148 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
'June 5. 
(Fabacese), a division founded by Decandolle, and in¬ 
cluding all tbe plants in the order that have a straight 
embryo. There are nearly seven thousand species of 
leguminous plants described, and these are sub-divided 
into orders, sub-orders, and tribes, for the facility of classi¬ 
fying them. The sub-order to which the Tamarind is 
referred, is called Gcesalpinice, and the tribe of that sub¬ 
order is called Amlierstice, after that noble tree named 
after Lady Amherst, which was lately introduced to 
England, and so successfully flowered by Mrs. Lawrence. 
Amherstia, therefore, is in close affinity with the Tama¬ 
rind, as are also such noble plants as Brownea, Hum- 
boldtin, Jonesia, Schotia, and others. The flowers of the 
Tamarind are produced in loose bunches, six or more 
together, from the side branches; they are yellowish, 
with red streaks, and are succeeded by thick, compressed 
seed-pods, by which the West Iudian and South Ameri¬ 
can Tamarind is distinguished, chiefly from the Asiatic 
species, the former having short pods generally from 
two to three inches long, while those of the Eastern 
tree are twice or three times that length. The pod is 
one-celled, having from three to six seeds, and the valves 
are filled with an acid stringy pulp between the two 
linings or covering, called by botanists endocarp and 
epicarp, or the inner and outer lining. 
The East Indian Tamarinds are drier and darker than 
those from the West Indies, but they contain more of the 
pulp, and being generally preserved without sugar, they are 
better for medicinal use than those from the West, which 
are more red, less pulpy, and being preserved with sugar, 
are more relished in confections, which have a pleasant, acid, 
astringent taste, with somewhat of a vinous flavour. A very 
grateful drink for the sick-room may easily be made by 
pouring boiling water over Tamarinds. Tamarind whey is 
obtained by boiling two ounces of Tamarind pulp with two 
pints of milk. In hot countries dried Tamarind is used as 
food, and travellers carry it for the purpose of dissolving it 
in water for refreshing drink, and in India sherbet and 
vinegar are prepared from it. The Tamarind grows to the 
size of a large timber tree, covered with a rough brown 
bark, a large branching head clothed with light green 
leaves, arranged in the manner called by botanists, abruptly- 
pinnate—that is, with leaflets arranged like those of the ash 
without the odd or end one; in this way many sets of pairs 
of leaves on one common stalk are produced by the Tama¬ 
rind-tree. With us the Tamarind is a stove plant, easily 
propagated by seeds, sowing them in a hotbed in the spring, 
and when the plants are three inches long they should be 
put into separate small pots, and again plunged in bottom- 
heat. If rightly managed, they will grow very fast, and be 
a yard long by the end of the first season ; but under the 
best gardeners they are not likely to flower under ten or 
twelve years of age. The curious, however, might graft 
scions of established old flowering-plants on such seedlings, 
the second spring after the seeds were sown, and thus ob¬ 
tain flowering-plants in a comparatively short time. After 
all, the Tamarind is only applicable to large botanic gar¬ 
dens, or for large houses solely devoted to the cultivation of 
tropical fruit, as Mango, Cinnamon, and the like. 
The Tamarindus officinalis has leaves composed of from 
twelve to sixteen pairs of stalkless, oval leaflets ; flowers in 
racemes at the ends of the branches ; calyx of four sections 
or sepals, one much larger than the others ; petals three, 
nearly equal, straw-coloured, streaked with red. .T. B. 
THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 
Young Vines. —The rearing of young vines in newly 
planted vineries, is, we conceive, so important an affair, 
that no apology is necessary in introducing the subject 
in a special manner. Few things are more grievous to 
the proprietor of new vineries—constructed at much 
expense, and in which every available improvement 
is introduced—than to find that he cannot get his 
vines to succeed. The following is an extract, ver¬ 
batim, from a letter received yesterday from a reverend 
gentleman in Derbyshire, concerning some vines planted 
by him last year:—“ I must trouble you to give me a 
little advice about my vines. For the life of me I cannot 
make them grow. They are alive, with small bushy 
heads, but refuse to send out any vigorous shoots. I 
fancied something was wrong at the roots, so last week 
I took them up, and replanted them in a more porous 
soil.” Now this depictures, it is to be feared, the com¬ 
plaints of many others. It so happens, that we saw the 
vinery, in the border of which these were planted, just 
previous to the operation, and, from what can be remem¬ 
bered, the border was scarcely above the ordinary 
ground level; and that, too, the adhesive and stubborn 
soil of the corn-growing districts of Derbyshire. Such ' 
errors almost always originate in the house itself, in | 
consequence of the "floor-line being pitched too low. We 
have seen, in our time, scores of houses thus misplanned ; 
we had almost said the majority were so a few years 
since. It is strange that people do not well consider 
this before beginning to build ; for, supposing a gentle¬ 
man about to erect such a structure, what is the first 
thing to be done? We speak not here of how the 
interior is to be appropriated, or, in other words, the 
interior fittings, but of the shell of the house. Well; a 
general “ floor-line” must be drawn, on this the esti¬ 
mated width of the house laid down; and now he must 
make up his mind whether he will have front sashes or 
not, for on these and their depth depend the relation 
that ought to exist between the general floor-line of the 
house, and the average ordinary ground level outside. 
And why? Simply because the vines have to enter the 
house immediately on a level with the border surface, 
and that surface cannot be carried higher than the solid 
masonry; and where the glass begins the border must 
end, as to its surface level. So it appears, that within 
the front wall plate, or the sill, if a front sash, must 
generally determine the height of the border surface. 
These things settled, viz., the height at front and back 
from the floor-line, and this line determined either by 
the wall-plate or the sash-sill, nothing remains but so 
to raise the floor-line in the sketch above the ordinary 
average level of the locality, as that the border, when 
made, may be in a position to freely part with its own 
surplus moisture at any time, instead, as is too often the 
case, being made a recipient of the moisture from other 
parts of the garden. As a general rule, we should say, 
let one-half the volume of the border be above the ordi¬ 
nary ground level. So that if a border be made two feet 
in depth of soil, there will, of course, be one foot above, : 
and one below the ground level. But we return to our 1 
text. 
Management of Newly Planted Vines. —It is 
scarcely necessary here to ask whether the ball of earth 
was dislodged in the act of planting. Most persons, now-a- 
days, steer clear of that short-sighted policy which thinks 
to gain time ultimately, by planting things out with 
solid and nearly impervious balls of earth. Mr. Beaton 
has most ably shown this in several papers, and in 
his opinions thereon I fully coincide. One thing 
may, however, be observed as to this course, and 
that is, the plant so turned out, perhaps requires, 
under certain circumstances, a little more nursing than 
those with balls, for a little while; for if the balls be 
moist, they possess a living independent of the adjacent 
soil for a while; and so they need, for it is long 
before a root coiled like a boa-constrictor can adapt 
itself to a state of liberty. The other, however, soon 
acquires all the freedom of a seedling, and prepares 
itself speedily to invest the whole area of the border; I 
