TROPICAL FRUITS.
Those who have not visited tropical countries, can scarcely imagine the wonders of their vegetation. There is nothing in the northern half of the United States, with which to compare the richness of the vegetable growth of the tropics.
In the Southern States of our Union, as well as in Mexico and Central America, there are found many of the same plants and trees that grow in countries lying still nearer the equator.
The various kinds of fruits which grow in these countries, form a very large portion of the exports. Among those that are most commonly sent to us, are bananas, oranges, lemons, dates, cocoa-nuts, and figs.
In countries where the banana grows most abundantly, no article of food which the natives can obtain, requires so little trouble in its cultivation.
One has only to set out a few banana sprouts, and await the result. In a short time, a juicy stem shoots up to the height of fifteen or twenty feet.
It is formed of nothing more than a number of leaf stalks rolled one over the other, and grows sometimes to a thickness of two feet.
Two gigantic leaves grow out from the top, ten feet long and two feet broad. They are so very thin and tender that a light wind splits them into ribbons.
From the center of the leaves a very strong stalk rises up, which supports the cluster of bananas. There are sometimes over one hundred bananas to a single stalk.
A cluster of ripe bananas will weigh from sixty to seventy pounds, and represents a large amount of food. When a stalk has produced and ripened its fruit, it begins to wither and soon dies.
In a very short time, however, new sprouts spring up from the old root, and ere long the native has another cluster. So rapidly do they follow each other, that one cluster is scarcely consumed before another one is ready to ripen.
Bananas ripened on the stalk will not bear transportation to any great distance; therefore, when selected for export, the clusters are cut off while the bananas are very green.
Another valuable fruit of the tropics is the date. This fruit grows on a tree called the date-palm, that is found in both Asia and Africa.
The date-palm is a majestic tree, rising to the height of sixty feet or more, without branches, and with a trunk of uniform thickness throughout its entire length.
It begins to bear fruit about eight years after it has been planted, and continues to be productive from seventy to one hundred years.
Dates are oval in shape, and have a long solid stone. They form the principal food of the inhabitants of some of the eastern countries, and are an important article of commerce.
When they are perfectly ripe, they possess a delightful perfume, and are very agreeable to the taste.
In preparing dates to be sent to distant countries, they are gathered a short time before they are quite ripe, dried in the sun on mats, and finally packed in boxes or straw sacks.
Travelers in the deserts of Africa, often carry dried dates with them for their chief food, during a journey of hundreds of miles.
The Arabs grind dried dates into a powder which they call date flour. If this is packed away in a dry place, it will keep for years, and only has to be moistened with a little water to prepare it for eating.
One of the most valuable and productive of tropical trees is the cocoa-nut palm. It grows largely in both the East and West Indies, and elsewhere throughout the torrid zone.
It rises to a height of from sixty to one hundred feet, and terminates in a crown, of graceful, waving leaves. Some of these leaves reach a length of twenty feet, and have the appearance of gigantic feathers.
The fruit consists of a thick outward husk of a fibrous structure, and within this, is the ordinary cocoa-nut of commerce.
The shell of the nut is hard and woody, and a little over a quarter of an inch in thickness. Next to this shell is the kernel, which is also a shell about half an inch thick, and composed of a white substance very pleasant to the taste. Within this white eatable shell, is a milky liquid, called cocoa-nut milk.
The cocoa-nut is very useful to the natives of the regions in which it grows. The nuts supply a large portion of their food, and the milky fluid inclosed within, forms a pleasant and refreshing drink.
The shell of the nut is made into cups, and from the kernel, cocoa-nut oil is pressed out and largely used in making soap and for other purposes.
In Ceylon, the tree is cultivated extensively. It is estimated that there are twenty million trees in that island, and that each tree produces about sixty nuts yearly. The wealth of a native is based upon the number of cocoa-nut palms he owns.
Another well-known tropical fruit is the fig, which grows on a bush or small tree about eighteen or twenty feet high.
The fig-tree is now cultivated in all the Mediterranean countries, but the larger portion of the American supply comes from western Asia and the south of France.
The varieties are extremely numerous, and the fruit is of various colors, from deep purple to yellow, or nearly white.
The trees usually bear two crops—one in the early summer, the other in the autumn.
When ripe, the figs are picked and spread out to dry in the sun. Thus prepared, the fruit is packed closely in barrels, baskets, or wooden boxes, for commerce.
Oranges and lemons are cultivated in nearly all warm countries. They grow on trees somewhat smaller than apple trees, and must be picked for export while they are hard and green.
They ripen during transportation, so that green oranges put up and sent to us from Sicily or other distant points, change to a golden yellow color by the time they reach us.
Oranges are grown largely in Florida and Louisiana, extensive orange orchards being frequently met with in traveling through those States. The oranges grown there are considered very choice, and are generally sweeter than those brought from Italy.
Language Lesson.—Define the following words, giving the meaning of each part as indicated by hyphens: ex-port-ing, un-common-ly, dis-trust-ful, pro-vid-ing, un-bear-able, un-hope-ful.
The syllables placed before a stem are called prefixes; those placed after a stem, suffixes.
The words shall and will are used to indicate future time; as, I shall go; you will go; he will go.
The three tenses of an action may in a general way be represented by the words yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow.
Let pupils fill blanks in the following statements, and state the tense of each action.
We —— go to see them next week.
John —— last night.
You and I —— in school at the present time.
LESSON LXVII.
found'ed, established; placed.
gar'ri son, soldiers stationed in a fort or town.
strode, walked with long steps.
coun'cil, a number of men called together for advice.
in cit'ing, moving to action.
de vot'ed, very much attached.
de feat'ed, overcome.
cul'ture, a high state of knowledge.
or'na ment ed, adorned.
wam'pum, shells used by the Indians as money or for ornament.
fan tas'tic, wild; irregular.