THE CACTUS TUNA. 



865 



roads between Rome and Naples, and other parts 

 of Ital}', and even in the Valais; Gerarde says it 

 was brought from Virginia into England, and 

 Collinson had it from Newfoundland. It was 

 fruited in Scotland in a stove, by Justice, in 1750, 

 and recently by Braddoch, near London, in the 

 open air. This active horticulturist having eaten 

 with pleasure of the prickly pear in Virginia, 

 was desirous of cultivating it here. He recol- 

 lected that the plant in its wild state delighted 

 in a dry soil, amongst rocks, near the skirts of 

 the sunny sides of the forests, and having heard 

 that it would stand the open air in this country, 

 he planted it in acompost, prepared for the purpose, 

 in a sheltered situation exposed to the sun. "The 

 first plant," says he, "that I turned out, has 

 lived in the open ground of this country for six 

 or seven years, during which period it has ex- 

 perienced one exceeding hard winter, and several 

 trying springs; and in all, except the two first 

 years, it has never failed to ripen its fmit and 

 seeds, so that it may now be considered decidedly 

 acclimated. The compost which I used is as 

 follows : One half is carbonate of lime, for which 

 lime rubbish from buildings will answer; the re- 

 maining half consists of equal portions of Lon- 

 don clay, and peat earth, having the acid neu- 

 tralized by barilla; these are intimately blended 

 and sifted. One square yard of this compost I 

 conceive to be sufficient for one plant, which 

 must be placed in the middle of a small artificial 

 hillock, raised eighteen inches above the surface 

 of the ground, which ground should be rendered 

 perfectly dry, if not .naturally so by under drain- 

 ing. Neither the leaves, flowers, or fruit, should 

 ever be suffered to touch the ground; but they 

 should, as constantly as they are produced, be 

 kept from the earth by placing stones, pebbles, 

 flints, or bricks under them, in imitation of ar- 

 tificial rock work. 



The Indian fig is very common in Jamaica, 

 and on it feed the wild sort of cochineal insect. 

 The fruit is large, and of a deep purple colour, 

 and when eaten stains tlie urine of a blood- red 

 hue. 



The Cactus Tuna is used as a hedge plant in 

 Spain, South America, and the West Indies. 

 When the island of St Christopher was to be 

 divided between the English and the French, 

 three rows of the tuna were planted by common 

 consent between the boundaries. Sir J. E. Smith 

 remarks, that the stamens of the flower are very 

 irritable, and that if a feather be drawn through 

 them, in two or three seconds they begin to lie 

 down gently on one side, and in a short time 

 become recumbent at the bottom of the flower. 



The Cochineal Fia, (c. cocMnelUfera,) is the 

 species on which the cochineal insect chiefly feeds, 

 and is selected because it is least annoying by its 

 prickles. This insect, however, does not confine 

 itself entirely to the cacti, but feeds on other 



succulent plants. TJiis species produces an edible 

 fruit larger than that of the opuntia: on the top 

 of the finit there gi'ows a red flower; this, when 

 the fruit is ripe, falls down on the top of it, and 

 covers it, so that no rain or dew can wet the in- 

 side. A day or two after, tha flower being scorched 

 up by the heat of the sun, the fruit opens wide, 

 and the inside appears full of small red insects. 

 The Indians, when they perceive the fruit open, 

 spread a large linen cloth, and then with sticks 

 shake the plant to disturb the insect, so that 

 they take wing to begone; but keep hovering 

 over the plant till from the heat they fall down 

 dead on the cloth, where the Indians let them 

 remain two or three days till they are dry. The 

 cochineal plants are called by the Spaniards toona; 

 and they are planted in the country about Gua- 

 timala, Chiape, and Guaxaca, in the kingdom of 

 Mexico. The difference of quality in the co- 

 chineal, depends entirely on the plants on which 

 the insects feed. The prickly pear, so abundant 

 in Jamaica, is covered with the insects; but not 

 having their proper food, they are in general di- 

 minutive, and have very little red tincture in 

 their bodies. The delicate red coloured juice of 

 the fruit is the natural food of the insect. Its 

 exuviae and animal salts are, from the minute- 

 ness of its body, inseparable from the essential 

 principles of the dye, and tend to diminisli some- 

 what the brilliancy of the colour. On this ac- 

 count attempts have been made to obtain the 

 inspissated juice of the plant directly from 

 itself. 



The Pine Apple, (hromelia.) The natural 

 family hromcli belongs to the second division 

 of plants, or the monocotyledons; and we have 

 reserved a description of it to this place, merely 

 as it comes under the general denomination of 

 pulpy fruits. 



This fruit is somewhat of the shape and ex- 

 ternal foiin of the cone of the pine tree, hence 

 its name of pine apple. It is without doubt the 

 most delicious of all known fruits, and yet it 

 has not been known in Europe above two cen- 

 turies; nor is it more than half that period that 

 its cultivation has been practised in Britain. 



It is doubtful to what quarter of the globe we 

 were first indebted for this fruit. The earliest 

 exchanges of tropical plants that took place be- 

 tween the Portuguese in the East, and the Span- 

 iards in the West, have not been recorded with 

 perfect accuracy, so that we are not absolutely 

 certain that the pine apple may not be a native 

 of some parts of Asia, and even of Africa, as 

 well as of America. That it is a native of the 

 West is certain, however, as all the varieties, 

 except some of the trivial ones arising from cul- 

 tivation, are found wild on the continent or the 

 islands of that quarter of the world. 



The bromelias have been variously described; 

 some having formed them into three or four dis- 



