  190. TAMARINDS are the pulp and needs produced by the pods of a large tree with winged leaves (Tamarindus Indica, Fig. 51), which grows in the East and West Indies, America, and several parts of Asia. This tree is from thirty to forty feet in height; and its leaves consist usually of fourteen pairs of leaflets. The flowers are formed in clusters, from the sides of the branches, and have each three yellowish petals, beautifully marked with red veins. The fruit of the tamarind-tree is a roundish but somewhat compressed pod, four or five inches in length, the external part of which is very brittle. Each pod contains three or four hard seeds, enveloped in tough skins, surrounded by a dark-coloured, acid pulp, and connected together by numerous tough and woody fibres. Previously to the exportation of tamarinds, the pulp, with the seeds and fibres, are freed from their shell: and those which we receive from the West Indies are usually preserved in syrup. In Jamaica the fruit is gathered about the month of July. When fully ripe, and after the pods are cleared away, the remainder is placed in layers, in small casks: and boiling syrup, just before it begins to granulate, is poured upon them until the casks are filled, after which the heads are put in and fastened up for exportation. The East Indian tamarinds are generally packed without any admixture. They are more esteemed than the others; and, when in the pods, are easily distinguished from them by their being longer, and containing six or seven seeds; the pulp also is drier and of darker colour. It is said that we are indebted to the Arabians for a knowledge of the use of tamarinds. In hot climates they are a most refreshing and delicious fruit; and, dissolved in water, are much used as a cooling and POLYANDRIA.191. The SOUR-GOURD, BOABAB, or AFRICAN CALABASH-TREE (Adansonia digitata) is probably the largest of all vegetable productions. The trunk, although not usually more than twelve or fifteen feet high, is frequently from sixty to eighty feet in girth. The lowest branches extend almost horizontally; and, as they are sometimes near sixty feet in length, they bend, by their own weight, to the ground; and thus the whole tree forms an hemispherical mass of verdure, which measures from 120 to 130 feet in diameter. The fruit is oblong, about ten inches in length, pointed at both ends, and covered with a greenish down, under which there is a blackish and woody rind. Its interior consists of a whitish, spongy, and juicy substance, with several brown seeds. This tree is a native of Senegal and other parts of Africa. The virtues and uses of the sour-gourd tree and its fruit are numerous and of great importance to the inhabitants of the countries in which it is found. The bark and leaves are dried, powdered, and preserved in bags, to be employed as a seasoning for food. Two or three pinches of this powder are put, by the negroes, into their messes, under an impression that it promotes perspiration and moderates the heat of the blood. The pulp of the fruit has an agreeably acid flavour. This is not only eaten when fresh, but is dried and powdered for medicinal uses; a kind of soap is also prepared from it. In Senegal, when the trees are decayed, the trunks are hollowed, by the negroes, into burying-places for their poets, musicians, and buffoons. These persons are much esteemed whilst they live, although they are supposed to derive their superior talents from sorcery or an alliance with demons. When dead, however, their bodies are regarded with horror, and are not allowed the usual burial, under a notion that the earth 192. COTTON is a soft vegetable down, which is contained in the seed vessels, and envelopes the seeds of the cotton-plant (Gosypium herbaceum, Fig. 52), which is cultivated in the East and West Indies, and numerous other countries of hot climates.. This, though an annual plant, grows to a considerable heights It has leaves of bright green colour, marked with brownish veins, and each divided into five lobes. The flowers have only one petal, in five segments, with a short tube, and are of pale yellow colour, with five red spots at the bottom. The cotton pods are of somewhat triangular shape, and have each three cells. These, when ripe, burst, and disclose their snow-white or yellowish contents, in the midst of which are contained small black seeds, in shape somewhat resembling those of grapes. We are informed, by Mr. Edwards, that the plants are raised from seed, the land requiring no other preparation for them than to be cleared of its native incumbrances. The seeds are usually sown in rows six or eight feet asunder, and the holes in which they are put are about four feet apart. At the end of five months the plants begin to flower, and in two months more the pods are formed. After the cotton is gathered, it is freed from the seeds to which it is attached, by a very simple machine, consisting of two small rollers that are close and parallel to each other, and move in opposite directions. The cotton is next hand-picked, to free it from decayed leaves, broken seeds, and other impurities; after which it is packed, for sale, in bags of about two hundred pounds each. Though the cotton plant flourishes best in tropical climates, it is capable of cultivation in such as are not so hot; and it is now an object of attention in several of the southern parts of Europe. We receive great quantities of cotton from America, and the East and West Indies. The whole quantity imported into this country, in the year 1802, exceeded 60,000,000 pounds' weight; whilst the average annual importation, anterior to 1780, did not amount to one tenth part of this; so rapid has been the increase and prosperity of our cotton manufactories. Calicoes and muslins of all kinds are made of cotton; fustians, corderoys, and innumerable other articles. Nankeens, which are manufactured in India, are made of a kind of cotton which is naturally of a reddish buff colour. After the cotton is imported into England, the first process which it goes through is that of carding. Some years ago, this was performed by the hand, upon the knee, with a single pair of cards; but it is now performed with cylindrical cards, worked by machinery. The next and most important improvements in the manufacture of cotton, were made at Cromford, in the county of Derby, by the late Sir Richard Arkwright; who, in 1768, first introduced the method of spinning cotton by machinery. By this contrivance cotton was carded, roved, and spun, with the utmost expedition, correctness, and equality. Other machines have, at different subsequent periods, been invented by various mechanics and manufacturers, particularly that called a jenny, by which one person is able to spin a hundred hanks of cotton yarn a-day, containing, in the whole, near a million of yards. The concluding operation is that of weaving, which is performed with a machine called a loom, in the same manner as flax (97) and hemp (259). Cotton is capable of being manufactured into paper, which is little inferior to that made from linen rags. |
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