The Strawberry Guava. 213 



white walnut or butternut is a greater favorite than the black 

 walnut, the latter having a strong flavor not generally relished. 



Salted and well-roasted almonds are now considered almost 

 indispensable among the accessories of a well served dinner in our 

 larger cities. Hazelnuts, walnuts, and often other kinds, are served 

 in the same way, but the almond is the general favorite. The Texas 

 pecan-nut is exceedingly popular, and the trade in this nut is now 

 immense^ although it was scarcely known commercially twenty 

 years ago. The trees which produce these nuts were in years past 

 cut down for firewood, or even to get a bag of nuts, but they are 

 now carefully preserved, and not only the old trees cherished, but 

 new ones planted in large numbers, and yet the demand for pecans 

 is far ahead of the supply. The kernels or meat of the pecan is 

 highly valued by confectioners, and in no form are they better liked 

 than in 'plarines,' a Mexican confection made by dropping the 

 shelled kernels into melted sugar, clean brown and unrefined, as it is 

 found at its best on Southern plantations. An enterprising con- 

 fectioner has taken out a patent for their manufacture, and is said 

 to be doins: a flourishing; business. 



THE STRAWBERRY GUAVA. 

 (From the A merican Agriculturist, 1. 841.) 



The Cattley Guava (Psidium Cattleyanum), better known as 

 the strawberry guava, is rapidly gaining in popular favor through- 

 out Florida and Southern California, and has been highly recom- 

 mended for cultivation in Arizona and New Mexico. It is unques- 

 tionably the most desirable and useful of the many varieties of 

 fruits known under the name of guava. It is a shrub or small tree 

 that adapts itself to a dwarfish habit when grown in the house in 

 cold climates, but in a congenial clime attains a maximum growth 

 of fifteen to twenty feet in height, of compact form, and with dense, 

 glossy evergreen foliage, which makes it a very ornamental tree, 

 especially when loaded with its rich colored fruit. 



It produces early, bearing fruit when less than a year old, and 

 producing in abundance at two and three years. Every branch will 

 be heavily loaded with the luscious ripe fruit, green fruit in various 

 stages of growth, together with ever present clusters of fragrant 

 flowers. The thick, dark green leaves protect the fruit partially 

 from the sun, but at a temperature of 140° F. there is a tendency to 

 iDurn. It is called hardy in England, but requires protection in the 

 northern United States, where it is gaining in favor as an orna- 

 mental greenhouse plant. The fruit is of a dark red or purplish 



