  255. WILLOW, OSIER, or WITHY.—Of this very extensive tribe nearly fifty distinct species have been discovered in our own island. The slender branches of many of these are applied to useful purposes, but particularly for making baskets, bird-cages, and what is called wicker-work; springles for fastening down thatch, wheels or traps for catching lobsters and eels; hoops and crates. The wood is useful for the handles of hatchets, prongs, spades, and other rural implements; and also furnishes shoemakers with cutting and whetting boards, on which they cut leather and sharpen the edges of their knives. As willows generally flourish in wet situations, some of the species are planted with a view to prevent the banks of rivers and brooks from being washed away by floods. The bark of some kinds of willow has been applied, with effect, as a substitute for Peruvian bark, in the cure of intermittent fevers. It has also been esteemed useful in the tanning of leather; and, in combination with alder, for striking a deep black colour, in the dyeing of linen. The bark of other species may be manufactured into paper. In the year 1788, Mr. Greaves of Milbank, near Warrington, Lancashire, made fifteen reams of coarse paper from the bark of withen twigs, intermixed with a few nettles. The latter, however, he afterwards discovered, would better have been left out, as there was in them a woody substance, which does not well incorporate with other vegetables. The paper he made was considerably cheaper than paper of equal size and thickness made from ropes; and it was found that pasteboard, for book covers, made of withen bark, would be much cheaper than similar pasteboard manufactured from ropes. The process by which this paper and pasteboard were manufactured was as follows; the bark was stripped from the twigs in September, the time at which they are usually cut for making white baskets; it was then hackled, like flax or hemp, and dried in the sun, which gave it somewhat the appearance of brown hemp: but this having been attended with considerable trouble, other parts of the bark were dried with the leaves, as they were stripped off from the twigs, and were then submitted to the operation of the paper-mill. The flowering branches of one species, the common sallow (Salix cineria), are called palms, and are gathered by children, in many parts of England, on Palm Sunday. TRIANDRIA.256. NUTMEGS are the kernels of a fruit produced in several islands of the East Indies. They are each surrounded by the spice called mace, and, externally, by a husk about half an inch in thickness, which has somewhat the appearance of a small peach (Fig. 80). The nutmeg-tree (Myristica aromatica) is not unlike our cherry-tree, both in growth and size. Its leaves are nearly oval, but pointed, waved, obliquely nerved, of bright green colour above, and whitish beneath. The flowers are small, and hang upon slender stalks. When this fruit is nearly ripe the husk opens at the end, and exposes a net-work of scarlet mace. Underneath the mace is a black shell, about as thick as that of a filbert, and very hard; and in this is contained the nutmeg. The gathering of nutmegs is performed by persons who ascend the trees for that purpose, and pull the branches to them with long hooks. The husks are stripped off in the woods, and the remaining part of the fruit, with its surrounding mace, is taken home. After the mace has been carefully stripped off, with a small knife, the nuts, which are still covered with their woody shell, are dried, first in the sun, and then upon a frame of split bamboos placed over a slow fire, until, when shaken, the kernels are heard to rattle within the shells. These now easily fly to pieces when beaten with small sticks; and the nutmegs, being taken out, are soaked in sea-water and lime, and are then thrown in great numbers together to heat, by which their vegetating principle is destroyed. The nutmegs are finally sorted into parcels, according to their quality, and packed in bags for sale and exportation. The nutmegs vended at the East India Company's sales in 1804, amounted in weight to 117,936 pounds, and produced 54,733l. exclusive of the duties. This kind of spice has long been employed both for culinary and medicinal purposes. Distilled with water, nutmegs afford a large portion of essential oil, which resembles, in flavour, the spice itself. When heated and pressed they yield a considerable quantity of limpid yellow oil. In the shops a thick and fragrant kind is sold, which, though called oil of mace, is, in reality, expressed from the nutmeg. The best oil of this description is imported from the East Indies, in stone jars. Oil of Mace, or the covering of the nutmeg, that lies betwixt the outer coat and the shell, is an unctuous membrane, first of a light red, and afterwards, when dried, and as we see it, of yellowish colour. After it is taken from the shell it is exposed to the sun, then moistened with sea-water, and finally so far dried as to allow of its being packed in bales for exportation. In these it is pressed closely down, by which its fragrance and peculiar qualities are preserved. Mace is liable to seizure if imported in packages of less than 300 pounds' weight. We usually see it in flakes each about an inch in length, and presenting a great variety of ramifications. This spice has a very fragrant and agreeable odour, and, to most persons, a pleasant, though somewhat acrid, taste. It possesses nearly all the virtues of the nutmeg, but with less astringency; and, like that, is employed in numerous ways, both in culinary preparations and medicine. In the island of Banda it is sometimes customary to boil the entire fruit of the nutmeg-tree, and afterwards to preserve it in syrup, and also to pickle it in spiced vinegar, in nearly the same manner as we pickle walnuts. In several parts of the East the inhabitants preserve the outer husk of the nutmeg as a sweetmeat, or eat it stewed with other food. 257. The DATE is a fruit shaped somewhat like a large acorn, and covered externally with a yellowish membrane or skin, which contains a fine, soft, and sweetish pulp, and, in the centre, an oblong, hard stone. The trees (Phoenix dactylifera) which produce this fruit, grow chiefly on the shores of the Mediterranean, are forty feet and upwards in height, have an upright stem, marked through their whole length with protuberances, and terminated at the summit with a cluster of winged leaves or branches, each eight or nine feet in length. The cultivation of the date is attentively pursued on the African coast of the Mediterranean; in several Among the Africans and Egyptians the date constitutes a principal article of food, and, as such, it is considered both wholesome and nutritive. Its name is a word, formed of dacte or dactylus, implying a finger, from an imaginary resemblance which this fruit has to the end of the finger. Although dates, in general, are of yellowish colour, some are black, some white, and others brown: some also are sweet, and others bitter. The best are called royal dates, and are imported into this country from Tunis. Each tree produces ten or twelve bunches of fruit, which, when gathered, are hung up in a dry place, until so much of their moisture is evaporated as to allow of their being packed in boxes for exportation. Nearly all the parts of the date-tree are useful. The wood, though of spongy texture, is employed for the beams and rafters of houses, and for implements of husbandry, which are said to be very durable. The PENTANDRIA.258. MASTIC is a resinous substance, obtained from a low tree or shrub (Pistacia lentiscus) which grows in the Levant. It has alternate winged leaves, consisting of several pairs of spear-shaped leaflets, and spikes of very small flowers, which issue from the junction of the leaves with the branches. The mode in which this resin is obtained is by making incisions across the tree in different parts. From these the juice exudes in drops, that are suffered to run upon the ground, and there to remain until they are sufficiently hard to be collected for use. The season for this process commences in the dry weather at the beginning of August, and lasts until the end of September. The best mastic is that imported from the island of Scio. We receive it in semi-transparent grains of yellowish colour. These emit an agreeable smell when heated; and, when chewed, they first crumble, and afterwards stick together, and become soft and white like wax. With the Turkish women it is customary to chew this resin for the purpose of rendering their breath agreeable, and under a notion also that it tends to make their teeth white, and to strengthen the gums. They also mix it in fragrant waters, and burn it with other odoriferous The wood of the mastic-tree is imported in thick knotty pieces, covered externally with an ash-coloured bark. This wood is accounted a mild, balsamic astringent; and a preparation of it, under the name of aurum potabile, is strongly recommended, by some of the German writers, in coughs, nausea, and weakness of the stomach. 259. HEMP is the fibrous part of the stalks of a plant (Cannabis sativa, Fig. 82) which grows wild in the East Indies, and is much cultivated in different parts of Europe. It has the lower leaves in slender finger-like divisions; the male flowers in small loose spikes, at the end of the stem and branches; and the female flowers single, at the junction of the leaves and stem. The principal country for hemp, as an article of commerce, is Russia, few other countries of Europe growing a quantity sufficient for their own consumption. It is cultivated in some parts of Britain, but particularly in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. The soil best adapted to it is a moist but loose sandy loam, or the black mould of low lands near water. The seed is sown in April or May; and the plants, which attain the height of five or six feet, are in a state to be pulled up in three or four months; the male plant, or fimble hemp, as it is called, being ready some time before the female plants, which have the name of karle or seed-hemp. As soon as the hemp is pulled, it is tied in bundles and set up to dry; and, at the end of about ten days, the bundles are loosened at the top, and the heads are held upon a hurdle by one person, whilst another, with a small threshing-flail, beats out the seed. In the preparation of hemp for the manufacturer two modes are pursued. One of these is to spread it out on stubble or pasture ground, that the fibrous parts may be rendered separable by the gradual operation of the weather; the other is to immerse the bundles, for some days, in stagnant water. The next process consists in separating the bark, or hemp, from the stalks: this is effected either by pulling out the stalk with the hand, or by machinery similar to that adopted in the preparation of flax (97). After some other operations the hemp is beaten in mills, and then combed or dressed by drawing it through instruments called hackles, which are somewhat similar to the combs of wool-manufacturers. Thus prepared, the hemp is spun into thread, which is made into twine, ropes, and cordage of every description; and woven into canvas, and strong cloth of various kinds. Indeed so great is the importance of this production, particularly for the cordage, cables, and the rigging of ships, that, to encourage its growth, an act of parliament was passed in 1783, directing a bounty of three pence per stone to be paid on all hemp raised in Great Britain; and imposing heavy duties on hemp imported from foreign countries. From hemp-seed a valuable kind of oil is procured, by pressure, which is peculiarly adapted for burning, as it is perfectly limpid and without smell: it is also used for making the soap called green soap. The seeds themselves are sometimes employed in the feeding of poultry, from a notion that they cause the hens to lay a greater number of eggs than they otherwise would do. They are also given as food to singing birds; but, if in great quantity, they are supposed to injure the plumage. The stalks, after the hemp is taken from them, afford an excellent fuel. The water in which hemp has been soaked is in a high degree poisonous. 260. HOPS are the dried flower-buds of a climbing British plant (Humulus lupulus, Fig. 81), with a rough and angular Although hops grow wild, in great abundance, on hedges in several parts of the south of England, there is reason to suppose that their use was first made known from the Continent in the reign of Henry the Eighth. A hop plantation requires the growth of some years before it is in perfection. The plants begin to push up their young stems about the month of April. When these are three or four inches above the ground, poles about twenty feet high are driven in to support them during their growth. The season for picking hops usually commences about the middle of September. This work is performed by men, women, and children. Proper baskets, bins, or cribs being in readiness, the plants are cut off close to the ground, and the poles are drawn up. These are placed upon the bins, with the plants upon them, and three or more persons on each side, pick off the hops. After this they are dried in a kiln, and, when dry, are carried into, and kept, for five or six days, in an apartment called the stowage-room, until they are in a state to be put into bags. This is done through a round hole, or trap, cut in the floor of the stowage-room, exactly equal in dimensions to the mouth of the bag, and immediately under which this mouth is fastened. In each of the lower corners of the bag a small handful of hops is tied; and a person, called the packer, places himself in it, and, by a heavy leaden weight, which he constantly moves round in the places where he is not treading, presses and forces the hops down, in a very close manner, into the bag, as fast as they are thrown to him by another labourer. The work thus proceeds till the bag is quite full, when each of the upper corners has a few hops tied in it, in the same manner as those at the bottom. These serve as handles for moving the bags. The bag is then taken away, and its mouth is properly sewed up and secured. The hops of finest colour and best sample are put into bags of finer manufacture than the others, under the denomination of pockets; and the inferior sorts are packed in canvas of coarser kind, called bags. When the hop-picking is completed, the poles are cleared from the binds or plants which adhered to them, and are stacked or piled together. The binds, when perfectly dried, are either stacked or placed in sheds, to be used as fuel in ovens, or otherwise. Sometimes they are burnt upon the land, for the ashes to serve as manure, trodden in the farm-yard, or allowed to be taken away by the labourers for their own use. As the hop-plants are liable to be injured in various ways during their growth, they are considered a very precarious crop. They suffer from the attacks of insects, from honey-dew, from blight, from hot sunny weather after rain, and by winds and storms. The principal use of hops, in brewing, is for the preservation of malt liquor, and to communicate to it an agreeably aromatic bitter flavour. The best hops are used for ale and the finer kinds of malt liquor, and inferior kinds are used for porter. The odour of hops hung over a bed, or a pillow stuffed with hops, has been said to promote sleep, after the application of opium has failed. The young shoots and tops are often gathered from the hedges, by poor people, and boiled and eaten in the manner of asparagus. Of the woody part of the hop-binds, after having been steeped in water, and worked into a pulp, a coarse kind of paper may be made. HEXANDRIA.261. YAMS are an American and West Indian root of very irregular shape, which possess properties somewhat similar to those of the potatoe, but they are less mealy, and, in a raw state, are very viscous. The plants (Dioscorea bulbifera) which produce these roots have heart-shaped leaves, and a stem that creeps along the ground like ivy. In some of the rich lands of South America, yams are said to grow to the weight of fifty or sixty pounds each; and are so productive that an acre of ground planted with them has been known to produce roots to the weight of from 20,000 to 30,000 pounds. Yams are propagated by setting the eyes, in the same manner as we plant potatoes; and, in six or eight months, they arrive at maturity. When they are dug out of the ground, they are, for a little while, exposed to the sun to dry; and if, after this, they be packed in casks full of dry sand, they may be preserved, without injury, for many months. They are consequently often used as sea-store for vessels about to sail on long voyages, and are frequently brought into England. Several attempts have been made to cultivate yams in this island; and these have been attended with a certain degree of success in the counties of Mid-Lothian, Perth, and Stirling in Scotland, where they are used for the feeding of cattle. There are two kinds, one red, and the other white. The former of these contain a more nutritive food than the latter, though their flavour is much less excellent. With the negroes, in the West Indian islands, the yam is a very important article of food. When roasted, it is so wholesome and nutritive that it is preferred by them even to bread. Like potatoes, yams may be converted into bread, by mixture with a portion of wheat or barley flour. They are sometimes made into soup, puddings, and other useful dishes. OCTANDRIA.262. The ABELE, or GREAT WHITE POPLAR-TREE (Populus alba, Fig. 74), is a British tree which grows in hedges and woods, near brooks, and is known by its leaves being nearly triangular, irregularly jagged at the edges, and cottony underneath. The quickness of growth of this tree is so great that it will sometimes make shoots from eighteen to twenty The bark of the abele-tree is said to be serviceable as a remedy in intermittent fevers; and Dioscorides informs us that if it be chopped small and sowed in rills, well and richly manured, it will yield a plentiful crop of mushrooms. 263. The ASPEN, or TREMBLING POPLAR (Populus tremula), is a tree which grows in moist woods; has nearly circular leaves, toothed and angular at the edges, smooth on both sides, and attached to footstalks so long and slender as to be shaken by the slightest wind. There is scarcely any situation in which the aspen will not flourish, but it succeeds best where the soil is moist and gravelly. Its wood is light, porous, soft, and of white colour; and, though inferior in excellence to that of the white poplar, is applicable to many useful purposes, particularly for field-gates, the frames of pack-saddles, for milk-pails, clogs, and the wood-work of patterns. It is improper for bedsteads, as it is liable to be infested by bugs. In some countries the bark of the young trees is made into torches. 264. The BLACK POPLAR (Populus nigra, Fig. 75) is a native tree of this country, known by its somewhat trowel-shaped leaves, which taper to a point, and are serrated, and smooth on both sides. This tree grows rapidly, and attains a considerable size. Its wood is soft and light, and in some respects useful to engravers; and is occasionally sawed into boards, though these are not in general much esteemed. 265. The LOMBARDY or ITALIAN POPLAR (Populus dilatata) grows wild in Lombardy and the northern parts of Italy, and is distinguished by its somewhat trowel-shaped and serrated leaves, being smooth on both sides, and wider than they are long. From its slender and perpendicular growth the Lombardy poplar is found useful for hop-poles, and may be formed into masts for small vessels. The wood, which is soft and free from knots, is employed by joiners, carpenters, and cartwrights. It is recommended as peculiarly valuable for the floors of granaries, some persons believing it so obnoxious to insects that weevils will not continue in such granaries. It may be wrought into very flexible shafts for carriages, or felloes for wheels; and, not being liable to split, is peculiarly adapted for packing cases. The growth of this tree is so rapid, and the space of ground which it occupies is so small, that it is in almost universal request as an ornamental tree, in places that are not sufficiently spacious to admit of trees of more spreading form. POLYANDRIA.266. SAGO is a granulated preparation from the pith of a species of palm-tree (Cycas circinalis) which grows in India and Africa. This tree attains the height of thirty or forty feet; has a straight and somewhat slender stem, and winged leaves at the summit, each seven or eight feet long, with the leaflets long and narrow. The preparation of sago, under different forms, constitutes a principal source of employment to the inhabitants of many parts of the coast of Malabar, as well as those of several of the islands of the East Indies. The trunk of the sago-tree contains a farinaceous pith, to obtain which it is sawn into pieces. After the pith is taken out, it is beaten in mortars, and, water being poured upon the mass, this is allowed to stand for some hours to settle; after which it is strained through a coarse cloth, and, the finest particles running through with the water, the grosser ones are left behind and thrown away, or washed over a hair sieve through which only the edible parts can pass. These are allowed to subside. The water is then poured off, and the flour, being properly dried, is made into cakes and baked for use, or is granulated in a manner somewhat similar to that adopted in the preparation of tapioca (251). It is in the latter state that sago is imported into Europe, where it is much used as a nourishing and agreeable diet for sick persons, in puddings and other culinary preparations. 267. The COMMON JUNIPER (Juniperus communis) is an evergreen shrub, with slender and pointed leaves, that grows on heaths in several parts of the south of England. The leaves grow in threes; each is tipped with a spine, and is longer than the ripe fruit, which is a blackish purple berry. Juniper berries are at first green; and they continue upon the trees two years before they become ripe and assume their purple colour. When ripe they have a sweetish aromatic taste. The Swedes prepare, from these berries, a beverage which they consider useful as a medicine; and in some parts of the Continent juniper berries are roasted, ground, and adopted as a substitute for coffee. In Sweden they are eaten at breakfast, in the form of a conserve; and, in Germany, they are frequently used as a culinary spice, and especially for imparting their peculiar flavour to sour crout. Spirits impregnated with an essential oil distilled from them have the The wood of the juniper-tree is of reddish colour, very hard, and so durable that it will last more than a hundred years without decay. It is employed in veneering, for making cabinets, and for ornamental furniture. Charcoal formed from it affords a heat so lasting, that live embers are said to have been found in the ashes of juniper-trees after they have been covered up for more than twelve months. Such is the fibrous nature of the bark that it may be manufactured into ropes and other cordage. From the crevices of the bark, or through perforations made in it by insects, a resinous gum exudes, which has the name of gum sandarach. This, which is of pale yellowish colour, very brittle, and inflammable, possesses a pungent aromatic taste, and emits a fragrant odour when burnt. It is imported from the Continent, in small pieces or tears, about the size of peas. When powdered and passed through a fine sieve, this is the substance called pounce, which is used for rubbing upon writing paper, in places where it has been scratched. Considerable quantities of this gum are consumed in the preparation of varnish, and particularly of one kind, used by cabinet-makers and painters, called vernis. 268. The RED or COMMON CEDAR is a species of juniper (Juniperus virginiana) which grows in North America and the West Indies. It is distinguished by its leaves growing in threes, and being fixed by their base, the younger ones lying upon each other, and the older ones spreading. The wood of this tree is in much request for the outsides of black lead pencils. It is soft and incapable of high polish, but, on account of its powerful fragrance, and consequently resisting the attacks of insects, it not unfrequently used for the bottoms of drawers, and the inside of cabinets. Some years ago it was in much request for wainscotting and cabinet work; but, since the introduction of mahogany, it has been in great measure neglected for these purposes. 269. The YEW is a well-known evergreen tree (Taxus baccata), which has dark, narrow, pointed, and prickly leaves, and red berries, in the hollow part of the extremity of which a green seed appears. The cultivation of the yew was formerly very extensive throughout nearly the whole of the British dominions, since of the wood of this tree, which is peculiarly hard, smooth, and tough, our ancestors manufactured their bows. Hence, as well as on account of its gloomy and funereal aspect, it was usually planted in churchyards. But, when the introduction of fire-arms began to supersede the use of the bow, the yew was no longer cultivated than as an ornamental tree in parks and pleasure grounds. In the formal style of gardening which was anciently prevalent, few trees were more the subject of admiration than this, from its bearing to be clipped, without injury, into almost any form. Yews were cut into the shape of men, quadrupeds, birds, ships, and other vegetable monsters, but such absurd fancies have of late years almost wholly disappeared. These trees are at present advantageously planted in hedges, as a fence for orchards and shrubberies, which nothing can injure. The wood of the yew-tree is hard, beautifully veined, and susceptible of high polish. Hence it is valuable as a wood for veneering, and is much used for card boxes, small cabinets, and other articles. It is frequently used by turners and cabinet-makers; and might perhaps be advantageously substituted for box |
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