a central axis, and are of a rounded, subreniform shape, and even flattened to an almost sharp edge on one side, and broadly truncate at the scar (hilum) where they are attached to the pericarp or central axis. The shell is of a deep brown color, embossed, as it were, with smooth tubercles. They are from two to two and a half inches or more in their broadest diameter, as shown in Fig. 106. The kernel or meat is pure white, soft, rich and oily, with a pleasant flavor. This nut is a rarity in our markets, and Mr. H. R. Davy of New York, to whom I am indebted for a specimen, as well as other rare kinds, assures me that in his forty-five years' experience as a dealer in foreign fruits and nuts, he has never known of but one lot, and that one consisted of about one-half bushel, brought into his store by a sailor, who only knew their common South American name. These nuts are more frequently seen in European seaports than in those of this country. SOUTH SEA CHESTNUT.-See Tahitian chestnut. TAHITIAN CHESTNUT.-The seeds of a tree known in the South Sea islands by the native name of Toi, but to botanists as Inocarpus edulis. It belongs to the bean family (Leguminosa). The tree grows sixty to eighty feet high, and when young the stems are fluted like a Grecian column, but as they increase with age the projections extend outward, until they form a kind of buttress all around the lower part, gradually decreasing upward. This so-called chestnut tree has yellow flowers, succeeded by fibrous pods containing one large seed or nut, which, when roasted or boiled, resembles the chestnut in taste. The nuts have a different local name in almost every one of the Pacific islands where it is at all abundant. TAVOLA NUT.-See Myrobalan nut. TALLOW NUT.—A local and nearly obsolete name for the fruit of the Ogeechee lime or sour gum tree (Nyssa capitata) of the swamps of Florida, Georgia and westward. The fruit is about an inch long, resembling a small plum, the pulp having an agreeable acid taste. Bartram, p. 94, refers to this fruit under the name of "Tallow nut," but why so called is not explained. TALLOW NUT.-The fruit of the Chinese Tallow tree, Stillingia sebifera, of the spurgewort family (Euphorbiaceae), a native of China, where it is, as well as in some of the warmer parts of America, extensively cultivated. It has been planted in a few localities in the Southern States, and appears to thrive. It is a small tree thirty to forty feet high, with rhomboid tapering leaves and a three-celled capsuled fruit, each cell containing only a single seed thickly coated with a yellow, tallow-like substance, hence its common name. This tallow or grease is used for making soap, burning in lamps, and also for dressing cloth. TEMPERANCE NUT.-An English name of cola nut. TORREY NUT.-The hard, nut-like seeds of Torreya nucifera, of Siebold, or Taxus nucifera, of Kæmpfer, and Caryotaxus nucifera, of Zuccarini, a tree native of Japan, where these nuts are eaten by the Japanese, either raw or roasted. An oil is also extracted from the nuts, for use in cooking or for burning in lamps. This Japanese tree belongs to the same genus as the so-called. California nutmeg (see Nutmeg) and our Florida stinking cedar (T. taxifolia), also the great Chinese cedar (T. grandis). WATER CHESTNUT.-Also known as water caltrops. The seeds of several species of water plants of the genus Trapa, of the evening primrose family (Onagracea). In southern Europe and eastward there is a species found in ponds, the seeds of which are called Jesuit chestnuts (T. natans), and in India and Ceylon a closely allied one, the Singhara-nut plant (T. bispinosa), while in Lago Maggiore there is another (T. verbanensis), but all may be varieties of one and the same species, including the Trapa bicornis, a two-horned water chestnut, extensively used in China and Japan as food under various local names. In China they are called Ling, and of late years have been occasionally imported and sold, more as curiosities than for eating. These seeds or nuts are of a dark brown color, and of the form and size shown in Fig. 107, resembling, in miniature, the skull of an ox with abbreviated horns. When fresh, the kernel is of an agreeable nutty flavor. WATER CHESTNUT, OR CHINQUAPIN.-The seeds of the large yellow water lily (Nelumbium luteum), a very common plant in small ponds in the West and South, but more rare in the East. The seeds are about the size and shape of small acorns, and produced in a large, topshaped, fleshy receptacle. They are edible, and are supposed to have been extensively used as food by the aborigines of this country. INDEX. Ackawai nutmeg... Acorn .......... Page Page 274 Atherosperma moschata.. Acrodiclidium camara.......... 274 Australian chestnut............ 255 Esculus hippocastanum.. bitter...... 12 budding, bud in position... 28 budding knife..... budding knife, Yankee 24 propagation of... soil and location for the... leaf, bur and nut.................................. 48 Chile 48 48 properties and uses......................... 52 47 47 ..... 48 Beechnut 44 51 Ben nut... ............ 25€ Goes pulverulenta 52 Scolytus rugulosus... 42 Taphrina deformans. 43 orchard in California.. Bertholletia excelsa............ 267 257 soft or brittle-shelled... 36 Cape chestnut. 260 Castanospermum Australe..... 255 |