542 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb.  I,  1896. 
It  appears  tlierefore  that  nearly  92  per  cent  of  the  pro- 
duction is  exported,  and  that  of  the  coffee  consumed  in 
India  foreign  coffee  represents  less  than  half  the  quan- 
tity of  Indian  coffee.  The  rate  of  consumption  is  little 
more  than  half  that  of  tea,  amounting  to  only  G‘014 
lb.  per  head  of  the  population.  It  is  said  to  be 
rather  freely  drunk  by  the  native  population  in 
Southern  India,  but  that  is  certainly  not  so  in 
Nothern  India. 
There  is  no  trustworthy  or  complete  record  of 
the  prices  in  India  of  Indian  coffee  ; and  in  answer 
to  enquiries  I am  informed  that  there  are  no 
materials  for  the  preparation  of  a record  of  prices, 
and  that  the  prices  in  fact  depend  upon  and  follow 
the  fluctuations  of  prices  in  London  of  Ceylon 
plantation  coffee,  the  price  on  Indian  coffee  being 
about  .5s  less  than  the  price  of  Ceylon  coffee.  This 
being  so,  the  prices  in  London,  in  February  of  each 
year  of  the  last  twenty  years  of  Ceylon  coffee 
(plantation)  are  here  subjoined : — 
Per  cwt.  I 
s. 
d. 
1876 
..  89 
0 
1877 
. . 85 
3 
1878 
..  80 
0 
1879 
. . 61 
0 
1880 
..  68 
6 
1881 
..  59 
0 
1882 
..  61 
0 
1883 
..  74 
0 
1881 
..  69 
0 
1885 
..  54 
6 
Per  cwt. 
s. 
d 
1886 
. . 56 
0 
1887 
..  77 
0 
1888 
. . 72 
0 
1889 
..  90 
0 
1890 
. . 99 
0 
1891 
..  104 
6 
1892 
..  105 
0 
1893 
..  108 
0 
1894 
..  100 
0 
1895 
..  104 
0 
Ten  years,  from  1879  to  1888,  of  depressed  pi'ices, 
combined  with  the  havoc  wrought  by  the  borer  and 
the  leaf  disease,  greatly  discouraged  coffee  planting 
in  India  and  Ceylon,  and  the  prospects  of  the  in- 
dustry seemed  so  forlorn  that  both  in  Ceylon  and 
India  much  coffee  land  was  placed  under  tea.  In 
1889,  however,  there  was  a sharp  rise  in  prices,  and 
the  level  has  ranged  high  since  that  year  under  the 
operation  of  speculative  corners,  political  troubles  in 
Brazil  whence  the  main  supplies  of  the  world  are 
derived,  and  other  circumstances.  The  maintenance 
of  prices  at  their  present  comparatively  high  level 
has  given  to  the  Indian  coffee  planter  a stimulus 
and  an  encouragement  which  were  greatly  needed. — 
M.  Mail,  Jan.  16. 
DINING  FROM  BOUQUETS. 
Although  it  is  well  known  that  many  kinds  of 
flowers  are  used  in  medicine,  the  fact  may  not  be 
known  to  many  that  the  blossoms  of  certain  plants 
are  employed  as  articles  of  food.  In  many  parts  of 
India  the  flowers  of  a sairotaceous  tree  {Bassia  lati- 
folia  or  malimah)  form  a really  important  article  of 
food.  These  blossoms,  which  are  succulent  and  very 
numerous,  fall  at  night  in  largo  quantities  from  the 
tree,  and  are  gathered  early  in  the  morning  and 
eaten  raw.  They  have  a sweet  but  sickly  taste  and 
odor.  They  are  likewise  dried  in  the  sun  and  sold 
in  the  bazaars.  The  Bbeels  dry  them  and  store  them 
as  a staple  article  of  food,  and  so  important  are 
they  considered  for  this  purpose  that  when  in  ex- 
peditions for  the  punishment  or  subjection  of  these 
tribes,  when  unruly,  a threat  is  made  by  the  invad- 
ing force  to  cut  down  their  Bassia  trees,  the  menace 
most  commonly  insures  their  submission.  An  ardent 
spirit  like  whiskey  is  distilled  from  these  flowers, 
and  is  consumed  in  large  quantities  by  the  natives 
of  Guzerat,  etc.  The  Parsces  and  hill  people 
eat  the  flowers  both  raw  and  cooked,  and  eften 
with  the  addition  of  grain,  and  also  make  sweet- 
meats of  them.  A single  tree  will  afford  from  two 
to  four  hundred  pounds  of  the  flewers. 
The  blossoms  of  another  species  {II . lonf/i folia) 
are  employed  in  a similar  manner  by  the  natives  of 
Malabar  and  Mysore,  whore  it  abounds.  They  are 
either  dried  and  roasted  and  then  eaten,  or  arc 
bruised  and  jboiled  to  a jolly  and  made  into  small 
balls,  which  are  sold  or  exchanged  for  fish,  rice  and 
various  sorts  of  small  grain.  The  flowers  of  the 
Judas  tree  {Ccrcis  Biliquatitrum)  of  Europe  have  an 
agreeable  acid  taste,  and  are  sometimes  mixed  with 
salads  or  made  into  fritters  with  batter,  and  the 
flower  buds  are  pickled  in  vinegar.  The  flowers  of 
the  American  species  {C.  Caiiadcnsiis),  the  red  bud, 
are  used  by  the  French  Canadians  in  salads  and 
pickles.  The  flowers  of  the  Ahutilon  esculentuvi 
{bengao  cle  deos)  are  used  in  Brazil  as  a boiled  vege- 
table. The  flowers  of  Moringa  pfenjgospernie  (the  horse- 
radish tree)  are  eaten  by  the  uatvies  of  India  in 
their  curries. 
The  large  and  showy  flowers  of  Tropa’olum  majus 
(the  Indian  cress  or  nasturtium)  are  frequently 
used  along  with  the  young  leaves  as  a salad.  They 
have  a warm  taste,  not  unlike  that  of  the  com- 
mon cress,  and  it  is  from  the  circumstance  that 
the  plant  has  obtained  the  name  of  nasturtium. 
The  young  calices  of  iHllcnia  scahrella  and  D. 
speciosa,  which  are  swollen  and  fleshy,  have  a 
pleasantly  acid  taste,  and  are  used  by  the  inhabitants 
of  Chittagong  and  Bengal  in  their  curries  and  also 
lor  making  jelly. 
The  flowers  of  Rhododendron  arhoreum  are  eaten  by 
the  hill  Yieople  of  India,  and  are  made  into  a jelly 
by  the  European  visitors.  Yet  poisonous  properties 
are  usually  ascribed  to  the  species  of  this  genus,  and 
it  has  been  said  that  the  R.  Ponticum  was  the  plant 
from  whose  flowers  the  bees  of  Pontus  collected 
the  honey  that  produced  the  extraordinary  symp- 
toms of  poisoning  described  as  having  attacked 
the  Greek  seldiers  in  the  famous  retreat  of 
the  ten  thousand.  The  flower  buds  of  Z ngophylluni 
Fahaqo  are  used  as  a substitute  for  capers,  and  the 
flowers  of  Meliantlms  major,  a plant  of  the  same 
order,  are  so  full  of  honey  that  the  natives  of  Good 
Hope,  where  the  plant  grows  wild,  obtain  it  for  food 
by  shaking  the  branches,  when  it  falls  in  a heavy 
showier.  Coccoloba  urifera  is  remarkable  from  the 
pecularity  of  the  calyx,  which  becomes  pulpy  and  of 
a violet  color,  whence  the  plant  is  called  the  seaside 
grape.  This  pulpy  calyx  has  an  agreeable  acid  flaver 
and  is  edible.  The  flewer  stalks  of  llovenia  dulcis 
become  extremely  large  and  succulent,  and  are  used 
in  China  ss  a fruit.  It  is  said  that  in  flavor  they 
resemble  a ripe  bear.  The  flowers  of  the  pumpkin 
were  coeked  and  eaten  by  some  of  the  tribes  ef  the 
American  Indians,  especially  by  the  Aztecs,  by  whom 
they  were  highly  esteemed.  The  cauliflower,  which 
has  been  known  from  remote  antiquity,  differs  in  a 
remarkable  manner  from  all  the  other  varieties  of 
the  cabbage  tribe,  whese  leaves  and  stalks  alone  are 
used  for  cullinary  purposes.  Instead  of  the  latter 
being  used,  the  flow'er  buds  and  fleshy  flow'cr 
stalks,  which  form  themselves  into  a film  cluster  or 
head  varying  from  four  to  eight  or  more  inches  in 
diameter,  here  become  the  edible  portion  and  one  of 
the  greatest  of  vegetable  delicacies.  The  flower  buds 
of  Caj)paris  spinosa,  a plant  which  grows  on  walls, 
etc.,  in  the  seuth  ef  Europe,  arc  pickled  in  vinegar 
in  Italy  and  form  what  are  ccmmonly  known  as 
capers.  These  are  chiefly  imported  from  Sicily, 
though  the  plant  is  largely  cultivated  in  some  parts 
of  France.  The  cloves  ef  commerce  arc  the  unex- 
panded flower  buds  of  Cari/ojdigllus  aroni.aticH;s  {Mgr- 
taceaj,  a small  evergreen,  native  of  the  Moluccas, 
but  cultivated  in  several  parts  of  the  East  and 
West  Indies.  Before  the  expansion  of  the  flowers, 
w'hich  are  produced  in  branched  panicles  at  the 
extremity  of  the  branches  and  are  of  a delicate 
peach  color,  the  buds  are  collected  by  hand,  or  else 
sheets  and  mats  are  spread  under  the  tree  and  the 
buds  by  brought  down  beating  it  with  sticks.  They 
are  cleaned  and  then  dried  in  the  sun.  A iiniform 
brown  color  is  impared  by  slightly  smoking  then 
over  a wood  lire.  The  flower  buds  of  Cal  gpf  rant  hen 
aromaticus,  another  plant  of  the  same  order,  m.ay  bo 
advantageously  substituted.  The  flower  budsaiuUthe 
ben'ies  of  the  myrtle  {Mgrtus  connnunin)  were  oaten  as 
spices  by  the  ancients,  and  are  still  used  in  Tuscany 
instead  of  pepper.  Long  pepper  is  furnished  by  the 
immature  spikes  of  flowers  of  Chacica  Roxbttrghii, 
which  are  gathered  and  dried  in  tlie  sun.  In  chemical 
and  composition  qualities  it  resembles  ordinary  black 
pepper  and  contains  pipeline. — Sdciiti/ic  American, 
Dec.  11. 
