CHAP. II. DESSERT FRUITS. 195 



a Cocoa-nut, ripens of a pale greenish yellow. The finest are 

 said to be produced from the Singapore and Moulmain stock. 

 The fruit presents a tempting appearance when cut open, resem- 

 bling that of a fine orange-flesh Melon. Though not of high 

 flavour, it is very cool, refreshing, and agreeable, when eaten 

 with sugar raw.- This is the only way in which I have ever known 

 it eaten in India, but Don, speaking of it as grown in South 

 America, says that " when young it is generally used for sauce, 

 and when boiled and mixed with lime-juice and sugar, it is not 

 unlike or much inferior to that made of real Apples, for which it 

 is commonly substituted." And Sloane says: "The fruit in general 

 is gathered before it is ripe, cut into slices, soaked in water till 

 the milky juice is out ; it is then boiled and eaten as Turnips or 

 baked as Apples." 



The small, olive-coloured, shot-like seeds with which the in- 

 terior of the fruit is filled, are liked by some for their watercress- 

 like flavour, and moreover are considered very wholesome. 



The tree comes into flower during the Kains, emitting at times 

 a fine fragrance all around from the numerous small greenish- 

 yellow blossoms. It generally produces an immense crop of 

 fruit, and continues blossoming after the fruits on the lower part 

 of the branch have attained to a great size. The fruit is in 

 season during the whole of the cold months. 



The proper mode of cultivation to be adopted is obviously to 

 remove all but a few of the fruits, when of a small size, as 

 well as to nip off all flowers afterwards from the upper branches 

 of the tree, and during the period the fruit is swelling to 

 !td minister, when the soil is dry and seems to require it, copious 

 supplies of water; but this trouble, I believe, is never taken, 

 and few perhaps will think the fruit of sufficient value to 

 deserve it. 



At Gowhatti, however, I have partaken of fruit subjected, I 

 conceive, to such treatment that from its excellency was hardly 

 to be recognised, being of the size of a Water-Melon, and 

 delicious in flavour. 



Plants are raised from seed, and are of very rapid growth, 

 rising to eight or ten feet high, and coming into bearing in about 

 ten months. In the earlier period of their growth the plants 

 have a pretty palm-like appearance, but on growing old they 

 become rather unsightly. The flowers with male and those with 



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