Book I. 



EXOTIC FRUITS LITTLE KNOWN. 



783 



aromatic flavor, is delicately acid, and allays thirst agreeably. It is a native of Marti nique and Surinam, 

 and was introduced here in 1690. It is grown in the stove, but has not yet been cultivated for its fruit 



6006. The purple-fruited granadilla {Hort. Trans, vol. iii. 

 pi. iii.) {fig. 531.) is by some botanists considered as a variety 

 of P. incarnata, but by Sabine, who thus describes it {Hort. 

 Trans, iii 99-), as a distinct species. " The stem is thick and 

 woody, the leaves three-lobed, and of considerable size ; the 

 flowers proceeding from the axilla of the leaves, fragrant, and 

 of a white color, tinged with purple. The fruit when unripe, 

 is green, but as it ripens changes to a dark livid purple, and 

 much resembles the fruit of the purple egg-plant. The shape 

 is eliptic, an inch and a half in diameter, and two inches from 

 the stalk to the top ; the pulp is orange-colored, and the seeds 

 numerous ; the taste acid, and the flavor somewhat like that 

 of the orange. It is a native of the Brazils, was introduced 

 from^ Portugal by Boehm, in 1810, and has produced fruit 

 abundantly in the stoves at Walton-on-Thames, at the royal 

 gardens at Windsor, and other places. Such is the rapid growth 

 of this species, that a single plant will in one season extend in 

 a line over upwards of forty feet of glass, on which space it 

 will produce from 400 to 500 fruit." 



6007. The flesh -colored granadilla, or May apple, is the P. 

 incarnata, L. {Abb. in Geor. t. 12.) The root is perennial, send- 

 ing up annually a number of herbaceous shoots, with three- 

 lobed leaves, and sweet-scented flowers, variegated with pur- 

 ple, and appears from July to September. The fruit when ripe 

 is about the size of an apple, orange-colored, with a sweetish yellow pulp. It is a native of Virginia, was 

 cultivated in the open air by Parkinson in 1629, and afterwards by Miller in the stove, with whom it bore 

 fruit. 



6008. Propagation and culture. All the sorts may be propagated from seed, layers, and even cuttings'^ 

 but layers come soonest into bearing. Having procured plants with good roots, plant guch as are intended 

 to fruit in a border in the stove, and train them to a trellis near the glass ; they will in general produce 

 fruit the second year. The seedlings of the purple-fruited sort will produce fruit the first year. All the 

 species will fruit even in large pots ; but Sabine says, the " best method is, to plant them in an angle of 

 the bark-bed, which has been parted off, either by boards or nine-inch brick-work, as low as the pit goei 

 At the bottom of the cavity, formed by this division, should belaid some brick-rubbish, over which may 

 be thrown a little dead tan, and the whole be then filled with equal parts of very old tan, and a compost 

 of leaf-mould and rotten dung. Herein the roots will strike freely, and will even spread through the 

 partition into the pit, growing into the fresh tan. Such roots may be trimmed and reduced whenever the 

 tan is changed ; but should the plant have been some time in its station, it will be as well to leave part of 

 the old tan in tlie bottom of the pit, in which the protruded roots may remain undisturbed. They do not 

 require the full heat of the pine-stove, for they flourish best in a temperature of from 65 to 70 degrees ; 

 but they do not bring their fruit to perfection if kept in a common green-house or conservatory, though 

 they will grow and flower in it. The shoots as they advance must be trained near to, and under the in- 

 clined glass of the stove : the first flowers will appear in May, and the blooming will continue until Sep- 

 tember, the fruit setting the whole time ; but if it does not set well, it will be advisable to impregnate the 

 stigmas, by applying the pollen with a feather. As they grow, the very strong shoots should be cut out 

 from their origin, for these do not bear fruit so abundantly as those which are less vigorous ; but the 

 fruiting branches must not be sliortened on any account. The temperature must be kept up equally, dur- 

 ing the time of flowering and fruiting ; the crop will begin to come in in August, and will continue until 

 January; but the earlier produce is the best. When the crop is all off, which will be early in January, 

 the heat must be reduced to about 50°, so as to check or stop the growth ; this being efTected, the shoots 

 must be well cut in. As little old wood as possible, besides the main stem, which rises from the pit to the 

 glass, and a few pieces (about two or three feet of each) of the old branches should be retained : for all 

 that is to be trained under the glass to bear in each year, ought to be the growth of the same season. It 

 is found that the shoots break better, and in greater quantity, from the older wood than from that of two 

 years' standing. In this dormant and reduced state it is to be kept during January and February, after 

 which the necessary heat may be applied to cause it to resume its functions for the ensuing season." 



6009. The cocoa-nut-tree is the Cocos nucifera, L. {Roxb. 

 Cor. 1. 1. 73.) Monoec. Hexan. L. and Palmce, B. P. {fig. 

 532.) It is an East Indian palm; but cultivated in most 

 places within the tropics. The trees grow to a great height, 

 Avith leaves thirteen or fourteen feet long ; the flowers come 

 out round the top of the trunk of the tree in large clusters, 

 enclosed in a spatha or sheath ; and the nuts succeed them 

 commonly ten or twelve together. Their form and use is 

 familiar. 



6010. Propagation and culture. The nuts are to be plant- 

 ed where they are designed to remain, as the tree will not 

 bear transplanting unless when very young. In a moist 

 heat they will push in six weeks or two months. To cul- 

 tivate for fruit, plant in the centre of the area of a house, 

 twenty-five feet wide, and either lofty, or with a moveable 

 roof, which will admit of being raised as the tree advances 

 in height. In this way, with a strong heat, there can be 

 no doubt this tree would produce fruit in England ; but 

 even if it did not, or did not for a great many years, the 

 magnificence of its appearance, under such a mode of treat- 

 ment, would compensate a curious horticulturist for the 

 labor and expense. Though the cocoa-nuts to be obtained 

 in the shops are supposed to be gathered before being ripe, 

 yet they have been found to grow with no other care than 

 planting in a large pot or box of rich earth, and plunging 

 in a bark-bed. It may be observed here, that this is almost 



the only palm that could be cultivated in this country for penecLuig us nuit ; lui uie uuieis ueing uice- 

 cious plants, unless a great number were grown together, there would be no legitimate means of impreg- 

 nating the female blossoms. 



6011. The plantain-tree {Musa paradisiaca, L. Hex. Monog. L. and Musacece, P. S.) rises with a soft, 

 herbaceous, conical stalk, fifteen or twenty feet high, with leaves issuing from the top, often more than 

 six feet long, and near two feet broad ; the spike of male and female flowers appear from the centre of 

 the leaves, and is succeeded by pudding-shaped fruits, eight or nine inches long, above an inch in diame- 

 ter, pale-yellow when ripe, of a soft, sweet, luscious flavor; the spikes often so large as to weigh up- 

 wards of forty pounds. It is a native of the East Indies, and other parts of Asia, and probably of Africa, 



