THE GUAVA. 



36/ 



are specimens of this kind in the library and 

 garden of the Horticultural Society of London. 



As the pine plant is a triennial, bearing fruit 

 once only, unlike the peach, and vine, and other 

 fmit-bearing plants, its propagation, rearing, and 

 fruiting, are necessarily all carried on in every 

 garden where it is cultivated. Its culture gen- 

 erally commences in a common hot-bed frame, 

 heated by dung. At the end of a period varying 

 from six to nine months, it is removed to a larger 

 framed hot-bed or pit, generally called a succes- 

 sion bed, or house; and after remaining there 

 from eight to twelve months, according to cir- 

 cumstances, it is removed to its final destination, 

 the fruiting bed, pit, or house. Here it shows its 

 fruit, which continues in a growing state during 

 a period varying from six to twelve months, ac- 

 cording to the variety grovra, and mode of cul- 

 ture; and finally ripens its fruit and dies, leaving 

 the crown or terminal shoot of the fruit, and 

 one or more suckers or side shoots as successors. 

 The production of a single pine apple requires 

 a course of exotic culture, varying from eighteen 

 months to three years, and generally not less 

 than two years. The pine is generally grown 

 in pots; and as it requires a high temperature 

 in addition to the heated air of the hot-house, it 

 is plunged into a bed of hot fermenting bark or 

 dung. A rich sandy loam is the fittest soil 

 for it. 



The GnAVA, (psidium.) This genus of tro- 

 pical fruits belongs to the natural family mi/r- 

 tacecjs, and to the icosandr'a monogynia of Lin- 

 nsus. 



There are seven or eight species of the guava 

 known to botanists; some natives of Asia, and 

 others of tropical America. 



The white guava, (psidimn pyriferum) is the 

 best, and also the most abundant in the West 

 Indies. When wild, the white guava is a shrub 

 rather than a tree, as it seldom exceeds eight or 

 nine feet in height; but, when introduced into 

 gardens, it attains the size of an ordinary apple- 

 tree, with a trunk about six feet high, and six 

 inches in diameter. The wood is very hard and 

 tough; the leaves are from two to three inches 

 long, and grow in pairs opposite each other; the 

 flower is white, and has a very agreeable flavour; 

 the fruit is rather bigger than a hen's egg, of a 

 sulphureous yellow, very smooth, and has a pe- 

 culiar smell; it is covered with a rind of some 

 thickness, within which are the seeds, contained 

 in a pulp without any shell. The pulp is flesh- 

 coloured, sweet, aromatic, and very grateful to 

 the palate. It is used as a dessert fruit, and also 

 preserved with sugar; and guava jelly is esteemed 

 one of the finest conserves that come from the 

 West Indies. By proper culture it may be 

 brought to be a large and handsome tree; but 

 when wild, it remains shrubby, and overruns the 

 land. 



The red guava (psidium pomiferum,) is a 

 much larger tree than the white; the trunk often 

 attaining the height of twenty feet. On poor 

 soils, however, it is apt to be rugged and shnibby. 

 The leaves are of a light green; the flowers white; 

 the fruit shaped like a pomegranate, and having 

 an agreeable odour when ripe. As a fruit, how- 

 ever, many of the authorities represent it as 

 being very much inferior to the white guava; 

 but it is probable that they have found it in the 

 wild state, for it appears to be much improved 

 by culture. 



The mountain guava, found in the woods of 

 Jamaica, is not much esteemed as a fruit tree; 

 but it grows to a large size; the wood is of a 

 beautiful dark colour, finely curled, easily worked, 

 susceptible of a high polish, and therefore much 

 valued as a timber tree. 



In a paper read to the Horticultural Society, 

 Mr Cattley, of Barnet, gives an account of a 

 previously undescribed species of guava. The 

 fruit is nearly spherical, of a fine deep claret 

 colour, growing at the insertion of the leaves, 

 and contains from twenty to thirty seeds, in- 

 closed in a pulp, which is sweet, and slightly 

 acid. Independently of the value and beauty 

 of the fruit, this is a highly ornamental plant, 

 may be propagated freely by cuttings, and bears 

 at the age of eighteen months. It is understood 

 to have come from South America, and has an 

 external texture resembling the fig : its internal 

 consistence and flavour bear a considerable resem- 

 blance to those of the strawberry. With proper 

 treatment, it is one of the most free growing of 

 all the tropical fruits. 



This guava, which has received the name of 

 psidium cattleyanum, promises to become a very 

 valuable addition to stone fruits; and, both for 

 its appearance and its flavour, merits attention. 

 There is a specimen in one of the hot-houses 

 belonging to the Horticultural Society, which is 

 a thriving and elegant tree. It is about ten feet 

 high, and trained something in the fan shape, 

 till the outside branches have a width of sixteen 

 feet. The bark of the tree is of a soft ash colour, 

 with a very slight trace of brown, and smooth, 

 but not glossy. The leaves are beautiful and 

 vigorous, the blossoms abundant. That the fruit 

 would, properly managed, come to the same ma- 

 turity in the average of situations in tliis country, 

 as in those places of which it is a native, there 

 cannot be the least doubt; and it has this advan- 

 tage over most other fi-uit trees, whether indi- 

 genous or exotic, that it produces two crops in 

 the year. , 



The Akee, (blighia sapida.) Octandria 

 monogynia of Linn. 



This is a native of Guinea, fi-om whence it 

 was carried to Jamaica by Captain Bligh in 

 1793. It has grown well in the West Indies, 

 and is there much esteemed as a fruit. It was 



