198 GARDEN PLANTS. PART II. 



In addition to the above thus described by Mackintosh,* might 

 perhaps be numbered Tacsonia mollissima, which I have seen at 

 Ootacamund, bearing in great abundance a pale-green fruit of 

 the size of a goose's egg, and of rather agreeable flavour, 

 but the plant does not seem able to bear the climate of the 

 plains. 



P. quadrangnlaris is the only Granadilla that has been 

 known to bear fruit here, and that not commonly about 

 Calcutta. I found the plant in a garden at Gowhatti, grown 

 upon a Bukayun tree, and bearing in great profusion in 

 December ; but the fruit fell far short of the description 

 given of it above, both as to size and flavour, being of an 

 oblong form, of the size of a large Lemon, and very insipid 

 to the taste. It was sometimes put in tarts, but required 

 flavouring. The natives used it also for curries. A writer in 

 ' Rees' Cyclopaedia ' says : " To flower and fruit in perfection it 

 requires to be cut down every year to the main trunk, which 

 soon acquires the size of a small Cherry-tree. We have seen it 

 laden with huge flowers, magnificently variegated with violet 

 purple and crimson and green, with leaves a foot long." P. mali- 

 formis does not appear to have been yet introduced ; and P. 

 incarnata, formerly in the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, does not 

 exist there now. 



If the plants be worth cultivating for their fruit, which is very 

 questionable, possibly success might be arrived at by attending 

 to the mode of cultivation prescribed for the purpose. 



The following is Mr. Appleby's mode of setting P. quadran- 

 gularis : 



" The whole of the calyx, corolla, and crown must be cut off 

 with a sharp pair of pointed scissors, and this must be done 

 without injuring the flower-stem. When all these are cut away, 

 there only remain the essential parts of the flower the stamens, 

 five in number, and the three stigmas. Then cut off one or more 

 of the stamens bearing the anthers ; and do this without shaking 

 the dust or pollen out of the anther, covering them with the 

 fertilising powder. Take an opportunity of performing this 

 operation early in the morning, at the very time when the anthers 

 are observed to be bursting." | 



" When the crop is all off, the shoots must be well cut in. As 



* * Greenhouse,' p. 380. t ' Cottage Gardener's Dictionary,' p. 439. 



