Part 21

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 been employed both for culinary and medicinal purposes. Distilled with water, nutmegs afford a large portion of essential oil, which resembles, in flavour, the spice itself. When heated and pressed they yield a considerable quantity of limpid yellow oil. In the shops a thick and fragrant kind is sold, which, though called _oil of mace_, is, in reality, expressed from the nutmeg. The best oil of this description is imported from the East Indies, in stone jars. _Oil of nutmegs_ is chiefly made from the imperfect fruit, and such as would be unfit for the European market.

_Mace_, or the covering of the nutmeg, that lies betwixt the outer coat and the shell, is an unctuous membrane, first of a light red, and afterwards, when dried, and as we see it, of yellowish colour. After it is taken from the shell it is exposed to the sun, then moistened with sea-water, and finally so far dried as to allow of its being packed in bales for exportation. In these it is pressed closely down, by which its fragrance and peculiar qualities are preserved. Mace is liable to seizure if imported in packages of less than 300 pounds' weight. We usually see it in flakes each about an inch in length, and presenting a great variety of ramifications. This spice has a very fragrant and agreeable odour, and, to most persons, a pleasant, though somewhat acrid, taste. It possesses nearly all the virtues of the nutmeg, but with less astringency; and, like that, is employed in numerous ways, both in culinary preparations and medicine.

In the island of Banda it is sometimes customary to boil the _entire fruit_ of the nutmeg-tree, and afterwards to preserve it in syrup, and also to pickle it in spiced vinegar, in nearly the same manner as we pickle walnuts. In several parts of the East the inhabitants preserve the _outer husk_ of the nutmeg as a sweetmeat, or eat it stewed with other food.

257. _The DATE is a fruit shaped somewhat like a large acorn, and covered externally with a yellowish membrane or skin, which contains a fine, soft, and sweetish pulp, and, in the centre, an oblong, hard stone._

_The trees_ (Phoenix dactylifera) _which produce this fruit, grow chiefly on the shores of the Mediterranean, are forty feet and upwards in height, have an upright stem, marked through their whole length with protuberances, and terminated at the summit with a cluster of winged leaves or branches, each eight or nine feet in length._

The cultivation of the date is attentively pursued on the African coast of the Mediterranean; in several parts of Persia, Arabia, and even in Spain. The latter country, however, is not sufficiently warm to ripen the fruit in perfection, without the constant labour of the cultivator. He is obliged to ascend the trees, from time to time, to examine the flowers and turn them towards the sun. This is chiefly done in the spring of the year; and, during the month of August, another and much more dangerous operation is requisite, namely, to tie all the branches into one bundle, and cover them over with broom. To make this bundle, the person employed is obliged to leap, as it were, over the flexible branches, for the purpose of surrounding and uniting them with a cord. This operation over, he places a ladder at the bottom of the tree, on which he stands to make a second band; he then places his ladder on this second band, ascends and ties the top with a third cord. His bundle being formed, he throws down his instruments, replaces his ladder by a gradation contrary to the former, and descends, from band to band, to the stem of the tree, down which he slides to the bottom.

Among the Africans and Egyptians the date constitutes a principal article of food, and, as such, it is considered both wholesome and nutritive. Its name is a word, formed of _dacte_ or _dactylus_, implying a finger, from an imaginary resemblance which this fruit has to the end of the finger. Although dates, in general, are of yellowish colour, some are black, some white, and others brown: some also are sweet, and others bitter. The best are called _royal dates_, and are imported into this country from Tunis.

Each tree produces ten or twelve bunches of fruit, which, when gathered, are hung up in a dry place, until so much of their moisture is evaporated as to allow of their being packed in boxes for exportation.

Nearly all the parts of the date-tree are useful. The _wood_, though of spongy texture, is employed for the beams and rafters of houses, and for implements of husbandry, which are said to be very durable. The _pith_ of the young trees is eaten, as well as the young and tender _leaves_. From the old leaves and their stalks the women and children of Valencia make mats, baskets, and other utensils; and from other filamentous parts, ropes and different kinds of cordage are manufactured. A considerable traffic is carried on in these leaves, which, under the name of _palms_, are sent to Italy, to be used in the grand religious ceremonies of Palm Sunday. In Persia an ardent spirit is distilled from the fruit; and, in many places, the _stones_ are ground to make oil, and the paste that is left is given as food to cattle and sheep.

PENTANDRIA.

258. _MASTIC is a resinous substance, obtained from a low tree or shrub_ (Pistacia lentiscus) _which grows in the Levant._

_It has alternate winged leaves, consisting of several pairs of spear-shaped leaflets, and spikes of very small flowers, which issue from the junction of the leaves with the branches._

The mode in which this resin is obtained is by making incisions across the tree in different parts. From these the juice exudes in drops, that are suffered to run upon the ground, and there to remain until they are sufficiently hard to be collected for use. The season for this process commences in the dry weather at the beginning of August, and lasts until the end of September. The best mastic is that imported from the island of Scio. We receive it in semi-transparent grains of yellowish colour. These emit an agreeable smell when heated; and, when chewed, they first crumble, and afterwards stick together, and become soft and white like wax.

With the Turkish women it is customary to chew this resin for the purpose of rendering their breath agreeable, and under a notion also that it tends to make their teeth white, and to strengthen the gums. They also mix it in fragrant waters, and burn it with other odoriferous substances, by way of perfume. It was formerly much used in medicine, as a remedy against pain in the teeth and gums; and, dissolved in spirit of wine, as a relief in obstinate and long continued coughs: but it is now almost wholly disused for these purposes; and is chiefly employed in the composition of varnish, and by dentists, for filling up the cavities of decayed teeth.

The _wood_ of the mastic-tree is imported in thick knotty pieces, covered externally with an ash-coloured bark. This wood is accounted a mild, balsamic astringent; and a preparation of it, under the name of _aurum potabile_, is strongly recommended, by some of the German writers, in coughs, nausea, and weakness of the stomach.

259. _HEMP is the fibrous part of the stalks of a plant_ (Cannabis sativa, Fig. 82) _which grows wild in the East Indies, and is much cultivated in different parts of Europe._

_It has the lower leaves in slender finger-like divisions; the male flowers in small loose spikes, at the end of the stem and branches; and the female flowers single, at the junction of the leaves and stem._

The principal country for hemp, as an article of commerce, is Russia, few other countries of Europe growing a quantity sufficient for their own consumption. It is cultivated in some parts of Britain, but particularly in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. The soil best adapted to it is a moist but loose sandy loam, or the black mould of low lands near water. The seed is sown in April or May; and the plants, which attain the height of five or six feet, are in a state to be pulled up in three or four months; the male plant, or _fimble hemp_, as it is called, being ready some time before the female plants, which have the name of _karle_ or _seed-hemp_.

As soon as the hemp is pulled, it is tied in bundles and set up to dry; and, at the end of about ten days, the bundles are loosened at the top, and the heads are held upon a hurdle by one person, whilst another, with a small threshing-flail, beats out the seed.

In the preparation of hemp for the manufacturer two modes are pursued. One of these is to spread it out on stubble or pasture ground, that the fibrous parts may be rendered separable by the gradual operation of the weather; the other is to immerse the bundles, for some days, in stagnant water. The next process consists in separating the bark, or hemp, from the stalks: this is effected either by pulling out the stalk with the hand, or by machinery similar to that adopted in the preparation of flax (97). After some other operations the hemp is beaten in mills, and then combed or dressed by drawing it through instruments called _hackles_, which are somewhat similar to the combs of wool-manufacturers.

Thus prepared, the hemp is spun into thread, which is made into twine, ropes, and cordage of every description; and woven into canvas, and strong cloth of various kinds. Indeed so great is the importance of this production, particularly for the cordage, cables, and the rigging of ships, that, to encourage its growth, an act of parliament was passed in 1783, directing a bounty of three pence per stone to be paid on all hemp raised in Great Britain; and imposing heavy duties on hemp imported from foreign countries.

From _hemp-seed_ a valuable kind of _oil_ is procured, by pressure, which is peculiarly adapted for burning, as it is perfectly limpid and without smell: it is also used for making the soap called green soap. The seeds themselves are sometimes employed in the feeding of poultry, from a notion that they cause the hens to lay a greater number of eggs than they otherwise would do. They are also given as food to singing birds; but, if in great quantity, they are supposed to injure the plumage. The _stalks_, after the hemp is taken from them, afford an excellent fuel. The water in which hemp has been soaked is in a high degree poisonous.

260. _HOPS are the dried flower-buds of a climbing British plant_ (Humulus lupulus, Fig. 81), _with a rough and angular stem, and leaves generally in three or five lobes or divisions, and serrated._

Although hops grow wild, in great abundance, on hedges in several parts of the south of England, there is reason to suppose that their use was first made known from the Continent in the reign of Henry the Eighth.

A hop plantation requires the growth of some years before it is in perfection. The plants begin to push up their young stems about the month of April. When these are three or four inches above the ground, poles about twenty feet high are driven in to support them during their growth. The season for picking hops usually commences about the middle of September. This work is performed by men, women, and children. Proper baskets, bins, or cribs being in readiness, the plants are cut off close to the ground, and the poles are drawn up. These are placed upon the bins, with the plants upon them, and three or more persons on each side, pick off the hops. After this they are dried in a kiln, and, when dry, are carried into, and kept, for five or six days, in an apartment called the stowage-room, until they are in a state to be put into bags. This is done through a round hole, or trap, cut in the floor of the stowage-room, exactly equal in dimensions to the mouth of the bag, and immediately under which this mouth is fastened. In each of the lower corners of the bag a small handful of hops is tied; and a person, called the packer, places himself in it, and, by a heavy leaden weight, which he constantly moves round in the places where he is not treading, presses and forces the hops down, in a very close manner, into the bag, as fast as they are thrown to him by another labourer. The work thus proceeds till the bag is quite full, when each of the upper corners has a few hops tied in it, in the same manner as those at the bottom. These serve as handles for moving the bags. The bag is then taken away, and its mouth is properly sewed up and secured.

The hops of finest colour and best sample are put into bags of finer manufacture than the others, under the denomination of _pockets_; and the inferior sorts are packed in canvas of coarser kind, called _bags_.

When the hop-picking is completed, the poles are cleared from the binds or plants which adhered to them, and are stacked or piled together. The _binds_, when perfectly dried, are either stacked or placed in sheds, to be used as fuel in ovens, or otherwise. Sometimes they are burnt upon the land, for the ashes to serve as manure, trodden in the farm-yard, or allowed to be taken away by the labourers for their own use.

As the hop-plants are liable to be injured in various ways during their growth, they are considered a very precarious crop. They suffer from the attacks of insects, from honey-dew, from blight, from hot sunny weather after rain, and by winds and storms.

The principal _use of hops_, in brewing, is for the preservation of malt liquor, and to communicate to it an agreeably aromatic bitter flavour. The best hops are used for ale and the finer kinds of malt liquor, and inferior kinds are used for porter. The odour of hops hung over a bed, or a pillow stuffed with hops, has been said to promote sleep, after the application of opium has failed. The _young shoots_ and tops are often gathered from the hedges, by poor people, and boiled and eaten in the manner of asparagus. Of the woody part of the _hop-binds_, after having been steeped in water, and worked into a pulp, a coarse kind of paper may be made.

HEXANDRIA.

261. _YAMS are an American and West Indian root of very irregular shape, which possess properties somewhat similar to those of the potatoe, but they are less mealy, and, in a raw state, are very viscous._

_The plants_ (Dioscorea bulbifera) _which produce these roots have heart-shaped leaves, and a stem that creeps along the ground like ivy._

In some of the rich lands of South America, yams are said to grow to the weight of fifty or sixty pounds each; and are so productive that an acre of ground planted with them has been known to produce roots to the weight of from 20,000 to 30,000 pounds. Yams are propagated by setting the eyes, in the same manner as we plant potatoes; and, in six or eight months, they arrive at maturity.

When they are dug out of the ground, they are, for a little while, exposed to the sun to dry; and if, after this, they be packed in casks full of dry sand, they may be preserved, without injury, for many months. They are consequently often used as sea-store for vessels about to sail on long voyages, and are frequently brought into England. Several attempts have been made to cultivate yams in this island; and these have been attended with a certain degree of success in the counties of Mid-Lothian, Perth, and Stirling in Scotland, where they are used for the feeding of cattle. There are two kinds, one red, and the other white. The former of these contain a more nutritive food than the latter, though their flavour is much less excellent.

With the negroes, in the West Indian islands, the yam is a very important article of food. When roasted, it is so wholesome and nutritive that it is preferred by them even to bread. Like potatoes, yams may be converted into bread, by mixture with a portion of wheat or barley flour. They are sometimes made into soup, puddings, and other useful dishes.

OCTANDRIA.

262. _The ABELE, or GREAT WHITE POPLAR-TREE_ (Populus alba, Fig. 74), _is a British tree which grows in hedges and woods, near brooks, and is known by its leaves being nearly triangular, irregularly jagged at the edges, and cottony underneath._

The quickness of growth of this tree is so great that it will sometimes make shoots from eighteen to twenty feet in length in one year; and the trees attain their full growth in the course of twenty years. The _wood_ is white and soft, but tough and of close grain, and not subject to warp or shrink. Hence it has been found useful for the flooring of rooms, and for making laths and packing boxes. For turnery ware it is preferred to most other kinds of wood, on account of its peculiar whiteness, and the ease with which it is worked in the lathe. "Of this wood," says Evelyn, "people also made shields of defence, in sword and buckler days."

The _bark_ of the abele-tree is said to be serviceable as a remedy in intermittent fevers; and Dioscorides informs us that if it be chopped small and sowed in rills, well and richly manured, it will yield a plentiful crop of mushrooms.

263. _The ASPEN, or TREMBLING POPLAR_ (Populus tremula), _is a tree which grows in moist woods; has nearly circular leaves, toothed and angular at the edges, smooth on both sides, and attached to footstalks so long and slender as to be shaken by the slightest wind._

There is scarcely any situation in which the aspen will not flourish, but it succeeds best where the soil is moist and gravelly. Its _wood_ is light, porous, soft, and of white colour; and, though inferior in excellence to that of the white poplar, is applicable to many useful purposes, particularly for field-gates, the frames of pack-saddles, for milk-pails, clogs, and the wood-work of patterns. It is improper for bedsteads, as it is liable to be infested by bugs. In some countries the _bark_ of the young trees is made into torches.

264. _The BLACK POPLAR_ (Populus nigra, Fig. 75) _is a native tree of this country, known by its somewhat trowel-shaped leaves, which taper to a point, and are serrated, and smooth on both sides._

This tree grows rapidly, and attains a considerable size. Its _wood_ is soft and light, and in some respects useful to engravers; and is occasionally sawed into boards, though these are not in general much esteemed. The _bark_ is so thick and light that it is not unfrequently used by fishermen as buoys or floats to support their nets. The inhabitants of Kamtschatka dry and pulverise the _inner rind_ of the black poplar-tree, and use it as an ingredient in bread. The _buds_, when they first appear, are covered with and contain a viscous and fragrant juice, which may be advantageously used in plasters.

265. _The LOMBARDY or ITALIAN POPLAR_ (Populus dilatata) _grows wild in Lombardy and the northern parts of Italy, and is distinguished by its somewhat trowel-shaped and serrated leaves, being smooth on both sides, and wider than they are long._

From its slender and perpendicular growth the Lombardy poplar is found useful for hop-poles, and may be formed into masts for small vessels. The wood, which is soft and free from knots, is employed by joiners, carpenters, and cartwrights. It is recommended as peculiarly valuable for the floors of granaries, some persons believing it so obnoxious to insects that weevils will not continue in such granaries. It may be wrought into very flexible shafts for carriages, or felloes for wheels; and, not being liable to split, is peculiarly adapted for packing cases.

The growth of this tree is so rapid, and the space of ground which it occupies is so small, that it is in almost universal request as an ornamental tree, in places that are not sufficiently spacious to admit of trees of more spreading form.

POLYANDRIA.

266. _SAGO is a granulated preparation from the pith of a species of palm-tree_ (Cycas circinalis) _which grows in India and Africa._

_This tree attains the height of thirty or forty feet; has a straight and somewhat slender stem, and winged leaves at the summit, each seven or eight feet long, with the leaflets long and narrow._

The preparation of sago, under different forms, constitutes a principal source of employment to the inhabitants of many parts of the coast of Malabar, as well as those of several of the islands of the East Indies.

The trunk of the sago-tree contains a farinaceous pith, to obtain which it is sawn into pieces. After the pith is taken out, it is beaten in mortars, and, water being poured upon the mass, this is allowed to stand for some hours to settle; after which it is strained through a coarse cloth, and, the finest particles running through with the water, the grosser ones are left behind and thrown away, or washed over a hair sieve through which only the edible parts can pass. These are allowed to subside. The water is then poured off, and the flour, being properly dried, is made into cakes and baked for use, or is granulated in a manner somewhat similar to that adopted in the preparation of tapioca (251). It is in the latter state that sago is imported into Europe, where it is much used as a nourishing and agreeable diet for sick persons, in puddings and other culinary preparations.

267. _The COMMON JUNIPER_ (Juniperus communis) _is an evergreen shrub, with slender and pointed leaves, that grows on heaths in several parts of the south of England._

_The leaves grow in threes; each is tipped with a spine, and is longer than the ripe fruit, which is a blackish purple berry._

Juniper _berries_ are at first green; and they continue upon the trees two years before they become ripe and assume their purple colour. When ripe they have a sweetish aromatic taste. The Swedes prepare, from these berries, a beverage which they consider useful as a medicine; and in some parts of the Continent juniper berries are roasted, ground, and adopted as a substitute for coffee. In Sweden they are eaten at breakfast, in the form of a conserve; and, in Germany, they are frequently used as a culinary spice, and especially for imparting their peculiar flavour to sour crout. Spirits impregnated with an essential oil distilled from them have the name of juniper water or _gin_. But it is a common practice to adopt spirit of turpentine (246) instead of this. Juniper-berries are imported into this country from Holland and Italy. Their smell is strong, but not disagreeable; and their flavour is warm, pungent, and sweetish, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth. The essential oil of these berries, if mixed with nut-oil (241), makes an excellent varnish for pictures, woodwork, and iron.

The _wood_ of the juniper-tree is of reddish colour, very hard, and so durable that it will last more than a hundred years without decay. It is employed in veneering, for making cabinets, and for ornamental furniture. Charcoal formed from it affords a heat so lasting, that live embers are said to have been found in the ashes of juniper-trees after they have been covered up for more than twelve months. Such is the fibrous nature of the _bark_ that it may be manufactured into ropes and other cordage.

From the crevices of the bark, or through perforations made in it by insects, a resinous gum exudes, which has the name of _gum sandarach_. This, which is of pale yellowish colour, very brittle, and inflammable, possesses a pungent aromatic taste, and emits a fragrant odour when burnt. It is imported from the Continent, in small pieces or tears, about the size of peas. When powdered and passed through a fine sieve, this is the substance called _pounce_, which is used for rubbing upon writing paper, in places where it has been scratched. Considerable quantities of this gum are consumed in the preparation of varnish, and particularly of one kind, used by cabinet-makers and painters, called _vernis_.