780 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



a few stocks to be inoculated from bearing trees. These 

 being properly cased and packed, would arrive as safe 

 as orange-trees usually do ; might be treated like them 

 when unpacked ; and planted in a border of strong rich 

 soil, to be trained on a trellis or wall near the glass. 

 After the plants were established, horizontal training and 

 ringing, accompanied by a Jamaica temperature, would 

 soon produce fruit. 



5979. The nnchovy-pear isthe Grias caiiliflora, L. {Sloan. 

 Hist. 2. t. 217. f. 1. 2.) Polyan. Monog. L. and Guitijerce,3. 

 {fig. 524.) It is a stove tree, frequently growing to the 

 height of fifty feet in the West Indies, where it is a na- 

 tive. The leaves are oblong, and two or three feet long. 

 The flowers numerous on short peduncles, large and 

 whitish. The drupe is ovate, and crowned with a calyx 

 like the pomegranate, about the size and shape of an alli- 

 gator's egg : it is pickled, and eaten like the East Indian 

 mango, which it greatly resembles in taste. It grows ge- 

 nerally in low moist bottoms, or shallow waters, and has 

 a most elegant appearance. Introduced here from Ja- 

 maica in 1768. 



5980. Propagation and culture. It is very readily pro- 

 pagated from the stones, and the plants must be kept in 

 a moist heat. To grow it for fruit, plant in a border, and 

 train horizontally near the light, as directed for the avo- 

 cado-pear. (5978.) 



5981. The durion is the Burio Zibethina, L. {Bu7nph. 

 Amb. p. 99) Polyadelph. Polyan. L. and ^^apparides, J. 

 {fig. 525). This is a lofty East Indian tree, with leaves re- 

 sembling those of the cherry, and large bunches of flowers 

 coming out below the leaves, of a pale-yellow color. The 

 fruit is the size of a man's head, roundish or oblong ; 

 resembling in some degree a roUed-up hedgehog, with a 

 hard bark or rind ; the fleshy part of the fruit is of a creamy 

 substance, and of a delicate taste ; but of an unj)leasant 

 heavy smell, somewhat resembling that of rotten onions; 

 and the smell of the breath of those who eat it is infected 

 also in a high degree; but when once a person has accus- 

 tomed himself to eat this fruit, he generally considers it 

 the most excellent of all. Rumphius says, it is by much 

 the most excellent fruit of India. The tree has not yet 

 been introduced ; but if a few fruit or plants vrere sent for 

 from the Calcutta garden, and submitted to the general 

 plan of culture for trees difficult to fruit, there can be no 

 doubt of success. 



5982. The white guava is the Psidium pyrifernm, L. 

 {Rumph. amb. 1. t. 47.) Teas. Monog. L. and Myrti, J. 

 {fig. 526.) It is a West Indian tree, growing to the height 

 of seven, eight, or twelve feet, with numerous branches and 

 blunt, entire, smooth leaves, two or three inches long ; the 

 flowers are in solitary peduncles and sweet-smelling ; fruit 

 bigger than a hen's egg, roimdish or oblong, smooth, yel- 

 low ; the rind thin, brittle, and yellow ; pulp firm, full of bony seeds, flesh-colored, sweet, aromatic, and 

 pleasant. It is eaten with avidity both by West Indians and Europeans, raw in the dessert, and preserved 



with sugar. It has been grown here as a stove plant since 

 1656 ; it is propagated by seeds from ripe fruits brought 

 over ; and to be fruited should be treated as directed for 

 other similar fruit-trees already mentioned. 



5983. The red guava {P. pomiferum) has a beautiful 

 fruit, crowned like a pomegranate ; but is not so agreeable 

 to eat as the other. 



5984. Cattley's guava, P. Cattleianum. A new species 

 introduced from China by Messrs. Barr and Brooks, nur- 

 serymen, and fruited by W. Cattley, F. H. S., in 1820. The 

 plant resembles the other species in general habit and ap- 

 pearaiice ; but the fruit is larger, nearly spherical, of a fine 

 deep claret color, growing in the axilla of the leaves; the 

 skin has much the consistence of that of a ripe fig, but is 



^ thinner; the interior is a soft fleshy pulp, purplish-red next 

 ^^^^g the skin, but becoming paler towards the middle, and at the 

 centre it is quite white; it is juicy, and in consistence is 

 much like a strawberry, to which it bears some resemblance 

 in flavor. {Ho?-t. Trans, iv. pi. xi. 317.) 



5985. The jamri:sade, or rose-apple, is the Eugenia 

 Jambos, L. {Bat. Mag. 1596.) Icos. Monog. L. and Myrti, 

 J. {fig. 527.) It is a branchy tree, rising from twenty to 

 thirty feet high, with long narrow leaves not unlike those of 

 the peach. The flowers come out in terminal bunches in 

 July, are of a greenish-yellow color, and succeeded by fruit 

 about the size of a hen's egg, white, red, or rose-scented, with 



the flavor of a ripe apricot, and ripening from September to December. It is a native of the East Indies, 

 and was cultivated here by Miller, in 1768. There are several varieties of this tree differing in the size and 

 color of the fruit. That with white fruit has been cultivated by Professor Thouin in the National Garden 

 at Paris. This horticulturist endeavored to harden the tree by exposing it annually to the open air 

 during the two hottest months of the year ; but, after persisting in this mode of cultivation for several 

 years, and finding the leaves and part of the shoots die off annually, in consequence of the cold while 

 exposed, he at last had recourse to a hot and moist atmosphere, and was successful. {Hort. Trans, i. 

 App.) Cattley has a plant which regularly yields him abundance of fruit. {Hort. Trans, v. 112.) 



5986. The Malay apple is another species of Eugenia {E. Malaccensis). {Bot. Rep. 458.) The tree resem- 

 bles the former, but has broader leaves. The fruit is ovate, an inch and a half in diameter, fleshy, very 

 sweet-smelling, like the rose, agreeable to the taste, smell, and sight, and esteemed wholesome. It is com- 

 mon in most of the islands in the South Sea, and was cultivated by Miller in 1768. 



5GS7, The bastard guav.i {E. Pseudo-Psidium) and the Cayenne cherry {E. cotonifolia) produce 



526 



