218 GAEDEN PLAN m S. PART II. 



in Bengal, but not common, which be* 3 a fruit of quite a dark 



colour, and of much superior quality the green kind. 



Plants may be propagated from * *d or by cuttings : they 

 grow well in all' parts of India. 



Feronia elephantum. 



WOOD-APPLE ELEPHANT-APPLE. 



Kuth-bel. 



A common jungul tree of this country. The fruit is round, ot 

 a pale green colour, and about the size of a cricket-ball. When 

 the hard shell-like rind is cracked, the interior is found full of 

 a brown, soft, mealy kind of substance, rather acrid, having a 

 strong smell of rancid butter, and by no means palatable. It 

 ripens in October. Dr. Wight says : " The pulp of the fruit 

 affords a very pleasant jelly, so closely resembling black-currant 

 jelly, as to be only distinguished by a trifling degree of astrin- 

 gency." The jelly, however, I have prepared from it appeared 

 to me to possess rather the flavour of Apple, with a sharp cider 

 taste, and to be such as it is not likely would be approved of 

 by many. 



The tree may be propagated by seed or by cuttings put down 

 in the Bains, but it is not entitled to a place in the garden. 



JEgle Marmelos. 



BALE-FRUIT BENGAL QUINCE. 



Bel-phuL 



A small tree, much covered with sharp spines, native of this 

 country, and common in most parts of India. 



The fruit varies much as to size. The largest are sometimes 

 seen bigger than a man's head, while those of the ordinary size 

 are not much larger that a cricket-ball ; the very large ones, 

 however, are considered of not nearly so good a quality as those 

 of a more moderate size. The rind consists of a thin, pale green 

 shell, which it requires considerable force to crack. The interior 

 contains a soft, yellow substance of pease-pudding-like con- 

 sistency, intermingled with a limpid kind of slime, of a very 

 fragrant scent, and of a flavour very agreeable to those accustomed 

 to it. The high reputation it bears for its medicinal properties 



