Vol. III. No. 55. 



THE AGRICULTUEAL NEWS. 



167 



SCIENCE NOTES. 



Red Sorrel and Surinam Cherry. 



In Fanner.^' Bulletin No. 109, of_ the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, there is an article on some 

 tropical and sub-tropical fruits, from which we extract 

 the following information relating to the red sorrel 

 (Hibiscus Sabdarirf-a) and the Surinam cherr}- 

 {Eagenia miiflora) — two plants widely cultivated in 

 these islands : — 



The roselle, or .Jamaica sorrel, is the fruit of Hibiscus 

 Sahdariffa, a widely distributed tropical plant, which yields 

 the roselle fibre of commerce. As grown in Florida and 

 California it is an herbaceous annual. The plants are grown 

 from seed in spring, and require a long season free from frost 

 to mature. Under favourable conditions they produce a very 

 heavy, continuous crop of blossoms in the latter part of the 

 summer and autumn. The fruits, which somewhat resemble 

 okra or gumbo in form, though they are nuich shorter in 

 proportion to their size, are a dark magenta red in colour 

 and are used for making jellies and preserves, which are of 

 a beautiful red colour and have a flavour suggesting that of 

 the cranberry. The thick, juicy, dark-red calyxes are the 

 only portions used, and these are at their best soon after the 

 petals fall. If the harvest is long delayed, the enlarging 

 ovary forms too large a proportion of the product and lessens 

 its value by detracting from the flavour of the jelly or 

 preserves, lloselle jelly is now on the market, though it is 

 not very common. 



The Surinam cherry, sometimes called pitanga, is the 

 fruit of a tropical shrub, native to Brazil and other tropical 

 regions of South America. This shrub, which attains 

 a height of al)OUt 20 feet, is grown to a limited extent in 

 southern Florida and southern California. The fruit is about 

 the size of an ordinary cherry, is roundish oblate in form, 

 ribbed, bright red in colour and of a sharp, but pleasant, acid 

 flavour. It is somewhat used for domestic jelly making, but 

 the product has not yet attained commercial importance, 

 at least in the United States. 



On an average, the roselle is made up of about eipuil 

 proportions of pods and calyx. The edible portion of the 

 Surinam cherry constitutes some 83 per cent, of the entire 

 fruit, and the stems and stones together some 17 per cent. 



The average composition of these fruits is as follows : — 



(rt) Including 10 per cent, invert sugar, 10" 1 percent, 

 total sugar. 



{h) Including 1-6 per cent, sugar. 



(c) Including 1 per cent, sugar. 

 The Surinam cherry and roselle do not differ materially 

 in chemical composition from more conmion fruits. The 

 total quantity of nutritive material is small in proportion to 

 the bulk, while the proportion of water (juice) is large. 

 These fruits are generally regarded as palatable and are of 

 value in adding to the variety and attractiveness of the diet. 



The Pomegranate. 



The pomegranate (Fuiiica granatum) is a native of 

 North-west India, but cultivated in most tropical countries. 



The tree is small and of a somewhat straggling habit ; 

 the flowers are crimson. 



Fio. 8. PusicA Granatum. 

 [From Keiv Guide.^ 



' Pomegranates are greatly valued in warm countries on 

 account of their delicious, cooling and refreshing pulp. 

 Numerous varieties are grown, some being sweet and vinous, 

 and others acid or of a bitter astringent taste ; and the 

 colour of their pulp is much redder in some than in others. 

 They are generally about the size of the fist, and have 

 a tough, leathery rind of a beautiful, deep, golden colour 

 tinged with red, and are crowned with the remains of the 

 calyx-lobes. The rind, especially that of the bitter kind, 

 contains a large quantity of tannin, and is used for tanning 

 the celebrated morocco-leather, and also as an astringent 

 medicine ; the flowers likewise yield a red dye.' {Treasury of 

 Botany.) 



A GARDEN OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



American Gardening of A-pril 16 has the following 

 account of the interesting exhibit of medicinal plants 

 at the Louisiana Exposition : — 



One of the features at the Louisiana Purchase Exposi 

 tion is the outdoor e.xhibit of the oflBce of Drug and 

 Medicinal Plant Investigations of the U. S. Department ot 

 Agriculture, made under the direction of Piodney H. True, 

 Physiologist-in-charge. 



This exhibit comprises growing specimens of various 

 medicinal plants, some of them native species which are 

 gradually becoming scarcer and therefore more valuable, some 

 simply ordinary weeds that can be picked up on almost any 

 farm, for which, however, there is considerable demand. 

 A few foreign drug plants, of which we are now importing 

 laro-e quantities, and which could be cultivated in this country 

 as well as abroad, are also introduced. The area devoted 

 to medicinal plants consists of a strip of land 180 feet 

 long by -to feet wide. This is laid ofi" in forty-seven plots, 

 each measuring about 13 feet in length by 7 feet in width, 

 with walks between the beds affording ea.sy access to the 

 plots for purposes of closer scrutiny and examination. 

 The labels give the common and scientific names of the 

 plants, the parts employed in medicine, and their properties. 



