Useful knowledge: or, A familiar account of the various productions of nature, Volume 21831 |
Common terms and phrases
afterwards agreeable almonds aloes America annual plant aromatic bark berries biennial plant bird-lime bitter boiled branches bread called calyx capsicum cattle chiefly climates common culinary cultivated distilled dried dyeing East Indies eaten employed England essential oil esteemed Europe feet fermentation FIORIN flavour flowers formed fragrant frequently fruit gardens grain grass green colour ground grows wild husk imported inches Indian inhabitants island juice kind known leaves long pepper manufactured meadows medicine mixed mucilage native nearly numerous nutmeg nuts oblong obtained oval particularly pepper perennial plant petals pickled plant pounds powder prepared produced pulp purpose quantity Quassia resin rhubarb ripe roots salep scammony season seeds Sheep's fescue shrub smell smooth sometimes South sown species stalks stamens stem substance sugar sweet taste thick tree turpentine usually valuable varieties vegetable vessels West Indies wine wood yellow colour yellowish yield
Popular passages
Page 52 - Neither do men put new wine into old bottles : else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish : but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
Page 52 - And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field ; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting : the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses ; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
Page 206 - In some instances, the perpendicular and transverse incisions are made, and the cork is left upon the trees, until, by the growth of the new bark beneath, it becomes sufficiently loose to be removed by the hand. After the pieces are detached, they are soaked in water, and when nearly dry are placed over a fire of coals, which blackens their external surface. By the latter operation, they are rendered smooth, and all the smaller blemishes are thereby concealed; the larger holes and cracks are filled...
Page 79 - ... nearly three quarters of an inch thick, and its height, when at maturity, is four or five feet Asparagus is one of the greatest delicacies which our kitchen gardens afford, and it is particularly valuable from the early season at which it is produced. It is usually raised from seed, in beds formed for the purpose ; and the plants should remain three years in the ground before they are cut ; after which, for several years, they will continue to afford a regular annual supply. During the winter,...
Page 128 - Hasselquist informs us that, during a siege, more than 100 men were kept alive for nearly two months, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum, which they occasionally took into their mouths, and suffered gradually to dissolve.
Page 197 - Flutes and other wind-instruments are formed of it ; and furniture, made of box-wood, would be valuable were it not too heavy, as it would not only be very beautiful, but its bitter quality would secure it from the attacks of insects. In France, it is much in demand for combs, knife-handles and buttonmoulds...
Page 198 - This tree is a native of Africa, the East and West Indies, and South America, and flourishes best in a sandy soil. — Food, clothing, and the means of shelter and protection, are all afforded by the cocoa-nut-tree. The kernels of the nuts, which somewhat resemble the filbert in taste, but are of much firmer consistence, are used as food in various modes of dressing, and sometimes are cut into pieces and dried. When pressed in a mill, they yield an oil, which, in some countries, is the only oil used...
Page 37 - The husk is then broken off by large and heavy rollers of wood or iron. When the coffee has been thus cleared of its husk, it is again dried in the sun, and lastly winnowed with a large fan, for the purpose of clearing it from the pieces of husks with which it is intermingled. A pound of coffee is generally more than the produce of one tree : but a tree in great vigour will produce three or four pounds.
Page 81 - There is a tract of mountains, about fifty miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, which is wholly covered with aloes. Among the Mahometans, and particularly in Egypt, the aloe is a kind of symbolic plant : it is dedicated to the offices of religion ; and pilgrims, on their return from Mecca, suspend it over their doors, as a declaration that they have performed that holy journey.
Page 149 - They are subsequently dried by exposure for a while to the smoke of wood fires, afterwards to the rays of the sun. When first gathered, they are of a reddish color, but, by drying, they assume a deep-brown cast. This spice yields a very fragrant odor, and has a bitterish, pungent, and warm taste. It is sometimes employed as a hot and stimulating medicine, but is more frequently used in culinary preparations. When fresh gathered, cloves will yield, on pressure, a fragrant, thick, and reddish oil ;...