  270. The PLANTAIN-TREE (Musa paradisiaca), which is much cultivated in the West Indies and South America, has a soft stem, fifteen or twenty feel high, with several leaves on the summit; and bears a fruit of pale yellow colour, somewhat shaped like a cucumber, about a foot in length, and two inches thick. The leaves are frequently eight feet long, and more than two feet broad, and are so thin and tender that they are often torn by the wind. The fruit is produced in bunches so large as each to weigh forty pounds and upwards. To the negroes of the West Indian islands the plantain is an invaluable fruit, and, like bread to the Europeans, is with them denominated the staff of life. In Jamaica alone many thousand acres are planted with these trees. This fruit is usually gathered before it is ripe, and, after the skin has been peeled off, is roasted for a little while in a clear fire; it is then scraped and eaten as bread, for which it is an excellent substitute. Plantains are sometimes boiled, and eaten with salt The leaves of the plantain-tree, being soft and smooth, are sometimes employed as dressings after blisters; and, when green, are used as food for hogs. The vegetation of this tree is so rapid that if a line or thread be drawn across, and on a level with the top of one of the leaves, when it begins to expand, it will be seen, in the course of an hour, to have grown nearly an inch. 271. The BANANA is a valuable plant (Musa sapientum) which grows in the West Indies and other tropical countries, and has leaves about six feet in length, and a foot broad in the middle; and fruit four or five inches long, and about the shape of a cucumber. When ripe, the banana is an agreeable fruit, with a soft and luscious pulp; and is frequently introduced in desserts in the West Indies. The Spaniards have a superstitious dislike to cut this fruit across; they always slice it from end to end, because, in the former case, the section presents an imaginary resemblance to the instruments of our Saviour's crucifixion. The banana is sometimes fried in slices as fritters. If the pulp of this fruit be squeezed through a fine sieve, it may be formed into small loaves, which, after having been properly dried, may be kept for a great length of time. 272. MILLET is a small yellowish seed of a grassy plant (Holcus sorghum), with large and compact stalks which rise to the height of seven or eight feet, and is much cultivated in several parts of India and Africa. In some countries millet seed is ground into flour and converted into bread; but this is brown and heavy. It is, however, useful in other respects as food, and is 273. GUM ARABIC is a well-known drug, obtained from a tree (Mimosa nilotica) which grows in Egypt. This tree has leaves doubly winged, with spines at the base, and small flowers, of globular shape, growing four or five together on slender footstalks. The principal supply of gum arabic in this country is obtained from Barbary, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf. The average quantity imported from the Persian Gulf, betwixt 1804 and 1808, was about 7500 hundred weight per annum, and the price for which it was vended at the East India Company's sales was about 3l. per hundred weight. It used formerly to be packed in skins, but it is now brought in large casks. The trees which yield it grow abundantly in numerous parts of Africa and Asia, but the gum does not freely exude from them except in tropical regions. It issues from clefts in the bark, in the same manner as the gum of the cherry and plum trees of our orchards and gardens: and, by exposure to the air, it soon becomes hard and solid. We are informed that, in some parts of Egypt, the inhabitants procure this gum, by boiling pieces of the roots of the trees, and afterwards separating it from the water. We receive gum arabic in small irregular masses, or rough pieces, of pale yellowish colour, and roundish shape. It is, however, to be remarked, that, by far the greatest part of the gum which is sold in the shops under this name is not such, but is the production of another species of tree (Mimosa Senegal), and is On account of their mucilaginous qualities, these two kinds of gum, under the name of gum arabic, were formerly used for several purposes in medicine; and, in coughs and hoarsenesses, were considered of great service. They are now principally in request by the manufacturers of water-colours; by dyers, and artificers of different kinds. In Africa the latter constitutes a principal ingredient in the food of the inhabitants. They sometimes dissolve it in milk: and this solution of it is esteemed a favourite repast by some of the tribes. The dried juice of the unripe fruit of Egyptian mimosa is called acacia, and is to this day much used in medicine by the Egyptians. It is sometimes imported into this country in roundish masses, wrapped in thin bladders; and is externally of deep brown colour, and of a yellowish or reddish brown within. 274. MYRRH is a gummy, resinous substance, obtained from a tree which grows in Abyssinia, Arabia, and other countries of the East, but respecting which we are hitherto possessed of no certain account. Mr. Bruce, however, imagined it to be a species of mimosa. This drug is generally imported in a kind of grains, of irregular form; of brownish or reddish yellow colour, and somewhat transparent. Its smell is aromatic; and its taste is pungent and bitter. In its medicinal effects, myrrh, when taken into the stomach, is supposed to warm and strengthen it, and also to strengthen the other viscera. It is believed to resist putrefaction in all parts of the body; and, hence, has been recommended as a medicine in malignant, putrid, and pestilential fevers; and in small-pox. At the East India Company's sales this drug is sold at the rate of about twenty pounds per hundred weight. DIŒCIA.275. MANNA is a concrete or dried juice, procured from several species of ash-tree, but particularly from the Flowering Ash (Fraxinus ornus, Fig. 76), which is much cultivated in Calabria and Sicily. This tree somewhat resembles the common ash. It has winged leaves, with an odd one at the end, the leaflets oblong, pointed, serrated, and veined, standing on footstalks, and of bright green colour. The flowers are whitish, and appear in close bunches, about the month of May or June. The trees that are cultivated for the production of manna are chiefly planted on the eastern sides of hills. This substance exudes spontaneously from them; but as the supply thus obtained would be insufficient for the demand, incisions are made in the bark to obtain it more copiously. These incisions are formed, in the summer time, lengthwise in the tree, and each about a span long. They are begun at the lower part of the trunk, and repeated upward, at a little distance from each other, as high as the branches. One side of the tree is first cut; the other side being reserved until the ensuing year, when it undergoes a similar treatment. From the wounds thus made a thick whitish juice immediately begins to flow, which gradually hardens on the bark, and in the course of a few days acquires a sufficient consistence to be taken off. It is collected in baskets, and afterwards packed in chests or boxes. Sometimes the manna flows in such abundance that it runs upon the ground, and thus becomes mixed with various impurities, unless it be prevented, as is sometimes the case, by placing for its reception large leaves, stones, chips of wood, or straw. The collecting of manna generally terminates about the end of September. This substance is known by druggists under Manna is a mild and agreeable laxative medicine, particularly with the addition of a little cinnamon water, or other warm aromatic: and it is useful in asthmatic complaints, as well as in inflammatory affections of the breast. It is sometimes counterfeited by a composition of sugar and honey, mixed with a small portion of scammony. The miraculous substance mentioned in the Old Testament by the name of manna, cannot, of course, be considered to have any alliance whatever with the manna thus produced. This remark would not have been made, did not young persons sometimes inconsiderately confound the two substances. 276. The ASH-TREE (Fraxinus excelsior, Fig. 79) is a well-known British tree, with winged leaves; the leaflets in four or five pairs, with an odd one, serrated, and without footstalks; and the flowers without petals. Of late years this valuable tree has been much planted in several parts of England. It is of hardy nature, and thrives even in barren soils. If planted in moist situations, the roots, spreading wide in every direction near the surface, have a tendency to render the ground dry and firm. The timber, which has the rare advantage of being nearly as good when young as when old, is white, and so hard and tough as generally to be esteemed next in value to oak. It is much used by coach-makers, wheel-wrights, and cart-wrights; and is made into ploughs, axle-trees, felloes of wheels, harrows, ladders, and other implements of husbandry. It is likewise used by ship-builders for various purposes, and by coopers for the hoops of tubs and barrels. Where, by frequent cutting, the wood has become We are informed that, in the northern parts of Lancashire, when grass is scarce, the small farmers frequently cut off the tops of ash-trees to feed their cows with the leaves and tender branches; but these are said to spoil the taste of the milk. Mr. Pennant states that, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the inhabitants of Colton and Hawkshead-Fells remonstrated against the number of forges then lately erected in that part of the country, because they consumed the loppings of the trees, which formed the sole winter food for their cattle. The leaves of ash-trees were formerly much used in the adulteration of tea, under the name of smouch; but this practice has of late been prohibited by act of parliament. The bark of the ash-tree is employed in the tanning of calf-skins, and sometimes in dyeing black and other colours. The inner bark has been proposed as a substitute for Peruvian bark, in the cure of intermittent fevers. 277. EBONY is the wood of a species of palm-tree (Diospiros ebenum), which grows in the island of Ceylon, and has smooth, leathery, oblong, and pointed leaves, and rough-haired buds. The black and valuable substance known to us by the name of ebony, is the centre part only of the trees. The outside wood is white and soft, and either decays soon, or is destroyed by insects, which leave the black part untouched. Ebony is imported into this country from the East Indies. It is exceedingly hard and heavy, admits of being highly polished, and is principally used by cabinet-makers and inlayers for the veneering of cabinets and other ornamental work. The wood of the pear-tree, stained black, is frequently substituted for ebony. The ripe fruit of the ebony tree is eaten by the natives of Ceylon; but it is astringent, and not very palatable. LinnÆus was of opinion that ebony was the wood of a shrub (ebenus cretica) which grows in the island of Crete, and has silky leaves and rose-coloured flowers. 278. The PAWPAW is a fruit about the size of a small melon, but of very various shape, the production of a species of palm-tree (carica papaya), which grows in tropical climates, both of the eastern and western parts of the world. The tree is twenty feet and upwards in height; naked almost to the summit; and marked, through its whole length, with the scars of fallen leaves. Its leaves are on foot-stalks two feet in length, and deeply divided into seven, nine, or eleven large lobes. The flowers are axillary, white, and sweet scented. In shape the fruit of the pawpaw-tree is sometimes angular, and flattened at both ends; sometimes oval or round; and sometimes pyramidal. When ripe it is of yellow colour; and contains a yellow succulent pulp, of sweetish taste, and aromatic smell, with many black or brown and furrowed seeds. This fruit is seldom eaten raw, but when boiled it is esteemed a wholesome sauce for fresh meat. The inhabitants of the countries where it is found sometimes preserve it in sugar, with oranges, and small citrons. Thus prepared, it may be kept a long time; and, in this state, it is not unfrequently brought into Europe. When about half grown, the pawpaw is sometimes pickled in vinegar with spices. The fruit of the trifid-fruited custard apple (annona triloba) is called pawpaw in some parts of America. The bark of the pawpaw-tree is manufactured by the Indians into cordage. The leaves are used in place of soap; and water-pipes are sometimes made of the stem of the tree. TRIŒCIA.279. The FIG is the pulpy fruit of a shrub, or low tree (Ficus carica, Fig. 83), which is a native of the South of Europe, and some parts of Asia. Fig-trees are branched from the bottom, and the leaves are large, smooth, and irregularly divided into from three to five deep and rounded lobes. The fruit grows on short and thick stalks, of purplish colour, and contains a soft, sweet, and fragrant pulp, intermixed with numerous small seeds. It appears from history, both sacred and profane, that the fig-tree was an object of attention in the earliest times. This fruit was one of the most common and favourite aliments of the ancient Greeks, and constituted a very valuable food with the peasants of some parts of Italy. Fig-trees are now much cultivated in Turkey, Italy, and the Levant, as well as in Spain and some of the southern parts of France. All the islands of the Archipelago yield figs in abundance, but these are in general of very inferior quality. The trees are propagated either by suckers, by layers, or by cuttings; and the process of increasing and ripening the fruit is an art which requires much attention. This, as it is practised in the Levant, is called caprification, and is performed by wounding the buds of the figs, with a straw or feather dipped in sweet oil at a certain period of their growth. Figs are dried either by a furnace or in the sun, after having been dipped in a scalding ley made of the ashes of the fig-tree. In this state they are used both in medicine, and as food; and are considered more wholesome and more easy of digestion than when fresh. They form a considerable branch of commerce, and are exported, in boxes of different size and shape, to nearly all the northern parts of Europe. When we receive them, their surface is usually covered with a saccharine matter which has exuded from the fruit. A small and cheap kind of fig is imported in small frails or baskets from Faro. There are numerous varieties of the fig, but the The wood of the fig-tree is of spongy texture, and, when charged with oil and emery, is much used on the Continent by locksmiths, gun-smiths, and other artificers in iron and steel, to polish their work. It is almost indestructible, and on this account was formerly employed in eastern countries as coffins for embalmed bodies. |
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