784 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Paut III. 



and was cultivated at Hampton Court in 1690. Gerrard says, the pulp eats sorricthlng like thst of a musk- 

 melon ; he calls the plant Adam's apple-tree, from a notion that it was the fovbidcien fruit of Etien ; others 

 suppose it to have been the grape brought out of the promisotl land to Moses Dampier says, it is the 

 king of all fruit, not excepting the cocoa itself. There are numerous varieties. 



533 



6012. The banana-tree {M. sapientum, L.) {fig. 533.) dif- 

 fers from the plantain in having its stalks marked with dark- 

 purple stripes and spots, and the fruit is shorter and rounder 

 Some botanists, however, consider them as only one species. 

 The fruit is mellower than the other, is eaten raw or roast- 

 ed, in fritters, preserves, marmalades, and the fermented 

 juice affords an excellent wine. It has been fruited for up- 

 wards of seven years, at Wynnstay, the seat of Sir W. W. 

 Wynne, in Denbighshire. Specimens were sent to the Hor. 

 ticultural Society in August 1819, which were between four 

 and five inches long, and possessed an agreeable, luscious, 

 and acid flavor, and the produce from a single plant is " so 

 abundant, as to entitle the banana to be considered as a 

 useful fruit for the table." 



6013. Propagation and culture. Suckers rise from the 

 root, which should be planted in light rich earth, in pots, 

 and afterwards, if the plant is cultivated for its fruit, plant- 

 ed in a bed or pit of earth, kept rather moist. The plant 

 at Wynnstay was planted in the pit of a stove about 1811. 

 " It was then about six feet high, with a single stem. In 

 each succeeding year it has produced a bunch of fruit ; but 

 in the present year (1819) two bunches ; the first was ripe 

 in May, the other in August, having about four dozen fruit 

 on each bunch. The plant is now sixteen feet high, and 

 measures three feet round at the bottom." (Hort. Trans. 



^•^^ 6014. The bread-fruit. — Artocarmis iiicisa, L. 



(_Rumpk. Amb. 3. t. 33 ) Monocc. Monan. L. and 

 Vrticce, J. Bima or Fniit-a-pain, Fr. and Brod- 

 bau7n, Ger. {fig. 534.) It is a stove tree, growing 

 in the South Sea Islands, to the height of a mode- 

 rate-sized oak, with alternate leaves, deeply gashed, 

 glaucous, and two feet long. Aments on the out- 

 most branches, violet-colored, jjcnluncled, male and 

 female on the same twig. The whole tree and the 

 fruit, before it is ripe, abounds in a very tenacious 

 milky juice. The fruit is about the size and shape 

 of a child's head, and the surface is reticulated, not 

 much unlike a truffle; it is covered with a thin 

 skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a 

 small knife ; the eatable part lies between tiie skin 

 and the core; it is as white as snow, and somewhat 

 of the consistence of new bread. It must be roasted 

 before it is eaten, being first divided into three or 

 four parts ; its taste is insipid, with a slight sweet- 

 ness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of 

 wheaten bread mixed with Jerusalem artichoke. 

 Five plants were brought to England, the remain- 

 der of the stock brought from Otaheite by the unfortunate Captain Bligh in 1793. In Professor Martyn's 

 edition of Miller^s Dictionary will be found a variety of interesting details relative to this tree, and another 

 species, the A. integrifolia, or Jacca-tree, which also well merits culture for its fruit. 



6015. Propagation and culture. This tree will grow either from seeds, layers, or suckers ; the latter the 

 plants send up abundantly in their native climates. They succeed best in a rich soil ; and to induce them 

 to produce fruit, should be treated as already advised for other stove fruits not easily fruited. As the 

 bread-fruit-tree has been introduced in the West ftidia Islands, the shortest way would be to procure good 

 sized plants from Jamaica or St. Vincent's though they may be occasionally obtained from the London 

 nurserymen. 



6016. The true lotus {Zi^iphus lotns, W.), the jujubec-trce {Z. Jujuba, W.), and the kali {Diospi/ros Kaki, 

 W.), are branching shrubs or small trees of the easiest culture in Italy, Barbary, and China, and abunilant 



bearers. They might readily be cultivated in this country, and as the jujube grows in hedge-rows about 

 Genoa and Nice, it is probable it would bear fruit abundantly in a green-house. The jujube is served up 



in Italy as a dry sweetmeat. The fruit of the kaki are orange or apple shaped. 



6017. Other exotic fruits. The following have been enumerated by Lindley {Hort. Trans, v. 88.), as 

 jneriting introduction, or where already introduced, to be cultivated as dessert-fruits. 



6018. Of African fruits we might have from Sierra Leone, the cream-fruit, country cherries, country 

 plums and figs; from Congo, the conte, mabncche, gangi, safu, and anona senegalensis ; from Loango, 

 the cazou as large as a melon ; from Madagascar, the voanato, voutaca, voaucrome, azonualala, and 

 alamotou. 



6019. From the West Indies, the sappodilla-plum {Achras Sapota), country cherries which are various 

 species of Malpighia, the callimato-tree {Chrysobalanus Icaco). the star-apple {Chrysophyllum Cainito), 

 the country plums {Spondias) various species, the sea-side grape {Coccoloba vv/fera), the garlic-pear {Cra~ 

 tcBva Tepia), and various species of cactus. Most of these fruits are cultivated both in the West India Islands 

 and on the American continent, and plants of all of them may be had from the London nurseries 



6020. From South America numerous fruits may be introduced : from Guiana, the tapaculo {Carica 

 microcarpa ?), the pinaou {Anona punctata), the pinaioua {A. longifolia), the marmalade-box of Stedman 

 {Surinam, vol. ii. p. 330.) ; fiom Brazil, Peru, &c. the achocon {Leonia glycycarpa), the queuleor keule 

 {Gomortega nitida), and others of less note. 



6021 . From Asia the first fruits in the world have been obtained, and others are yet to introduce. From 

 the Indian Archipelago, the lai^seh {Lansium domesticum), a fruit considered as next to the mangosteen 

 and durion, the rose-water jambu {Eugenia aquea), and other species ; the blimbing {Avert-hoa Carambola), 

 the cheremi {A. acida), the rambutan {Nephelimn lappaceum), the tomi-tomi {Flacourtia inermis), the 

 Xanthochymus dulcis, Sundoricum indicum, and some others. From the continent of India, the 

 maredoo, or elephant-apple {Mgle Marmelos), the yellanga {Feronia elephantum), the latti am {Wit- 

 lughbeia edidis), the iwara mamady {Xanthochymus pictorius), the caraunda {Carissa Carandas), the 

 launzan {Buchanania latifolia), and others. From China and Japan many new sorts of pears and 

 peaches, it is supposed, may be obtained, and probably also apples and other European fruits ; the Poma- 

 ceze and Prunaceas occupying the place in higher latitudes which the Myrtaceffi, Guttiferffi and Tere- 

 bintaceffi do in countries nearer the equator. From the Society Islands, the Otaheite a'pple {Spondias 

 cytherea), &c. Though we think it probable that few or none of these, grown in this country, would be 



