48 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTAJs'Y. 



English-grown pine-apple usually is from ten to twelve shil- 

 lings per pound^ while the imported ones rarely exceed half- 

 a-crown for the whole fruit. 



The pine-apple is that variety of fructification called a so- 

 rosis : it consists of a number of bracts which have swollen 

 until they have enclosed the seeds in their rich juicy pulp. 



The Water Melon. Cucumis (or Cucurhita) CitruUus, 

 variety Jace, (Nat. Ord. Cucurhitacece,) 



A small quantity of this fruit reaches the English market 

 annually. It is a large oval melon^ with dark green rind ; 

 the flesh is white^ of a delicate sweet flavour^ but very wa- 

 tery and insipid if not quite ripe. We annually receive 

 them from Malaga and Portugal^ in a sort of open-worked 

 rush basket^ each containing but two or three melons ; they 

 are in these baskets suspended to the ceiling of the ship^s 

 cabin^ and thus avoid bruising and preserve their freshness. 

 They are not usually considered unwholesome. 



The Cranberry. Oxycoccos macrocarpus. (Nat. Ord. 

 Facciniace^e.) (Plate lY. fig. 18.) 



Probably the kegs of cranberries we receive from North 

 America and Newfoundland contain a mixture of the species 

 above named^ with the 0. palustris and 0. erythrocarjpus. 

 They are preserved in spring-water, and packed in small 



