APOGON APPLE. 



175 



upas-tree is found in India, growing along with many 

 pleasant aromatic plants, such as the pepper, the 

 clove, and the nutmeg ; and we thus find the same 

 heats of a vertical sun giving energy to the juices of 

 the most fatal as well as the most salubrious species. 



The bark of the Strychnos colubrina has been used 

 as an antidote against the bite of the snake called 

 cobra de capella (Coluber major). There are several 

 species of Strychnos, such as the potatorum, brachiata, 

 and pseudofjuina, which do not possess poisonous 

 properties. The bark of the last-mentioned species 

 is employed in Brazil, under the name of quina do 

 campo, as a substitute for Peruvian bark, in the cure 

 of intermittent fever. 



The bark of the Cerbcra manghas, one of the apo- 

 cyneae, is purgative. The root of the Ophioxylon 

 possesses similar properties ; it is used in India under 

 the name of snake-root, as an antidote to .the bites of 

 serpents. The root of the Neicum odoralum is poison- 

 ous, while its sweet-scented leaves are employed 

 externally to dispel inflammatory swellings. The 

 leaves of the periwinkle or hinca are astringent, and 

 have been used successfully ia tanning. The Wrightia 

 tinctoria yields a beautiful blue dye. 



Some of the apocyneae possesses nutritive qua- 

 lities. Among these may be noticed the cream-fruit 

 of Sierra Leone, and the Tabcrneemontana utilis, the 

 hya-hya, or milk-tree of Demerara. The milk-like 

 fluid which is obtained in great abundance from the 

 latter plant, has been used as an article of diet. It 

 is thicker than cow's milk, is destitute of all acrimony, 

 and resembles in appearance the vegetable milk of 

 the palo de vaca, or cow-tree of the Caraccas. The 

 fruit of the Carissa edulis is eaten in Nubia. The 

 young shoots of the Apocynum Indicum are also 

 employed dietetically, as it is said the pulp surround- 

 ing the seeds of most of the apocynea?, whether 

 poisonous or not, is innocuous, and may be eaten 

 as food. 



Caoutchouc, or Indian-rubber, is procured from 

 the Urceola elastica, a climbing plant of Sumatra, as 

 well as from various other plants belonging to this 

 family. The milky juice of these plants is smeared 

 over moulds of clay made in the form of bottles, and 

 is afterwards dried in the smoke. After the first 

 layer is dried another is added, until the necessary 

 thickness is obtained. In this way bottles of Indian- 

 rubber are prepared. The black colour of the caout- 

 chouc is owing to the smoke in which it is dried. 



There are many other plants included under this 

 interesting order, which possess properties rendering 

 them useful in a medical and economical point of 

 view ; but those alluded to are sufficient to show the 

 general properties of the order, and the important 

 place which it holds in the vegetable world. 



APOGON beardless. A genus of spinous- 

 finned fishes belonging to the perch family, and so 

 much resembling the mullets as sometimes to be 

 called the beardless mullet, and at other times the 

 king of the mullets. They are fishes of small size, 

 and remarkable for the brightness of their red colour. 

 They have two dorsal fins, and the ventral fins are 

 situated immediately under the pectorals. Their 

 bodies are short and covered with large scales, which 

 are understood to be shed and reproduced once a 

 year, or even oftener. They are without the beard 

 or cirrhi, which fringe the under lip in the true 

 mullets ; and it is on this circumstance that the 

 generic name apogon is founded. 



APONOGETON (Thunberg). A family offpur 

 species, stove and greenhouse perennial aquatics, 

 natives of India and the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Linnaean class and order, Hexandria Trigynia ; natural 

 order, Fluvia/es. Generic character : flowers on spikes 

 arranged on one side, bracteas distinctly coloured ; 

 calyx none ; corolla none ; stamens inserted on the 

 common receptacle ; filaments dilated at the base, 

 awl-shaped ; anthers roundish ; stigmas three or 

 four, awl-shaped, turned back ; capsule one-celled, 

 three-seeded. 



APPLE. Although this is a general name for 

 many different kinds of fruit, it is more especially 

 applied to the common orchard-tree, called by 

 botanists Pyrus mains. Of the pyrus, or pear family, 

 there are forty-six distinct species ; and of two of 

 these, viz., Pyrus communis, the pear ; and Pyrus 

 mains, the apple ; there are innumerable varieties. 

 Linnaean class and order, Icosundria Di Pcntagynia ; 

 natural order, Rosacece. Generic character : calyx 

 five-cleft, persisting ; corolla five petaled, petals 

 rounded ; stamens inserted on a raised ring on the 

 throat of the calyx ; filaments awl-shaped ; anthers 

 two-celled ; styles less than five ; apple five-celled ; 

 each cell two-seeded ; partitions of the cells cartila- 

 ginous, as are also the coats of the seeds. 



The common apple is decidedly the most useful 

 fruit in cultivation. Its characteristics of hardiness of 

 the tree, beauty of its flowers, and wholesorneness of 

 its fruit, whether the pulp be used as food, or its 

 juice as drink ; whether immediately from the tree, 

 or from the fruit-room six months after gathering, 

 the apple is one of the choicest gifts of nature. 



Notwithstanding the great variety of our orchard 

 apples, it is more than probable that the wild crab of 

 our woods and hedges is the common ancestor. The 

 first accidental variation of the crab no doubt occurred 

 in the woods, as we see is the case at the present 

 day. Such would naturally attract the notice of the 

 planter. The stranger would be transplanted to the 

 garden, where its peculiar properties would be in 

 time imperceptably diffused among congenial neigh- 

 bours. Hence a collection of wildings would be 

 brought together ; and from among them a higher 

 grade would originate, and henceforward take the 

 name of apple. But as these new favourites could 

 not be propagated by their seeds (except by accident, 

 as they themselves had been), the arts of layering, 

 grafting, &c., were had recourse to, for the purpose 

 of perpetuating the kinds. By these means the new 

 varieties were continued by cultivators ; and it ap- 

 pears that from the great number of excellent sorts 

 possessed by our forefathers, as good sorts were 

 obtained by accident in those days, as we now pro- 

 cure from the best practice assisted by science. The 

 old golden pippin, golden russet, and rennette, non- 

 pareil, and several othtrs, still rank as high in public 

 estimation as any of the new sorts lately brought 

 into notice by the ingenious device of artificial im- 

 pregnation. 



The method of obtaining new varieties by impreg- 

 nating the female organs of an inferior sort by the 

 pollen or male dust of a superior kind, is only per- 

 formed by curious cultivators, either in the cider 

 districts or by nurserymen. The more simple and 

 easy way of raising young trees, is by grafting the 

 desired kinds upon crab- stocks raised from seeds 

 collected in the woods. The seeds or pips are, when 

 fully ripe, taken from the capsules, dried, and kept in 



