The fruit is oblong, about ten inches in length, pointed at both ends, and covered with a greenish down, under which there is a blackish and woody rind. Its interior consists of a whitish, spongy, and juicy substance, with several brown seeds.
This tree is a native of Senegal and other parts of Africa.
The virtues and uses of the sour-gourd tree and its fruit are numerous and of great importance to the inhabitants of the countries in which it is found. The bark and leaves are dried, powdered, and preserved in bags, to be employed as a seasoning for food. Two or three pinches of this powder are put, by the negroes, into their messes, under an impression that it promotes perspiration and moderates the heat of the blood.
The pulp of the fruit has an agreeably acid flavour. This is not only eaten when fresh, but is dried and powdered for medicinal uses; a kind of soap is also prepared from it.
In Senegal, when the trees are decayed, the trunks are hollowed, by the negroes, into burying-places for their poets, musicians, and buffoons. These persons are much esteemed whilst they live, although they are supposed to derive their superior talents from sorcery or an alliance with demons. When dead, however, their bodies are regarded with horror, and are not allowed the usual burial, under a notion that the earth would, in such case, refuse to produce its accustomed fruits. The bodies inclosed in these trees are said to become perfectly dry without decaying, and thus to form a kind of mummies, without the process of embalming.
192. COTTON is a soft vegetable down, which is contained in the seed vessels, and envelopes the seeds of the cotton-plant (Gosypium herbaceum, Fig. 52), which is cultivated in the East and West Indies, and numerous other countries of hot climates..
This, though an annual plant, grows to a considerable heights It has leaves of bright green colour, marked with brownish veins, and each divided into five lobes. The flowers have only one petal, in five segments, with a short tube, and are of pale yellow colour, with five red spots at the bottom.
The cotton pods are of somewhat triangular shape, and have each three cells. These, when ripe, burst, and disclose their snow-white or yellowish contents, in the midst of which are contained small black seeds, in shape somewhat resembling those of grapes.
We are informed, by Mr. Edwards, that the plants are raised from seed, the land requiring no other preparation for them than to be cleared of its native incumbrances. The seeds are usually sown in rows six or eight feet asunder, and the holes in which they are put are about four feet apart. At the end of five months the plants begin to flower, and in two months more the pods are formed. After the cotton is gathered, it is freed from the seeds to which it is attached, by a very simple machine, consisting of two small rollers that are close and parallel to each other, and move in opposite directions. The cotton is next hand-picked, to free it from decayed leaves, broken seeds, and other impurities; after which it is packed, for sale, in bags of about two hundred pounds each.
Though the cotton plant flourishes best in tropical climates, it is capable of cultivation in such as are not so hot; and it is now an object of attention in several of the southern parts of Europe.