Especially Adapted to Southern United States_The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of Answers

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| |90°. | |not fertilize blossoms. |

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_III. THE FRUIT TREES_

The fruit trees are cultivated for the sake of their fruit. They

bear either kernel fruit, when their seed kernels are enclosed in

cores of parchment-like formation; or stone fruit, when the seed

kernel is enclosed in a hard shell, which is in its turn enclosed in

some succulent pulp; or shell fruit, when the fleshy interior is

enclosed in a hard shell.

=Almond=, a small tree belonging to the rose family, native to northwest

Africa. The flowers are solitary and generally pink, and appear before

the lance-shaped leaves. The fruit is egg-shaped, downy externally, with

a tough, fibrous covering and a wrinkled stone. It has long been widely

cultivated, and many varieties exist, differing in the hardness of the

stone and in the flavor of the seed. SWEET ALMONDS include the large

thin-shelled Jordan (from the French _jardin_), the Valencia almond,

imported as a dessert fruit from Malaga, the smaller Barbary and Italian

forms, and the California product. The BITTER ALMOND yields an essential

oil, employed in confectionery, but dangerous from sometimes containing

prussic acid.

=Apple= (_Pyrus Malus_), grows wild in forests, but it is found

artificially improved everywhere in gardens and orchards. Its bark is

generally smooth; its wood somewhat soft; its leaves oval-shaped and

about double the length of their stalks; its blossoms are white with

reddish margins. Fruit horticulture has produced many species of apples

in the course of time, and they are now the most important fruit of the

temperate zone, area of production, consumption, and variety of product

being considered, ranking with the grape, olive, orange, lemon and

banana, among the six leading fruits of the world. North America is

preëminently the leading apple growing region. In the United States, New

York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio produce about one-third of the total crop.

The cultivation of the apple is prehistoric. Abundantly used by Lake

Dwellers of the Stone Age in Italy and Switzerland.

[Illustration: =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=

[Illustration: 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.]

[Illustration: 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’s _Georgics_.

=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 the _palm_ of the Bible.

=SCENES IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE COFFEE BERRY=

[Illustration: =THE COFFEE PLANT IN FLOWER=]

[Illustration: =FROM FLOWER TO RIPE “CHERRIES”=]

[Illustration: =METHOD OF DRYING COFFEE ON WOODEN TRAYS IN THE OPEN AIR,

AS STILL PRACTICED IN ARABIA AND OTHER ORIENTAL COUNTRIES=]

[Illustration: =WOMEN OF JAVA HULLING COFFEE=

The “cherries” when gathered contain two seeds, or coffee beans. The

coverings are removed from the seeds by “hulling.”]

[Illustration: =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. The

BLACK 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 the WHITE

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 the PAPER MULBERRY is 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 of the United States are

Florida, Louisiana and California.

The MANDARIN ORANGE or CLOVE ORANGE has fruit much broader than long,

with a rind very loosely attached to the flesh, and small leaves; the

TANGERINE ORANGE is apparently derived from the mandarin. It is grown in

Florida. The JAFFA ORANGE has now a great reputation. The MAJORCA ORANGE

is seedless. The KUM-QUAT from China and Japan, is little bigger than a

gooseberry, and grows well in Australia. The NAVEL 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.

=Palms= were 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 also DATE,

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

as _prunes_. 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_), or COMMON WALNUT is 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 the BLACK WALNUT of North America, found

in most parts of the United States, except the most northern. See also

BUTTERNUT.

_IV. FRUIT-BEARING SHRUBS AND PLANTS_

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 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.

[Illustration: 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.= See Huckleberry.

=Cassava= (_Manihot utilissima_), the bitter cassava, and _M. 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 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 the _liqueur de cassis_ is 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.

[Illustration: 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 though _S. Canadensis_ is used to make a

domestic wine and jelly. The most ornamental of the species is _S.

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 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. _Currants_ are 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 genus _Gaylussacia_, of which

there are several species. The _Dwarf_ huckleberry, the _Blue_

huckleberry and the _Black_ huckleberry 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.

=Pistacia= is 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.

[Illustration: =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=

[Illustration: =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.]

[Illustration: 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.

_V. FLOWERS AND OTHER ORNAMENTAL PLANTS_

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_) _shrubby_

perennials with woody stems that survive the winter.

ANNUALS are 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.

BIENNIALS are 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.

PERENNIALS differ 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.

=Gloxinia= is the florists’ name for plants belonging to the genus

_Sinningia_, 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. The WHITE LILY (_L. candidum_), a native of the

Levant, with large white flowers, has long been in cultivation in

gardens. The EUROPEAN ORANGE LILY (_L. bulbiferum_), with large,

orange-colored flowers, is a well-known and very showy ornament in

flower gardens. The TIGER 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.

[Illustration: =PROUD COLOR BEAUTIES OF THE LAND OF FLOWERS=

1. ANTIRRHINUM. 2. THE ODONTOGLOSSUM. 3. POPPIES. 4. GLOXINIA. 5.

CORNFLOWERS. 6. NASTURTIUMS. 7. THE CATTLEYA FOBIA. 8. FOXGLOVE.]

=Nasturtium=, the generic name of a plant of the _cruciferæ_ or mustard

family, and the common name of the widely different genus _tropæolum_.

The best known of these is _Tropæolum tricolorum_, one of the most

generally cultivated annuals. It has tuberous roots, and such very weak

and slender stems, that it is found necessary always to train them over

a wire frame, as they are quite unable to support themselves. The stem

climbs six or eight feet; the flowers vary from yellow to orange,

scarlet and crimson. The unexpanded flower buds, and the young fruit

while still tender, are pickled in vinegar. The dwarf varieties of this

form bushy, rounded tufts about a foot high, and are used for bedding;

some of them have flowers of exceedingly rich colors.

=Odontoglossum.= Unquestionably the most popular genus of Orchids. Very

many of the species have been introduced into the green-house, and are

greatly prized by cultivators for their magnificent flowers, which are

remarkable both for their size and the beauty of their colors. Many of

the species have pure white flowers, variously mottled; and some have a

powerful odor of violets. With but few exceptions, they require to be

grown in a moderately cool house. They are propagated by division, and

grown like the other varieties of Orchids.

=Tulip= (_Tulipa_). A genus of upward of eighty species of hardy bulbous

plants. Between forty and fifty species are known, mostly natives of the

warmer parts of Asia. The most famous of all florists’ flowers is the

garden tulip (_T. gesneriana_), which is from eighteen inches to two

feet high, with a smooth stem, bearing one erect, large flower. The

tulip is still most sedulously cultivated in Holland, especially at

Haarlem, whence bulbs are largely exported; but attention is almost

exclusively devoted to the cheaper varieties, which are used in hundreds

of thousands for the purposes of decoration in gardens and rooms

throughout winter and spring. Tulips are propagated by offset bulbs, and

new varieties are raised from seed. Another species of tulip cultivated

in gardens is the sweet-scented tulip, or Van Thol tulip (_T.

suaveolens_), which has yellow or red flowers, inferior to those of the

common garden tulip in beauty, but prized for their fragrance, and for

appearing more early in the season.

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