CAAPEBA-CABBAGE. 



659 



musk and ambergris. The Italians and Spaniards 

 roast the cacao-beans much more than the French, so 

 as to give them a darker colour and a more bitter 

 taste. Chocolate is not imported into this country, 

 and hence what is consumed in Britain is manufac- 

 tured in the country from the cacao-beans, which are 

 imported from the West Indies and the Caraccas. 

 It is said that Castile soap is often added to British 

 chocolate in order to make it froth when dissolved in 

 hot water. The chocolate made in this country pays 

 a fixed duty. Families are allowed to make their 

 own chocolate provided three days' notice is given, 

 and a quantity of the nuts, not less than half a hun- 

 dred weight, is used at once. Spanish chocolate has 

 more oil in it than that which is manufactured in 

 Britain. Chocolate is a favourite beverage with the 

 Spaniards, and is also much used in Jamaica. It is 

 used either in a crude state, or boiled in water or 

 milk. When good it ought to be entirely dissolved, 

 leaving no sediment. It is best when newly pre- 

 pared. 



Chocolate has been recommended medicinally as 

 a nutritious article of diet, and a good tonic. It has 

 been found serviceable in hypochondriasis, and in 

 cases of debility and emaciation. In the case of 

 patients labouring under consumption and other lin- 

 gering diseases, the use of chocolate has been attended 

 with very beneficial results. It is sometimes given 

 to disguise the taste of drugs such as quinine. When 

 fresh ground and cooled in tin vessels, chocolate be- 

 comes highly electrical, but loses this property by 

 being dried or powdered. 



Cacao contains a great quantity of a thick whitish 

 solid oil, which is separated by boiling water, and is 

 commonly called Butter of Cacao. It is used as a 

 cosmetic on account of its agreeable odour, and the 

 rapidity with which it dries. It is also used medicin- 

 ally as an emollient soothing application to sores. 



The shell of the cacao-bean is sometimes employed 

 as a tonic. 



Cocoa is an oily and slightly bitter preparation, 

 made in Britain from the seeds of the cacao tree. 

 It is very nourishing, and is perhaps more easily 

 digested than chocolate. 



The seeds of Theobroma Guianensis, another species 

 of the genus, are eaten in a fresh state. 



Gnazuma ulmifolia is a wide spreading tree like an 

 elm, the fruit of which abounds in a sweetish muci- 

 lage. In Jamaica the leaves are sometimes used as 

 food for cattle. The bark is employed as a sudorific, 

 and an extract from it is used in Martinique to clarify 

 sugar. The wood is light, and is used by coach- 

 makers. Glossostemon bruguieri is interesting as being 

 the only plant in the order which is found native in 

 Persia. 



Sterculia is an extensive genus of the order, con- 

 sisting of fine umbrageous trees, the fruit of which is 

 a good illustration of what is denominated by bota- 

 nists a follicle. The seeds are in general large and 

 eatable, and are filled with an oily fluid which can be 

 expressed for use. Sterculia urens is a large tree, 

 found native in the mountainous countries on the 

 Corovnandel coast. It has a soft spongy wood which 

 the Hindoos use in the manufacture of guitars. The 

 bark is very astringent and tinges the saliva of a red- 

 dish colour. The seeds are roasted and eaten by the 

 natives. Sterculia tragacaniha furnishes the gum 

 tragacanth of Sierra Leone. The seed of Sterculia 

 acuminata is the famous Cola nut of Guinea, men- 



tioned by African travellers, which has the property, 

 when chewed, of rendering bad water pleasant and 

 agreeable. A decoction of the fruit of Sterculia foetida 

 is mucilaginous and astringent. The pods are used 

 in Java in the cure of gonorrhoea. The seeds are 

 oily, and are said to cause sickness and giddiness. 

 The seeds or nuts of Sterculia c/iica are highly 

 esteemed in Brazil as an article of food. 



Waltheria douradinlia abounds in mucilage, and is 

 considered by the Brazilians a remedy for syphilis. 

 The genus Astrapcea furnishes some of the most 

 beautiful plants in the world. 



From these details it will be seen, that this inte- 

 resting family occupies an important place in the 

 vegetable world, whether we regard it as furnishing 

 nutritious articles of diet, or supplying the means of 

 curing disease. 



CA APEB A. The name of a species of the genus 

 Cissampelos ; the root of which is used medicinally 

 in South America, as a mucilaginous diuretic. 



CABBAGE is the Brassica oleracea of botanists. 

 Linnaean class, Tetradynamia ; natural order, Cruci- 

 ferae. Generic character : calyx erect and closed ; 

 seed-vessel long, round, opening by two valves, and 

 having a central dissepiment ; style short, obtuse, 

 seeds in one row ; cotyledons folded together. 



This very useful culinary plant is a native of 

 Britain, and found among the rocks on the sea shore. 

 In its wild state it has comparatively small gashed 

 leaves, and runs up to flower without any central turn- 

 ing in of the leaves. But small and unsubstantial as 

 the leaves are, they are found to be wholesome, and 

 particularly antiscorbutic ; and in all probability have 

 in the course of time been raised from an article of 

 medicine to a principal one of diet. 



No plant shows the effects or repays the labour of 

 cultivation more the cabbage ; nor has any one 

 sported into more useful varieties. There are above 

 twenty different varieties and sub-varieties cultivated; 

 and if all its alliances were included, double this 

 number might be named. 



The cabbage is particularly well adapted to the 

 climate of this country, and in the same latitudes on 

 the continent. In more southern latitudes they do 

 not arrive at much perfection, owing to the higher 

 temperature forcing them to flower before the heart is 

 sufficiently formed. 



The cabbage may be used in every stage of the 

 growth ; when young they are th'e most delicate and 

 sweetest of greens : and when the principal head is 

 cut, the stems produce an acceptable supply of 

 sprouts. The plant is variously useful ; the smaller 

 varieties are cultivated in gardens for kitchen pur- 

 poses ; the red for pickling, and the large drumhead 

 sort are grown in fields for cattle. Many of the large 

 sorts are also manufactured into sour kraut, an indis- 

 pensible condiment in Germany, and highly useful to 

 the crews of ships on long voyages. For general 

 usefulness it is next to corn and the potato ; and 

 over the last it has the advantage of being proof 

 against the hardest frosts. 



The cabbage, as well as most of its varieties, are 

 biennials, that is, the plants require parts of two 

 years to bring them to their seeding age. But as it 

 is their leaves and not the seeds which is the object 

 of the cultivator, he bestows such management as 

 will bring the plants successionally into use, and so 

 that they may be had for table every day in the year. 

 8C2 



