160. The MEDLAR (Mespilus germanica) is usually considered a native English fruit, having been remarked, more than a century ago, to grow wild in hedges about Minshull in Cheshire. It is distinguished by being depressed and concave at the top, the leaves of the calyx continuing upon it; and by its containing several hard, compressed, and angular nuts.
It is the property of the medlar, which is cultivated in most large gardens, to be hard, and remarkably austere and disagreeable to the taste, until it has, in part, undergone the putrefactive fermentation, when it becomes a soft, mellow, and, to many palates, a pleasant fruit. Medlars are usually gathered from the trees about the end of October, or beginning of November. To facilitate their becoming fit for the table, they may be placed in moist bran; but such as require to be kept for subsequent use should be deposited on dry straw. In a fortnight or three weeks those in the bran will be eatable, and the others will more gradually ripen. After they are perfectly ripe, they, however, soon become mouldy and decay.
The wood of the medlar-tree somewhat resembles that of the pear-tree, but is of no great value.
161. The COMMON PEAR is a well-known garden fruit, derived from an English stock, the wild pear-tree (Pyrus communis), which grows in hedges and thickets in Somersetshire and Sussex.
It would be an endless task to describe the different known varieties of the cultivated pear. Some of these are very large, and others extremely small; some have a rich and luscious flavour, and others, as the iron pear, are so hard and disagreeable to the taste, as to be absolutely unfit to eat. Pears are chiefly used in desserts; and one or two of the kinds are stewed with sugar, baked, or preserved in syrup.
The fermented juice of pears is called perry, and is prepared nearly in the same manner as that of apples (162) is for cider. The greatest quantities of perry are made in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The Squash, the Oldfield, and the Barland perry are esteemed the best. Many of the dealers in Champaigne wine are said to use perry in the adulteration of it; and, indeed, really good perry is little inferior, either in flavour or quality, to Champaigne.
Of the wood of the pear-tree, which is light, smooth, compact, and of yellowish colour, carpenters' and joiners' tools are usually made, as well as the common kinds of flat rulers, and measuring scales. It is also used for picture frames that are to be stained black. The leaves impart a yellow dye, and are sometimes employed to communicate a green colour to blue cloth.
162. The APPLE, in all its numerous varieties, has been derived from the Crab-tree (Pyrus malus), which grows wild in almost every thicket, and in hedges of all parts of the kingdom.
The uses of apples are very extensive, and even the crab-tree is not without its use. The fruit is indeed small, and bad to the taste; but its fermented juice, which is called verjuice, is sometimes employed in cookery, occasionally in medicine, and frequently by wax-chandlers, for the purifying of wax. Dr. Withering conceives that, with a proper addition of sugar, a grateful liquor might be made from the juice of crabs, little inferior to hock. Hogs and deer are particularly partial to this fruit. The wood is tolerably hard, and, when made into the cogs of wheels, acquires a polish, and is very durable.
Apple-trees are all produced in an artificial manner, by a process termed grafting. This is performed by inserting young shoots of such trees as bear valuable fruit, on stocks that have been raised from the seeds of crabs. Thus the shoot of an apple-tree, inserted into a crab stock, occasions the crab-tree, from that time, to produce apples of nearly the same kind and quality with those of the tree from which the shoot was taken. Other stocks might be used, but those of the crab are considered the best. The same process is adopted in the propagation of nearly every kind of fruit-tree; since, by experience, it has been ascertained that such as are produced from seed all partake of the nature of wild fruits, and have little resemblance to the fruit from which they spring.
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.
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.
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.
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 drink. They pour boiling water over them, and leave them to infuse, as we do in Europe; but they drink the tea thus made without either milk or sugar. The inhabitants of Japan reduce the leaves to a fine powder, which they dilute with water, until it acquires nearly the consistence of soup. The tea equipage is placed before the company, together with a box in which the powdered tea is contained: the cups are filled with warm water, and then as much of the powder is thrown into each cup as the point of a knife can contain, and it is stirred about until the liquor begins to foam, in which state it is presented to the company.
It was formerly imagined that black and green tea were the production of different species of shrubs; but the Chinese all assert, that both are produced from the same species, and that the sole difference which exists betwixt them arises from the seasons when the leaves are gathered, and the modes of curing them. The teas principally consumed in Europe are four kinds of black, and three of green.
Black Teas.
(a) Bohea, or Voo-yee, so called from the country in which it is produced, is sometimes collected at four gatherings. As the leaves are picked, they are put into flat baskets, which are placed on shelves or planks, in the air or sun, from morning till night; after which they are thrown, by small quantities at a time, into a flat cast-iron pan, which is made very hot. They are twice stirred quick with the hand: then taken out, again put into the baskets, and rubbed between men's hands to roll them. After this they undergo another roasting in larger quantities, over a slower fire: and are then sometimes put into baskets over a charcoal fire. When the tea is, at last, sufficiently dried, it is spread on a table; and the leaves that are too large, and those that are unrolled, yellow, broken, or otherwise defective, are picked out, and the remainder is laid aside to be packed.
The best bohea tea is a small blackish leaf, is dusty, smells somewhat like burnt hay, and has a rough and somewhat harsh taste. The average annual importation of bohea into this country, in the ten years from 1791 to 1800, was 3,310,135 pounds.
(b) Congo, or Cong-foo, derived from a word which implies much care or trouble, is a superior kind of bohea, less dusty, and with larger leaves. These are gathered with peculiar care, and there is some little difference in the preparation of congo and bohea. The leaves of the latter, of souchong, hyson, and the fine single teas, are said to be beaten, with flat sticks or bamboos, after they have been withered by exposure to the sun or air, and have acquired toughness enough to keep them from breaking.
Of congo the annual average quantity imported in the above years amounted to 9,564,202 pounds.
(c) Souchong, from a Chinese word which signifies small good thing, is made from the leaves of trees three years old; and, where the soil is good, even of the leaves of older trees. Of true souchong very little is produced; what is sold to Europeans for this is only the finest kind of congo, and the congo usually purchased by them is but the best sort of bohea. Such is the delicacy of this tea that, upon a hill planted with tea-trees, there may only be a single tree, the leaves of which are good enough to be called souchong, and even of these, only the best and youngest are taken. The others make congos of different kinds, and bohea.
(d) Pekoe is distinguished by having the small white flowers of the tree intermixed with it. This, which is chiefly consumed in Sweden and Denmark, is usually made from the tenderest leaves of trees three years old, gathered just after they have been in bloom, when the small leaves that grow between the first two that have appeared, and which altogether make a sprig, are white, and resemble young hair or down.
Green Teas.
It has been asserted that green teas are indebted for their qualities and colour to a process of drying them upon plates of copper. This is certainly incorrect. The leaves for green tea are gathered, and immediately roasted, or tached, as it is called, upon cast-iron plates, and then are very much rubbed betwixt men's hands, to roll them. They are afterwards spread out and separated, as the leaves in rolling are apt to adhere to each other: and are again placed over the fire, and made very dry. After this they are picked, cleansed from dust, several times tached or roasted, and finally put hot into the chests in which they are to be packed.
The principal kinds of green tea are singlo, hyson, and gunpowder.
(a) Singlo, or Song-lo, is so named from the place where it is chiefly cultivated. Of this tea there are three or more sorts; but the leaves of the best are large, fine, flat, and clean. It is gathered at two seasons, the first in April, and the second in June. As we see it, the leaf is flattish, and yields, on infusion, a pale amber-coloured liquor.
(b) Hyson, or Hee-chun, has its name from that of an Indian merchant who first sold this tea to the Europeans. There are two gatherings of hyson. It should have a fine blooming appearance, be of a full-sized grain, very dry, and so crisp that, with slight pressure, it will crumble to dust. When infused in water the leaf should appear open, clear, and smooth, and should tinge the water a light green colour; the infusion ought to have an aromatic smell, and a strong pungent taste.
(c) Gunpowder tea is a superior kind of hyson, gathered and dried with peculiar care. This tea should be chosen in round grains, somewhat resembling small shot, with a beautiful bloom upon it which will not bear the breath: it should have a greenish hue, and a fragrant pungent taste. Gunpowder tea is sometimes adulterated; an inferior kind being dyed and glazed in such manner as to resemble it; but, on infusion, this is found in every respect very inferior.
Tea, both black and green, is sometimes imported in balls from the weight of two ounces to the size of peas.
The dried leaves of the tea plant are a commodity which, a century and a half ago, were scarcely known as an article of trade. The earliest importation of tea into Europe is said to have been by a Dutch merchant in 1610; but the time of its first introduction into England has not been correctly ascertained. So scarce an article was it, for many years after the above period, that, in 1666, twenty-two pounds and three quarters of tea, estimated at fifty shillings a pound, were presented, as a valuable gift, to King Charles the Second. The first importation of tea by the East India Company was in 1669, and this consisted only of two canisters, weighing 143lb. 8oz. So rapidly, however, has the consumption of this article since increased, that, notwithstanding the immense distance from which it is brought, it now amounts to more than twenty millions of pounds' weight per annum. Such is, at present, the extent of the tea trade, that it affords constant employment for at least 50,000 tons of shipping, and 6,000 seamen; and its importance to us is the greater since it has been the means of opening, in China, a market for the sale of woollen goods, one of the most essential articles of our manufacture, to the amount of more than one million of pounds sterling per annum.
If good tea be taken in moderate quantity it is considered by medical men to be beneficial, by exhilarating the spirits and invigorating the system; but, when taken too copiously, it is apt to occasion weakness, tremor, and other bad symptoms.
The tea plant may be propagated in the temperate climates of Europe, as well as in the Indies; under the shelter of a south wall it will even flourish in our own gardens. It is, however, somewhat remarkable that the fresh leaves, if used for tea, produce giddiness and stupefaction; but these noxious properties are capable of being dissipated by the process of roasting.
In some of the southern parts of England there are smugglers who have reduced to a regular process the management of the leaves of the ash, the sloe, and some other trees, for the adulteration of tea. The article thus prepared has the name of smouch, and is sometimes mixed in the proportion of about one-third, with the ordinary teas. The preparation of it, however, if discovered, is subject to very heavy penalties.
175. CLOVES are the unexpanded flower-buds of an East Indian tree (Caryophyllus aromaticus, Fig. 50), somewhat resembling the laurel in its height, and in the shape of its leaves.
The leaves are in pairs, oblong, large, spear-shaped, and of bright green colour. The flowers grow in clusters, which terminate the branches, and have the calyx divided into four small and pointed segments. The petals are small, rounded, and of bluish colour; and the seed is an oval berry.
In the Molucca islands, where the preparation of different spices was formerly carried on by the Dutch colonists to great extent, the culture of the clove-tree was a very important pursuit. It has even been asserted that, in order to secure a lucrative branch of commerce in this article to themselves, they destroyed all the trees growing in other islands, and confined the propagation of them to that of Ternate only. But it appears that, in 1770 and 1772, both clove and nutmeg trees were transplanted from the Moluccas into the islands of France and Bourbon; and, subsequently, into some of the colonies of South America, where they have since been cultivated with great success.
At a certain season of the year the clove-tree produces a vast profusion of flowers. When these have attained the length of about half an inch, the four points of the calyx being prominent, and having in the middle of them the leaves of the petals folded over each other, and forming a small head about the size of a pea, they are in a fit state to be gathered. This operation is performed betwixt the months of October and February, partly by the hand, partly by hooks, and partly by beating the trees with bamboos. The cloves are either received on cloths spread beneath the trees, or are suffered to fall on the ground, the herbage having previously been cut and swept for that purpose. They are subsequently dried by exposure for a while to the smoke of wood fires, and afterwards to the rays of the sun. When first gathered they are of reddish colour, but, by drying, they assume a deep brown cast.
This spice yields a very fragrant odour, and a bitterish, pungent, and warm taste. It is sometimes employed as a hot and stimulating medicine, but is more frequently used in culinary preparations. When fresh gathered, cloves will yield on pressure a fragrant, thick, and reddish oil; and, by distillation, a limpid essential oil. The latter is imported into Europe, but is frequently adulterated, and sometimes even to the amount of nearly half its weight. Oil of cloves is used by many persons, though very improperly, for curing the tooth-ache, since, from its pungent quality, it is apt to corrode the gums, and injure the adjacent teeth. When the tooth is carious, and will admit of it, a bruised clove is much to be preferred.
176. LADANUM, or LABDANUM, is a resinous drug which exudes, and is collected, from the leaves and branches of a beautiful species of cistus (Cistus Creticus), which grows in Syria and the Grecian islands.
The height of this shrub seldom exceeds three or four feet. Its leaves, which stand in pairs on short foot-stalks, are oblong, wrinkled, rough, and clammy. The flowers appear in June and July, and consist of five large rounded petals of light purplish colour, each marked with a dark spot at the base.
The ancient mode of collecting ladanum, if the accounts which have been stated respecting it may be credited, was not a little curious. Goats, which delight in grazing upon the leaves and young branches of the shrubs that produce it, were turned loose into the plantation, and the resin that adhered to the long hair of their beards and thighs was afterwards detached by combing them.
The present method is different, and is a laborious and troublesome employment. Tournefort informs us that he saw seven or eight country fellows, in their shirts and drawers, and in the hottest part of the day, drawing over the shrubs a kind of whip, or rake, with numerous long straps or thongs of leather. From these they collected the resin, by scraping it off with a kind of knife; after which it was made into cakes of different sizes for sale. As loose sand generally adheres, in considerable quantity, to the viscous leaves of the shrub, it is not unusual for dealers in this drug to adulterate it with sand.
We import ladanum principally from the Levant and the Persian Gulf; and it comes to us in cakes or masses of different size, dark colour, and about the consistence of soft plaster; and also in rolls, lighter-coloured and much harder, which are twisted up so as somewhat to resemble the rolls of wax tapers.
The smell of ladanum is strong, but not disagreeable; and its taste is warm, aromatic, and somewhat unpleasant. This drug was formerly much used as an internal medicine; but it is now employed only externally, as an ingredient in plasters.
177. The TULIP-TREE (Liriodendron tulipifera) is an American production which yields a very beautiful and valuable kind of wood.
It sometimes grows to the height of sixty or seventy feet; and has lobed leaves, and tulip-shaped flowers.
While young, the wood of the tulip-tree is white; but at an advanced age, it assumes a fine yellow colour, or a streaked appearance of different shades of red. This wood is equally useful in ornamental furniture, and as a timber for building. It is occasionally employed in the construction of light vessels; and the trunks of tulip-trees are frequently hollowed by the Indians into canoes. When they have been grown in a favourable soil and climate, one of them is sufficiently large to be made into a canoe capable of containing several people.
On account of its quick growth and easy culture, this noble tree well deserves the attention of planters in our own country.