The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1875-06-19
YUMA A. t. SATURDAY. JUNE 10, 1875.
Tropical Productions.

The NUTMEG TREE Is a native
of the Molucca or Spice Islands,
but is cultivated in many other
both of the East and West Indies.
The Banda Islands, however, pro-
duce it in the greatest abundance
and perfection. The tree grows
from thirty to fifty feet high with
numerous branches, bright green
glossy leaves, and small white
bellshaped flowers. 1t has con-
siderable resemblance to the or
ange tree. The fruit, which ap-
pears mingled with the flowers,
is about the size of a small peach;
at first pale green but yellow when
ripe. The external covering,
which is first thick and fieshey,
then becomes dry and stiff and
separates into halves, disclosing
d scarlet network adhering to
Ginning black nut. This network
is the mace of commerce, and is
carefully separated. dried and
packed closely, breaking it up as
little as possible. The nuts are
then dried till the husk is readily
removed; afterwards they are
stepped in sea water and lime to
preserve the flavor, and then
packed in casks or chests for eX-
portation. Nutmegs may be gath
cred three times a year. Both
nutmeg and mace are much used
in cookery,
The MANGOsTEEN. The MOluc.
ca Islands are the home of this
beautiful fruit, though it has been
introduced into Java, Siam, the
Philippines and CeylOn. The
tree which bears it resembles the
citron and lemon.
It's flowers are as large as roses
and very handsome. The fruit is
about the size of a small apple,
and tastes, according to travellers,
like mixture of strawberries,
raspberries, grapes and oranges.
1t is also said that the sick person
who has lost an appetite for every
thing else, still relishes the man
gOsteen; and that the case is con-
sidered perfectly hopeless when
he refuses it.
DATES. Dates are the fruit of a |
palm-tree which abounds in |
Egypt, Barbary, Arabia, Persia
and other neigh boring countries.
1t is a tall majestic tree, and high
ly regarded in the East both fer
its beauty and utility. 1t reaches
the hight of sixty feet having a
rugged trunk terminated with a
tuft of leaves six or eight feet long.
The flowers come out in large
lunches from the trunk between
the leaves, and produce a cluster
of oval berries with a thick sweet
pulp, and enclosing a hard oblong
stone which has furrow on one
side. When quite ripe these
berries are soft and of a red color.
They are gathered and formed in
to a hard mass Or cake, by press
ing them into large baskets con-
tanning about two hundred pounds.
In this form the fruit it exported.
In retail trade it is cut out of the
baskets and sold by the pound.
Dates from considerable part of
the food of the people where they
grow plentifully, and the harvest
is looked for with anxiety, and
welcomed with general rejoicing.
Its failure causes apprehensions
of famine. Between the Atlas
range of mountains and the Great
Desert, the date-paIm grows in
such abundance that the Arabs
have named the country "Beled
ell jerid;" the Land of Dates. One
tree will yield from one hundred
to three hundred pounds in a
season.
Besides its value as food plant,
the date tree supplies many other
needs of the Inhabitants. From
the leaves are made baskets, bags,
mats, brushes, ETC., their stems
serving to construct poultry cages
and other rough articles. The
trunk is used for timber; the fb-
rous mass at the base of the
leaves, is twisted into cordage,
and employed in rigging small
vessels. The pith of the trunk is
eatable, is are also the buds and |
young shoots. From the sap is |
distilled a kind of spirituous liquor
called arrack; and finally the hard !
stones of the fruit are sOa aked and |
ground up as food for canals,