782 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 





within which is an ovate kernel, soft and pulpy, like a damascene plum. " When ripe, it is replete with 

 a fine agreeable juice ; it eats like an apple, but is more juicy, and some are as big as a man's fist. It is 

 esteemed a very wholesome fruit, and, excepting very fine pine-apples, is preferable to any fruit in India : 

 gentlemen there eat little or other fruit in the hot months. In Europe we have only the unripe fruit 

 brought over in pickle." {Martyn, in Miller's Diet.) It is a native of the East Indies, and was in- 

 troduced in 1690 ; but has net yet been cultivated for its fruit. According to Governor Raffles, forty vari- 

 eties of mango are known in Java. 



5997. Propagation and culture. It may be increased by cuttings like the gardenia, which it some- 

 what resembles in habit, or from nuts ; but as the vegetative quality of these does not seem to admit 

 of long preservation, they must be enveloped in wax, or otherwise managed (2312.), to preserve 

 it. Miller says, the tree will not thrive in the tan-pit ; and he recommends the dry stove, a temperate 

 heat, and light kitchen-garden earth. This tree seems particularly deserving culture for its fruit, both 

 on account of its quality, and the plants not requiring so much heat as most of the other untried In- 

 dian fruits. Knight raised some mango-plants from seeds in October, 1818, which in the following 

 March, shot very vigorously in a temperature of 60; he is " much inclined to believe that the mango 

 might be raised in great abundance, and considerable perfection, in the stove, in this country ; for it is 

 a fruit which acquires maturity within a short period. It blossoms in Bengal in January, and ripens in 

 the end of May." (Hort. Trans, vol. iii. 463.) 



5998. The mangostan, or mangustin. Garcinia Mangos- 

 tamt, L. {Lam. III. t. 405.) Dodec. Monog. L. and Gutti- 

 ferce, J. {fig. 530.) It is a tree rising near twenty "feet 

 high, with a taper stem, sending out many branches, not 

 unlike a fir-tree ; with oval leaves, seven or eight inches 

 long. The flower is like that of a single rose ; the fruit round, 

 the size of a middling orange ; the shell is like that of the 

 pomegranate, the inside of a rose-color, divided by thin par- 

 titions as in oranges, in which the seeds are lodged, sur- 

 rounded by a soft juicy pulp, of a delicious flavor, par- 

 taking of the strawberry and the grape, and is esteemed 

 one of the richest fruits in the world. It is a native of the 

 Molucca islands, whence it has heen transplanted to Java 

 and Malacca, The head of the tree is in the form of a pa- 

 rabola, so fine and regular, and the leaves so beautiful, that 

 it is looked upon in Batavia as the tree most proper for 

 adorning a garden, and affording an agreeable shade. It was 

 introduced to England in 1789. According to Dr. Garcin 

 {Phil. Trans.), " it is esteemed the most delicious of the East c^CIN^<; 

 Indian fruits, and a great deal of it may be eaten without S v=>:r S. 

 any inconvenience ; it is the only fruit which sick people / \ 

 are allowed to eat without scruple. It is given with safety ( \ 



in almost every disorder ; and we are told that Dr. Solan- 1 I 



der in the last stage of a putrid fever in Batavia, found him- \ 

 self insensibly recovering by sucking this delicious and re- 

 freshing fruit. The pulp has a most happy mixture of the 

 tart and sweet, and is no less salutary than pleasant." 



5999. Propagation and culture. It may be raised from seeds or cuttings; and in procuring the seeds 

 from the East Indies, the same precautions must be taken as suggested for those of the mango. (5997.) 

 Miller says, " the surest way to obtain the plants, is to sow the seeds in tubs of earth in their native 

 country, and when the plants have obtained strength, they may be brought to Europe ; but there should 

 be great care taken to screen them from salt water in their passage, as also not to give them too much 

 water when in a cool or temperate climate. When the plants arrive in Europe, they should be carefully 

 transplanted each into a pot filled with light kitchen-garden earth, and plunged in the tan-bed, and 

 shaded from the sun till they have taken new root. Then treat them as suggested for fruiting other stove 

 plants." 



6000. The pishamin, or European date-plum, {Diospyros Lotus, L. (MUL Ic. 1. 116.) Polyg. Dioec. L. and 

 Ebenacece, B. P.) is a small tree, rising six feet high, with spreading branches, and large shining lan- 

 ceolate leaves. The flowers are small, of a reddish-white ; the fruit is a berry half an inch hi diameter, 

 yellow when ripe, sweet, and somewhat astringent : it is used like the medlar, in a state of incipient de- 

 cay. It is a native of Italy and some parts of France ; was introduced to this country in Gerrard's time, 

 and will grow in the open air, but not ripen its fruit freely. 



6001. Propagation and culture. It may be raised from seeds sown in a hot-bed, and afterwards hard- 

 ened, or from layers ; but when it is intended to fruit the plant, it may be procured from Genoa of a 

 good size ; and, planted in a temperate forcing-house, it will not, fail to mature its fruit. 



6002. The granadilla, or little pomegranate. This name is applied to the edible fruit of five species 

 of the Passiflora genus ; Monadel. Pentan. L. and Passiflorce, J. The common character of which is 

 that of climbing herbaceous plants, woody at bottom, generally with lobed leaves, and all natives of 

 warm climates. 



6003. The granadUla, or granadilla-vine of the French, is the P. quadrangularis, L. {Bot. Reg. 14.) The 

 leaves are oval and subcordate, five or six inches long and entire; the stem luxuriant and four-cornered. 

 The flowers are odoriferous, red within and white on the outside, and appear in August and September, 

 both fruit and flowers growing at the same time. The fruit, Sabine describes {Hort. Trans, iii. 100.) as 

 very large, of an oblong shape, about six inches in diameter, from the stalk to the eye, and fifteen 

 inches in circumference. It is externally of a greenish-yellow when ripe, soft and leathery to the touch, 

 and quite smooth ; the rind is very thick, and contains a succulent pulp of a purple color (which is the 

 edible part), mixed with the seeds, in a sort of sack, from which it is readily separated. Wine and sugar 

 are commonly added to it, when used. The flavor is sweet, and slightly acid, and it is very grateful to 

 the taste, and cooling in a hot climate. It is a native of Jamaica, and other West India islands, where 

 it grows in the woods, and was cultivated by Miller in 1768, as a stove plant. It has since been successfully 

 cultivated for its fruit in a few places, as at Lord Harewood's {Hort. Trans, iy. 60.), Farnley Hall, &c. 



6004. The apple-fruited granadilla, or sweet calabash, is the P. maliformis, L. {Bot. Reg. 95.) It has 

 a thick triangular stem, with leaves oblong, cordate, six inches long, and four broad, in the middle of a 

 lively green. The flowers are sweet-scented, large, of a pale red and blue: " the fruit round, smooth, 

 about two inches in diameter, of a dingy yellow color when ripe ; the coat is hard and stringy, nearly a 

 quarter of an inch in thickness, full of a very agreeable gelatinous pale yellow pulp, in which many 

 oblong black seeds are lodged," {Hort. Trans, iii. 101.) and is eaten like that of the former species. It is 

 a native of the West India islands, and was introduced here, and cultivated by Miller in 1731. It has 

 borne fruit in the stove of the Bishop of Durham in Oxfordshire, and at Vere's, Kensington Gore. 



6005. The laurel-leaved granadilla, or water-lemon, the Pomme de Liane of the French, is the P. 

 laurifolia, L. {Bot. Reg. 13.) It has a suffrutescent stem, with divaricating filiform branches, oval 

 smooth leaves, and very long tendrils. Flowers red and violet, sweet scented ; the fruit about the size 

 of a hen's egg, but rather more elongated, and tapering equally at both ends ; when ripe, it is yellow 

 and dotted over with white spots ; it contains a whitish watery pulp, which, in the West Indies, is usually 

 sucked through a small hole made in the rind ; the rind is t/nigh, soft, and thin ; the juice has a peculiar 



