  147. The GUAVA, or BAY PLUM, is a West Indian fruit, of which there are two kinds, one white and round, and the other red and pear-shaped. The former is produced by a tree (Psidium pomiferum) which has sharp-pointed and highly ribbed leaves, and flowers three on each stalk; and the latter by a tree (Psidium pyriferum) with oval leaves and single-stalked flowers. Equally delicious and wholesome, these fruits are in the highest estimation in the countries where they are produced. The rind or skin is lined with an apple-like substance, which is used for tarts and other sweet preparations. It is also stewed and eaten with milk; and, in this form, is generally thought better than any other stewed fruit; from the same part a marmalade is made. This rind encloses an agreeable pulp, mixed with innumerable small seeds. The whole fruit is eaten raw, or prepared as a sweetmeat in various ways; the most common form in which we see it is that of a jelly. The wood is used for fuel, and also makes excellent charcoal. 148. The COMMON MYRTLE (Myrtus communis) is a well-known ornamental evergreen shrub, which is cultivated chiefly in greenhouses in this country, but grows wild in the countries of the South of Europe. Although this shrub is cultivated with us chiefly for ornament, it is of considerable utility to the inhabitants of the South of Europe. Its young shoots are used for tanning leather; and both its leaves and berries are employed in medicine. From the former a distilled water is obtained, which is sometimes used in gargles. The berries are likewise distilled; and an oil prepared from them has considerable repute as a means of thickening the hair. 149. ALL-SPICE, or PIMENTO, is the dried berry of a West Indian species of myrtle (Myrtus pimenta, Fig. 45.) This tree grows to the height of twenty feet and upwards, and has somewhat oval leaves about four inches long, of deep shining green colour, and numerous bunches of white flowers, each with four small petals. In the whole vegetable creation there is scarcely any tree more beautiful or more fragrant than a young pimento about the month of July. Branched on all sides, richly clad with deep green leaves, which are relieved by an exuberance of white and strongly aromatic flowers, it attracts the notice of all who approach it. Pimento trees grow spontaneously, and in great abundance, in many parts of Jamaica; but they cannot be propagated without great difficulty. The usual method of making a new pimento walk, or plantation, is to appropriate for this purpose a piece of woody ground in the neighbourhood of an already existing walk, or in a part of the country where the scattered trees are found in a native state. The other trees are cut down; and, in a year or two, young pimento plants are found to spring up in all parts, supposed to have been produced from berries scattered there by birds, which eagerly devour them. About the month of September, and not long after the blossoms have fallen, the berries are in a fit state to be gathered. At this time, though not quite ripe, they are full grown, and about the size of pepper-corns. They are gathered by the hand; and one labourer on a tree will strip them off so quickly as to employ three below in picking them up; and an industrious picker will fill a bag of seventy pounds' weight in a day. The berries are then spread on a terrace, in the sun, for about seven days, to be dried; but this is an operation which requires great care, from the necessity of keeping them perfectly free from moisture. By the drying they lose their green colour, and become reddish brown; and the process is known to be completed by their Pimento is thought to resemble in flavour a mixture of cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, whence it has obtained the name of "all-spice." It is much employed in cookery; and is chiefly used in whole grains. It is also employed in medicine, as an agreeable aromatic; and forms the basis of a distilled water, a spirit, and an essential oil. The leaves of the pimento trees yield in distillation an odoriferous oil, which is not unfrequently used in medicinal preparations, instead of oil of cloves. 150. The PEACH is a large, downy, and well-known garden fruit (Amygdalus Persica), which is supposed to have been originally introduced into Europe from Persia, and was first brought into England about the year 1562. This rich and delicious fruit is highly and deservedly esteemed at table, as an article in our desserts; and, when ripe and fresh, is grateful and wholesome, seldom disagreeing with the stomach, unless this organ be not in an healthy state, or the fruit be eaten to excess. When preserved in wine, brandy, or sugar, it loses its good properties. The kernels yield a salubrious bitter. The flowers, which are very beautiful, and appear early in the spring, emit an agreeable odour, have a bitterish taste, and are used for medical purposes. The leaves are occasionally employed in cookery, but they ought not to be used without great caution, on account of their injurious properties. There are many varieties of the peach, some of which are much more esteemed than others. The mode in which the trees are usually propagated is by a process termed budding, or grafting upon the stock of some other tree (see p. 147); and, by this process, those of any favourite kind may be exactly obtained. 151. The Nectarine is a smooth-skinned variety of the peach, but of richer and more delicious flavour. The culture and management of the two kinds are exactly the same; and in all the circumstances of their growth, wood, leaves, and flowers, they precisely resemble each other. 152. The COMMON or SWEET ALMOND is a soft and pleasant-flavoured kernel, contained in a nut which is of flattish shape, and has a tender shell with numerous small holes on the outside. The almond tree (Amygdalus communis, Fig. 46) is usually twelve or fourteen feet high. Its beautiful pink flowers of five petals grow in pairs, and appear early in the spring. The leaves are somewhat oval, pointed, and delicately serrated at the edges. Our shrubberies contain no tree the flowers of which are more beautiful than those of the almond; and these flowers appear in March and April, a season when few other parts of the vegetable creation have recovered from their wintry state. Though known to the ancients from the most remote periods of antiquity, the almond tree has only been cultivated in England since the year 1562, and this almost wholly on account of the elegant appearance of its flowers; as the climate of Great Britain is not sufficiently warm for the fruit to be perfected with us. The almonds that are consumed in this country are imported, sometimes in the shell, but much more commonly without, from France, Spain, Italy, and the Levant; and they are packed in casks, boxes, and bales. The province of Valencia had formerly great celebrity for its almonds; but the cultivation of the trees in that part of Spain has for several years been much neglected. The chief uses of sweet almonds are in confectionary and cooking. They are also eaten with raisins in desserts after dinner; but they should be well chewed, as every piece that is swallowed entire is indigestible. By pressure, they yield a considerable proportion, 153. BITTER ALMONDS are in no respect different from sweet almonds, either as to the appearance of the kernels themselves, or the trees which produce them, except somewhat in the size of the flowers and fruit. Like sweet almonds, they yield a large portion of oil. This has no bitterness; but the substance which remains after the pressure is intensely bitter. If these almonds be eaten freely, they occasion sickness and vomiting; and, to many quadrupeds and birds, they are a fatal poison. There was formerly a notion, but it is an erroneous one, that the eating of them would prevent the intoxicating effects of wine. They are frequently used, instead of apricot kernels, in ratafia, and sometimes are employed in making a counterfeit cherry-brandy. The oil and emulsions of bitter almonds are used in medicine: and a powder and paste, for washing the hands is made both from them and from sweet almonds. By confectioners they are much in request for flavouring biscuits and other articles. 154. The POMEGRANATE is an apple-shaped fruit with thick rind, and crowned with the leaves or teeth of the calyx. It is the produce of an evergreen shrub (Punica granatum, Fig. 47) which grows wild in the southern parts of Europe. This shrub is usually from fifteen to twenty feet high. The branches are armed with spines; and the leaves are oblong, pointed, and dark green. The flowers, which are of a rich scarlet colour, have five rounded petals. By the Greeks and Romans almost every part of the pomegranate tree (the root, leaves, flowers, and fruit) Pomegranates were first cultivated in England about the year 1596; but the fruit grown in this country seldom attains a delicacy of flavour equal to that which is imported from Spain, Italy, and other warm climates. 155. The CHERRY is a fruit of the prune or plum tribe, the original stock of which is the wild cherry (Prunus cerasus) of our woods. The gradual effects of cultivation, as they regard the cherry, have been the production of several kinds, which, both in size and flavour, infinitely exceed the fruit of the parent stock, or wild cherry of the woods. The kinds that are best known are the May Duke, Early Kentish Cherry, White Heart, and Black Heart Cherries. The trees are propagated by grafting (see p. 147) them usually upon the stocks of wild black and red cherry trees, which are reared for that purpose. This agreeable fruit is eaten either fresh or dried. It is sometimes preserved with sugar as a sweetmeat; is made into jam; used in preparations of the liqueur called cherry-brandy: and made into wine. From wild black cherries the Swiss distil an ardent spirit, by the The wood of the cherry-tree, which is hard and tough, is much used, particularly by turners and cabinet-makers on the Continent, for the manufacture of chairs and other furniture. The gum that exudes from the bark is, in many respects, equal to gum arabic (273); and is considered very nutritive. Hasselquist informs us that, during a siege, more than 100 men were kept alive for nearly two months, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum, which they occasionally took into their mouths and suffered gradually to dissolve. 156. The APRICOT (Prunus Armeniaca) is a fruit of the plum tribe, which grows wild in several parts of Armenia and was first introduced into this country about the middle of the sixteenth century. Some persons are inclined to consider the apricot as the most delicate of all our hardy fruits. For pastry certainly none is more excellent. It is used for tarts, both green and when ripe; it is also preserved with sugar in both these states, and is sometimes dried as a sweetmeat. Care, however, should be taken to gather it before it becomes soft and mealy. The kernels of apricots have a pleasantly bitter flavour, and answer much better for several purposes in confectionary than bitter almonds, which are usually applied. They likewise contain a sweet oil, which, like that of almonds, was formerly used in emulsions. The gum that issues from the apricot tree is nearly similar to that of the cherry (152). The wood is coarse-grained and soft, and consequently is seldom used in carpentry. Apricot trees are chiefly grown against walls, and are propagated by grafting upon plum-tree stocks. 157. The COMMON or DOMESTIC PLUM, in all its varieties, has been derived from a wild species of plum-tree (Prunus domestica), which grows in hedge-rows and thickets in Were it not a well-established fact, few persons would suppose that the magnum bonum, or egg plum, the green gage, and several others, which are now common in our gardens, are indebted, for their parent stock, to the wild plum above-mentioned. These are all used at table; and, when sufficiently ripe, and eaten in moderate quantity, are pleasant and wholesome fruits, but, in an immature state, they are very unwholesome. Prunes and French plums are the dried fruit of different kinds of plum-trees. They are usually packed in boxes, and are imported from the Continent, but particularly from the neighbourhood of Marseilles.—Brignolles, a town of Provence, about thirty miles from Marseilles, is one of the most famous places in France for dried prunes. Prunes or St. Catherine's plums, constitute a lucrative branch of traffic, which is almost exclusively carried on in Tours and Chatelherault. Prunes are sometimes employed in medicine, but French plums are chiefly used at table. The wood of the plum-tree is of little value; but the bark is in occasional request as affording a yellow dye. 158. The BULLACE PLUM is a small violet-coloured fruit of globular shape, produced by a shrub (Prunus insititia) which grows wild in our hedges, and is known by its branches being thorny, and its fruit-stalks in pairs. The plum has a rough, but not unpleasantly acid taste, especially after it has been mellowed by the frost. A conserve, called bullace cheese, is sometimes prepared by mixture of the pulp of the bullace with about thrice its weight of sugar. In several parts of Germany this fruit is preserved in vinegar and spice; and is occasionally used, in the manner of cherries, for the flavouring of brandy. An infusion of the flowers, sweetened with sugar, is sometimes used medicinally for 159. The SLOE is a small, round, and nearly black kind of plum (Prunus spinosa), of extremely austere taste, which is common in thickets and hedges throughout nearly every part of England. The shrub that produces it has thorny branches, and the fruit-stalks are single. The harshness and austerity of the sloe are proverbial. Its juice, if mixed with British made wines, communicates to them a red colour, and an astringent flavour, somewhat resembling that of port wine; a fact too well known to some of the dealers in that favourite liquor. The juice of unripe sloes, dried over a gentle fire, so nearly resembles the Egyptian acacia (273), that it has in many instances been substituted for that substance; it is, however, harder, heavier, of darker colour, and somewhat sharper taste than the genuine kind. A conserve of this fruit, made with three times its weight of double-refined sugar, has been used with success as a gargle for sore throats. An infusion of the flowers in water, or the flowers boiled in milk, are sometimes employed medicinally; and the bark, reduced to powder, has been efficaciously administered in agues. If boiled in ley, the bark yields a red dye. The young and tender leaves of the sloe afford a substitute for tea, but some persons consider them unwholesome. The juice of the fruit, mixed with green vitriol, becomes an indelible black fluid, either for dyeing linen, or as writing-ink. The wood, being extremely tough, is converted into walking-sticks, and made into the teeth of rakes; it is also sometimes used by turners. Dr. Withering has remarked, that, from certain effects which he observed to follow the prick of the thorns of the sloe, he was inclined to consider they had some poisonous quality, especially in autumn. PENTAGYNIA.160. The MEDLAR (Mespilus germanica) is usually considered a native English fruit, having been remarked, more than a century ago, to grow wild in hedges about Minshull in Cheshire. It is distinguished by being depressed and concave at the top, the leaves of the calyx continuing upon it; and by its containing several hard, compressed, and angular nuts. It is the property of the medlar, which is cultivated in most large gardens, to be hard, and remarkably austere and disagreeable to the taste, until it has, in part, undergone the putrefactive fermentation, when it becomes a soft, mellow, and, to many palates, a pleasant fruit. Medlars are usually gathered from the trees about the end of October, or beginning of November. To facilitate their becoming fit for the table, they may be placed in moist bran; but such as require to be kept for subsequent use should be deposited on dry straw. In a fortnight or three weeks those in the bran will be eatable, and the others will more gradually ripen. After they are perfectly ripe, they, however, soon become mouldy and decay. The wood of the medlar-tree somewhat resembles that of the pear-tree, but is of no great value. 161. The COMMON PEAR is a well-known garden fruit, derived from an English stock, the wild pear-tree (Pyrus communis), which grows in hedges and thickets in Somersetshire and Sussex. It would be an endless task to describe the different known varieties of the cultivated pear. Some of these are very large, and others extremely small; some have a rich and luscious flavour, and others, as the iron pear, are so hard and disagreeable to the taste, as to be absolutely unfit to eat. Pears are chiefly used in desserts; and one or two of the kinds are stewed with sugar, baked, or preserved in syrup. The fermented juice of pears is called perry, and is prepared nearly in the same manner as that of apples (162) is for cider. The greatest quantities of perry are made in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The Squash, the Oldfield, and the Barland perry are esteemed the best. Many of the dealers in Champaigne wine are said to use perry in the adulteration of it; and, indeed, really good perry is little inferior, either in flavour or quality, to Champaigne. Of the wood of the pear-tree, which is light, smooth, compact, and of yellowish colour, carpenters' and joiners' tools are usually made, as well as the common kinds of flat rulers, and measuring scales. It is also used for picture frames that are to be stained black. The leaves impart a yellow dye, and are sometimes employed to communicate a green colour to blue cloth. 162. The APPLE, in all its numerous varieties, has been derived from the Crab-tree (Pyrus malus), which grows wild in almost every thicket, and in hedges of all parts of the kingdom. The uses of apples are very extensive, and even the crab-tree is not without its use. The fruit is indeed small, and bad to the taste; but its fermented juice, which is called verjuice, is sometimes employed in cookery, occasionally in medicine, and frequently by wax-chandlers, for the purifying of wax. Dr. Withering conceives that, with a proper addition of sugar, a grateful liquor might be made from the juice of crabs, little inferior to hock. Hogs and deer are particularly partial to this fruit. The wood is tolerably hard, and, when made into the cogs of wheels, acquires a polish, and is very durable. Apple-trees are all produced in an artificial manner, by a process termed grafting. This is performed by inserting young shoots of such trees as bear valuable fruit, on stocks that have been raised from the seeds of crabs. Thus the shoot of an apple-tree, inserted There are several kinds of apples, and the varieties are every day increasing, through the attention that is paid, by different individuals, to the culture of this valuable fruit. Those best known as eating apples are the American apple called Newtown pippin, the non-pareil, golden pippin, ribstone pippin, golden rennet, and lemon pippin; for the kitchen, the codlin and russet; and for cider, the golden pippin, coccagee, and red streak. Of these the non-pareil and golden pippin, from some unaccountable causes, are beginning to fail; the trees of late production not affording fruit of excellence equal to what has formerly been produced in this country. It would be impossible in this place to enumerate all the uses of apples. They are employed in culinary preparations of several kinds, particularly in puddings and pies: they are a constant article in desserts; and are dried, baked, and made into jelly and marmalade. But by far the most important application of them is for the making of cider. The mode in which this is done in Herefordshire is very simple. After the apples have been gathered, they are sorted according to their different degrees of ripeness, and laid together, for a little while, to heat, by which those which are not perfectly ripe are greatly improved in flavour. The fruit is then ground in a mill, till even the kernels and rind are well bruised. It is allowed to stand, for a day or two, exposed in a large open vessel; after which it is pressed between several hair cloths. The liquor that issues from it is received into a vat, to be fermented; Cider is a more acid liquor than perry, and, generally speaking, is a wholesome and pleasant drink during the heats of summer; but the harsher kinds, or those which are prepared in leaden vessels, if freely drunk, are the cause of colics and other painful complaints. By distillation from cider an ardent spirit may be obtained. This has an unpleasant flavour, of which, however, it may be deprived by a certain process with charcoal. By boiling the fresh juice of apples, and afterwards fermenting it, a wine may be made, which, when three or four years old, is said to acquire both the colour and flavour of Rhenish wine. 163. The QUINCE is a somewhat pear-shaped fruit, which is supposed to have been originally imported into this country from the island of Crete. The quince-tree (Pyrus cydonia), is low and bushy. Its leaves are oval, entire, and whitish beneath. The flowers are large, of pale red or white colour, and do not grow in bunches, but each on a separate stalk. Though quinces have an austere taste, and are not eatable when raw, they lose a considerable portion of their harshness if prepared in any manner by heat; and, when mixed with other fruit in cookery, they communicate a very pleasant flavour. Hence it is that they are often mixed with apples in pies. Quinces are also boiled and eaten with sugar; made into marmalade, and preserved in syrup either whole or in halves. The juice of quinces, boiled with sugar, was formerly used as a medicine, but of late years it has been nearly discontinued. A proportion of one quart of the juice, mixed with a pound of sugar, and fermented, yields a delicious wine. On the Continent, a celebrated liqueur is prepared from this juice, in combination with sugar Quince-trees grow wild on the banks of the Danube, but, with much less luxuriance than in a state of cultivation. POLYGYNIA.164. The HUNDRED LEAVED, or COMMON GARDEN ROSE (Rosa centifolia), is a shrub too well known to need any description. This, the queen of flowers, is one of the most elegant and fragrant of the vegetable productions. Its petals yield, on distillation, a small portion of aromatic oil, together with a water which possesses both the odour and taste of the flowers. This oil congeals in the common temperature of our atmosphere, and in that state is of white colour; but, when liquefied by heat, it appears yellow. So small, however, is the quantity that can be obtained, that an hundred pounds' weight of the flowers will scarcely yield half an ounce of oil. It is in much request as a perfume, under the name of ottar or essence of roses; and, though chiefly manufactured in the East Indies, is seldom imported from thence for sale, but considerable quantities of it are brought from Turkey, at the price of from three to four pounds per ounce, exclusive of the duty. That from the East Indies, when genuine, has been sold at a much more exorbitant rate than this; but it is not unfrequently adulterated with oil of sandal-wood (55). The fraud, however, is easily detected by those who are accustomed to the smell of the latter, and also by the fluidity of the compound. The true ottar of roses is undoubtedly the most elegant perfume that is known. From the petals of this rose are also prepared a conserve and syrup, which are used in medicine. The simple distilled rose-water has little to recommend it beyond its fragrance: it is occasionally used to 165. The WILD BRIER, or HEP-ROSE (Rosa canina), is a common wild flower in hedges, and is distinguished by having a somewhat egg-shaped fruit, smooth flower-stalks, the prickles of the stem hooked, and the leaves oval, pointed, smooth, and shining. We possess no wild shrub more ornamental to the country, in its flowers, its foliage, or its fruit, than this; and its sweet and delicate scent, though less powerful, is perhaps as grateful as that of any rose that is known. The flowers, when distilled, afford a pleasant perfumed water. The fruit, or heps, contain an acid yet sweetish pulp, with a rough prickly matter enclosing the seeds. Of the pulp, when carefully separated from this substance, and mixed with sugar, is prepared the conserve of heps of the shops, which, though of little medicinal virtue itself, is used to give form to more active medicines. In the north of Europe, the fruit of the rose, with the addition of sugar, is sometimes employed in the preparation of domestic wines; and the pulp, in a dried state, affords a grateful ingredient in sauces: but it is supposed that a still greater advantage might be derived from the fruit by distillation. The leaves of this, and indeed of every kind of rose, have been recommended as a substitute for tea. On the Continent they are employed in currying the finer kinds of leather. On the branches of this tree a singular moss-like and prickly excrescence is frequently found. This, which is caused by an insect (Cynips rosÆ), and forms the habitation of its offspring, was formerly in great medicinal repute; but it is now seldom used. 166. The RED OFFICINAL ROSE (Rosa gallica) differs from the hundred-leaved rose in having the leaf-stalks more rough and prickly. The petals are of deep crimson colour, large, spreading, and not numerous. In the period of its flowering, this rose, which is a native of the south of Europe, succeeds the common garden rose. It is used in several medicinal preparations. Of its petals, in conjunction with sugar, a conserve is made, an infusion, and a syrup; and the dried buds, with water and honey, are made into what is called honey of roses. 167. The RASPBERRY (Rubus idÆus) is a well-known garden fruit, which grows wild in woods and thickets of several parts of England. To most persons the flavour of the raspberry is peculiarly grateful; and its perfume very delightful. Raspberries are much used in cookery and confectionary, as well as to eat in desserts. With sugar they are made into jam and jelly, and also into cakes. The juice, mixed with a certain portion of sugar and of brandy, constitutes the liqueur called raspberry-brandy. This juice is much in request for ice-creams, and is sometimes manufactured into wine. A grateful syrup is obtained from raspberries, which is occasionally used in medicine. The leaves are said to be a grateful food to kids. White raspberries are sweeter than the red ones. 168. Our wild hedge fruit, called BLACKBERRIES (Rubus fruticosus), belong to the same tribe as the raspberry. These are much eaten by children, and sometimes, when taken in too great quantities, produce very violent effects, and have caused fever, delirium, and other unpleasant symptoms. In Provence blackberries are employed for the colouring of wine. A syrup and jelly, and sometimes also wine, are prepared from them. The twigs are sometimes used in dyeing a black colour. Silkworms are occasionally fed upon the leaves of the blackberry. 169. The STRAWBERRY (Fragaria vesca) is a British wood fruit which has been long cultivated in gardens. By cultivation the strawberry has been greatly increased in size, but its flavour continues much the same as that of the wild fruit. The varieties of the strawberry are very numerous. None of our fruits are more wholesome than these, and, even when eaten in large quantities, they seldom disagree with the stomach. They abound in juice, have a grateful, cooling, somewhat acid taste, and a peculiarly fragrant smell; and are either eaten alone, or with sugar, milk, or wine. A palatable jam, wine, and vinegar, are prepared from strawberries. This fruit is sometimes preserved whole in syrup, and sometimes in wine. |
|
