A Catechism of Familiar Things;: Their History, and the Events Which Led to Their Discovery.; With a Short Explanation of Some of the Principal Natural Phenomena. For the Use of Schools and Families. Enlarged and Revised Edition.Anonymous
Science
A Catechism of Familiar Things;: Their History, and the Events Which Led to Their Discovery.; With a Short Explanation of Some of the Principal Natural Phenomena. For the Use of Schools and Families. Enlarged and Revised Edition.
Anonymous
Science -- Popular works
Yes; the Bread-fruit Tree, originally found in the southeastern parts
of Asia and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, though introduced into
the tropical parts of America. It is one of the most interesting, as
well as singular productions of the vegetable kingdom, being no less
beautiful than it is useful. This tree is large and shady; its leaves
are broad and indented, like those of the fig tree--from twelve to
eighteen inches long, rather fleshy, and of a dark green. The fruit,
when full-grown, is from six to nine inches round, and of an oval
form--when ripe, of a rich, yellow tinge; it generally hangs in
clusters of two or three, on a small thick stalk; the pulp is white,
partly farinaceous, and partly fibrous, but when ripe, becomes yellow
and juicy.
_Indented_, toothed like the edge of a saw.
_Farinaceous_, mealy, consisting of meal or flour; from
_farina_, flour.
How is the Bread-Fruit eaten?
It is roasted until the outside is of a brown color and crisp; the
pulp has then the consistency of bread, which the taste greatly
resembles; and thus it forms a nourishing food: it is also prepared in
many different ways, besides that just mentioned. The tree produces
three, sometimes four crops in a year, and continues bearing for fifty
years, so that two or three trees are enough for a man's yearly
supply. Its timber, which at first is of a rich yellow, but afterwards
assumes the color of mahogany, is used in the building of houses and
canoes; the flowers, when dried, serve as tinder; the sap or juice
serves for glue; the inner bark is made, by the natives of some of the
islands of the Pacific Ocean, into a kind of cloth; and the leaves are
useful for many purposes. One species of the bread-fruit, called the
Jaca tree, grows chiefly on the mainland of Asia.
_Mainland_, the continent.
Describe the Jaca Tree.
This kind grows to the same, if not a larger size than the bread-fruit
of the islands, but is neither so palatable nor so nutritious; the
fruit often weighs thirty pounds, and contains two or three hundred
seeds, each four times as large as an almond. December is the time
when the fruit ripens; it is then eaten, but not much relished; the
seeds are also eaten when roasted. There are also other trees in
different parts of the world, mostly of the palm species, which yield
bread of a similar kind.
Is there not a tree which produces a substance resembling the Butter
which we make from the milk of the cow?
The Shea, or Butter Tree, a native of Africa: it is similar in
appearance to the American oak, and the fruit, (from the kernel of
which the butter is prepared,) is somewhat like an olive in form. The
kernel is inclosed in a sweet pulp, under a thin, green rind.
How is the Butter extracted?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
A Catechism of Familiar Things;: Their History, and the Events Which Led to Their Discovery.; With a Short Explanation of Some of the Principal Natural Phenomena. For the Use of Schools and Families. Enlarged and Revised Edition. — John Shaqi
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