistachio nuts are much esteemed; but readily become rancid. Oil is expressed from them for culinary and other uses.
A PINE-APPLE PLANTATION IN FLORIDA
A PINE-APPLE PLANTATION IN FLORIDA
Pine-apple(Ananassa sativa) is highly esteemed and much cultivated for its fruit. It has a number of long, serrated or smooth-edged, sharp-pointed, rigid leaves, springing from the root, in the midst of which a short flower-stem is thrown up, bearing a single spike of flowers, and therefore a single fruit. From the summit of the fruit springs a crown or tuft of small leaves; capable of becoming a new plant; the pine-apple, in cultivation, being propagated entirely by crowns and suckers, as, in a state of high cultivation, perfect seed is almost never produced. The pine-apple is a native of tropical America, and is found wild in sandy maritime districts in certain parts of South America, but has been very much changed by cultivation. It is extensively grown in Florida, and in the West Indies for shipment to northern markets and to Europe. Increasing outdoor plantations have also been developed in the Azores, the Hawaiian Islands, northern Africa, Queensland, and the Bahamas. Florida supports upward of fourteen million plants. Great care is requisite in the cultivation of the pine-apple, which without it is generally fibrous and coarse, with little sweetness or flavor, and with it one of the most delicate and richly flavored of fruits.
WHERE TEA GROWS AND IS CULTIVATED
A TEA PLANTATION IN THE BEAUTIFUL HILL COUNTRY OF CEYLONThe most productive tea gardens are at an elevation of about one thousand feet, the land at this altitude being generally of an undulating character, well watered, and the climate sufficiently humid to encourage leaf-production.
A TEA PLANTATION IN THE BEAUTIFUL HILL COUNTRY OF CEYLON
The most productive tea gardens are at an elevation of about one thousand feet, the land at this altitude being generally of an undulating character, well watered, and the climate sufficiently humid to encourage leaf-production.
The plants are ready for plucking when three years old, at which time they send out numerous leaf-shoots, known as “flush.” The plucking season begins in September and lasts until June of the following year, during which period each bush is plucked about sixteen times.
The plants are ready for plucking when three years old, at which time they send out numerous leaf-shoots, known as “flush.” The plucking season begins in September and lasts until June of the following year, during which period each bush is plucked about sixteen times.
For producing superior fruit in winter the Smooth Cayenne and Black Jamaica are two of the best and most reliable, and the Queen is the most highly esteemed for summer fruiting. The Spanish is the variety commonly grown in Florida. A spirituous liquor (Pine-Apple Rum) is made from the pine-apple in some warm countries.
Raspberry(Rubus Idæus), the most valued of all the species of Rubus. The wild raspberry has scarlet fruit and is found in thickets and woods throughout the whole of Europe and northern Asia. It was early introduced into the United States, but those now grown originated in native American varieties. The black raspberry, is largely grown in New York and Ohio as a commercial industry. The red variety is widely grown in the United States, but production is small compared to that of the black raspberry. Among the more promising varieties of the blacks are Gregg, Ohio and Kansas. Cuthbert is one of the best of the red varieties. The raspberry has long been in cultivation for its fruit. The root is creeping, perennial; the stems only biennial, bearing fruit in the second year, woody, but with very large pith. The raspberry is the leading bush fruit of the United States and second only to the strawberry among small fruits. New York, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, ranking in the order named, grow over one-half of the total crop, which exceeds seventy-five million quarts. The berries are consumed raw or in a preserved state, or are manufactured into raspberry juice, wine and cordial.
Tea(Camellia theifera) is a plant of which there are two well-known varieties: (1) Assam tea; and (2) China tea. The Assam variety, known as “indigenous” tea, is a tree of vigorous growth attaining a height of thirty to forty feet with a leaf from eight to ten inches in length. The China variety is a comparatively stunted shrub, growing to a height of twelve to fifteen feet, with a rounder leaf about three and one-half inches in length, and calyx covered with soft, short hairs. These two varieties have resulted in a hybrid which combines the hardy character of the China with the other features of the indigenous, now largely cultivated on the hills of India and Ceylon, and known as “hybrid-Assam.” The hybrids vary much in productiveness.
The tea-plant will flourish in all parts of the tropical and subtropical zones where the rainfall is over sixty inches and evenly distributed throughout the year. In Ceylon it grows from sea-level to an altitude of seven thousand feet.
The tea-plant is not particular as to soil, but it succeeds best on new forest-land containing plenty of humus. As is the case with cacao, coffee and other economic plants, tea grown on rich, alluvial soil is stronger than tea grown on poorer land, though the latter is often of more delicate flavor.
Chinese teas may be classified thus: Monings, or black leaf teas are grown in the north of China, and shipped from Hankow and Shanghai. Green teas are shipped from Shanghai and consist of Gunpowder, Imperial, Hyson, Young Hyson and Twankay. Kaisows or Red-leafs are grown farther south and are shipped from Foo Chow.
The United States and Canada consume nearly all the tea exported from Japan, all of which is of light character, consisting mostly of Oolongs and greens. Tea has been grown with success in South Carolina and experimentally elsewhere in the United States.
Manufacture.—The first process is to spread the green leaf thinly on hessian trays in the withering house, where it is exposed to a free current of air—a very important operation, which takes from twelve to forty-eight hours. When the leaf is tough and flaccid, like an old kid glove, it is ready for rolling. The old or Chinese system of rolling was by hand. Now this process is performed by machinery, and in India and Ceylon tea is not manipulated after plucking. The rolled leaf is now ready for fermentation, an operation requiring close attention. It is placed in drawers or on tables and covered. The state of the weather hastens or retards the process; in hot, dry weather the leaf will be sufficiently fermented or oxidized in twenty minutes, in cold wet weather it may take hours. Whenever the leaf assumes a bright copper color it must be fired; over-fermentation is a fatal error.
The difference between black and green teas is simply this: if the tea is fired immediately after rolling it is green tea; if it is fermented it becomes black tea. After firing the manufacture is complete, and the tea is what is known as “unassorted,” which contains all the different grades into which tea is usually separated. Sorting by hand sieves is still done in small factories, but in large factories machinery is used.
We cultivate in our gardens plants of all kinds, which give us great pleasure on account of their lovely blossoms or their agreeable odors. They are no longer luxuries, but have become necessities of life; and never have they become so extensively grown and widely appreciated as now. There are plants suited for sunny and shaded aspects and for various positions, from the mossy dell to high and dry situations in the country; from the area to the housetop in the town. Only knowledge is wanted for making the best selections for different purposes and sites, with information on culture for the uninitiated to achieve satisfactory results.
Plants and flowers grown in gardens are embraced in three groups: 1.Annuals, 2.Biennials, and 3.Perennials, the last-named being divided into two sections:(a)herbaceous, with soft or succulent stems that die in the winter; and (b)shrubbyperennials with woody stems that survive the winter.
Annualsare those flowers which are born, grow, flower, ripen seeds, and die within a year. They never push growths a second season after flowering, because the roots die as well as the tops and branches. The common scarlet Poppy is a typical example.
Biennialsare those plants which are raised from seeds in the spring or early summer and require the whole season to make their growth preparatory to flowering the next year, dying after ripening seeds.
Perennialsdiffer from the above in living more than two years. All plants, such as hardy border flowers, that die down and spring up again from the root-stock year after year are perennials—herbaceous. Roses and other flowering shrubs are also perennials, but not herbaceous.Orchids.One of the best examples of herbaceous perennials is that of the Orchids, the most popular of which are the Odontoglossums and the Cattleyas.
Florist’s Flowers.This term has been applied to a number of plants which under cultivation and by selection or hybridization have produced from seed varieties of improved form, habit or color. The plants included under this title are constantly being added to, and great impetus given to the cultivation of hardy flowers and plants in recent years. The following are representative of this class:
Begonia.Named in honor of M. Begon, a French patron of botany. All the species of Begonia are interesting and beautiful winter ornaments of the hot-house or green-house, of the simplest culture in any rich soil if allowed an abundant supply of water. There are several tuberous-rooted species and varieties. They have large, showy flowers, and succeed well in a moist, shady border. The tubers should be kept warm and dry during the winter. They are readily propagated by cuttings, seeds, or division of tubers.
Carnation(Dianthus caryophyllus) is an almost hardy herbaceous perennial plant, a native of southern Europe. The Greeks and Romans used it for making chaplets whence it was called “coronation.” It is a favorite exhibition flower, of many varieties, forms and colors; but the red, white, pink and yellow predominate. Carnations are among the plants which can be grown in the atmosphere of cities, but they are intolerant of shade. Propagation is usually effected by the process of layering, but cutting, seeds, and divisions are also employed.
Cattleya.What the rose and carnation are among garden plants, the Cattleya is among Orchids, preëminently beautiful. Not a species but possesses claims of the strongest nature on the culturist’s attention, either for its delicate loveliness or the rich and vivid coloring of its large and handsome flowers. They are natives of the temperate parts of South America, and in cultivation are found to succeed in a lower temperature than is necessary for the majority of plants of the same order. The plants grow vigorously, and consequently flower in perfection. The colors of the flowers run through all the shades of white, rose, rosy-lilac, crimson and carmine, nor is even yellow absent.
Dahlia.This, through constant improvement, has become one of the indispensable flowers. It derived its name from the Swedish botanist Dahl. Dahlias are known as show, fancy, pompon, single and cactus. They vary from the single type, not unlike a daisy, with broad rays, to the tiny, tightly-quilled, formal “pompon,” and to the “cactus-flowered,” resembling a chrysanthemum; and their lines are equally varied. Yellow, lilac, white and the deepest maroon, are found in innumerable combinations. It is necessary to lift the roots in late autumn, and, having ripened them in a shed, to store them for the winter in a cool, dry place, where the temperature will not fall below thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. In the spring, the separate tubers may be planted in deep, rich soil; or the roots may be placed in February in a hot-bed, and when the young shoots which form are about three and a half inches long, they may be separated, together with a small piece of the tuber, and potted in small pots, which should be placed in the hot-bed until the young plants are ready to be hardened, preparatory to being planted outdoors.
Geranium.Our native species, called “crane’s bill,” from the beak-like appearance of the fruit, have palmately lobed or cleft leaves. The flowers have unusually bright-colored petals. The plants commonly cultivated in gardens and greenhouses under the name of Geraniums are species of Pelargonium. There are about one hundred and twenty-five species, mostly natives of the Cape of Good Hope, prized on account of the brilliant colors, of the flowers and the shape and markings of the leaves.
The most popular method of propagating is by cuttings, which can be rooted in pots or boxes of light soil placed in a greenhouse, or even a cottage window, at any time from spring to autumn, provided the soil is not kept very moist. Good loam is the best potting material, and beyond a little sand it needs no addition. Firm potting is a point to be well observed. Avoid coddling.
Gloxiniais the florists’ name for plants belonging to the genusSinningia, tropical American plants. They have beautiful, many-colored, funnel-shaped flowers and velvety leaves. Seeds should be sown in February; and if the young plants are carefully potted, they flower the first year. They require the temperature of a warm greenhouse during the summer months; but as the leaves die away in autumn, the roots may be stored in a dry place, merely protected from cold. They like a sandy soil, containing abundance of leaf-mould and heat.
Lily(Lilium) in its many forms is one of the noblest and must beautiful of all bulbous plants. About forty-five species are natives of the north temperate zone, many of which are prized for the size and beauty of the flowers. TheWhite Lily(L. candidum), a native of the Levant, with large white flowers, has long been in cultivation in gardens. TheEuropean Orange Lily(L. bulbiferum), with large, orange-colored flowers, is a well-known and very showy ornament in flower gardens. TheTiger Lily(L. tigrinum) has a stout stem two to five feet high with beautiful orange-colored flowers, spotted with purple. It is a native of China but has escaped from cultivation in many parts of the United States.
PROUD COLOR BEAUTIES OF THE LAND OF FLOWERS