Remarks on the Culture of Exotic Vegetables. 297 



approved varieties, will be fit for the operation in the second 

 or third year ; and it may be necessary to cover the band 

 ■which fixes the graft with well-tempered clay and cow-dung-, 

 to exclude the air ; taking especial care to leave the top buds 

 of the graft free and unconfined. 



In the final planting out, they must be sheltered from the 

 violence of the S. E. wind; and it must be remembered that 

 the mangoe is a large spreading tree requiring much room, 

 and that it may stand for ages; a single tree sometimes 

 covers with its branches a space of forty feet in breadth. A 

 loamy soil is favorable to the growth of "this tree, but it 

 thrives well also in light vegetable earths. 



Seeds of this tree sent from India, should be packed in 

 sand ; or they should be planted in boxes of light soil just 

 before shipment, and kept on deck, where they will require 

 no water, unless they vegetate on the passage. 



PSIDIUM pyrifertjm. Guava. Bay Plum. Goyaves. 

 Icosandria Monogynia, Lin. and Nat. Ord. Myrtacese, Kunth. 



This fruit, so well known throughout the colony, js a va- 

 riety of the worst description, of an otherwise wholesome and 

 agreeable fruit ; attempts should therefore be made to im- 

 prove, by culture, that which we already possess, or to endea- 

 vour to procure seeds or plants (from elsewhere) of a better 

 kind. 



The fruit of the guava should be left on the trees till they 

 fall dead ripe, The seeds may be then separated from the 

 pulp, slightly dried, sown, and treated in a similar method 

 as directed for the mang-oe. Rotten dung should, however, 

 be added to decayed leaves as manure. 



In the Brazils, where there is an abundance of this fruit, 

 they are particularly fine, and, in size aud flavor, are as much 

 superior to those of this colony, as the apricot exceeds the 

 Hottentot plum. A very fine marmalade is made of the fruit, 

 and, in such quantities, as to form a source of great profit to 

 the peasantry of that country. . 



Seeds of the guava may be procured from Rio de Janeiro, 

 as well as several other species of the same family, particu- 

 larly the Arasa, the Arasa do Pedras, and the A rasa do 

 Chine : which last was introduced from Rio to England in 

 1816, and is known in botanical collections there, by the 

 name of Psidium Cattleyanum. It is, as the Portuguese 

 name imports, a native of China. The plant, with its glossy 

 dark-green leaves, and crimson-coloured fruit, is highly orna- 

 mental. 



The young leaves, buds, and fruit of the guava, in decoc- 

 tion, are astringent, and the marmalade the same. The 

 seeds, cleaned trora the pulp, keep g-ood for some time, re- 



rp 



