Part 8

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 or common pond was prohibited by an act of Parliament, passed in the reign of Henry the Eighth.

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CLASS VI.--HEXANDRIA.

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MONOGYNIA.

98. _The PINE_ (Bromelia ananas) _is a rich and highly fragrant fruit, of large size, and yellow colour, with protuberances on its surface; and crowned by a tuft of strong and pointed leaves, edged with sharp spines._

This, the best and finest flavoured of all known fruits, was originally imported into England from South America, about the year 1690. In that country and the West Indies it has long been cultivated in the open ground; and, from free access to a congenial atmosphere, it attains there a much finer flavour than is possible in a forced state, in the hot-houses of Great Britain.

Pines are planted in earth; and the pots which contain them are immersed in beds of bark, after it has been used by the tanners. About the month of April the young fruit begins to advance, but the usual season for ripening does not commence till July, and the fruit is in greatest perfection from the middle of August to the end of September. The ripening of pines is discoverable by the fragrant odour which they emit, and by their protuberances yielding to pressure with the hand; and their flavour speedily dissipates if left uncut longer than three or four days after they are fully ripe. When brought to table, their leafy crowns should be reserved for planting. These, if placed in pots, and plunged in the bark-bed, or in a hot-bed, and covered, for some time, with glass, will in two years bear fruit.

There are several varieties of pine, of which the following are among the principal.

(_a_) _White Pine._--This has a whitish and fibrous flesh, and the rind as yellow as that of an orange. Its smell is highly fragrant, and it excels most other kinds in size and beauty, although its flavour is inferior to that of many. Its juice edges the teeth, and sometimes makes the lips smart.

(_b_) _The yellow pine_ edges the teeth less; but both this and the preceding variety are exceeded by

(_c_) _The sugar-loaf pine_; which is distinguished by the purple stripes on the outside of the leaves, and by its straw-coloured fruit.

(_d_) _The Montserrat pine_ is now rare in Europe, though in America it is esteemed in preference to most others. It is principally known by the protuberances of the fruit being longer and flatter than those of the common sort.

In the West Indies an excellent liquid sweetmeat or confection is made from pines. This fruit also is sometimes preserved whole, and, when taken out of the syrup, is iced over with sugar. Sweetmeats of this kind were formerly sent into Europe, in great quantity, from the Antilles. Wine made from pines is almost equal to Malmsey: at the end of about three weeks it becomes somewhat acid, but it recovers by longer keeping. Pines, in the West Indies, are frequently put into rum to communicate to that liquor their peculiar aromatic flavour.

99. _GARLIC_ (Allium sativum) _is a plant with bulbous root, of irregular form, composed of many smaller bulbs, called cloves, which are all included within a white skin._

_The stem leaves are flat and narrow; the upper part of the stem bears small bulbs, and the stamens are three pointed._

In warm climates, where _garlic_ is produced having considerably less acrimony than in this country, it is much used, both as a seasoning and as food. The lower classes of French, Spaniards, and Portuguese, consume great quantities of it. The Jews also eat of it to excess. With us it is in considerable estimation for culinary and other domestic purposes. It has an acrid taste, and an highly offensive smell; and it differs from the onion only by being more powerful in its effects. When bruised and applied to the skin, it causes inflammation, and raises blisters.

The medical properties of garlic are various. In dropsical complaints, asthmas, and agues, it is said to have been successfully used. Some instances have occurred, in deafness, of the beneficial effects of wrapping a clove of garlic in muslin and putting it into the ear. As a medicine internally taken, garlic is administered as a bolus, or made into pills. Its smell is considered an infallible remedy against vapours, and to be useful in nearly all the nervous disorders to which females are subject. An oil is sometimes prepared from garlic, which is so heavy as to sink in water. But the virtues of this pungent vegetable are more perfectly and more readily extracted by spirit of wine than in any other way. A syrup is also made from it.

The juice of garlic is said to be the best and strongest cement that can be adopted for broken glass and china, leaving little or no mark, if used with care. Snails, worms, and the grubs, or larvæ of insects, as well as moles, and other vermin, may all be driven away by placing preparations of garlic in or near their haunts.

This plant grows wild in the island of Sicily.

100. _LEEKS_ (Allium porrum) _belong to the onion or garlic tribe, and are known by their leaves growing out on each side, somewhat in the shape of a fan._

In some countries leeks are much esteemed for culinary uses, in soups, broth, and for boiling as greens with meat.

They are considered the badge of the Welsh nation, and representations of them are frequently worn by persons of that country on the day of their patron saint, St. David. The origin of this custom was an occurrence, during the Welsh wars, in which a party of Welshmen, wanting a mark of distinction, and shortly afterwards passing through a field or garden of leeks, seized and stuck the plants in their caps, and under this signal were victorious.

Leeks are natives of Switzerland.

101. _SHALOT_ (Allium ascalonicum) _is a kind of garlic, the bulbs or roots of which are oblong, irregular, and seldom of large size._

_The stem is naked and round; the leaves are somewhat awl-shaped; the head of flowers is globular; and the stamens are three-pointed._

The uses of shalot, or echalotte, as it is denominated by the French, are almost wholly confined to cookery. It has a strong, but rather pleasant smell, on which account it is generally preferred to onions. It is employed for the seasoning of soups, gravy, hashes, pickles, and for numerous other purposes.

This plant grows wild in several parts of the Continent.

102. _The CANADIAN or TREE ONION_ (Allium Canadense) _is remarkable for producing a bulb or onion at the top of the stalk._

_The stem is naked and round; and the leaves are flat and narrow._

These onions are well deserving of attention both as objects of curiosity, from producing their bulb at the upper extremity of the stalk, and also for their use. When pickled, they are generally thought superior in flavour to the common onion.

They were originally imported from Canada; are perennial, and are propagated by planting the bulbs in the spring or autumn. Either the bulbs of the root or those on the stalk will grow.

103. _CHIVES_ (Allium schoenoprasum) _are the smallest of the garlic tribe, seldom rising more than a few inches above the ground, and the bulbs not being larger than peas._

_The stem is naked, as long as the leaves; and the leaves are round and somewhat awl-shaped._

Chives are natives of Italy, Switzerland, and several other parts of Europe; and are so hardy, and at the same time so useful, that they merit a place in every garden: yet, in the northern counties of England and in Scotland, they are very rarely to be seen. The leaves, which are small and are the principal parts that are used, appear early in the spring. They are employed in salads, and for numerous culinary purposes; and often at a season when other plants of the same tribe cannot be procured.

104. _The COMMON ONION_ (Allium cepa) _is known by its round and hollow leaves, and its swelling pipy stalk, which is considerably thicker in the middle than either at the top or bottom._

The name of onion is derived from the Latin word _unio_, which, properly, signifies a bulb that does not throw out offsets. Onions are propagated by seed which are sown in spring; and the bulbs or roots arrive at perfection in the autumn. The whole plant, when young, is eaten as salad. Onions generally cease to grow towards the middle of August, the stalks and leaves at that time shrinking and turning brown. Shortly after this they must be drawn out of the earth; the tops and blades must be cut off; and the roots dried, either in a warm place, or by exposure to the sun.

_Spanish onions_ are of large size, and flattened shape; and _Portugal onions_ are large, handsome bulbs, of roundish form.

By the common people onions are frequently eaten raw with their food. This has particularly been the case, and from time immemorial, with the inhabitants of Egypt. By stimulating the stomach, they are supposed to favour digestion. Some persons have imagined that they possess a large portion of alimentary matter; but others say that they afford little or no nourishment, and that, when eaten freely, they produce flatulencies, occasion thirst, head-achs, and turbulent dreams. Onions have so much acrimony as generally to affect the breath for many hours: but when boiled or roasted, this is, in a great measure, dissipated, and they then exhibit some sweetness, with a considerable portion of mucilaginous matter. Onions are of great use in several culinary preparations, but particularly in soup and pickles. They are employed in medicine chiefly as poultices for swellings; and have been recommended by some persons, to be rubbed on bald parts of the head, to promote the growth of the hair.

105. _ASPARAGUS_ (Asparagus officinalis), _is a well known plant, the young shoots of which are a favourite culinary vegetable_.

Few circumstances in the phenomena of vegetation are more remarkable than the gradual enlargement of size, and improvement of quality, which have taken place in the cultivation of asparagus. It grows wild on the pebbly beach near Weymouth, and in the island of Anglesea: but its stem, in these situations, is not usually thicker than a goose's quill, and its whole height does not exceed a few inches; whereas in gardens its stem is sometimes near three quarters of an inch thick, and its height, when at maturity, is four or five feet.

Asparagus is one of the greatest delicacies which our kitchen gardens afford, and it is particularly estimable from the early season at which it is produced. Even in the open ground, it is in perfection for the table about the end of April; and when forced, by being planted in hot-beds under glass, it may be cut much earlier. Asparagus continues in season till about the end of June.

It is usually raised from seed, in beds formed for the purpose: and the plants should remain three years in the ground before they are cut: after which, for several years, they will continue to afford a regular annual supply. During the winter, they are secured from the effects of frost by the beds being covered some inches thick with straw or litter.

In the cutting of asparagus, the knife is passed three or four inches beneath the ground. The plants are cut by sloping the blade upward; and the white part that we see, is that which had not previously been exposed to the air. The smallest plants are suffered to grow for the purpose of producing berries to re-stock the beds, and keep them continually in a state of supply.

106. _ALOES are an extensive tribe of plants, some of which are not more than a few inches, whilst others are thirty feet and upwards, in height. All the leaves are fleshy, thick, and more or less spinous at the edges or extremity._

_These plants, which are chiefly inhabitants of hot climates, have flowers of a single petal, the mouth expanded, the base nectariferous, and the filaments of the stamens inserted into the receptacle._

Some of the larger kinds of aloes are of great importance to the inhabitants of countries in which they grow. Beset as the _leaves_ are with strong spines, they form an impenetrable fence. The negroes of the western coast of Africa make ropes and weave nets of the fibrous part of these leaves. The Hottentots hollow out the _stems_ of one of the kinds into quivers for their arrows. In Jamaica, there is a species of aloe which supplies the inhabitants with bow-strings, fishing lines, and materials from which they are able to weave stockings and hammocks. An aloe which grows in the kingdom of Mexico is applied by the inhabitants to almost every purpose of life. It serves as hedges for enclosures: its trunk supplies the place of timber for the roofs of houses, and its leaves the place of tiles. From this plant the Mexicans make thread, needles, and various articles of clothing and cordage: whilst from its juices they manufacture wine, sugar, and vinegar. Some parts of it they eat, and others they apply in medicine.

The _juice_ of aloes was formerly used in Eastern countries in embalming, to preserve dead bodies from putrefaction; and, as the resinous part of this juice is not soluble in water, it is sometimes adopted in hot climates as a preservative to ships' bottoms against the attack of marine worms. One ounce of it mixed with turpentine, tallow, and white lead, is considered to be sufficient for covering about two superficial feet of plank; and about twelve pounds are sufficient for a vessel of fifty tons' burthen. In proof of the efficacy of this method, two planks of equal thickness, and cut from the same tree, were placed under water, one of them in its natural state, and the other smeared with the composition above described. They were suffered to continue in the water eight months, and when, at the end of that time, they were taken out, the former was perforated in every part, and in a state of absolute decay; whilst the latter was as perfect as at first. In the East Indies, the juice of these plants is used as a varnish, to preserve wood from the attacks of destructive insects: and skins, and even living animals, are sometimes smeared with it for the same purpose.

There is a tract of mountains, about fifty miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, which is wholly covered with aloes. Among the Mahometans, and particularly in Egypt, the aloe is a kind of symbolic plant: it is dedicated to the offices of religion; and pilgrims, on their return from Mecca, suspend it over their doors, as a declaration that they have performed that holy journey.

107. _SOCOTRINE ALOES are the dried juice of a large species of aloe_ (Aloe perfoliata, Fig. 38) _which grows in great abundance in the island of Socotra, near the mouth of the Red Sea._

_The leaves are sword-shaped, fleshy, smooth, full of juice, of bluish-green colour; and beset at the edges with strong spines. The flower-stems rise to the height of three or four feet, are smooth, erect, and have at the top a spike of flowers of purple or reddish colour, the stamens of which have oblong orange-coloured anthers._

The true Socotrine aloes are imported into this country wrapped in skins; and when pure have a bright surface, and are in some degree pellucid. In the lump they have a yellowish red colour, with a purplish cast; and, when reduced to powder, are of a golden yellow. Their taste is bitter and disagreeable, but somewhat aromatic; and their smell is not unpleasant.

_Barbadoes aloes_, _common aloes_, or _hepatic aloes_, are the dried juice of a variety of the Socotrine aloes, which is cultivated in Barbadoes and Jamaica. Of this we import three kinds: one in gourd shells; an inferior kind, in pots; and another, still worse, in casks.

In the cultivation of aloes it is requisite that the plants should grow for two or three years before the juice is procured from them. The operation of collecting the juice is performed in different ways. Dr. Browne tells us that labourers go into the field with knives and tubs; and that cutting off the largest and most succulent leaves close to the stalk, they immediately put them into the tubs in an upright position, that the liquor may drain from the wounds. When this is nearly all discharged, they take the leaves out singly, and clear them of any juice that may adhere to them; and the liquor is then put into shallow flat-bottomed vessels, and dried gradually in the sun, until it acquires a proper thickness to be poured out or ladled into the gourd shells which are to contain it. What is thus obtained is called _Socotrine aloes_, and is the clearest and most valuable of any. An additional quantity of juice is obtained by pressing the leaves.

In some places the plants are pulled up by the roots, and, after having been carefully cleansed from earth or other impurities, they are sliced and cut in pieces, into small hand-baskets or nets. In these the pieces are boiled, for a little while, in water, by which the juice is extracted; and successive basketfuls are boiled in the same liquor, until it becomes thick and of dark colour. The fluid part is subsequently evaporated, and what remains is put into gourd shells for sale.

Other methods of inspissating or drying the juice are to pour it into bladders left open at the top, and suspended in the sun; or to place it in broad shallow trays of wood, pewter or tin, exposed to the sun every dry day, until the fluid parts are exhaled, and a perfect resin is formed, which is then packed up for sale.

There is a kind called _Caballine_ or _horse aloes_, which has a rank and unpleasant smell, but in taste is not much more disagreeable than either of the others. In its properties it agrees nearly with hepatic aloes, but it is chiefly employed by farriers in horse medicines.

The medical properties of aloes have long been known and established: and their extensive application in medicine is, perhaps, the best proof that can be adduced of their utility. In the arts aloes are, in several respects, useful. But, particularly, the leaves of the Socotrine aloes afford a beautiful violet colour which does not require the aid of any mordant to fix it; the same also is capable of being formed into a fine transparent colour for painting in miniature.

108. _The GREAT, or AMERICAN ALOE_ (Agave Americana), _is a large plant, the leaves of which are thick, fleshy, and spinous at the edge, and the stem branched and of great height._

_The flowers of this plant are distinguished by having the tube of the corolla narrowed in the middle, the stamens longer than the corolla, and the style longer than the stamens._

This magnificent native of North America is by no means an uncommon plant in our gardens, but, with us, it is seldom seen in flower. There is indeed a notion, but it is an erroneous one, that the American aloe does not bloom until it is a hundred years old. The fact is, that the flowering depends almost wholly on its growth. In hot countries it will flower in a few years; but in colder climates, the growth being slower, it is necessarily longer in arriving at maturity. The stem which bears the blossoms rises from the centre of the leaves, and, when the plant is in a vigorous state, it frequently exceeds the height of twenty feet. An American aloe in the garden of the king of Prussia was forty feet high. Branches issue from every side, and in such manner as to form a kind of pyramid, composed of greenish yellow flowers, which stand erect, and are seen in thick clusters at every joint. When in full flower, the appearance of this aloe is extremely splendid; and if the season be favourable, and the plant be sheltered from the cold in autumn, a succession of blossoms will sometimes be produced for near three months.

In the warmer parts of Europe, American aloes are cultivated as objects of considerable utility. They are frequently grown in rows, as fences, for enclosures, particularly in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. In Algarvia the leaves are employed for scouring pewter and other kitchen utensils, and floors; and, cut into slices, are used for the feeding of cattle.

By a certain preparation, the juice of the leaves is made into cakes, which are employed for washing, and which will lather with salt water as well as with fresh. The fibres of the leaves, when properly prepared, may be separated into threads that are useful in various ways. This separation is sometimes effected by bruising and steeping them in water, and afterwards beating them. The process, in some parts of Portugal, is, after plucking the largest and best leaves, to place them on a square board, which a person presses obliquely between his breast and the ground, and then scrapes with a square iron bar held in both hands. By this operation all the juices are pressed out, and only the fibres and some of the membranous parts of the leaves remain, which are then easily detached. The fibres are employed for all the purposes to which thread can be applied, but they are neither strong nor durable; and if exposed to moisture, they soon decay.

109. _The FAN PALM is a very remarkable tree_ (Corypha umbraculifera) _that grows in the East Indies, but particularly in Malabar, and the island of Ceylon; its leaves, eight or ten in number, rise out of the summit of the trunk, are winged and somewhat fan-shaped, and have their segments connected by a thread or fibre._

The stem of the fan palm is straight, cylindrical, smooth, and as tall as a ship's mast. Its _leaves_ are upwards of six yards in length, and four yards wide; and form altogether a head of twelve or thirteen yards in diameter. These leaves, which, when dry, fold up somewhat like a fan, are used for the covering of huts and cottages; and not unfrequently by soldiers, instead of canvas, for the construction of tents. One of them is sufficiently large to shelter twenty persons from the rays of the sun. They are also a kind of natural paper on which the inhabitants write, by means of a sharp-pointed iron instrument, which leaves indelible marks upon them. Many of the books which are shown in Europe for those of Egyptian papyrus (26) are said to be formed of parts of these leaves.--The _pith_ of the trunk, beaten into a kind of paste and mixed with water, is formed into cakes, and constitutes a species of bread, very serviceable to the inhabitants in times of scarcity. The _juice_ of some parts of the tree is used as an emetic.

The fan palms are said not to bear fruit until they are near forty years old; but after this period, when in perfection, they produce annually more than twenty thousand _berries_ each. These are each about 1½ inch diameter, of globular shape, smooth, green, and fleshy; but are not known to be of any use.

110. _The ROTANG or DRAGON'S BLOOD TREE, is a species of cane_ (Calamus rotang) _which grows to the length of more than a hundred feet, is about as thick as a man's arm, and is closely beset with erect prickles._

_This cane has at the top a tuft of leaves which are several feet in length, and alternately winged, and of which the leaflets are sword-shaped, and armed with sharp spines._

In consequence of its great length and slender form, the rotang tree (which is usually found in woods near rivers, and in morassy places) does not grow entirely upright; but, after having attained the height of five or six yards, it depends, for support, upon other trees, which it sometimes overruns, in nearly an horizontal direction to the extent of sixty or eighty feet. The flowers are produced in upright spikes that separate into long spreading branches, and are succeeded by a red and somewhat egg-shaped fruit, which to the taste is pleasantly acid.