(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.