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348 FUTJITS IN THEIR SEASON.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
" " ——"" The Walnut Traces Its Noble Gen...
wholesale expenditure of a sixpence made him . the envied possessor of a whole nut . This fruit , growing * singly as it does , is one of a
class of botanical mysteries , for the pistil of the blossom consists of three carpels or divisions , and , as a natural consequence , three
instead ovules or of embryo developing seeds 1 int in o due a three time -fold make fruit their , as , appearance according _; to yet all ,
_Ijinnsean rules , it ought to do , two of these ovules are invariably absorbed or in some way disappear , and only a single nut comes to
perfection , the sole eventual trace of its triple promise being the schoolboy ' s _" xnonkey-face" the three indentations at the end of the
, shell . The fruit , however , being but o ? _ie to all intents and purposes , has but a single germ to put forth , and thus requires but a single
• outlet , and therefore is it that two of these indentations are found to be but mere surface markswhile the third is a real doorway in
, the hard shell through which the sprout emerges which is to form the future plant . As the nut becomes old , the milk which it had
• contained disappears , and the hollow is filled with a spongy mass which is in fact the germinating organ . When _dejDOsited in the
ground , the germ in a few days make its way through the hole provided for its exit , one end of the shoot strikes into the ground to
form the root , the other sends up three pale green feathery leaves which soon unfoldthe young plant then grows rapidly , in the course
, of four or five years begins to bear , and continues to do so without intermission during the rest of its life , which is protracted for near
a century , and so luxuriantly that often as many as two hundred nuts in all stages , besides innumerable white blossoms , may be
seen upon it at one time . The cocoa-tree flourishes best near the sea-side , the principal nourishment it craves being silex and
soda ; and in Brazil , where the supply of these is naturally deficient , they even supply salt to the soil where it is planted , in quantities as
large as half a bushel to a single tree ; and so essential is this considered to its prosperity that it is not negiected even when salt costs
two shillings per pound . It is also found to thrive near human habitations better than in solitude , which causes the natives to say that the
tree loves conversation , but it is probably owing to its deriving benefit from the ashes thrown out where fires have been made . It forms
a beautiful feature of tropical scenery , and Humboldt speaks in glowing terms of the natural charms of those South American river
banks , " the windings of which are marked by cocoa-trees , as the rivers of Europe are sometimes bordered by poplars and willows . _"
being As the unbranche . nuts grow d , at the the best summit means of of the gathering lofty stem them , the is palm by passing tribes
a hoop round the tree and the body of the climber , whose feet are also connected by a ligature , enabling him to clasp the trunk . The
slovenly Malays , however , merely cut notches in the wood to assist them to ascend—a plan which is not only dangerous to themselves
but also injurious to the tree .
The nut furnishes at once both food and drink , the milk , as it is
348 Futjits In Their Season.
348 _FUTJITS IN THEIR SEASON .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1861, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011861/page/60/
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