38S 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



forming plantations, care must lie taken to select 

 ti-ees of different sexes, without wliieh the fruc- 

 tification is impossible : one male should be al- 

 lotted to five or six females; and to avoid mis- 

 takes, young grafted stocks should be procured, 

 or suckers from the foot of an old tree. The 

 male flowers are produced first; and some gar- 

 deners pluck them whilst yet shut, dry them, 

 and afterwards sprinkle the pollen over the female 

 tree; but the method usually followed in Sicily, 

 where the trees are far asunder, is to wait till the 

 female buds are open, and then to gather bunches 

 of male blossoms ready to blow; these ai-e stuck 

 Into a pot of moist mould, and hung upon the 

 female tree till they are quite dry and empty. 

 Tlie operation is called tonchearare, and never 

 falls to produce fructification. Sometimes tlie 

 gardeners ingraft the male bud upon the female 

 tree. The wood is hard, resinous, excellent for 

 fuel, and proper for economical purposes. 



According to Plinj', pistacio nuts were first 

 brought to Rome about the reign of Tiberius by 

 Vitellus, governor of Syria, and probably the tree 

 was introduced into Italy at the same period. 

 It has been long cultivated in Spain, Portugal, 

 and the south of France; and when protected by 

 a wall, and favoured by a southern exposure, it 

 yields fruit even at Paris. It is less delicate than 

 the orange tree, and thrives in the same soil and 

 climate with the olive. 



The Toupentine Tree, (pistacia tereUnthus,) 

 is another species of this genus. It yields a 

 species of turpentine known as the Chios turpen- 

 tine, whicli is of the consistence of honey; very 

 tenacious, clear, and almost transparent; of a 

 whitish yellow colour, and fragrant smell. It is 

 procured by wounding the bark of the tree in 

 several places about the month of July, when 

 the turpentine ooses out, and is scraped off with 

 a knife. Another species, pistacia Icntiscus, pro- 

 duces the gum mastic. 



CHAP. XL. 



TEA, COFPEE, CACAO, HOPS, TOBACCO. 



Besides those substances furnished by vegeta- 

 bles which constitute the food and nourishment 

 of man, there are others which the refinements 

 of civilization have added as luxuries, and which 

 habit has at last rendered essential. 



It is a singular enough circumstance that al- 

 most all these substances, although eagerly 

 relished after the taste for them has been ac- 

 quired by habit, are at first repulsive to the na- 

 tural appetite; that they possess little or no nutri- 

 tive qualities, and that they belong to that class 

 of vegetable products called narcotic, which may 

 be explained by stating that they prodnoo a 



powerful influence on the nervous system; and 

 that if taken in excess, especially before the 

 system has been accustomed to their influence, 

 that they ai'e productive of deleterious effects on 

 the living body. 



Notwithstanding this, however, man in all 

 his progressive stages has a strong craving 

 for such stimulants. Even in the savage state, 

 the bowls of intoxicating cava were as eagerly 

 drained by the South sea islanders, as the infu- 

 sion of tea by the more refined Chinese; and the 

 mead and beer of the Scandinavians have only 

 given place to the coffee and the fumes of to- 

 bacco of more modern times. 



Tea, (ihea.) Natural family camellico. Mon- 

 adelphia polyandria of Linna;us, 



146. 



The Tea Plant. 



This plant seems to have been known to and 

 used extensively by the Chinese at a very ancient 

 period; and although it is not yet two centuries 

 since it was introduced into Britain, its use here 

 is now almost universal; not less than 31,829,620 

 lbs. being consumed annually. Its importation 

 employs a large capital, and numerous shipping; 

 and so important is this article reckoned, that 

 its fall or rise in price is looked upon with anxiety 

 by the meanest individual in the nation. At its 

 firet introduction into Europe a great outcry was 

 raised against it, and many ingenious and refined 

 speculations were started regarding its insidious 

 and deleterious effects on the Ixunian constitu- 

 tion. The origin, or at all events the exaspera- 

 tion of many diseases, was attributed to its in- 

 fluence; and many prospective evils were laid to 

 its charge. Yet, since its introduction, men and 

 women have lived, and multiplied, and died, 

 much in the same way as before the leaf ever 

 crossed the Chinese seas; and although its use 

 in excess may often have been found deleterious 

 in particular instances, yet its general effect on 

 the health and habits of the community may 

 rather perhaps be estimated as beneficial than 

 the reverse. 



It is not yet accurately ascertained whether 

 there be more than one species of the tea plant, 



