Part 13

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 fruit. Those best known as eating apples are the American apple called _Newtown pippin_, the _non-pareil_, _golden pippin_, _ribstone pippin_, _golden rennet_, and _lemon pippin_; for the kitchen, the _codlin_ and _russet_; and for cider, the _golden pippin_, _coccagee_, and _red streak_. Of these the non-pareil and golden pippin, from some unaccountable causes, are beginning to fail; the trees of late production not affording fruit of excellence equal to what has formerly been produced in this country.

It would be impossible in this place to enumerate all the uses of apples. They are employed in culinary preparations of several kinds, particularly in puddings and pies: they are a constant article in desserts; and are dried, baked, and made into jelly and marmalade. But by far the most important application of them is for the making of _cider_. The mode in which this is done in Herefordshire is very simple. After the apples have been gathered, they are sorted according to their different degrees of ripeness, and laid together, for a little while, to heat, by which those which are not perfectly ripe are greatly improved in flavour. The fruit is then ground in a mill, till even the kernels and rind are well bruised. It is allowed to stand, for a day or two, exposed in a large open vessel; after which it is pressed between several hair cloths. The liquor that issues from it is received into a vat, to be fermented; it is subsequently removed into casks till it becomes fine; it is then racked off into other vessels, leaving the lees behind. As soon as the fermentation has ceased, the casks are filled up with other cider, and the bung-holes are closed.

Cider is a more acid liquor than perry, and, generally speaking, is a wholesome and pleasant drink during the heats of summer; but the harsher kinds, or those which are prepared in leaden vessels, if freely drunk, are the cause of colics and other painful complaints. By distillation from cider an ardent spirit may be obtained. This has an unpleasant flavour, of which, however, it may be deprived by a certain process with charcoal. By boiling the fresh juice of apples, and afterwards fermenting it, a _wine_ may be made, which, when three or four years old, is said to acquire both the colour and flavour of Rhenish wine.

163. _The QUINCE is a somewhat pear-shaped fruit, which is supposed to have been originally imported into this country from the island of Crete._

_The quince-tree_ (Pyrus cydonia), _is low and bushy. Its leaves are oval, entire, and whitish beneath. The flowers are large, of pale red or white colour, and do not grow in bunches, but each on a separate stalk._

Though quinces have an austere taste, and are not eatable when raw, they lose a considerable portion of their harshness if prepared in any manner by heat; and, when mixed with other fruit in cookery, they communicate a very pleasant flavour. Hence it is that they are often mixed with apples in pies. Quinces are also boiled and eaten with sugar; made into marmalade, and preserved in syrup either whole or in halves. The _juice_ of quinces, boiled with sugar, was formerly used as a medicine, but of late years it has been nearly discontinued. A proportion of one quart of the juice, mixed with a pound of sugar, and fermented, yields a delicious wine. On the Continent, a celebrated liqueur is prepared from this juice, in combination with sugar and brandy. A mucilage of the _seeds_ is kept by apothecaries, and used in medicine, as more pleasant, but it is not so efficacious, as that of the simple gums.

Quince-trees grow wild on the banks of the Danube, but, with much less luxuriance than in a state of cultivation.

POLYGYNIA.

164. _The HUNDRED LEAVED, or COMMON GARDEN ROSE_ (Rosa centifolia), _is a shrub too well known to need any description._

This, the queen of flowers, is one of the most elegant and fragrant of the vegetable productions. Its _petals_ yield, on distillation, a small portion of aromatic _oil_, together with a _water_ which possesses both the odour and taste of the flowers. This oil congeals in the common temperature of our atmosphere, and in that state is of white colour; but, when liquefied by heat, it appears yellow. So small, however, is the quantity that can be obtained, that an hundred pounds' weight of the flowers will scarcely yield half an ounce of oil. It is in much request as a perfume, under the name of _ottar_ or _essence of roses_; and, though chiefly manufactured in the East Indies, is seldom imported from thence for sale, but considerable quantities of it are brought from Turkey, at the price of from three to four pounds per ounce, exclusive of the duty. That from the East Indies, when genuine, has been sold at a much more exorbitant rate than this; but it is not unfrequently adulterated with oil of sandal-wood (55). The fraud, however, is easily detected by those who are accustomed to the smell of the latter, and also by the fluidity of the compound. The true ottar of roses is undoubtedly the most elegant perfume that is known.

From the petals of this rose are also prepared a _conserve_ and _syrup_, which are used in medicine. The simple distilled _rose-water_ has little to recommend it beyond its fragrance: it is occasionally used to impart an agreeable flavour to culinary preparations, and also to some kinds of cordials. It should be remarked that, although, from their fragrance, roses are much used for nosegays, their odour has sometimes produced very alarming symptoms in persons sitting or sleeping with such nosegays in confined apartments.

165. _The WILD BRIER, or HEP-ROSE_ (Rosa canina), _is a common wild flower in hedges, and is distinguished by having a somewhat egg-shaped fruit, smooth flower-stalks, the prickles of the stem hooked, and the leaves oval, pointed, smooth, and shining._

We possess no wild shrub more ornamental to the country, in its flowers, its foliage, or its fruit, than this; and its sweet and delicate scent, though less powerful, is perhaps as grateful as that of any rose that is known. The _flowers_, when distilled, afford a pleasant perfumed water. The _fruit_, or heps, contain an acid yet sweetish pulp, with a rough prickly matter enclosing the seeds. Of the pulp, when carefully separated from this substance, and mixed with sugar, is prepared the _conserve of heps_ of the shops, which, though of little medicinal virtue itself, is used to give form to more active medicines. In the north of Europe, the fruit of the rose, with the addition of sugar, is sometimes employed in the preparation of domestic wines; and the pulp, in a dried state, affords a grateful ingredient in sauces: but it is supposed that a still greater advantage might be derived from the fruit by distillation. The _leaves_ of this, and indeed of every kind of rose, have been recommended as a substitute for tea. On the Continent they are employed in currying the finer kinds of leather.

On the branches of this tree a singular moss-like and prickly excrescence is frequently found. This, which is caused by an insect (_Cynips rosæ_), and forms the habitation of its offspring, was formerly in great medicinal repute; but it is now seldom used.

166. _The RED OFFICINAL ROSE_ (Rosa gallica) _differs from the hundred-leaved rose in having the leaf-stalks more rough and prickly. The petals are of deep crimson colour, large, spreading, and not numerous._

In the period of its flowering, this rose, which is a native of the south of Europe, succeeds the common garden rose. It is used in several medicinal preparations. Of its _petals_, in conjunction with sugar, a conserve is made, an infusion, and a syrup; and the dried _buds_, with water and honey, are made into what is called _honey of roses_.

167. _The RASPBERRY_ (Rubus idæus) _is a well-known garden fruit, which grows wild in woods and thickets of several parts of England._

To most persons the flavour of the raspberry is peculiarly grateful; and its perfume very delightful. Raspberries are much used in cookery and confectionary, as well as to eat in desserts. With sugar they are made into jam and jelly, and also into cakes. The juice, mixed with a certain portion of sugar and of brandy, constitutes the liqueur called _raspberry-brandy_. This juice is much in request for ice-creams, and is sometimes manufactured into wine. A grateful syrup is obtained from raspberries, which is occasionally used in medicine. The _leaves_ are said to be a grateful food to kids.

White raspberries are sweeter than the red ones.

168. Our wild hedge fruit, called BLACKBERRIES (_Rubus fruticosus_), belong to the same tribe as the raspberry. These are much eaten by children, and sometimes, when taken in too great quantities, produce very violent effects, and have caused fever, delirium, and other unpleasant symptoms. In Provence blackberries are employed for the colouring of wine. A syrup and jelly, and sometimes also wine, are prepared from them. The _twigs_ are sometimes used in dyeing a black colour. Silkworms are occasionally fed upon the _leaves_ of the blackberry.

169. _The STRAWBERRY_ (Fragaria vesca) _is a British wood fruit which has been long cultivated in gardens._

By cultivation the strawberry has been greatly increased in size, but its flavour continues much the same as that of the wild fruit. The varieties of the strawberry are very numerous.

None of our fruits are more wholesome than these, and, even when eaten in large quantities, they seldom disagree with the stomach. They abound in juice, have a grateful, cooling, somewhat acid taste, and a peculiarly fragrant smell; and are either eaten alone, or with sugar, milk, or wine. A palatable jam, wine, and vinegar, are prepared from strawberries. This fruit is sometimes preserved whole in syrup, and sometimes in wine.

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CLASS XIII.--POLYANDRIA.

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MONOGYNIA.

170. _CAPERS are the unopened flower-buds of a low shrub_ (Capparis spinosa, Fig. 48), _which grows from the crevices of rocks and walls, and among rubbish, in the southern parts of France, in Italy, and the Levant._

_The stems of the caper bush are trailing, and two or three feet in length. The leaves are alternate, of somewhat oval shape, veined, and of bright green colour: and the flowers are large and beautiful, with four petals, and white with a tinge of red._

In the south of France, the caper bush is as common as the bramble is with us. It grows wild upon the walls of Rome, Sienna, and Florence; and when trained against a wall, it flourishes even in the neighbourhood of Paris: notwithstanding which it is almost unknown in English gardens, where it cannot be made to flower without the aid of artificial heat. This shrub is cultivated on a large scale, between Marseilles and Toulon, and in many parts of Italy.

In the early part of the summer it begins to flower, and the flowers continue successively to appear till the commencement of winter. The buds are picked, every morning, before the petals are expanded: and, as they are gathered, they are put into vinegar and salt. When a sufficient quantity is collected, they are distributed, according to their size, into different vessels, again put into vinegar, and then packed up for sale and exportation. This pickle is much used in sauce for boiled mutton. To persons unaccustomed to it, the taste of capers is unpleasant; but, after a little while, the palate becomes reconciled to it.

The bark of the _root_ cut into slices, and dried in small rolls or quills like cinnamon, is sometimes used in medicine in cases of obstruction of the liver.

The flower-buds of the marsh marygold (_Caltha palustris_), and of nasturtiums, are frequently pickled and eaten as a substitute for capers.

171. _The WHITE POPPY_ (Papaver somniferum) _is a naturalized English plant, with smooth calyx and seed-vessels, and with leaves embracing the stem, which grows wild in neglected gardens, and some corn-fields, and to which we are indebted for two important medicines_, opium _and_ laudanum.

Although the white poppy has long been naturalized in this country, it is supposed that we were originally indebted for it to some of the northern parts of Asia. Throughout nearly the whole of that quarter of the world it is cultivated with great attention, on account of the _opium_ which is obtained from it. Opium is the dried juice of the seed-vessels, and is thus procured:--After the petals have fallen off, and the seed-vessels are about half grown, the latter are wounded on one side, with an instrument having four or five teeth, the gashes being made about an inch in length. A glutinous, milky fluid exudes from the wounds: this is carefully scraped off, on the ensuing day, by a person who, in similar manner, wounds the opposite side of the head; the juice issuing from which is afterwards similarly collected. The whole is then put into earthen vessels, where it is worked by the hand, in the open sunshine, until it attains sufficient consistence to be formed into balls, cakes, or loaves; after which it is covered over with poppy or tobacco leaves, and further dried, till it is in a proper state for exportation.

_Opium_ is of reddish brown colour, inclining to black; and has a strong and very peculiar smell. It is adulterated in various ways; by an extract of the plant, obtained by boiling; by a powder of the dried leaves and stalks, mixed with some kind of gum; by rice flour, and by other substances not quite so agreeable as these.

The cultivation of opium is so extensively pursued in the East Indies that nearly 600,000 pounds' weight of it are annually exported from the Ganges. But there is no necessity for us to import, at a great expense from abroad, that which might be advantageously prepared in our own country. It is true that the seed-vessels of the white poppy do not attain so large size in this as in warmer climates; but the opium procured from it is of sufficiently excellent quality. From the seed-vessels of a single plant more than forty grains of this drug have been obtained; and, under very disadvantageous circumstances of weather, upwards of twenty-one pounds' weight have been procured from plants grown upon five acres of land. It has been calculated that, in favourable seasons, the produce of a single acre ought to be near fifty pounds. It is recommended that the seed be sown in autumn rather than in spring. When the seed-vessels have attained a sufficient state of maturity, they may be wounded, and the opium may be collected by children from eight to twelve years of age. The only proper time for collecting it is in the morning, and seven children and two men have been able to collect 1½ pound in one morning, betwixt five and nine o'clock. The best mode of reducing the opium to a proper consistence appears to be to spread it thinly in shallow dishes, and expose it, under glasses, to the rays of the sun.

We possess few medicines so valuable as this. It is used as a powerful antidote, but chiefly as a remedy for procuring sleep and mitigating pain, which it does in a very remarkable manner. In the latter respects, however, it is too often abused; and, if taken in large doses, it proves a deadly poison. But so much are the effects of opium diminished by the habit of taking it, that, although four grains have, in some instances, proved fatal to grown persons, fifty times that quantity have been taken daily by others. The bad effects of too great a dose are best counteracted by making the patient drink freely of acids and coffee, and not permitting him to yield to the desire of sleeping, with which he is oppressed. The habitual use of opium, which is much indulged in by the Asiatics, is attended with the same bad effects as the habit of drinking ardent spirits: it brings on tremors, palsy, stupidity, and general emaciation; and, when once acquired, it can scarcely ever be relinquished.

Possessing the above properties, it is remarkable that opium, combined in a certain proportion with vegetable acids, instead of inducing, will prevent sleep. In consequence of which it has often, though injuriously, been used by persons who are obliged to devote their nights to sedentary or active pursuits. It is likewise deserving of remark, that the _seeds_ of the poppy have none of the narcotic qualities of the opium. They are mild, sweet, and nutritive; and yield, by pressure, an oil little inferior to that of almonds. So numerous are these seeds that more than 30,000 have been counted from a single seed-vessel.

_Laudanum_ is a liquid preparation from opium and spirit of wine; and is used for most of the same purposes to which opium is applied. Its effects, as a poison, may be counteracted in the same manner as those of opium.

172. _ARNATTO, or ANNOTTA, is a red dyeing drug, generally imported in lumps wrapped up in leaves, and produced from the pulp of the seed-vessels of a shrub_ (Bixa orellana) _which grows spontaneously in the East and West Indies._

_This shrub is usually seven or eight feet high, and has heart-shaped and pointed leaves. The flowers, which have each ten large peach-coloured petals, appear in loose clusters at the ends of the branches, and produce oblong and somewhat hairy pods._

The seed-vessels of the arnatto shrub are, in appearance, somewhat like those of the chesnut (235). They each contain from thirty to forty seeds, enveloped in a kind of pulp (of red colour and unpleasant smell), which is not much unlike the paint called red lead, when mixed with oil. In the West Indies the method of extracting the pulp, and preparing it for sale, is to boil it, and the seeds which are mixed with it, in clear water, until the latter are perfectly extricated. They are then taken out, and the pulp is allowed to subside to the bottom of the water; this is drawn off, and the sediment is distributed into shallow vessels, and gradually dried in the shade until it is sufficiently hard to be worked into lumps or masses for sale.

Arnatto, though made in the West Indies, is an object of no great commercial importance; the demand for it not being sufficient to give much encouragement to its culture. It is now chiefly prepared by the Spaniards in South America, and for the purpose principally of mixing with chocolate, to which, in their opinion, it gives a pleasing colour and great medicinal virtue, as well as an improved flavour. The chief consumption of arnatto in England depends upon painters and dyers; and it is supposed that _Scott's nankeen dye_ is nothing but arnatto dissolved in alkaline ley. This drug is sometimes used by the Dutch farmers to give a rich colour to butter; and the double Gloucester and several other kinds of cheese are coloured with it. Poor people occasionally use it instead of saffron.

In countries where the arnatto shrubs are found, the _roots_ are employed by the inhabitants in broth; and they answer all the purposes of the pulp, though in an inferior degree. The _bark_ is occasionally manufactured into ropes; and pieces of the _wood_ are used by the Indians to procure fire by friction.

173. _The LIME or LINDEN-TREE is a British forest tree_ (Tilia europæa), _distinguished by its heart-shaped and serrated leaves of bright green colour, and by its berries or seed-vessels, having each four cells and one bud._

_The blossoms are whitish, in small clusters, and have a yellowish green floral leaf nearly as long as the fruit-stalk, and attached to it for about half its length._

No one can have passed a grove of lime-trees, in the month of July, without having been charmed with the perfume which, at this season, is emitted by the _flowers_. They are a great resort of bees, and supply those insects with materials for their best honey. Whether fresh or dried, they easily ferment, and a fine flavoured spirit may be distilled from them. The _wood_ is close-grained, though soft, light, and smooth. It is much used by carvers and turners; and is in great request for the boards of leather-cutters. When properly burnt it makes an excellent charcoal for gunpowder, and for painters.

If the _bark_ be softened in water, the fibrous inner part may be separated: of this the Russians manufacture fishing-nets, mats, shoes, and rustic garments; and ropes and other cordage, made from it, are stated to be so remarkably strong and elastic, that, in this respect, they are superior to iron chains. In some countries the _leaves_ are dried as a winter food for sheep and goats; and, from these and the bark, a smooth but coarse brown paper may be manufactured. An inferior kind of sugar may be made from the _sap_; and the _seeds_, by pressure, yield a sweet and pleasant oil.

The lime is an eligible tree to form shady walks and clipped hedges: but its leaves fall very early in the autumn. In rich soils it attains a prodigious size; and instances have been mentioned of these trees having existed during more than six centuries.

174. _TEA, both black and green, consists of the dried leaves of an evergreen shrub_ (Thea bohea _and_ Thea viridis, _of Linneus_, Fig. 49), _with indented and somewhat spear-shaped leaves and white flowers with six petals or more, which is much cultivated in China._

_The tea shrub attains the height of five or six feet, and is much branched. The leaves, when full grown, are about 1½ inch long, narrow, tapering, and of dark glossy green colour, and firm texture. The flowers are not much unlike those of the white wild rose, but smaller; and they are succeeded by a fruit about the size of a sloe, which contains two or three seeds._

The tea-tree flourishes, with great luxuriance, in valleys, on the sloping sides of mountains, and on the banks of rivers, in a southern exposure, betwixt the thirtieth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude. It is chiefly cultivated near Pekin, and around Canton, but it attains the greatest perfection in the mild and temperate climate of Nankin.

The collecting of the leaves is conducted with great care: they are picked singly, and, for the most part, at three different times of the year; about the end of February, the beginning of April, and the end of May. The drying and preparation of them, for use, are processes too long to admit of minute detail respecting them in this place. It may, however, be observed, that for these purposes buildings are erected, which contain from five to ten, and some of them even twenty, small furnaces, each having, at the top, a large iron pan. There is also a long table covered with mats, on which the leaves are laid, and rolled by persons who sit round it. The iron pan being heated by a fire in the furnace beneath, a few pounds of the leaves are put upon it, and frequently turned and shifted. They are then thrown upon the mats to be rolled betwixt the palms of the hands: after which they are cooled as speedily as possible. That the moisture of the leaves may be completely dissipated, and their twisted form be better preserved, the above process is repeated several times with the same leaves, but with less heat than at first. The tea, thus manufactured, is afterwards sorted, according to its kind or goodness. Some of the young and tender leaves are never rolled, but are merely immersed in hot water, and dried.