TROPICAL FRUIT TREES. 



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ripens numerous seeds, which are considered very nutritious, and 

 are eaten like chestnuts. 



An Indian tree of great beauty and interest is the tamarind, 

 with its thick, lofty trunk, wide-spreading branches, and clusters of 

 purplish or yellowish flowers. So fine and light is the foliage that 

 the Koran doomed lost souls in hell to have their thirst quenched 

 only once in a thousand years with as much water as could be 

 held in a single leaflet. The long, narrow pods contain citric and 

 tartaric acid, sugar, and potash, and are imported in large quan- 

 tities from the East and West Indies, to be utilized in various 

 economies. 



The fruit of the curious papaya, sometimes called the papaw, 

 suggests a pumpkin in taste and general appearance, and a 

 score or more are attached in a mass to the naked stem, im- 

 mediately beneath the crest of leaves. As they contain a large 

 amount of pepsin, they 

 are widely used medi- 

 cinally ; and tough meat, 

 wrapped for a couple of 

 hours in one of the leaves, 

 becomes exceedingly ten- 

 der, and in time almost 

 rotten. 



There are numerous 

 kinds of guavas, the best 

 being the red and the 

 white species, which are 

 famous for their jelly- 

 making possibilities. The 

 fruit is about the size of 

 a small apple, and is ob- 

 tainable at nearly every 

 season of the year. 



The mango came origi- 

 nally from Hindostan, 

 and is a magnificent 

 shade tree, forty feet 

 high, with leaves some- 

 thing like those of a peach tree, and quantities of juicy yellow 

 plummets, suspended from the branches by very long, slender 

 stems. Some wild varieties have an unpleasant taste of turpen- 

 tine, but the better-flavored sorts are manufactured, when in an 

 unripe state, into preserves and pickles for exportation. 



The shining emerald leaves and the pretty scarlet flowers of 

 the pomegranate {Punica granatum) are familiar to nearly every 

 one who owns a garden or frequents a city park. The fruit of this 



Ohias, or Mountain Apples. 



