COMMERCIAL PEODUCTS 



OF THE 



VEGETABLE KINGDOM, 



SECTION I, 



PLANTS YIELDING SEEDS, LEAVES, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES 

 EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC USE FOE THE PKEPARATION OF 

 DIETETIC BEVERAGES, ETC. 



No substances are so essentially necessary and useful to mankind, 

 and form such, important articles of commerce, as those which I 

 propose first to consider, Cacao, Coffee, Tea, and Sugar. The con- 

 sumption of these in all civilized countries is immense, notwith- 

 standing that in many they have been fettered with heavy fiscal 

 duties. The description of the culture of the plants from which 

 they are obtained, the manufacture of the products, and the statistics 

 of commerce, are the subjects to which it is intended to give most 

 attention, glancing only incidentally or occasionally at their early 

 history. 



COCOA. 



Botanical Description and Chemistry of Cocoa. — The cacao, or cocoa, 

 of commerce is the seed of an evergreen tree, the TJieohroma Cacao 

 (Lin.), growing from twelve to twenty feet high. There are nine 

 or ten other species, however, enumerated by botanists, of which 

 I may name T. angustifolia, Dec, and T. ovatifolia, Dec. (the 

 Soconosco), of Mexico ; T. hicolor, Humboldt, of New Granada ; T. 

 Guianensis, Aublet, of Guiana ; T. Caribcea, of the West Indies ; and 

 T. microcarpa, Mart. ; T. ovatifolia, speciosa, Willd., Para ; T. subin- 

 cana and sylvestris, Martins, of Brazil. 



The fruit, or pod, resembles a short, thick cucumber, and contains 

 from twenty to forty seeds enclosed in a pulp, somewhat like that of 

 a water-melon. This pulp is frequently used for food and sweet- 

 meats ; vinegar is also made of it. In the Brazilian collections at 

 the various International Exhibitions, spirits, liqueurs, jellies, &c., 

 made with cocoa, have been shown. 



B 



