16 



various ways. I have had it boiled in milk, cooked in custards, 

 fried in butter, and preserved in honey. In the latter form it 

 is an excellent dessert. Bernays, in his " Cultural Industries," 

 gives a recipe for boiling in milk, from which, however, the 

 pulp would subsequently seem to be strained off. 



In opening a fruit the rind, which is about half an inch 

 thick, should be cut through, and the fruit then broken open. 

 The pulp sacs containing the seeds may then be picked out 

 from the surrounding fibres. These should at once be cut open, 

 the seed taken out, and put into a basin of water. The addition 

 of a very little salt to the water improves them, and it is said 

 eliminates what little smell may remain. If strained and 

 served up promptly, with icing sugar sifted over, they are not 

 only palatable but excellent eating, and quite odourless 



However, although it cannot be said that in this case " all 

 love Jack," still all concur in attesting to the excellence of the 

 nuts when roasted. They may be roasted like English chest- 

 nuts, which they much resemble, or boiled and used in curries 

 or stews. After being boiled they are ' sometimes dried and 

 ground, and cakes and nutritious farinaceous foods made from 

 the flour. 



The Jack-tree is also useful as a timber tree. The wood is 

 bright yellow when first cut, and is hard. It soon turns darker 

 on exposure, however, and when old and polished compares 

 very favourably with mahogany in durability, beauty of grain, 

 and colour. From India and the South Seas the timber is sent 

 to England, where it is used for cabinet and furniture making, 

 and largely in the manufacture of brush backs. It takes a 

 very high polish, and works up very like satinwood. In India 

 the wood of the roots is used for carving, and small boxes and 

 articles of this wood, after seasoning and being artificially 

 scented (generally by being packed together with sandal- wood) , 

 are passed oh as this more valuable wood. The principal use 

 of the Jack-tree in the Northern portion of this State would be 

 as fodder, and in this way it would probably be as valuable as 

 the Algaroba or Mesquit bean tree. The leaves are readily 

 eaten by stock, and it is a tree that will grow in a dry as well 

 as in a hot climate. In some of the dry parts of India it is 

 extensively lopped annually to feed cattle. The fruits, also, are 

 greedily eaten by all kinds of stock ; pigs and calves are very 

 fond of them. The fruit, however, unless allowed to become 

 over-ripe and drop, should be split open. As a shade-tree in 

 paddocks it is always green and cool. Like all other Arto- 

 carpads, the jack exudes a considerable quantity of viscid milky 

 juice, from which the best birdlime is made in India. This 

 sap is also used, mixed with other material, for caulking small 



