G64 



THE 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



THE 



ends; peduncles slender, about eight or ten together, chiefly 

 from the scars of the fallen leaves, one of them only for the 

 most part fruitful, the rest abortive ; flowers small, reddish, 

 inodorous; fruits smooth, yellow, red, or of both colours, 

 about three inches in diameter ; rind fleshy, nearly half an 

 inch in thickness, flesh-coloured within ; pulp whitish, the 

 consistence of butter, separating from the rind in a state of 

 ripeness, and adhering to it only by filamenta, which penetrate 

 it, and reach to the seeds : hence it is known when the seeds 

 are ripe, by the rattling of the capsule when it is shaken. 

 The pulp has a sweet and not unpleasant taste, with a slight 

 acidity ; it is sucked and eaten raw by the natives, and may 

 easily be separated into as many parts as there are seeds, to 

 which it adheres strongly; and tliey are wrapped up in it, so 

 that each seed seems to have its own proper pulp. The 

 seeds are about twenty-five in number; when fresh, they are 

 of a flesh-colour. Gathered unripe, and preserved in sugar, 

 they are very grateful to the palate. According to Browne, 

 this tree seldom exceeds six or seven inches in diameter, or 

 rites above fifteen or sixteen feet in height. It is very beau- 

 tiful, and in general extremely engaging to the sight, when 

 charged with fruit, which grows from all parts of the trunk 

 and larger branches indiscriminately. When the seeds are 

 loose, and rattle in the pods, they are pulled off and opened, 

 and the kernels picked out and exposed daily to the sun, 

 until they are thoroughly cured, and fit for the stove or 

 market. These seeds are remarkably nourishing, and agree- 

 able to most people ; which occasions them to be commonly 

 kept in most houses in America, as a necessary part of the 

 provisions of the family. They are generally ground or 

 pounded very fine, and made into paste: they are much 

 charged with oil, bat mix well with milk or water. It is 

 said to have been in use among the native Indians before 

 the arrival of the Spaniards. It is much esteemed in all the 

 southern colonies of America, and well known to make a 

 principal part of the nourishment of most of the older part 

 of the inhabitants. There are two principal varieties of the 

 fruit; one long, of an oval-oblong form, obtusely attenuated 

 at the end, ten-grooved, and having the surface irregular 

 with little lumps, or somewhat warted ; the other not at all 

 waited, scarcely grooved, as thick as the other variety, but 

 shorter; both are commonly found wild in Jamaica. This 

 tte is cultivated in many of the West India islands belong- 

 ing to the English ; but the hurricanes, and the neglect of 

 oj planters, have so diminished the number of the trees, 

 that for some years the French and Spaniards have supplied 

 lift with the article. Native of South America, and found 

 in great plenty in several places between the tropics, but 

 particularly at Caracca and Carthagena, on the river of 

 Amazons, the isthmus of Darien, at Honduras, Guatimala, 

 awt Nicaragua. Propagation and Culture. As this tree 

 rnay be advantageously cultivated in those parts of our West 

 India islands where the Sugar-Cane will not thrive, we shall 

 first state the mode of cultivating there for profit, and then 

 at home for curiosity. Make your plantation of Chocolate- 

 trees in a place where they may be protected from strong 

 winds, by which, if exposed, they will be soon destroyed. 

 I those places where torrents of water have deposited the 

 earth, they will thrive exceedingly, especially where the 

 gtillies are broad and deep, because the soil is generally rich 

 and moist, which is what these trees require. Where there 

 are not a sufficient number of these gullies, plant them where 

 they will be wtll sheltered t>y large trees ; or if there be no 

 Wees already grown, surround the spot where you design to 

 plant the Cnoeofate-trees, with four rows of plants of such 

 tnses as are of the quickest grcrwth, and within these rows 



here should be some Plantain-trees planted at proper dis- 

 ances, which, being very quick of growth, and the leaves 

 very large, will afford a kindly shelter to the Chocolate 

 seedlings planted between them. These trees, when culti- 

 vated, seldom exceed fourteen or fifteen feet in height, nor 

 do they spread their branches very wide ; hence if the Plan- 

 tain-trees be placed in rows about twenty-four feet asunder, 

 there will be room anough for two rows of Chocolate-trees 

 between each row of Plantains ; and if they are placed at 

 ten feet distance in the rows, there will be space sufficient. 

 Those trees which are found wild in uncultivated places are 

 generally of much larger growth, which may be occasioned 

 by the other trees among which they are found growing; 

 for being protected from the winds by these, they are not 

 so much in danger therefrom as those which are cultivated; 

 and the other trees closely surrounding them, will naturally 

 draw them up to a greater height: however, that is not a 

 desirable quality in these trees ; the lower they are, the better 

 the fruit may be gathered without hurting the trees, and the 

 less they are exposed to the injuries of the weather; so that 

 the inhabitants never desire to have their trees above twelve 

 or fourteen feet high. The soil upon which these trees 

 thrive to most advantage, is a moist rich deep earth, for they 

 generally send forth one tap-root, which runs very deep into 

 the ground; hence, wherever they meet with a rocky bottom 

 near the surface, they seldom thrive, nor are they of long 

 continuance; but in a deep rich moist soil they will produce 

 fruit in pretty good plenty the third year from seed, and will 

 continue fruitful for several years after. Before the plantation 

 is begun, the ground should be well prepared by digging it 

 deep, and clearing it from the roots of the trees and noxious 

 plants, which, if suffered to remain in the ground, will shoot 

 up again after the first rain, and greatly obstruct the growth 

 of the plants, till it will be almost impossible to clear the 

 ground of these roots without greatly injuring the Chocolate 

 plants after they have come up. When the ground is thus 

 prepared, the rows should be marked out by a line, where 

 the nuts are to be planted, so as that they may be placed 

 in a quicunx order, at equal distance every way, or at least 

 that the Plantain-trees between them may form a quincunx 

 with the two rows of Chocolate-trees, which are placed 

 between each row of them. In making a plantation of Cho- 

 colate-nut Trees, the nuts must be planted where the trees 

 are to remain ; for if the plants be transplanted they seldom 

 live, and those which survive will never make thriving trees; 

 for if the tap-root be any way broken or injured, the tree 

 commonly decays. The nuts should always be planted in a 

 rainy season ; and as the fruit ripens at two different seasons, 

 at Midsummer and at Christmas, the plantation may be 

 made at either of those times ; but the chief care must be to 

 choose such nuts as are perfectly ripe and sound, otherwise 

 the whole trouble and expense will be lost. The manner of 

 planting the nuts is, to make three holes in the ground, within 

 two or three inches of each other, at the place where every 

 tree is to stand ; and into each of these holes should be one 

 sound nut planted, about two inches deep, covering them 

 gently with earth. Three nuts are planted, because they 

 seldom all succeed, or if most of them grow, the plants wift 

 not be all equally vigorous; hence it will be easy, even after 

 one year's growth, to draw up all the weak unpromising plants, 

 and to leave the most vigorous, in doing which great care 

 must be taken not to injure or disturb the roots of those which 

 are to remain. When these trees appear above the ground, 

 they are very tender, and liable to great injury from the strong 

 winds, the scorching sun, or great droughts. On these 

 accounts the planters choose a sheltered situation, or plant 





