GARCINIA 



MORELLA 



Gamboge 



THE MANGOSTEEN FRUIT 



Yield. 



Fruit sent to 

 England. 



Preserved. 



Tanning 

 Material. 



Gamboge. 



Gum-resin. 



Tapping. 



Pipe Gamboge. 



It is propagated by seed, grafting or inlayering, and on rich loamy, well- 

 drained soils. The tree is commonly said to begin to bear when from 7 to 10 

 years, or, according to other experience, not until it is 15 to 20 years old. It 

 may continue to yield thereafter for 50 to 100 years. The fruiting season is 

 June to September. Rich cultivation is essential, such as manure once a year. 

 Care must also be taken in picking the fruit, since until the rind has hardened 

 it is delicate a fall may often be fatal to any idea of preservation. The yield 

 has been variously stated. A writer in Indian Gardening speaks of trees planted 

 25 by 25 feet yielding 1,000 fruits an acre, with a net profit of 2. A writer in 

 The Planter, on the other hand, affirms that each tree may give an annual income 

 of 2 to 5. Gamble observes that according to Heifer one tree may yield 1,000 

 fruits yearly, valued at Rs. 3 per 100. At Barliar a tree has been reported to 

 have given 1,200 fruits. The fruits are usually strung by a bast fibre, being 

 tied between the thick, hard, calyx teeth and the fruit ; bunches thus formed 

 are hung up to mature. If intended to be transported, these bunches should 

 be packed in baskets along with wet moss, and dispatched the day they are 

 plucked. Some years ago a consignment of fresh fruits was sent to London 

 from the West Indies, but apparently no trade has as yet been organised. As 

 an article of food, the fruit is highly esteemed both by Europeans and Natives, 

 and is considered by many persons the most delicious of Eastern fruits. Ships 

 coming from the Straits bring it to Rangoon and Calcutta, but by the time they 

 reach the latter port the fruits have lost their true flavour, and are often very 

 bitter, through the formation of layers of yellow gamboge between the pips. 

 A considerable trade is done, however, and the price ranges from Rs. 3 to as 

 much as Rs. 10 a hundred, according to season and quality. Recently an 

 attempt has been made to preserve the mangosteen, and a little more enterprise 

 might make this an important industry. Traffic in mangosteen is, in fact, very 

 ancient. Tavernier (Travels Ind., 1676 (ed. Ball), ii., 287) speaks of the fruit 

 as abounding in Siam. 



The rind is a powerful tanning material, and an attempt has been made to 

 utilise the immense quantities available in Burma and the Straits. [Cf. Agri. 

 Ledg., 1902, No. 1, 14.] The chemistry of the rind was investigated by Schmidt 

 in 1855. It contains tannin, resin, and a yellow crystallisable principle, man- 

 gostin. In medicine the rind or entire fruit is employed in the production 

 of a syrup that is used in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery. [Cf. Pharmacog. 

 Ind., i., 167 ; Yearbook of Pharmacy, 1892, 167 ; 1900, 399 ; Settl. Repts. Amherst, 

 1893, 47 ; Cult, in Singapore, Agri. Bull. Straits, 1902, i., 373 ; Nisbet, Burma 

 under Brit. Rule and Before, 1901, i., 352 ; Hawaiian For., 1905, ii., 91 ; Trop. 

 Agriat., 1905, xxv., 259-60.] 



G. Morella, Desr. ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 1902, 27 ; Cooke, I.e. 

 77-8; Gamble, I.e. 55; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 1906, 53. Indian Gamboge 

 Tree. The vernacular names may be thus grouped : the tree arsinagurgi 

 mara, aradal, punar puli, kankutake, daramba, tha-men-gut : the resin 

 ghotdghaubd, ausaraherevan, revachinnisird, makki, ireval - chinip - pal, 

 sanato-si, rubbirevdnd, farfiran, etc. An evergreen tree of the forests of 

 the Khasia hills, Eastern Bengal, the West Coast and Ceylon. The 

 Gamboge of European commerce comes from Siam, and is obtained from 

 G. Hanburyt, Hook., /. (Kew Mus. Guide, 1907, 20). 



From the GUM-RESIN is produced the gamboge of medicine and the arts. 

 That substance has been known almost from classic times. Of European writers 

 it was first mentioned apparently by Clusius (1605). It is referred to in Chinese 

 works as far back as the end of the 13th century. The gum is not collected to 

 any material extent in the forests of India, and the chief supply comes, therefore, 

 from Siam. Before the resin can be gathered, the trees must be some ten years 

 old. Tapping is carried on during the rainy months, June to October, when the 

 sap is vigorous, by cutting a spiral line round the trunk from a height of about 

 ten feet above the ground. Down these grooves the resin trickles in a viscous 

 stream into hollow bamboos placed at the base. From these it is decanted into 

 smaller bamboos, and left for a month or so to solidify. To remove the gamboge 

 the bamboo joints are placed over a hot fire, which causes them to crack, when 

 a round stick of gamboge is obtained from each the Roll or Pipe Gamboge 

 of commerce. This method does not seem to be employed in India, where only 



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