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102 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



GINKGO (Ginkgo biloba L. ; Salitburia adianttfolia Smith). 

 (Synonym: Maidenhair tree.) 



This, the maidenhair tree of Japan., bears a nut of rather inferior quality, though 

 it is said to be used for food in China and Japan. For ornamental purposes the tree 

 has been quite extensively planted in the United States. It is entirely hardy at Bos- 

 ton. It is readily propagated from seeds or from cuttings or layers. The male and 

 female flowers are usually borne on separate trees, yet Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, 

 at Rochester, N. Y., have a solitary tree that was planted in 1860, which is reported 

 in the American Garden, May, 1891, as having borne a peck of fruit for three years 

 in succession. The male flowers are in slender catkins about 1 inches long; the 

 female flowers, sometimes as a single fruit stalk, sometimes as clusters, are naked 

 ovules without perceptible organs. These ovules are usually borne in pairs at the ter- 

 minus of a stem or catkin, each in a cup-like disk. Generally but one of the ovules 

 matures. In appearance a branch full of the growing fruit resembles very closely a 

 well-filled limb of medium- sized immature plums. The tree is unlike other coniferae 

 in its habit and foliage, and has the peculiarity of not developing the embryo in the 

 seed until after the fruit has fallen from the tree. It is rather tardy in coming into 

 bearing, and as yet there has been no attempt to make use of the limited supply of 

 nuts produced, except by planting. The outside fleshy coating is exceedingly acrid 

 and has a disagreeable odor. It should be entirely removed before attempting to use 

 the kernel, which constitutes the edible portion. The Japanese roast them like chest- 

 nuts for eating out of hand, or cook the kernels much as we do green peas. Both 

 tree and fruit are free from insect pests. 



KOLA (Sterculia acuminata Beauvois). 

 (Synonyms: Bissy, Goora nut, Ombeme nut.) 



A tree of moderate height, likened by some to the chestnut and by others to the 

 orange. It resembles the orange in its habit of bearing flowers and fruit continu- 

 ously, while its simple leaves, 6 or 8 inches long, resemble those of the chestnut. 

 Its flowers have a pale-yellow calyx, but are without petals. A treatise issued by 

 the government of Jamaica says : " Each fertile flower produces five pods, and as the 

 pods contain each from five to twelve seeds, a single flower may yield 54 seeds, 

 measuring a quart and weighing 1J pounds." 



These nuts are the product of several species of the genus Sterculia. The trees 

 grow from 30 to 60 feet high, and in general aspect resemble the chestnut. They are 

 natives of western Africa, in the hot, moist lands lying between the Sierra Leone and 

 the Congo or Lower Guinea and reaching in the interior for 500 or 600 miles, following 

 the limits of the palms. On the eastern coast of Africa they have been introduced 

 by the English. Dr. Schweinfurth says that an imposing form of kola, called by the 

 natives kokkoroku, predominates among the vegetation near Lake Nyanza. It is 

 supposed to have been taken to the coast of Venezuela and to Martinique and other 

 western islands by African negroes when carried from their homes into slavery. Of 

 the several species of Sterculia bearing kola nuts, the one most highly prized is Ster- 

 culia acuminata (of Beauvois), or the Kola acuminata (of Robert Brown). The nuts 

 are of oblong shape, three forming a ball like a very large horse-chestnut, fully 2 

 inches in diameter. The nut has a rugged dark-brown surface. Inside they are 

 light-brown, tough as wood, and have no flavor. From a report of the Botanic 

 Gardens of British Guiana for 1890 we learn that the seed of the kola takes three 

 or four months to germinate, being very slow in the operation. Yet it very quickly 

 loses its vitality under unfavorable conditions. When packed in damp cocoanut fiber 

 it will retain its vitality for several months, and this is one of the best materials in 

 which to pack nuts for transportation. If packed alone the green nuts perish and 

 ferment in a few days. They also perish if kept dry. The Florida Agriculturist of 



