THE ALMUG, OR ALGUM TREE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
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extensively cultivated both there and in the East Indies, for the sake of its very 
agreeable fruit. Two varieties are esteemed, one with elliptical, and the other with 
globose fruit ; the latter, known by the name of Zappodilla, is about the size of a 
Bergamot pear, and the former, called Sapota, is much larger. The thick brown 
rind becomes tough, and somewhat scabrous, when the fruit approaches ripeness ; 
the flesh is then yellow, melting, juicy, and exceedingly sugary and luscious, and is 
usually eaten with a spoon after the manner of an egg ; but, abounding in an acrid 
milk, it cannot be eaten until fully ripe, or rather, after it begins to decay. When 
matured, a pleasant fragrance is exhaled. The seeds are bitter, and are sometimes 
used in medicine, in the form of strengthening emulsions ; but if administered too 
freely, they produce pain, and are attended with danger. The bark is astringent, 
and often substituted for Cinchona, being known by the name of Cortex Jqmaicensis. 
The timber also, although somewhat soft, is much used for various domestic 
purposes. , 
In cultivation, the temperature of a warm stove is requisite. During the growing 
season give a liberal supply of both heat and moisture, and especially keep the 
atmosphere humid. 
If the plants are grown in pots or tubs, a mixture of loam and peat is the best 
soil for them ; but if planted out into a prepared border, a good rich loam without 
any admixture is preferable. 
Propagation is easily effected by making cuttings of the half-ripened wood, and 
planting them, without removing the leaves, in pots of sand, and placing them under 
a glass in heat. • 
THE ALMUG, OR ALGUM TREE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
The Almug or Algum Tree is several times mentioned in Sacred History ; and 
some of the uses are there recorded, to which the wood was at that period applied. 
The name, however, not occurring in any botanical work, the conjectures of 
botanists concerning what plant was meant, have been various. Some have thought 
it identical with the Gum- Arabic Tree {Acacia vera), or the Gum Acacia {Acacia 
Arabica) ; others contended that it resembled the Cypress, and formed an upright 
woody tree, twenty or thirty feet high, with wrinkled bark, and producing its seeds 
in the form of small, oblong cones ; hence it has been thought that it was either a 
Cypress, a Juniper, or a Thuja. Ail agree that the wood was fragrant, close- 
grained, hard, very durable, and capable of receiving a high polish. 
The researches of modern botanists and botanical travellers have, however, as 
far as the subject will admit of proof, clearly demonstrated that the Almug or 
Al gum of the ancients is neither an Acacia, or any description of pinaceous plant, 
but one of the plants known to us by the name of Sandal-tree. As this term, 
however, is applied to several plants of very dissimilar habits, it might be proper to 
