Useful Knowledge: Volume 2. Vegetables Or, a familiar account of the various productions of nature

The nutmegs vended at the East India Company's sales in 1804, amounted in weight to 117,936 pounds, and produced 54,733_l._ exclusive of the duties. This kind of spice has long...

It must be remarked that the water in which flax has been macerated becomes thereby poisonous to cattle; and, on this account, the practice of steeping it in any running stream...

The importance and the properties of this _root_ in medicine are universally known. Rhubarb is usually imported from Turkey, but it is occasionally also brought from Russia, Chi...

In the cultivation of pepper it is customary to mark out the grounds into regular squares of about six feet each, which is the usual distance allowed for the plants. And, as the...

How long the use of tea has been known to the Chinese we are entirely ignorant; but we are informed that an infusion of the dried leaves of the tea shrub is now their common dri...

_The flower-stem of the gentian is two or three feet high, strong, smooth, and erect. The leaves which grow upon its lower part are spear-shaped and ribbed, and those on the upp...

_The Fullers Teasel is distinguished from other plants of the same tribe by having its leaves connected at the base, the flower scales hooked, and the general calyx reflected or...

The drug called _Dragon's Blood_[4] is obtained from this fruit, in Japan, and several other countries of the East. The Japanese expose the fruit of the Rotang tree to the steam...

It is peculiarly deserving of remark concerning this tree, that it grows better near the sea than in any other situation, and that plantations of sycamores may be so made as eve...

The cultivation of tobacco is carried on to great extent in several parts of North America. The seed, mixed with ashes on account of its smallness, is sown a little before the b...

The fruit of this tree, which has the name of _beech-mast_, and is ripe in September, is palatable to the taste; but, if eaten in great quantity, it occasions giddiness and head...

Horse-radish is also in considerable repute as a medicine, and is a powerful stimulant, whether externally or internally applied. Notwithstanding this, we are informed by Dr. Wi...

This plant was cultivated with us as early as the year 1580. The parts that are eaten are the receptacle of the flower, which is called the _bottom_, and a fleshy substance on e...

_Starch_ is a substance frequently prepared from wheat, and is obtained by the following process. The wheat is put into tubs of water, and exposed, for some days, to the heat of...

To the inhabitants of Egypt, China, the East Indies, and other countries, where they are cultivated to a great extent, water melons are extremely valuable, both as food and phys...

_The pods are generally in pairs; and the leaves winged, having each about six pairs of leaflets, with a branched tendril at the extremity. At the bases of each of the leaves th...

78. _VINES are a very important tribe of shrubs, to the fruit of which we are indebted for all our foreign wines, for raisins of every description, and for the dried currants of...

Common turpentine is mostly employed as an ingredient in the plasters used by farriers. The oil is occasionally used in medicine; and, lately, it has been considered efficacious...

There are several kinds of apples, and the varieties are every day increasing, through the attention that is paid, by different individuals, to the culture of this valuable frui...

The _wood_ of this tree is in much request for the outsides of black lead pencils. It is soft and incapable of high polish, but, on account of its powerful fragrance, and conseq...

_The leaves of this tree are oval, but acute. The flowers have each five petals, and fifteen stamens: they are solitary, terminate the branches, and have scarcely any stalks. Th...

This kind of lichen grows upon rocks on the high stony moors of several parts of England, Wales, and Scotland. When properly prepared, it imparts to woollen cloth a reddish brow...

F. Fan-palm, description and uses of, 98 Fennel leaves, stalks, seeds, and roots, uses of, 80 Fern, description and uses of, 268 Ferula, stalks of, how anciently used, 78 Fig-tr...

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