CiFAi". XXI. GARDEN ASSESSMENT. 349 



thousand, each tree yielding ten to fifteen annually ; and the 

 Inisks, for coir ropes, fetch six annas the thousand.* 



Tlie betel-nut palm (Areca catechu), which is also taxed 

 has a long slender smooth stem, and graceful curving fronds. 

 I have seen palm-trees in the South Sea islands, many kinds 

 in the forests of South America, and in India ; but, of the 

 whole tribe, the betel-nut palm is certainly the most elegant 

 and beautiful. Dr. Hooker likens it "to an arrow «hot from 

 heaven, raising its graceful head and feathery crown in luxu- 

 riance and beauty above the verdant slopes." A tree will 

 produce 300 nuts in the year, and continues to bear for 

 twenty-five years. The nut is very hard, tlie size of a cherry, 

 and is chewed by all the natives of India with the leaves of 

 the botel-pepper {Cliamca hetel) spread with cliunam. It is cut 

 into long narrow pieces, and rolled up in the leaves of the 

 betel-pepper or pawn. It makes the mouth and teeth red, 

 and gives the chewer a disgusting appearance. The consump- 

 tion must be enormous, for it is chewed by 50,000,000 of 

 men, and, next to tobacco, is the most extensively used 

 narcotic ; but it has none of the excellent properties of the 

 coca-leaf of the Peruvians. 



The jack {Artoearpus integrifoUus), the only other tree 

 which is taxed in Malabar, grows to a considerable size, and 

 the wood is much used for furniture of all kinds. The fruit, 

 a favourite article of food, is of enormous dimensions, and 

 grows out of the trunk. In Travancore they put the whole 

 fruit in the ground, and, when the young shoots grow up, the 

 stems are tied together with straw, and by degrees they form 

 one stem, bearing fruit in six or seven years.® Besides the 

 taxed trees, the gardens round Calicut generally contain 

 mangos and mix vomica. 



In addition to the rice or wet cultivation, and the above- 



* The valuo of the exported nuts, I in 1859, was 1.57,99.5?. 

 keriu'ls, oil, and coir of tlie cocoanuts | " Drnry's TJxeful PlanU of India. 



