110 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[June,, 



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TROPICAL FRUITS, 



THE CAJU. 



One of the most refreshing fruits of Brazil 

 is the "Caju," — botanieally, Anacardiumocci- 

 dentale, — sometimes spelled Cashew. It is 

 produced by a small tree, with irregular, 

 spreading branches and large, shining oval 

 leaves. The flowers are very small, yellow- 

 ish-white or rosy, in small panicles on the 

 ends of the branches. The fruit is fleshy, 

 pear-shaped, and full of a cool, fragrant, 

 slightly astringent juice. It is bright yel- 

 low, often with a red cheek, or bright red, 

 according to the variety. 



The singular feature is the seed, which | 

 resembles a very large Kidney-bean, and 

 which is attached to the end of the fruit, 

 which hangs from the ends of the small 

 branches, giving the tree a very peculiar 

 appearance when in fruit, which, here in ' 

 Para, is every month in the year. The best 

 time to eat or to suck Cajus — for the pulp I 

 is never eaten — is before breakfast, but they 

 are grateful at any time of the day and allay 

 thirst far better than water. The seed con- 

 tains a large quantity of acrid juice in the 

 layer surrounding the kernel, which, touch- 

 ing the skin, produces painful blisters ; but 

 this is expelled by heat ; and the kernels ! 

 roasted are very nice, and taste something 

 like Pea-nuts. In roasting the seeds, if the | 

 smoke blows upon the face it causes a severe 

 inflammation, and even blindness. A wine j 

 about as good as currant-wine is made from 

 the fruit of the Wild Caju, which is smaller 

 and more acrid than the garden varieties. ' 

 This fruit varies much in quality and size, 

 — that of some trees being small, of others 

 very acrid, while in the best varieties it is as 

 large as a Bartlett Pear and very sweet and 

 delicious. 



BREAD-FRUIT. 



The Bread-fruit may be dismissed with a 

 slight mention, as, in spite of its name, it 

 bears about the same relation to a fruit that 

 a Squash does to a Peach. The tree ( Arto- 

 carpus mcisa) is very beautiful and always 

 attracts attention from its large, deep cut, 

 dark green foliage ; but the fruit, which is 

 green and about the size of a small round 

 Melon, and rough or smooth on the outside, 

 according to the variety, has no flavor and is 

 thoroughly insipid. If, as travelers state, 

 the South Sea Islanders live upon Bread- 

 fruit, they must have a hard time of it. 

 There are two varieties — one seedless, the ' 

 other full of large seeds, which are eaten 

 boiled and resemble Chestnuts, but without 

 their sweetness. 



Another species of this family (A. integri- 

 folia), the Jack or " Jaca," has large entire 

 foliage and a somewhat similar fruit with 

 large seeds. Although the natives eat it, 

 the rank smell is sufficient to take away the 

 appetite of the stranger. 



PERSIMMONS. 



A small tree of the Persimmon family 

 (Diospyros Savate), called here " Sapnti 

 Preto," is occasionally seen. It is without 

 astringeney, with black, sweet flesh, and the 

 size of a large Plum, but has no special 

 flavor to recommend it. 



E. S. Band, Jr. 



LAND CULTURE IN JAPAN. 



Mr. Shosuke Sato, assistant superintend- 

 ent of the Imperial Agricultural Experiment 

 Station of Japan, who is now in this country 

 to study our agricultural system, contributes 

 an interesting and valuable article to the 

 Agricultural Review, from which we condense 

 the following : 



Japanese farming may aptly be called 

 gardening rather than farming, for every 

 farm, every field looks like a garden. In 

 general the climate of Japan is very mild 

 and equable ; the sudden and abrupt changes 

 of temperature so common in most of the 

 New England States are unknown there. 



In the south, vegetation grows most luxuri- 

 antly ; and although the north of Japan has 

 a more severe climate, it is admirably suited 

 to agriculture. Many valleys, hills, and 

 mountains are still covered with primeval 

 forests, and the virgin soil is exceedingly 

 rich. 



The northern provinces are well adapted 

 to grazing as well as to ordinary farming. 

 Here almost every kind of grain, vegetables, 

 and fruits can be raised, and many improved 

 varieties have already been imported from 

 America. Thoroughbred cattle have also 

 been introduced, and thrive in an excellent 

 degree. 



The island of Niphon, which occupies the 

 central portion of the Japanese group, and is 

 the largest of all, has the finest and most 

 delightful climate and most abundant re- 

 sources. Tea, silk, cotton, tobacco, and 

 sugar are largely produced ; rice, wheat, 

 barley, and other cereals also constitute im- j 

 portant products. Irrigation and drainage 

 are practiced with great advantage. There 

 is hardly a plot of land which does not re- 

 ceive the plow of the husbandman, and 

 valleys and hills are green throughout the 

 entire season. 



Japan has such prime advantages in 

 climate and soil that it may be considered 

 as one of the best agricultural countries. 

 It is perfectly astonishing how the fertility 

 of the soil has been maintained for so many 

 centuries, under successive eroppings year 

 after year ; especially when it is considered 

 that the Japanese farmers always raise Eice 

 on the same plot of land, and that they ; 

 seldom practice rotation of crops'. Still, 

 they not only maintain the fertility of the 

 soil, but make their lands more fertile. The 

 secret of which is they return to the soil 

 what is taken away, both in quantity and 

 quality. Those who exhaust their lands are 

 a shame to the community in which they live. j 

 [If this injunction were applied to some of 

 our own communities, there would be more 

 shame evolved in many of them than the j 

 country could hold. — Ed.] 



Labor in Japan is exceedingly cheap ; the j 

 ordinary farm hand averages from $40 to 

 $50 per year, without board and lodging ; 

 and as the land is in general very minutely 

 divided; - most farmers cultivate their own 

 lands with their own hands. Manure is 

 carefully economized by the Japanese 

 farmer ; he never wastes what will con- 

 tribute to the fertility of the soil. Fish, 

 guano, lime, barn-yard manure, and night 

 soil more than anything else are used. 



The soil is finely pulverized, and the 

 weeds are carefully pulled oitt or plowed 

 under ; weeds are never allowed to grow 

 and draw fertility from the soil. It is a 

 joyous time for farmers when the weed- 



ing of the Eice fields begins. Men, women, 

 children, all go out into the field, and pull 

 up every weed they can find, and leave the 

 field in the nicest possible condition, singing 

 merrily as their work proceeds, and when 

 their labor is over they have a big feast in the 

 family circle. Eice may be understood as 

 the staple crop, and the Japanese farmer 

 depends entirely upon it ; but the time will 

 soon come when Japan will not depend en- 

 tirely upon this one crop alone, but upon 

 various agricultural products. 



AN IMPOSING AVENUE. 



The entrance to the botanic garden of 

 Ceylon — says Prof. E. Haeckel in his " India 

 and Ceylon" — is through an avenue of noble 

 India-rubber trees, Ficus elastica. This is 

 the tree whose inspissated milk-sap forms 

 the caoutchouc of commerce, and whose 

 young plants are frequently seen in the green- 

 houses of our rugged North. While these 

 India-rubber plants with us are objects of 

 admiration when their slender stems grow to 

 the height of the ceiling, and their few- 

 branches bear from fifty to one hundred 

 leathery leaves, here in their hot mother- 

 country they develop into gigantic trees of 

 the highest rank, and rival our proudest 

 Oaks. The immense crown of many thou- 

 sands of leaves covers with its mighty 

 branches, of forty to fifty feet in length, the 

 superficial surface of a stately palace, while 

 from the base of the thick trunk extends a 

 net-work of roots that frequently measures- 

 from one hundred to two hundred feet in 

 diameter — far more than the height of the- 

 tree itself. 



This astounding root-crown consists mostly 

 of twenty to thirty main roots, from each of 

 which branch as many more — all of them 

 curving and twisting over the ground like so- 

 many gigantic serpents, for which reason 

 the Singhalese call it the " Snake-tree," and 

 poets at various times have likened it to the 

 snake-entwined Laocoiin. The spaces be- 

 tween the roots form veritable closets or 

 sentry-boxes, in some of which a man stand- 

 ing upright may effectually conceal himself. 



Scarcely had I expressed my admiration 

 for this avenue of Snake-trees, when my eyes 

 were enchained by another wonderful sight 

 near the garden gate. There, as if to greet 

 the new-comer, stood a huge bouquet of 

 Palms, composed of those species indigenous 

 to the island, and a number of foreign repre- 

 sentatives of this noblest of tropical families ; 

 garlands of lovely creepers festooned their 

 crowns, while their stems were ornamented 

 with the most exquisite parasitic Perns. A 

 similar but handsomer and more extensive 

 group stands near the end of the main alley, 

 which here branched, the path on the left 

 leading to a slight eminence on which stands 

 the " bungalow " of the director. 



This enviable home is, like most Ceylonese 

 villas, a low one-storied structure, encircled 

 by an airy veranda whose wide, projecting 

 roof is supported by a row of white pillars. 

 Roof and pillars are adorned with luxurious 

 vines, large-flowered Orchids, odorous Van- 

 illa, showy Fuchsias, and other bright flowers ; 

 choice collections of flowering plants and 

 Ferns embellish the garden beds which sur- 

 round the house, and above them rise the 

 shade-dispensing crowns of India's noblest 

 trees. Numerous gorgeous butterflies and 

 beetles, lizards and birds animate this; 

 charming picture. 



