Jnne IS, 1870. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE OARDENEK. 



471 



dener'B Pooket Joarnal and Annual ReRiBter, in a Concise 

 Monthly Display of all Praotioal Works of General Gardening 

 throughout the Year." London. 1780. 12mo. The thirty- 

 fifth edition is dated 1857. 



He brought up and well educated a large family, but sur- 

 vived them all except oue eon, who distinguished himeelf in 

 the uavy. 



BIXA OKELLANA-ANNOTTA. 

 It is from the shrub the foliage and flowers of which is now 

 tigured that the Annotta of commerce is produced. Plants 

 are seldom seen in this 

 country except in botanical 

 oolleotions ; but they are 

 not devoid of ornament by 

 their fine green leaves and 

 cUaste pink flowers. When 

 grown from seed the plants 

 attain a large size before 

 producing flowers ; but 

 when raised from cuttings 

 they flower freely when in a 

 comparatively dwarf state. 

 Cuttings of half-ripened 

 wood strike readily in heat 

 under a bell-glass. The 

 plants require a summer 

 temperature of 65= to 85°, 

 and a winter temperature 

 of 50' to CO'. This shrub 

 grows spontaneously in 

 South America and is cul- 

 tivated in the East Indies. 

 The fruit is like a Chestnut, 

 a two-valved capsule cover- 

 ed with flexible bristles, and 

 contains a certain number 

 of seeds smaller than peas. 

 These seeds are covered 

 with a soft, viscous, resin- 

 ous pulp of a beautiful ver- 

 milion colour and unpleas- 

 ant smell like red lead mixed 

 with oil ; and it is this 

 matter which constitutes 

 Annotta. The mode in 

 which it is obtained is by 

 pouring hot water over the 

 pulp and the seeds, and 

 leaving them to macerate 

 until they are separated 

 by pounding them with a 

 wooden pestle. The seeds 

 are then removed by strain- 

 ing the mass through a 

 sieve ; and the pulp being 

 allowed to settle, the water 

 is gently poured off, and the 

 pulp put into shallow ves- 

 sels, in which it is gradually 

 dried in the shade. After 

 acquiring a proper consist- 

 ency it is made into cylin- 

 drical rolls or balls, and 

 placed in an airy place to 

 dry, after which it is sent to market. This is most common 

 in the English market, and ia in the form of small rolls, each 

 2 or 3 ozs. in weight, hard, dry, and compact ; brownish with- 

 out and red within. The other process of manufacture is 

 that pursued in Cayenne. The pulp and seeds together are 

 bruised in wooden vessels, and hot water poured orer them ; 

 they are then left to soak for several days, and afterwards 

 passed through a close sieve to separate the seeds. The matter 

 is then left to ferment for about a week, when the water is 

 gently poured off, and the solid part left to dry in the shade. 

 When it has acquired the consistency of a solid paste it is 

 formed into cakes of 3 or 4 lbs. weight, which are wrapped in 

 the kaves of Arundo or Banana. This variety is of a bright 

 yellow colour, rather soft to the touch, and of considerable 

 solidity. Labat informs us that the Indians prepare an Annotta 

 greatly enperior to that which is brought to us, of a bright 



shining red colour, almost equal to carmine. For this purpose, 

 instead of steeping and fermenting the seeds in water, they 

 rub them with the hands, previously dipped in oil, till the 

 pulp comes off and is reduced to a clear paste, which is scraped 

 oil' from the hands with a knife, and laid on a clean leaf in the 

 shade to dry. Mixed with lemon juice and gum it makes the 

 crimson paint with which Indians adorn their bodies ; and 

 they employ the leaves and roots in cookery to increase the 

 flavour and give a safl'ron colour. 



Annotta is principally consumed by painters and dyers ; but 

 it is also used in Cheshire, Gloucestershire, and North WiltB 

 to colour cheete with the pale yellow or flesh colour which 



distinguishes that which ia 

 made in these districts, the 

 makers in Cheshire using 

 ti dwts. to CO lbs. of cheese ; 

 while those of Gloucester- 

 shire use 1 07,. to 1 cwt. — 

 quantities which are too 

 small to affect the cheese in 

 > _ any way except in colour. 



The Dutch use it for height- 

 ening the colour of their 

 butter. It is used for the 

 same purpose in some 

 English dairies. 



Fig. 123.— BrxA orellana 



SAXIFEAGA 

 NEPALENSIS. 



I AM glad to observe that 

 this charming plant was 

 awarded a prize at the late 

 show at South Kensington. 

 Excellent as it is when 

 grown in pots for conserva- 

 tory and dinner-table de- 

 coration, it is of even more 

 value as a hardy rock plant, 

 because its elegant and 

 prettily-marked foliage dis- 

 posed in rosettes with that 

 precision which is cha- 

 racteristic of this class of 

 plants, always renders it an 

 interesting and ornamental 

 object throughout the year, 

 and now when it is seen in 

 the full glory of its tlender 

 tapering flower spikes, there 

 is no plant more striking or 

 attractive. Itformssuckers, 

 orwhat may be with greater 

 propriety, termed lateral 

 shoots, abundantly, so that 

 a stock of it is easily ob- 

 tained, every shoot rooting 

 readily in an open border 

 after it is separated from 

 the parent plant. 



It is by a judicious and 

 tasteful admixture of plants 

 of this type with others of 

 bolder growth that a rockery 

 can be rendered one of the 

 most interesting and attractive features of a garden. — EuwiEc 



LCCKHDBST. 



[Nepalensis is a name which has been fancifully applied to 

 the fine old plant, S. cotyledon var. pyramidalis. — Eds.] 



ODE BOEDER FLOWEES-GAILLAEDIAS. 



Gaill-Ardias are by no means an extensive group of plants, 

 yet thfiy are worthy to be recorded in the Journal, for it would 

 be difficult to find a more beautiful family of summer and 

 autumn-flowering plants than the varieties of Gaillardia picta. 

 When this plant made its appearance among us some thirty or 

 more years ago we tended it carefully as a choice greenhouse 

 plant, and it was looked on as a wonderful acquisition to our 

 collections, and when we found it would do us good service 

 outside as well we admired it the more. Somehow or other 



