April 1908.] 



311 



Edible Products. 



1. Coconut Cream.— The freshly- 

 ground fruit, reduced to a pulp and strain- 

 ed, is consumed in that form or made into 

 cakes with rice. It makes a delicious and 

 nutritious food. According to Dr. W. 

 J. Gies, in experiments lately published* 

 its nutritive value is due to 35'4 per cent, 

 of oil, about 10 per cent of carbohydrates, 

 and 3 per cent, of protein. The amount of 

 cellulose (fibrous matter) is only 8 per 

 cent., and its digestibility is easy when 

 the mass, by grating, is redu led to a fine 

 degree of comminution. 



2. The "milk "or water is used sparing- 

 ly as a beverage. It is also fermented 

 and converted into inferior vinegar. 



3. The hard shell is used as fuel. When 

 calcined, it produces a black, lustrous 

 substance, used for dyeing leather. 



4. The same shell, aside from many 

 uses quoted by Pereira, is used here for 

 every conceivable form of cup, ladle, 

 scoop, and spoon. 



5. From the tough midrib of the leaf, 

 strong and beautiful baskets of many 

 designs are made, also excellent and 

 durable brooms, and from the part where 

 the midrib coalesces with the petiole pot- 

 cleaning brushes are made. 



6. The roots are sometimes used for 

 chewing, as a substitute for Areca. They 

 also furnish red dyestuff, and with one 

 end finely subdivided may be used in 

 making tooth brushes. 



7. The leaves and midribs, when 

 burned, furnish an ash so rich in 

 potash that it may be used alone in 

 water as a substitute for soap or when 

 a powerful detergent is required. 



8. The fibre of the husk is used 

 extensively by the natives for calking 

 boats. 



9. The milk is used in the prepar- 

 ation of a native dish of rice, known 

 as "casi." It is an excellent and highly 

 prized dietary article, prepared with rice 

 or in combination with chicken or 

 locusts. 



10. The oil, melted with resins, is 

 an effective and lasting covering for 

 anything desired to be protected from 

 the ravages of white ants. 



11. The timber is used to bridge 

 streams and bog holes, and the slowly 

 decaying leaves to fill them up and ren- 

 der them temporarily passable. 



12. The fibre is used in cordage and 

 rope making, but to a far less extent 

 here than in India. 



. Torr. Bot Club, 1902. 



Its further uses are, in general, those 

 current in the Orient, Briefly summed 

 up, its timber is employed in every 

 form of house construction ; its foliage 

 in making mats, sacks, and thatches ; 

 its fruit in curry and sweetmeats; its 

 oil for medicine, cookery, and illumin- 

 ation; its various juices in the manufac- 

 ture of wines, spirits, sugar, and vinegar; 

 while not to overlook a final and not 

 inconsiderable Filipino product, the 

 splinters of the midrib are used in making 

 toothpicks.— Department of the Interior. 

 Philippine Bureau of Agriculture, Farm' 

 ers' Bulletin, No. 8. 



ROSELLE : ITS CULTURE AND USES. 

 By P. J. Wester. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Fruits and economic plants indigenous 

 to the Tropics are now as never before 

 attracting the attention of the people of 

 the United States. Some, such as the 

 avocado and the guava, are natives of 

 the Western Hemisphere ; others, like 

 the roselle, are introductions from the 

 Old World. 



A strictly tropical plant, the roselle is 

 very sensitive to frosts. This, together 

 with its peculiar habit of blooming late 

 in October regardless of the time when 

 the seed is planted, has restricted the 

 cultivation of the roselle to tropical and 

 subtropical regions. Its distribution, 

 for this reason, has not been so general 

 nor has the plant become so widely 

 known as introduced plants indigenous 

 to the Temperate Zone. It is, however, 

 only rational to assume that this 

 objectional feature could be overcome 

 were persistent efforts made with that 

 end in view, and that the roselle, like so 

 many other cultivated plants which 

 have yielded to changed climatic condi- 

 tions, would adapt itself to the shorter 

 summers of a higher latitude. 



Introduced several years ago into 

 California and Florida, the roselle 

 deserves a wider cultivation than it now 

 enjoys, and should prove a valuable 

 acquisition to the tropical islands of the 

 United States and to the Canal Zone. 

 The cultivation of the roselle is so simple 

 and its requirements so few, that in the 

 Tropics and Snbtropics it should be an 

 indispensable plant in the garden of 

 every family. This fact, in view of its 

 peculiar adaptability for jelly making, 

 should cause the roselle to become a 

 plant of considerable importance in the 

 United States at no distant date. The 

 roselle is probably the only plant in 

 cultivation in which the part utilized 



