2098

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

FART III.

lowish white, veined, with a fine dose grain, and moderately hard. It iseasy to work, receives a fine polish, and resembles in its general appearancecitron wood. It is, he says, much more solid and strong than the ordinarywhite woods of Europe ; and, though the tree is closely allied to the Coni-ferae, it has nothing resinous in its nature. In China and Japan, the salis-btiria appears to be grown chiefly for its fruit, the nuts of which, as Dr. Abelobserves, are very generally exposed for sale in the markets of China; thoughhe was not able to ascertain whether they were used as food, or as medicine.In Japan, according to Kaempfer, they are never omitted at entertainments;entering into the composition of several dishes, after having been freed fromtheir austerity by roasting or boiling. They are reputed, he says, to be usefulin digestion, and in dispelling flatulence. Thunberg says that even thefleshy part of the fruit is eaten in Japan, though insipid or bitterish; andthat, if slightly roasted, skin and all, it is not unpalatable. Some of the fruitwhich ripened in the Botanic Garden of Montpelier were tasted by M. Delilleand MM. Bonafous of Turin, who found their flavour very like that ofnewly roasted maize. M. Delille says that, after roasting the nuts, he foundnothing in the kernels but a farinaceous matter, without the least appear-ance of oil; notwithstanding what Kaempfer incidentally mentions to thecontrary. M. Peschier, a chemist of Geneva, discovered in the husk of thefruit an acid, to which he gives the name of acide gengdique (See B'tblio-theque Vniverselle de Geneve, as quoted in Ann, de la Soc. d’llort. de Paris,tom. xv. p. 95.) Bunge says that the Chinese plant a number of youngtrees of the salisburia together, in order to produce a monstrous tree, byinarching them into one another; but Delille thinks that this may probablyhave been done in order to unite male and female trees, for the sake offertilising the fruit. In Europe, hitherto, the use of the tree has chieflybeen as a botanical ornament; but it is suggested by Loiseleur Deslong-champs and others, that, as it grows with great rapidity in the south ofFrance, it may be planted as a timber tree, and applied to the same uses asthe ash, of which it has the advantage of being more solid, and having agreater specific gravity.

Soil, Propagation, Culture, <$rc. The salisburia, judging from the specimensin the neighbourhood of London, thrives best on a deep sandy loam, per-fectly dry at bottom; but it by no means prospers in a situation where thesubsoil is wet. Were this not the case at Purser’s Cross, the trees therewould, doubtless, have been much larger than they are; as, though one of themis the highest in England, yet the head is not so ample, nor the trunk sothick, as that in the Mile End Nursery, which is in a sandy soil on sand.The situation should be sheltered, but not so much so as for many exotictrees, which have longer leaves, and more widely spreading branches; suchas the Magnolia acuminata, the Ontario poplar, and the Platanus occi-dentalis. In Scotland, the salisburia is considered rather tender, and isplanted against a wall. It is propagated by layers, of two-years-old wood,which generally require two years to be properly rooted; but, on the Con-tinent, it has been found that, by watering the layers freely during the sum-mer, they may be taken off in the autumn of the year in which they weremade. Cuttings made in March, of one-year-old wood, slipped off with aheel, root in a mixture of loam and peat earth in the shade; and theirgrowth will be the more certain if they have a little bottom heat. Cuttingsof the young wood, taken off before midsummer, and prepared and plantedwith the leaves on, in sand, under a bell-glass, will, we have no doubt, suc-ceed perfectly. In France, Loiseleur Deslongchamps informs us that, in somesoils and situations, cuttings grow with such rapidity, that in three orfour years they form plants 6 ft. or 7 ft. high. (Amcen., &c., tom. xv. p. 96.)Poiteau observes that, in some cases, plants raised from cuttings and layersare apt to form a crooked head of slow growth; but that, after the trees aretwo or three years old, if they are cut over by the surface, or pegged downto the ground, they will throw up shoots like other trees that stole; one of