April 2o, 1S?2. 1 



JOtJENAL OP HOETlCtriiTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



31.5 



which appears iiuinjured, but my gardener used it to some buds 

 of a younger plant and they are destroyed. When you catch 

 your mealy bug and touch him with it, I can safely say that 

 its effect is " mortally strong," but to those amatenrs who 

 have been or are troubled as I have been, I say that there 

 will be a considerable saving by purchasing the pure article 

 and diluting it according to tbeu' requirements, instead of 

 sending for it under its more magnificent title to which it has 

 no claim. 



So much for the first case which chiefly touches the pocket ; 

 the second is more productive of serious disappointment, as it 

 requires time and the expenditure of care and anxiety before 

 you can find out the mistake. I allude to the fact of giving 

 descriptive names to plants without duly considering if the 

 names are really appropriate. I have a tolerably large collection 

 of Cacti, and two years ago I purchased a plant advertised as 

 " Atrosanguineus, being the darkest scarlet out." Now that 

 the plant has flowered I find that of six or seven scarlet Cacti 

 it is the very lightest. Another plant, Cereus albus, which I 

 have watched with much interest for two years, has now 

 flowered, and is of a darker colour than my old plant Cereus 

 pallidas roseus. Many years ago I was induced to procure 

 Gardenia Staulej'ana, from the description of it in Paxton's 

 " Magazine of Botany," vol. xiii., fol. 169, "that the noble 

 highly fragrant flowers are produced in greatest profusion." 

 The description is correct, with the important exception that 

 it has no smell. Again, I grew Pergularia odoratissima, as 

 Mrs. Loudon in her "Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden " 

 says, " This plant has perhaps a sweeter fragrance than any 



plant known." My plant agreed in all particulars with the 

 description, except that it had no perceptible fragrance either 

 by night or by day. 



Now, I believe that the gardener can only have throe objects 

 to attain — to gratify the eye, the nostril, or the palate ; and 

 whilst it is quite true that " the Eose by any other name would 

 smeU as sweet," and doubtless the Onion by any other name 

 would taste as strong, so that generic names are of compara- 

 tively less importance, I think that all names professing to 

 be descriptive should be most carefully chosen ; for it is a 

 matter of real disappointment to find, after bestowing much 

 time and attention on the cultivation of a particular plant 

 for the sake of contrast or any special purpose, that the 

 object is quite defeated. But I will not occupy your space 

 further, although I have many minor histances. I only hope 

 that a little more attention may be paid to the subject, so that 

 whilst we can always hell) ourselves by receiving advertise- 

 ments with a certain amount of reservation, we may be pro- 

 tected ag;iiust the freaks of those who advertise then- new soil- 

 cultivators, and when, from the price, you expect a small steam 

 plough, supply you with a spade with a new-fangled handle ! — 

 C. M. M.uoK. 



P.S.— Whilst on the subject of misrepresentation I may as 

 weU call your attention to the picture of Primula japonica 

 figur-ed in the " Florist and Pomologist " for .Jime 1871, and I 

 shall be glad to know if it is really true that the whole flower- 

 spike can be developed as there shown (for I do not believe it), 

 or whether it is the ar'tisfs Ueense ? If the latter, I do not 

 think that such license should be tolerated. — C. M. M. 



of 



THE BRAZIL NUT. 



seeds, a little flattened on the inside. The kernel consists 

 a fleshy, whitish, inseparable, homogeneous substance. 



In December, 1821, "I saw the BcrthoUctia flowering at 

 Cayenne. This was the second time it had flov/ered, but no 

 fruit arose therefrom, which was most likely due to the youth 

 of tlie plant, although it was then twelve year's old and 40 feet 

 There are but few homes at Cayenne which have 

 not some of these 

 trees. The fruit 

 which I have exa- 

 mined and dra'mi 

 i-ame from Brazil. 

 The Portuguese of 

 I'ara send yearly 

 .1 large ipiantity 

 <if the seeds of 

 the Bertholletia to 

 Cayenne imder the 

 name of Touka, 

 iiud this name has 

 been also given 

 to the trees which 

 have sprung from 

 them. These seeds 

 are sold at the 

 Cayenne market. 

 As long as they are 

 fresh they are as 

 good as our sweet 

 Almonds, biit they 

 turn rancid very 

 '[uickly." These 

 fruits, which are 

 called also BrazU 

 Chestnuts, and to 

 which the natives 

 give the name of 

 " invia," fiuuish a 

 very large amount 

 of oil for burning. 

 This is what M. Bonpland has to say about it : — " We have 



TuK fruit of the Bertholletia excelsa is commonly called 

 the " Monkey's Pot," which name is also given to the Lecythis 

 oUaria. This arises from the fact that its form suggests that 

 idea, and because the monkeys eagerly devour the seeds con- 

 tained within it, drawing them out through an opening at the 

 top of the fruit, which they enlarge if necessary. The fruit, 

 which seldom reaches us entire, is surrounded by a kmd of thin i in height 

 green shell, at the 

 bottom of which 

 is an exceedingly 

 hard woody cover- 

 ing, enclosing a 

 number of irre- 

 gularly triangular 

 seeds not unlike a 

 sUce of a Melon 

 cut awaj' a little 

 on one end. These 

 seeds ar'e shut up 

 in a woody, wrin- 

 kled, brown coat, 

 which, though ra- 

 ther thm, is very 

 tough. When fresh 

 they are good to 

 eat, having a fla- 

 vour somewhat 

 Uke that of the 

 Hazel-nut or Wal- 

 nut ; but as they 

 become old the 

 decomposition of 

 tlie large amount 

 of oil they contain 

 causes them to 

 taste rancid. 



According to 

 Humboldt and 



Bonpland the fruit i 



is about the size 



of a child's head, being from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Some , . 



are oval-shaped, and others rounded but depressed above j been very fortunate, M. Humboldt and I, in finding some of 

 and below. The fruit consists of a woody capsule, valveless, these kernels during our voyage upon the Orinoco. For three 

 covered with a thick fleshy lind, which shows slight traces of months we Uved only on bad chocolate, on rice cooked in 

 four or five rounded angles that it had in its ovar-ian state, water, always without butter and often without salt, until at 

 The lid at the top is very small, and, unlike that of the fruit last we got a large number of the fresh fruits of the Berthol- 

 of the Lecythis, falls inside the capsule instead of outside, i letia. It was in June, and the Indians had just made a harvest 

 When the fruit is ripe, and the partitions of the cells have gone, I of them. These kernels are of a most exquisite flavour, espe- 

 there appear sixteen to twenty bony, wr-inkled, kidney-shaped , ciaUy when they are fresh. The tree came originally fi-om 



a LeithjUiti. 



celba 



