August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



l6l 



the West Iudies," at the same time giving me the lesson 

 of crushing the leaves, which I have not forgotten, 

 anil which I now have the pleasure of recording for 

 the benefit of the readers of the Ceylon Observer and 

 of the Tropical Agriculturist. 



What the liqueur sold as Noyau is really composed 

 of is as doubtful as the composition of most other 

 liqueurs, judging by the various accounts some of 

 which 1 here give ; but that Ncyau, pure and simple, 

 is manufactured from the Ipomcea sinuata, Ortega, is 

 distinctly recorded, and from no other source, as 

 far as my information goes. Noyau appears to be a 

 liqueur flavored by several vegetable products, and this 

 is about all the information which I can find in all 

 the books I can refer to in Colombo. 



The Ipomcea sinuata, from which Noyau is said to 

 be made, was originally a native of Georgia and 

 Florida, but was introduced many years ago to Asia 

 from tropical America, and is now found in N. W. 

 India, Hmdostun, Bengal and Ceylon, a>id is cosmo- 

 politan in the tropics. It is properly the Ipomcea 

 sinuata of Ortega, and has been described as Con- 

 volvutus dissectus, Linn. Ipomcea dissecta, Choisy, 

 and has been figured by Jacquiu Hort. Vindob. ii. 

 74. t. 159. and is described by C. B. Clarke in the 

 Flora of British India (vol. 4. p. 214), in Baker's Flora 

 of Mauritius (p. 207) and Don's Gard. Diet. 4 (p. 297). 

 As stated above, it is a most common plant in 

 Colombo and to persons going into the Fort through 

 Slave Island. I may call their attention to a plant of 

 it which some weeks ago covered the entire roof of the 

 last house on the right-hand-side (before crossing the 

 railway) of the married quarters of the non-com- 

 missioned officers of the Royal Artillery ; but 

 since the south-west monsoon has set iD, this plant is 

 somewhat curtailed in its dimensions. It was intro- 

 duced to Ceylon before 1824, according to Moon's 

 Cat. Ceylon plants (p. 13). 



The following are the extracts referred to above : 

 — "Convolvulus dissectus abounds in prussic acid, 

 and is . one of the plants from which the 

 liqueur Noyau is prepared. — Bot. Mag. 3141, Lind- 

 ley's Vegetable Kingdom p. 631. The kernel of 

 Cerasus occidentalis is used for flavouring the liqueur 

 Noyau. — I ii.dley 1. c. p. 55S. Ipomcea sinuata, Oki ei ., 

 the Noyau vine. — Schcmburgh's Barbadoes, p. 612. No. 

 655. The ttitemeut in Eug. Cyc. Nat. Hist. 2, p. 130, 

 that Noyau is got from Ipomcea pandurata, is a mistake. 

 Convolvulus dissectus abounds in Hydroc auic acid, and 

 in said to be one of the plants from which the liqueur Noy.u 

 is prepared. — Mauuder's Treasury of Botany 1, p. 326. 

 Noyau (Fr.), a liqueur flavoured with the kernels 

 of Cerasus occidentalis ; it is also said to be sometimes 

 prepared from Convolvulus dissectus. — Maunder I.e. 2. 

 p. 794. The kernels of species of Cerasus impart flavour 

 to Noyau, ratafia, cherry brandy and maraschino. — 

 Balfour's Class-b iok of Botany, p. 800. 



Noyau, a rich cordial, flavoured with the kernels of 

 the nuts of bitter almonds, or of peach stones. — Im- 

 perial Lexicon 2, p. 140. 



Noyau, a name iu France of a liqueur said to be pre- 

 pared from the kernels of Cerasus ooccidtntalis, a tree 

 of the plum family (Drupacece), native of Jamaica, 

 where it is calleel laurel. It iB more than probable that 

 the kernels of the common cherry are also used in the 

 preparation of Noyau, and it is said that a species 

 of convolvulus (C. dissectus) furnishes material from 

 which the liqueur is made. Noyau is chiefly used for 

 flavouring confectionery. — Smith's Dictionary of Names 

 of Common Plants, p. 2S9. 



To Dr. Trimen 1 am indebted for the following 

 extract from the Bot. Mag&ziue, which shows that 

 the Cerasus sphanocarpa is the Noyau cherry of the 

 West Indies, which in some way, not known to me, has 

 got mixed up in this respect with the Cerasus occidentalis : 

 — " In the preparation of Noyau probably 6evtral 

 21 



different vegetables are employed which contain Prussic 

 acid. A species of Bindweed, the Convolvulus dissectus, 

 abounds in Prussic acid, and to that degree as Dr. 

 Nicholson of Antigua informs me, that ' if this medicine 

 shall be found d. serving the high character which 

 some physicians have bestowed upon it, it may become 

 valuable iu a country where this Prussia acid cannot 

 be preeerved many drys in a pure stite.' Hence this 

 is a frequent ingredient in the preparation of Noyau." 

 — Hi ok. in B. Mag. t. 3141. Cerasus sphenocarpa, Noyau 

 cherry of W. Indies. 



From plants of the Ipomcea sinuata growing on 

 fences in Union Place, the following notes are given: — 

 Stems, petioles, and lower parts of peduncles eovned 

 with long hairs ; leaves palmate, glabrous or nearly so, 

 cut down nearly to the centre into seven lanceolate, deeply 

 toothed or pinnatifid lobes ; peduncles one to four 

 flowered, and with the flowers together about the same 

 length as the leaves ; sepals elliptic, oblong, obtuse 

 with a minute cusp, glabrous, fleshy, inflated before the 

 fruits are ripe, then papery and spreading ; flowers 

 shallow, funnel-shaped, about two inches across, white 

 with cerise throats ; capsule about half-inch diameter, 

 glabrous, two-celled, normally four-seeded, inflated 

 and divided into four parts ; seeds black, glossy, smooth. 

 The flowers begin to open about 10 a. m. in Lolombo, 

 and are open nearly the rest of the day. 



W. FERGUSON. 



CACAO IN MONARAOALA. 

 Raxawa Estate, Mouaragala, 5th July 1884. 



Dear Sir,— Being rather alarmed at what appeared 

 in the Observer of the 30th June about cacao-blight, 

 I made a careful inspection of all the cacao here today 

 and I am glad to report that 1 could find no trace 

 of disease or blight ; in fact, I have not seen the 

 cacao looking so well for some time as it is at present. 

 All the trees over two years old have a very goxl 

 blossom on now. I may mention that we have over 

 fifty acres on this estate ; twenty-five acres through coffee, 

 eighteen months to five years olel, and a clearing 

 twenty-six acres eighteen months old. I have several 

 times after the monsoon noticed a few trees locking 

 very bare with the euds of the blanches black. lam 

 under the impression that this is caused by wind or 

 thinness of soil. Coffee and cacao all over the district 

 are looking very well, and we will do much better 

 this year than we did last. There is over one hundred 

 acres being opened in cacao this season. 



The weather since the end of last mouth has been 

 very pleasant : tine mornings with slight showers in the 

 afternoons.— Yours faithfully, 



R. H. C. MACQUARRIE. 



Dried Apricots. — California fruit-growers have discovered 

 that apricots bleached with sulphur fumes and then dried in 

 the sun are superior to those that are dried in any other 

 manner, or that are canned: They regard this fact of very 

 great importance to the whole State. It enables every fxuit- 

 culturist, however limited his means, and however small 

 the product of bis orchards, to dry his own fruit for market, 

 and makes him independent of the canning factories. It 

 is also stated that fruit can be prepared in the same 

 manner more cheaply than in any other, that its weight 

 is better preserved, and that it is of superior flavour. 

 Large dealers in dried fruit say that the ma.ket for such 

 products of California orchards \\U1 always be greater than 

 the supply can possibly be. The United States alone will 

 readily take all the fruit of the kind ami n heiug 



produced by the- sun-drying process that California can i \ er 

 rnise. Many thousands of apricot trees have been planted 

 within a recent date iu orchard form in Southern Cali- 

 fornia. Sun-dried apricots are being sold to California 

 dealers at double the price paid for the best raieius. — 

 Adelaide Observer. 



