Spices and how to know them

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A NATIVE OF JAMAICA ISLAND

SPICES

AND
HOW TO KNOW THEM

BY

W. M. GIBBS

@

THE MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP WORKS
- ¥.

Copyright, 1909, by

W. M. Gisss, Dunxirk, N. Y.

©cl.A253114

O THE PROGRESSIVE PLANTER AND

HONEST MILLER OF SPICES, TO
THE SCRUPULOUS AND CONSCIENTIOUS
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALER, TO
THE EARNEST COMMERCIAL MAN, AND
TO THE CONSUMER WHO IS PARTICU-
PAR set Hots) BOOK oS RES PE Cr ULL.
DEDICATED.

: Bor

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION,

CHAPTER: \I:
Earty Hisrory oF Spices,

CHAPTER II.

ADULTERATION OF SPICES, .

CHAPTER III.

How to Detrecr ADULTERATIONS IN SPICES—THEIR

ForMATION AND ANALYSIS, .
Potato Starch, .
Maranta Starch,
Circuma, P
Leguminous inches
Nutmeg Starch,
Capsicum Starch,

Pepper Starch, .
Cinnamon Starch, .
Buckwheat Starch.
Maize or Corn Starch,
Rice Starch,

Wheat Starch, .
Barley Starch, .

Rye Starch, .

‘Oat Starch,

Reagents ee Rpparatas,
The Determination,

CHAPTER IV.
Brack Pepper,

CHAPTER V.
Wuitrt Pepper, .

CHAPTER VI.

Lone PEppPER,

CHAPTER VII.

Capsicum, or CAYENNE,

10-14

15-34
21
22
22
23
23
23
23
24
24
24
24
24
25
25
25
30
32

35-58
59-61
62-65

66—74

CHAPTER VIII. PAGE

PIMENTO?' OR UATESBICE) \\c0.(o%. Ponte t yar he ts a ecake belts 75-80
CHAPTER. LX.

CINNAMON AND Cassia, . . Hh deve Lat soe RO

Chemical Composition of Catan ea Cinnamon, 107
CHAPTER X.

CVOVES 6 Gee aS ER ety te ceca nc ca en
CHAPTER XI.

GUNG ea He oe ee cs nt ae ae Lee

CHAPTER XII.
Lig Lote et AED CAM SA SEM rem 7y mst Sipe nie agen ToT LE) Cea

CHAPTER XIII.

IVA er SN RGB Rw A LO CME NM oa tenenerets Sho eMac aloe Clty alae

The Chemical Composition of Mace, . . . . 155
CHAPTER’ XIV.

MusrarD, . . SO o 6S

Wet Neate or ean Mca Mt ps tle ac hy Sh 161
CHAPTER XV.

BU rns Fic 0s, Ge prea y | cicleo tiled ees + Sa rimeatuans merce LCL alate
roy fe Mma atin Ars oR goed Oia na RuremEr TY Scan \ Cuvee Dee 169
Mianjoraiity Mic aw come tice 50 (ies) cos eam Nan een panes La
BP arr ley OS ayaa abst ai Ue on iho eich oe ne 172
SA VOLY,, aeitrical cher Rake Grspe sa) Mel 9 wd eo aoe eel erg as 173
Wye Sk Ie a el wee nie ese mare eee 174
IE = 6 ON ae PP OR CM ULM A EM ere cas gt ANDES ie 176
CWarawaiyece ie te athe es ble: fool ac viet iene ation Reames 176
(COPIAMOET ty ce me a tens Cemmatee eck ot pra nna 177

Cardaimomies ) ..0 4 OPC) ohh peta aca Sanco ts anes 178

INTRODUCTION

T is with a certain feeling of helplessness and lone-
liness that I am venturing upon the attempt to trace
out the history of spices, as I have not a spice grove

or garden to step into for my information; but I must
depend upon a far-distant country, where intelligence
is but little above what it was five hundred years ago,
where may be found the lair of the lion and the jungles
of the tiger, where the elephant is used as a beast of bur-
den, where the people file their teeth and color them
black because they think natural white teeth too much
like dogs’ teeth. The fact that such ignorance is gen-
eral in the Spice Islands obviously makes my informa-
tion the more difficult to obtain. Moreover, the camera
and its uses are not known among the Malays, and the
painter’s art is not among their imaginings. For these
reasons, the illustrations I have obtained have been
secured only at great cost, but they are as true to nature
in color as it is possible for printer’s ink to make them.
I hope they will aid me in realizing my purpose of mak-
ing dealers in spices more familiar with their goods.

It was not until after long and careful consideration
of the fact that the mass of people know but little about
the condiments which are to be found on almost every
table, and of the further fact of the “inhumanity of
man to man ” in adulterating, that I was bold enough to
attempt to write upon a subject never before written
upon, except ina meager way. And although I do not
expect to interest all who may read my pages, I hope
to create a wish in some to know more of the flavors
which so tickle the palate, the fruits of that far-distant
country, the Straits Settlement, and neighboring
regions.

If I succeed in creating a desire among the retail
dealers in spices to know the goods better, and to sell
only those which are pure and wholesome, I shall feel
that my work has not been a failure. In placing the

same before the public, I believe it to be the most com-
plete work ever written upon the subject with which it
deals.

THE AUTHOR.

I am much indebted to the United States Department of Agri-
culture, Bulletin 13, by Clifford Richardson, for information in Chap-
ter 3, on Adulterations and Analysis of Spices. Also to the United
States Consulates of the cities of Penang, Singapore, and Colombo, to
whom I extend thanks.

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CHAPTER I.

EARLY HISTORY OF SPICES

** Be still! oh North winds, and come, oh Southern breezes, and blow upon
my garden, that the spice trees therein may blossom and bear fruit!”’
“* His cheeks are as a bed of spices, of sweet flowers.”’
—The Song of Solomon.

HE terms spices and condiments are applied to

those articles which, while possessing in themselves

no nutritious principles, are added to food to make
it more palatable and to stimulate digestion. They are
of an exclusively vegetable origin, and occupy an im-
portant position in the diet of the human race.

A ride of thirty-five days by ocean steamer from New
York City brings us to the city of Singapore, situated on
a small island of that name, the principal exporting city
and the metropolis and capital of Malaysia, the Straits
Settlement, India. The islands that constitute the
Straits Settlement are crowned with spice forests.
Here the noonday sun is truly vertical twice each year,
and for many days it passes so near the zenith that
change is scarcely perceptible. Here the grand con-
stellation Orion passes overhead, while the Great Bear
and Pole Star lie low down in the horizon. To the south
may be seen the Southern Cross, and the planets high in
the zenith.

No autumn tints, like those of our Northern woods,
deck the spice forests. _There is no purple and yellow
dying foliage which rivals, and even excels, the expiring
dolphin in splendor, and the long, cold sleep of winter
and the first gentle touch of spring are unknown. But
instead, we behold a ceaseless round of active life, which
weaves the fair scenery of the tropics into one monoto-
nous whole, the component parts of which exhibit in de-
tail untold variety and beauty; and no one component
part impresses us more forcibly than the spice trees. It
is said that sailors, several miles at sea, in favorable

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weather, with a gentle land breeze, can tell they are near-
ing land long before they come in sight of the islands
by the fragrance of the spice gardens.

Singapore has a population of only 200,000, and the
small island on which it is built contains but 145,000
acres, yet the city does a business of $200,000,000 a year
and can count its millionaires by the score. Eighty years
ago, the place where it stands was simply a jungle for
tigers. 7

Singapore has ships from every port of the world
going in and out of its harbor, and its streets are as
lively as those of New York. You can go from it to
the continent in a rowboat in one-half hour. Close con-
nections are also made at Singapore for Siam, Borneo,
Australia, China, Japan, Sumatra, and Ceylon, and it
is the half-way station of the voyage around the world.

The Island of Ceylon, with Colombo as its capital and
chief city of export, also produces many fine spices.
What could India do without her Spice Forests? This
is a question which remains unanswered. We might as
well ask what the United States could do without its
wheat fields.

The different grades of spices take their names from
the country or city from which they are exported, each
different kind having a flavor of its own. Our best
grades come mostly from Penang, and are called
“ Penang Spice,” while spice of nearly as good a quality
comes from parts of Malabar. Other chief cities of
export are Bombay, Batavia, Calcutta, and Cayenne,
South America; but the most important is Singapore,
as has been before mentioned.

The declared value of all spices shipped direct to this
country averages about $12,000,000 worth annually.
Among the cities that import spices New York stands
first, probably receiving more than three-quarters of all
importations. In 1898, 5,000,000 pounds of ginger
were received at New York — 19,000 bags being from
Calcutta, 9,010 from Africa, 65,000 from Cochin, 3,608
barrels from Jamaica. There were 6,000,000 pounds
of pepper received at New York, and probably nearly
as much more at other ports. This may seem a large

[8]

A PLANTATION ON JAMAICA ISLAND

A PLANTATION IN INDIA

amount, but when we consider the quantity used in pre-
pared meats and pickles, and the fact that pepper is on
every table which can afford a pepper-box or caster,
and that pepper enters into some of our food at nearly
every meal, the above amount, which gives less than one-
sixth of a pound per capita, is not large. A larger
sum is paid for pepper than for any other spice. The
amount paid for spices in'this country annually does not
fall much short of one dollar per capita at retail
prices.

Four and one-half days by ocean steamer from New
York brings us to the Island of Jamaica; and this chap-
ter would not be complete if I did not mention that gem
of the West Indies, the home of the Pimento and the
famous Jamaica Ginger. Xaymaca (the Indian name
for Jamaica) is like a huge mountain standing alone in
the Carribean Sea, with its hard, white coral beach and
ideal climate. The ride from Kingston, the capital of
the island, with its 50,000 population of picturesque
folks (Americans, Kuropeans, West Indies women,
gorgeously arrayed, and the coolie women loaded with
ornaments), to beautiful Montego Bay and Port
Antonio is an experience never to be forgotten.

CHAPTER II.
ADULTERATION OF SPICES

HE Dutch at one time tried to control much of

the spice trade but were frustrated by the birds

which carried the seeds and planted them in other
countries. We are strongly inclined to look upon the
scheming Dutchman with contempt for this selfish act,
but there is to-day hovering over spice products a
greater evil, which makes one feel almost like shedding
tears of shame for the acts of men who adulterate spices.
If they would stop in their work long enough to ponder
on the following appropriate words, they might receive
new light in their attempt to mock Nature:

“* Thou great first cause, and only cause direct,
All else existing, only in effect;
Cause and effect must harmonize and blend,
To doubt the cause, we need but doubt the end.

Perfection altered, would produce a flaw.

God cannot err, hence, cannot change His law.
First, follow Nature, and your judgment frame
By her just standard which is still the same.

Unerring Nature, still divinely bright,

One clear, unchanged and universal light.
Life, foree, and beauty must all impart;

At once the source, and end, the test of Art.’’

When the spice grinder will consider how hard it is
to hide the spark of Nature, whoever yields reward to
him who seeks and loves her best, and when the retail
dealer of spices will remember that there is another man
on the other side of the counter who is entitled to his
money’s worth, then, and not until then, will the evil of
the adulteration of spices be done away with.

A merchant who will, knowingly, sell to his customer
adulterated spices at the value of pure goods is worse
than a thief, because he not only robs them of their
money but gives them poison for their stomach.

[ 10 ]

”

-

Spice millers should not be counterfeiters! How can
they afford to imperil their reputation by advertising
“scheme goods”? Let them grind their spices to give
Nature’s flavors as they grow in the balmy forests of the
East Indies. Let them not mix these spices to suit
the price of the retail dealer, but grind them pure, to
please the tongue and the palate, and then hang out
their sign, as their business would suggest, as spice
millers or grinders, instead of “spice manufacturers.”
If the retail dealer of adulterated spices trusts a cus-
tomer who will not pay his indebtedness, he calls the man
a rogue, but forgets that the greater rogue is himself;
that his customer has the law on his side, and that his
best witness is the adulterated goods which were soid
him; furthermore, this dealer is teaching to the clerk
whom he has taken into his employ, with a promise to
teach the young man the trade and good business prin-
ciples of an honest merchant, the trade of a thief, and
as such teaches him to rob his employer. If the mer-
chant breaks his part of the contract, can he expect the
clerk to keep his? If the clerk, trained by the dealer
in dishonesty, steals from the cash-drawer, would it be
right to discharge him with a tarnish on the good
name he had when he entered such employ? Let
the dealer keep pure goods, and teach his clerk
their merit. By so doing, he can be twice armed
when he is selling in competition with a dealer of
adulterations.

Let not the merchant profess to seek after the pros-
perity of the country; let him wonder not that business
is dull; that labor is unemployed; that enterprise is
dead, when he is doing all he can to destroy business
and commercial prosperity by undermining the public
confidence, which is the foundation upon which all com-
mercial enterprise rests. Nothing is more essential to
business prosperity than a confidence that prosperous,
existing conditions will remain unchanged. He who
is helping to destroy that confidence makes himself a
stumbling block in the public highway of humanity
and, as such, is a detriment to mankind. He is the
greatest enemy to self that humanity can produce. He

[ot

4

is like a vine which climbs the tree and obtains its life by
sucking the life of that to which it clings.

No man can be a good citizen who will wrong his fel-
low man simply because the laws of the country will
protect him or, in other words, will not punish him for
such wrongdoing. A miller or retail dealer of mixed
or adulterated spices is as much a criminal as the man
who has ingenuity enough to shape a coin from alloy
and stamp it as a legal standard, or as one who counter-
feits a bank note, for all are guilty of illegal acts to ob-
tain wealth. ‘The government punishes the counter-
feiter of money, but the dealer in adulterated goods is
allowed freedom. The government will grant a patent
for the latest improvement in machinery for mixing
spices, but it will not grant a patent for a die to counter-
feit bank notes.

The dealing in adulterations is not confined to the
poorer dealers. Among those who are guilty of this
wrong we find the wealthy and those professing to be
Christians — men who shudder at a dishonest act, but
they apparently forget their duty to God and man. Is
not such conduct mockery? Is it not offensive to God?
If not, where could we find that which would be? Let
men dare to do right if they wish to be successful and
respected. Let them dare to do right for the sake of
their fellow man who is striving for an honest living.
Let them dare to do right and not wait for the law to
compel them. Let them remember that there is some-
thing in an honest name which they cannot afford to lose!

To the consumer of spices, this should be said: Be will-
ing your grocer should live and obtain a profit for his
work. Do not compel him to handie adulterated goods
by quoting him the price of his neighbor dealer who
sells the adulterated stock. Spices of high order are
more costly, but are cheap to the consumer by reason of
excess of flavor and strength. Let your dealer know
you can appreciate a good article and, if he handles
adulterated goods, remind him “ that he may fool all the
people some of the time, and some of the people all of
the time, but he can’t fool all of the people all of the
time.”

[12 ]

* As an illustration of the extent of the adulteration of
spices, the fact may be cited that one firm in New York
City used and put upon the market in their spices more
than 5,000 pounds of cocoanut shells. ‘To show how
bold the custom has become, the following quotation is
copied from a journal devoted to spices:

** All necessary information for spice manufacturing supplied. ’’

And the following advertisements appear:

“Manufacturers of spice mixtures and mustard. Goods made to
order for wholesale.’’

“* Grocers’ spice mixtures and cayenne pepper a specialty.’

Another reads:

“Manufacturers of all kinds of spice mixtures. My celebrated
brand of P. D. pepper is superior to any made; samples sent on appli-
cation. Goods shipped to all parts of the United States. Spice
mixtures a specialty.’’

Out of all samples obtained at random from the miller
or retail dealer, one-half to two-thirds have been found
to be adulterated. Such a state of affairs is simply
barbarous. .

Cloves were prepared with the volatile oil extracted,
and with the cloves there were ground clove-stems,
roasted shells, wheat flour, peas, and minerals.

Allspice is ground with burnt shells and crackers,
spent clove stems and charcoal and mineral color.

Ginger, with corn flour, mustard hulls, coloring, and
yellow corn meal.

Mace, with flour buckwheat, wild mace, and corn meal.

Cayenne, with rice flour, stale shipstuff, yellow corn
meal, tumeric, and mineral red.

Cassia, with ground shells and crackers, tumeric, and
minerals.

Cinnamon, with cassia, peas, starch, mustard hulls
and tumeric, mineral cracker dust, burnt shells, or char-
coal.

Pepper, with refuse of all kinds, ground crackers,
cocoanut shells, cayenne, peas, beans, yellow corn meal,

* Since the words on adulterations were written, the pure food laws
of the different states have been greatly enforced, which has reduced
adulterating almost to an entirety; but enough yet remains to make
them of value.

fas]

buckwheat hulls, nutmegs, cereal, starch, mustard hulls,
rice flour, charcoal, and pepper dust.

Mustard, with tumeric for color, and cayenne to tone
it up, cereal starch, peas, yellow corn meal, ginger, and
gypsum.

By comparing prices in the following table of ground
and whole spices, we may see to what extent adulteration
is carried on. ‘This adulteration is so largely practiced
that it has given rise to a branch of the manufacturing
industry of great magnitude, which has for its sole ob-
ject the manufacture of articles known as “ spice mix-
tures,” or “ pepper dust,” which are known to the trade
by such technical abbreviations as “P. D.” This is a
venerable fraud, which has expanded with rapidity.

TABLE

KINDS OF SPICE PRODUCT GROUND WHOLE PRICE
Cassia, Batavia iets, 7 to 7% cents 10 cents
Cassia, China ses) san ceca aeien 5% cents 42 cents
Cassia, ‘Saigon. tact eed 36 tu 40 ~— cents
Cloves; Amboyna; =: 2). 27 cents 32 cents
Ginger; “Afticam:,) 20-5735 <tr tee 5 cents 8 cents
Ginger; Cochin; 45/5 en Sie 13 cents 12 cents
Mace, BE tr boy hae NE 50 cents
Nutmegs. TP h0s.7 ee ee aenane 48 cents
Pepper, black, Singapore, 18 cents 18 cents
Pepper, black, West Coast, . 16 cents 15 cents
Pepper, white, Penang,. . . 29 —s cents 32 cents
Pepper, red, Zanzibar, 9 cents 10 cents
Pimento, a eueibees 5 cents
Mustard, yellow, . 4 cents 12 cents
Mustard, brown, . 5 cents 12 cents

Of course, the above prices are standard for the year
when the comparison was made, but it is well to examine
the figures as given and compare the price of the whole
spice with the ground. Such comparison affords good
indications of the extent of adulteration, since the meal
is sold below the cost of the whole spice. We now find
this article put up in barrels, as “ P. D. Pepper,” “ P.
D. Ginger,” “ P. D. Cloves,” and so on through the en-
tire aromatic list. Different cities use different material
for their pepper dust, using that which is most easily and,
therefore, most cheaply obtained in their locality.

[14]

Fig. 44. PURE CAYENNE PEPPER

Fig. 39. PALM SEED

ee

Fig. 38. LINSEED Fig. 40. EXTERIOR HUSK OF
RAPE SEED

CHAPTER III.

HOW TO DETECT ADULTERATIONS IN SPICES — THEIR
FORMATION AND ANALYSIS

S far as its practical use to the merchant or con-
sumer of spices is concerned, it would be as well,
perhaps, if this chapter remained unwritten, and

yet this treatise would be far from complete without it,
as much of that which is herein contained is of the ut-
most importance, could it be put into practice.

In this chapter I attempt to give ways to detect adul-
terations, but the lamentable fact is that the general mer-
chants have neither the time nor the facilities at hand
to discover the foreign substance.

There are two principal ways of detecting adultera-
tions in spices, which depend upon the difference in the
structure of the cells between the adulterants and the
true spice to which they are added, and also on their
proximate composition. The former difference is rec-
ognized by the mechanical separation and by the use of
the microscope, and the latter by chemical analysis.

The adulterations found in spices may be Seeti in
four grades:

First. Integuments of grains of seeds, such as bran
of wheat and buckwheat, hulls of mustard seed, flax
seed, etc.

Second. Farinaceous substances of low price, as
spice damaged in transportation or by long storage,
middlings, corn meal, and stale ship bread.

Third. LLeguminous seeds, as peas and beans, which
contribute largely to the profit of the mixer.

Fourth. Various articles chosen with reference to
their suitableness to bring up the mixtures, as nearly as
possible, to the required standard color of the genuine
article; various shades from light colors to dark brown
may be obtained by skillful roasting of the farinaceous
and leguminous substances, and a little tumeric goes a

[15]

long way to give a rich yellow color to real mustard made
from pale counterfeit of wheat flour and terra-alba, or
the defective paleness of artificial black pepper is
brought to the desired tone by judicious sifting in of
a finely pulverized charcoal.

From what has been said of the different foreign sub-
stances used for adulterations of spices and condiments,
the necessity of knowing the structure and formation
of the molecules of both principal and foreign elements
which constitute the principal tissues of the particular
plant-parts used for the adulterations is apparent, while
in the chemical examination the principle of proximate
analysis must be understood and applied.

It is also necessary that the analyst should be thor-
oughly acquainted with the application of the micro-
scope, to determine the cellular structure, to make deter-
minations of proximate principles in the substances
under examination, since a mechanical separation by the
microscope is more expeditious and is more at the com-
mand of the majority of persons searching for adultera-
tions. For a mechanical analysis of food separations,
a powerful microscope of good workmanship is re-
quired. It is better if it is supplied with a substance
condenser and Nical prisms for the use of polarized
light. Objectives of an inch and half inch, and, for
some starches, one-fifth inch, equivalent focus, are suffi-
cient. One eye-piece of medium depth, one-fourth to
one-sixth, adjusted at 160 degrees is enough, with plenty
of good light. The analyst should also have plenty of
sieves of 40 to 60 meshes to the inch to be used for sepa-
ration, which will furnish means of detecting adulter-
ants and selecting particles for investigation, and will
often reveal the presence of foreign material without
further examination, since many adulterants are not
ground so fine as the spices to which they are added,
and by passing the mixtures through the sieves the
coarser particles remaining will be either recognized at
once by an unaided educated eye or with a pocket lens.

In this way, tumeric is readily separated from mus-
tard and yellow corn meal; mustard hulls and cayenne,
from low-grade pepper. Where a pocket lens is insuffi-

[ 16 ]

cient, the higher power of the microscope is confirma-
tory. It is also desirable to be provided with a dissect-
ing microscope for selecting particles for examination
from large masses of ground spice, and for this a large
Zeiss stand, made for that purpose, is best, but simpler
forms, or even a hand lens, will answer the purpose.

For smaller apparatus, a few beakers, watch crystals,
stirring rods, and specimen tubes, with bottles for re-
agents, will be sufficient, in addition to the ordinary
glass slides and covers for glasses. The reagents re-
quired for chemical analysis (if no great amount is
used) are as follows:

Strong alcohol,

Ammonia,

Chloralhydrate solution — 8 parts to 5 of water,

Glycerine,

Iodine solution — water 15 parts, iodide of potash
20 parts, iodine 5 parts; water distilled.

Balsam in benzol and glycerine jelly are desirable for
mounting media, and some wax sheets will be needed
for making cells. In addition, the analyst should sup-
ply himself with specimens of whole spices, starches,
and known adulterants, which may be used to become
acquainted with the forms and appearances to be ex-
pected; it is easier to begin one’s study in this way
on sections prepared with the knife, and afterwards the
powdered substance may be taken up.

To study the physiological structure in the spices and
their adulterants is quite difficult, as the vegetable tissues
which make up the structure of the spices and the mate-
rials of a vegetable origin which are added as adultera-
tions consist of cells of different forms and thickness;
those which are most prominent and common are the
parenchyma, the sclerenchyma fibrous tissue, and the
fibro-vascular bundles. Spiral and dotted vessels are
also common in several of the adulterants, and in the
epidermis are other forms of tissue which it is neces-
sary to be well acquainted with, though not physio-
logically.

The parenchyma is the most abundant tissue in all
material of vegetable origin, making up the largest pro-

pa

portion of the main part of the plant. It is composed
of thin wall cells which may be recognized in the potato
and in the interior of the stems of maize. In the latter
plant, also, the fibro-vascular system is well exemplified,
running as scattered bundles between the nodes or joints.

Fibrous tissue consists of elongated thick-walled cells
of fibers which are very common in the vegetable king-
dom and are well illustrated in flax, but they are not so
commonly used for adulterating purposes. They are
optically active, and in the shorter forms they somewhat
resemble the cells next described. ‘They are seen in one
of the coats of buckwheat hulls and in the outer husks
of the cocoanut.

The sclerenchyma is found in the shells of many nuts
and in one or two of the spices, the cells being known as
stone cells, from the great thickening of their walls.
To them is due the hardness of the shell of the cocoanut,
the pits of the olive, etc. (See Fig. 1.)

Spiral and dotted vessels are common in woody tissue
and are readily recognized. All these forms an analyst
should make himself familiar with.

In pepper and mustard the parenchyma cells are prom-
inent in the interior of the berry, while those constituting
the outer coats are indistinct in the pepper, because of
their deep color; but in the mustard are characteristics
of this particular species. In fact, in many of the
spices,-and especially those which are seeds, the forms
of the epidermal cells are very striking, and, if no at-
tempt is made to classify them their peculiarities must
be carefully noted, as the recognition of the presence of
foreign husky matter depends upon a knowledge of
the normal appearance in any spice.

The fibro-vascular bundles are most prominent in
ginger and in the barks, while in the powdered spices
they are found as stringy particles.

The sclerenchyma, or stone cells, as shown in Fig. 1,
are common in the adulterant, especially in cocoanut
shells, where may also be seen numerous spiral cells, and
in the exterior coats of fibrous tissue.

As to aids to distinguish these structures, the follow-
ing peculiarities may be cited:

[18 ]

Fig. 3

h, pla min®

®

y SZarc

STAINED WITH IODINE

STARCH

Fig. 2.

Fig. 5

STONE CELLS

Fig. 1.

POTATO STARCH

Fig. 4.

The stone cells and fibrous tissue are optically active,
and are, therefore, readily detected with polarized light,
shining out in the dark field of the microscope as silver-
white or yellowish bodies.

The fibro-vascular bundles are stained deep orange
brown with iodine, owing to the nitrogenous matter
which they contain, while parenchyma is not affected
by this reagent, aside from the cell contents, nor has it
any action on polarized light, remaining quite invisible
in the field with crossed prisms.

Next to cellular tissue, starch is the most important
element for consideration in the plant, which possesses
an organized structure and is distinguished by its re-
action with iodine solution, which gives it a deep blue or
blackish-blue color, varying somewhat with different
kinds of starch and with the strength of the reagent, and
its absence is marked by no blue color under the same
circumstances.

Heat, however, as in the process of baking, so alters
starches, converting them into dextrine and related
bodies, that they give a brown color with iodine, instead
of a blue-black; they are no longer starch, however;
their form, not being essentially changed, permits of
their identification, with a study of the size and shape
of the granules of the hilum, or central depressions of
nucleus, and the prominence and position of the rings.

By polarized light and selenite, the starches of tubers
showed a more varied play of colors than the cereal and
leguminous starches which are produced above ground.

The starches we are to consider are those of a limited
number to be met with in spices and their adulterants,
and one must be able readily to recognize the fol-
lowing:

STARCH NATURAL TO SPICES AND STARCHES OF ADMIXTURES

CONDIMENTS Wheat and other Cereals:
Ginger, Corn, Barley,
Pepper, Oats, Potato.
age Maranta and other arrowroots:

ss :
ao es
: , Beans, Buckwheat.
Cinnamon, pee
Cayenne. ;

[19 ]

No one of these is compiete in itself, but from the
characters given, and with the aid of illustrations, the
starches which commonly occur in substances which are
here considered may usually be identified without diffi-
culty.

For the benefit of those who have had no experience
with the microscope, I will give the following directions:

Take a small portion of the starch or spice to be ex-
amined upon a clean camel’s hair brush and dust it upon
a common slide, blow the excess away and moisten that
retained with a drop of a mixture of equal parts of glyc-
erine and water, or with glycerine and camphor water,
and cover witha glass. It is well to have a small supply
of the common starches in a series of tubes which can
be mounted at any moment and used for comparison.
They may be permanently mounted by making with
cork borers, of two sizes, a wax cell ring equal to the
diameter of the cover glass and, after cementing the cell
to the slide with copal varnish thinned with turpentine
and introducing the starch and glycerine mixture, fix-
ing the cover glass on after running some of the cement
over the top of the ring. A little experience will enable
one to put the right amount of liquid in the cell and to
make a preparation that will keep for some time. After
several months, however, it is hard to distinguish the
rings which mark the development of the granule, and
it is better to keep it fresh.

For other purposes, the starches should be mounted
in prepared Canada Balsam, or by well-known methods
in which they may be preserved indefinitely, but they are
scarcely visible with ordinary illumination and must be
viewed by polarized light, which will bring out distinc-
tive characters not seen as well, or not at all, in the other
mounts. When mounted in the manner described, in
glycerine and water, or in water alone, if for temporary
use, under a microscope with one objective of equivalent
focus of one-half to one-fifth inch, and with means for
oblique illumination, the starches will display charac-
teristics which are illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. The
illustrations have been drawn from Nature; Fig. 2 gives
starch stained with iodine; Fig. 3 gives shape and size

[ 20 ]

bd eee itt |
aN Sete |

a
“=

POTATO STARCH

Se

oe"

« <

Fig. 8. MARUNTA STARCH

of plain starch, and presence or absence of a nucleus, or
hilum, and of the rings and their arrangements which
can be made out. The starch is classed in its proper place.

If mounted in balsam, their appearance is scarcely
visible under any form of illumination with ordinary
light, the index refraction of the granules and the bal-
sam being so similar, but when polarized light is used
the effect is a striking one. (See plates of ginger,
where it is easy to distinguish all the characteristics,
except the rings, the center of the cross being at the
nucleus of the granule.)

The principal starches which are met with may be
described as follows in connection with illustrations
given, beginning with those of the arrowroot class,
including potato, ginger, and tumeric.

POTATO STARCH

Potato starch grains are very variable in size, being
found from .05 to .10 millimeter in length, and in shape
from oval and allied forms to irregular, and even round
in the smallest; these variations are illustrated in Fig. 4,
but the frequency of the smaller granules is not as evi-
dent as in Figs. 5 and 6. The layers in some granules
are very plain and in others are hardly visible. They
are rather more prominent in the starch obtained from a
freshly cut surface. The rings are more distinct near
the hilum, or nucleus, which in this, as in all tuberous
starches, is eccentric, shading off toward the broader or
more expanded portion of the granules.

The hilum appears as a shadowy depression (Fig. 4)
and, with polarized light, its position is well marked by
the junction of the arms of the cross. It will be found
by comparison of Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, that in the potato
it is more often at the smaller end of the granules, and
that in the arrowroot it is at the larger. With polarized
light and a selenite plate a beautiful play of colors is
obtained.

The smaller granules, by their nearly round shape,
may be confused with other starches, but their presence
at once serves to distinguish them from Maranta or
Bermuda arrowroot starch.

[ai

Rarely, compound granules are found composed
of two or three single ones each within its own
nucleus.

Of the same type as the potato starch are various
arrowroots. ‘The only ones commonly met with in
this country are the Bermuda, the starch of the
rhizome of Maranta arundinacea, and the starch of
tumeric.

MARANTA STARCH

The granules are not usually so varied in size or shape
as those of the potato, as may be seen in Figs. 8, 9, and
10. They average about .07 millimeters in length. They
are about the same size as the average of those of the
potato, but are never found as large or as small. This
fact, together with the fact that the end at which the
nucleus appears is broader in the Maranta and more
pointed in the potato, enables one to distinguish the
starches without difficulty. With polarized light, the
results are similar to those seen with potato starch, and,
by this means, the two varieties may be readily distin-
guished by displaying, in a striking way, the forms of
the granule and the position of the hilum, as is illus-
trated in Figs. 8 and 9.

CIRCUMA

Circuma, or tumeric starch (Fig. 11), though of the
arrowroot class, is quite distinct in appearance from
these we have described, being most irregular in outline,
so that it is impossible to define its shape or to do more
than to refer to the illustration... Many of the granules
are long and narrow and drawn out to quite a point. The
rings are distinct in the larger, and the size is about that
of Maranta.

Ginger starch (Figs. 12, 13, and 14) is of the same
class as potato and Maranta and several others which are
of underground origin. In outline, it is not oval like
those named, but is more rectangular, having more
obtuse angles in the larger granules and being cylindrical
or circular in outline in the smaller; its average size is
nearly.the same as Maranta starch, but it is much more
variable in size and form, the rings being scarcely visible

[ 22]

Fig. 17. PEAS

Fig. 44. CINNAMON ADULTERATED

Fig. 48. PEPPER ADULTERATED Fig. 21

Fig. 42. P. D. PEPPER

Fig. 27. RICE STARCH

even with most favorable illuminations. Fig. 12 shows
ginger adulterated. é

LEGUMINOUS STARCHES

Such as those of beans and peas (Figs. 15, 16, 17, and
18), produce but a slight effect under polarized light;
the rings are scarcely visible, and the hilum is stellate
or much cracked along a median line. ‘This character-
istic is more marked in the bean than in the pea. In the
latter it resembles fresh dough kneaded again into the
center as in making rolls, and in the former the shape
assumed by the same after baking. In both it varies in
size from .025 to .10 millimeter in length.

NUTMEG STARCH

Fig. 19 has rings scarcely visible and not iridescent
with polarized light. It is smaller in size than the pre-
ceding, which it resembles, being at times as long as .05
millimeter down to smaller than .005 millimeter, and of
extremely irregular form, having angular depressions
and angular outlines. It is distinguished by a budded
appearance caused by the adherence of small granules to
the larger.

CAPSICUM STARCH

Fig. 20 is nearly circular or rounded polyhedral in
forms with scarcely visible rings, and in most cases a
depressed hilum, resembling in size and shape corn starch,
but having peculiar irregularities which distinguish it,
such as rosette-like formation on a flattened granule, or
a round depression at one end. It does not polarize as
actively as maize starch and can be distinguished from
rice by the greater angularity of the latter.

PEPPER STARCH

Fig. 21 is the most minute starch which is usually met
with, not averaging over .001 millimeter nor exceeding
.005. It is irregularly polyhedral and polarizes very
well, but requires a high power to discover any detail
when a hilum is found. It cannot be confused with
other starches.

[ 23 ]

CINNAMON STARCH

Figs. 22 and 23 have an extremely irregular poly-
hedral or distorted granules, often united in groups with
smaller granules and adherent to the larger ones. In
size, it varies from .001 to .025 millimeter, averaging
nearly the latter size. In some granules the hilum can
be distinguished, but no rings; it is readily detected
with polarized light.

BUCKWHEAT STARCH

Fig. 24 is very characteristic. It consists of a chain
or groups of angular granules with a not very evident
circular nucleus and without rings. The outline is
strikingly angular and the size not very variable, being
about .01 to .015 millimeter.

MAIZE OR CORN STARCH

Figs. 25 and 26 have granules largely of the same
size from .02 to .08 millimeter in diameter, with now and
then a few which are much smaller; they are mostly cir-
cular in shape or, rather, polyhedral with rounded angles.
They form very brilliant objects with polarized light,
but with ordinary illumination show but the faintest
signs of rings and a well-developed hilum, at times star-
shaped and at others more like a circular depression.

RICE STARCH

Figs. 27, 28, and 29, is very similar to corn starch, and
is easily confused with it, being about the same size. It
is, however, distinguished from it by its polygonal form
and its well-defined angles. The hilum is more promi-
nent and more often stellate, or linear, and several grains
are at times united.

WHEAT STARCH

Figs. 30 and 31 are quite variable in size, varying
from .05 to .012 millimeter in diameter, and this starch
belongs to the same class as barley and rye; the hilum is
invisible and the rings are not prominent; the granules
are circular disks in form, and there are now and then
contorted depressions, resembling those in the pea

[ 24 ]

Fig. 23

PURE CASSIA

Fig. 41.

PURE CINNAMON

Fig. 22.

Fig. 26

MAIZE STARCH

23.

Fig.

Fig. 31

Fig. 32. BARLEY STARCH

starch; it is the least regular of the three starches and
does not polarize actively.

BARLEY STARCH

Figs. 82 and 33 are quite similar to that of wheat, but
barley starch does not vary so much in size, averaging
.05 millimeter. It has rings more distinct and very
small granules adhering to the largest in bud-like forms.

RYE STARCH

Fig. 34 is more variable in size, many of the granules
not exceeding .02 millimeter while the largest reach .06
to .07 millimeter. It lacks distinctive characteristics
entirely, and is the most simple in form of all starches
described.

OAT STARCH

Figs. 35 and 36, is unique, being composed of large
compound masses of polyhedral granules from .12 to
.02 millimeter in length, the single granules averaging
.02 to .015 millimeter. It does not polarize actively,
as may be seen in the figures, and displays neither rings
nor hilum.

The first sign of maize or corn meal as an adulterant
is the thin outer coat which becomes detached in milling
and is not readily crushed. In yellow corn it has a pink-
ish color, and simple, longitudinal cells.

Broken rice is sometimes used as a dilutant; it may
be recognized by the brilliant appearance of the hard
white particles which may be picked out of the spice
under a hand lens.

The two cereals named (broken rice and maize corn)
are the only ones which are commonly met with that
introduce starch.

Wheat bran (Fig. 37) is occasionally added, which can
be recognized by its distinctive structural character and
is better understood from an authentic specimen, which
should be soaked in chloral-hydrate. .

As modified cereals, we find refuse bread, cracker dust,
and stale ship bread, in which the wheat starch is much
changed from its original form by the heat and moisture,
so that at times it might be confused with leguminous

[ 25 ]

starch, but the softness of the particles and the ease with
which they fall to pieces in water reveal their true name. .

Oil seed, oil cake, and husk (Figs. 38, 39, and 40) are
very commonly used and are readily recognized by the
peculiar structure of the outer coats of the seed. ‘The
particles, which can be usually found and selected with
a dissecting microscope, should be examined in alcohol
or glycerine, or a mixture of the two, as the outer coats
of some seeds, such as mustard, are swollen by water and
become indistinct. Many varieties of the cruciferous
seeds resemble it very much, so that it is difficult to dis-
tinguish them, but it is generally recognized by the
outer layer of hexagonal cells and a middle and inner
coating, which consists of peculiar angular cells, the lat-
ter being much larger than the former, which are the
most characteristic feature, and should be compared with
seeds of known origin. After soaking in chloral-
hydrate, the remaining interior layers are, perhaps, more
easily made out, in some cases, after moderate bleaching
with nitric acid and chlorate; the interior of this seed is
not blued by iodine.

Peanut, or ground nut cake, is recognized by the char-
acteristic structure of the red-brownish coat, which sur-
rounds the seed, and consists of polygonal cells with
peculiar saw-toothed thickening of the walls. ‘The seed .
itself consists of polygonal cells full of oil and starch
granules, which are globular in form and not easily
confused with pepper starch. The structure of the
brown membrane is best made out in chloral-hydrate,
which removes the red color and leaves the fragments
of a bright yellow.

Linseed cake is distinguished by the fact that its husk
is made up of one or two characteristic elements. The
outer coat, or epidermis, is colorless and swells up in
water, forming a mucilage, like the mustard seed. Be-
neath this is a layer of thin, round, yellow cells, while
the third is very characteristic and consists of narrow and
very thick-walled dotted vessels; next to these is an
inner layer of compact polygonal cells, with fairly thin,
but still thickly dotted, white walls and dark-brown con-
tents containing tumeric. The endogen and embryo are

[ 26 ]

Fig. 35. OAT STARCH

POWDERED ALLSPICE
SHOWING PORT WINE
CELLS. (A) STARCH

Fig. 37. WHEAT BRAN

free from starch and will not color yellow by potash, as
is the case with mustard and rape seed cake.

Cocoanut shells are often used, and have numerous,
both long and short, stone cells and spiral vessels from
this fibrous tissue; the long stone cells having thinner
walls than the shorter cells, all of which are readily seen
after bleaching. | When the shells are roasted, they
refuse to bleach, and it is then only possible to class the
particles, on which the reagents do not act, as roasted
shells or charcoal, which are frequently used in pepper to
give desired color to material rendered too light by white
adulterants.

Buckwheat, after bleaching, shows a preponderance
of tissue made up of long, slender, and pointed scleren-
chyma cells and a smaller amount of reticulated tissue,
resembling the cereals somewhat and cayenne pepper.
Portions of the interior of the seed are also visible and
consist of an agglomeration of small hexagonal cells
which originally contained starch. The starch is readily
recognized by its peculiar characteristics. The scleren-
chyma is, of course, optically active and forms a beauti-
ful and distinctive object with polarized light. Sawdust
of various woods may be recognized by the fragments
of various spiral and dotted vessels and fibrous
material which are not found in spices or in other
adulterants.

Rice bran is made up prominently of two series of
cells at right angles to each other, which make up the
outer coats of grain, the structure being best made out
after soaking in chloral-hydrate; the cells of one series
are long, small, and thin-walled, and are arranged in
parallel bundles; the others have very much thicker walls
and are only two or three times as long as they
are broad.

Clove stems are distinguished by their peculiar yellow
dotted vessels and their large and quite numerous cells,
neither of which is seen prominently in the substances
which are adulterated. The peculiarities of adulterants
should be carefully confirmed and the eye trained by
practice so as to become accustomed to recognizing their
structure by a study of the actual substance.

ioral

CHEMICAL EXAMINATIONS

Take one gram of powdered spice which will pass a
60-mesh sieve and dry at 150 degrees to 110 degrees C.
in an air bath provided with a regulator, until a succes-
sive weighing shows a gain, which denotes that oxidiza-
tion has begun, which takes about 12 hours, or over night;
the loss is water, together with the largest part of volatile
oil. Deduction of the volatile oil, as determined in the
ether extract, will give a close approximation of water.
The ash portion is determined by incineration at a very
low temperature, such as may be attained in a gas muffle,
which is the most convenient arrangement for work of
this kind. ‘The proportion of ash insoluble in acid may
be determined where there is a reason to believe that sand
is present.

To find the amount of volatile oil by ether extract:
Two grains of substance are extracted for twenty-four
hours in a siphoning extraction apparatus, being’ first
placed in a test tube, which is inserted into a continuous
extraction apparatus of the intermittent siphon class, the
tube used being an ordinary test tube, the bottom of which
has been blown out. A wad of washed cotton of suffi-
cient thickness is put in the lower end of the
tubes to prevent any solid particles of the
sample from finding their way into the receiv-
ing flask; another wad of cotton is packed on
top of the sample, and the apparatus is then so adjusted
that the condensed ether drops into the tube and perco-
lates through the sample siphons into the receiving flask.
In this way the operation is continued the length of time
named. ‘The best ether should be used to avoid extract-
ing substances other than oil soluble in alcohol, and to
continue the extraction for at least the time named, as
piperine and several other proximate principles are not
extremely soluble in ether. On stopping the extraction,
the extract is washed into a light, weighed, glass dish,
and the ether is allowed to evaporate spontaneously, but
not too rapidly, for the reason that water, which is diffi-
cult to remove, might be condensed into the dish. Ina
short time the ether will disappear, and the dish is placed

[ 28 ]

Fig. 24 Fig. 19
Fig. 13. PURE GINGER Fig. 14

Fig. 12. GINGER ADULTERATED

in a dessicator with pumice and sulphuric acid, not with
chloride of calcium, which has been shown to be useless.
It is aliowed to remain over night to remove any mois-
ture; the loss of oil by this process is scarcely appreciable.
The dish is next weighed and afterward heated to 110
degrees C. for some hours, to drive off the volatile oil,
beginning at a low temperature, as the oil is easily oxi-
dized, and then is not volatile oil. The residue is
weighed, the difference being calculated to volatile oil
and examined as to its composition of purity.

Alcohol extract is made in the same manner as the
ether extract, using, of course, the substance extracted.
‘Lhe solvent may be either absolute alcohol — that of 95
per cent. by volume, or 80 per cent. by weight, the latter
being preferable in most cases, as there is no definite
point with the stronger spirit at which the extraction is
completed.

The amount of reducing material produced by boil-
ing the spices with dilute acids serves with several as
an index of purity. In the case of pepper, which con-
tains a large amount of starch, the addition of fibrous
adulterants reduces the equivalent of reducing sugar,
which are indicated in the solution after boiling with
acid. ‘Tumeric is always found in spices, such as
cloves and pimento of good quality.

It has been said that preliminary extractions of the
material with the best ether is necessary to remove oil
and other substances, not tannin on which permanganate
may act; ordinary ether will not answer, as it contains
so much alcohol and water as to dissolve some of the tan-
nin. ‘The substance freed from ether should be ex-
tracted with boiling water and the extract made up to
such dilution that 10 CC. is equal to about 10 CC. of the
thirtieth normal, — permanganate solution used. The
titration must be performed slowly to insure accuracy,
the permanganate being run in at the rate of not more
than a drop in a second, or three drops in two seconds.
The eye must become accustomed to the bleaching of the
indigo used, and select some one tint of yellow, as the
end of reaction is then possible to duplicate. That part
of the material analyzed, which is insoluble in acid and

[ 29 ]

alkali of certain strength after treatment for a definite
length of time, at a definite temperature, is called crude
fiber, and it may be described as follows:

Select two grains of substance 200 CC. of 5 per cent.
hydrochloric acid; steam bath two hours, raising the
liquid to a temperature of 90 degrees to 95 degrees C.
filtration on linen cloth, washing back into beaker with
200 CC. 5 per cent. sodic-hydrate; steam bath two hours,
filtration on asbestos, washing with hot water, alcohol,
and ether, drying at 120 degrees, weighing, ignition and
crude fiber from loss in weight.

REAGENTS AND APPARATUS

(1.) Hydrochloric acid whose absolute strength has
been determined.

(a.) By precipitating with silver nitrate and weigh-
ing the silver chloride.

(b.) By sodium carbonate, as described in Fresenius
Quantitative Analysis, second American edition, page
680 (c), by determining the amount neutralized by
the distillate from a weighed quantity of pure am-
monium-chloride boiled with an excess of sodium-
hydrate.

(2). Standard ammonia whose strength relative to
the acid has been accurately determined.

(3). C. P. sulphuric acid specific gravity 1.83, free
from nitrates, and also from ammonium sulphates,
which are sometimes added in the process of manufac-
ture to destroy oxides of nitrogen.

(4). Mercuric-oxide, H go, prepared in the wet way.
That prepared frommercury nitrate cannot safely be used.

(5). Potassium permanganate tolerably finely pul-
verized.

(6). Granulated zine.

(7). A solution of 40 grams of commercial potas-
sium sulphide in one liter of water.

(8). A saturated solution of sodium-hydrate, free
from nitrates which are sometimes added in the process
of manufacture to destroy organic matter and improve
the color of the product.

[ 30 ]

(9). Solution of cochineal, prepared according to
Fresenius Quantitive Analysis, second American edi-
tion, page 679.

(10). Burettes should be calibrated in all cases by
the user. ;

(11). Digestion flasks of hard, and moderately
thick, well-annealed glass, which should be about 9
inches long, with a round, pear-shaped bottom, having a
maximum diameter of 21% inches and tapering out grad-
ually in a long neck, which is three-fourths of an inch
in diameter at the narrowest part and flared a little at
the edge. The total capacity is 225 to 250 cubic centi-
meters.

(12). Distillation flasks of ordinary shape, 550 cubic
centimeters capacity, and fitted with rubber stoppers,
and a bulb tube above to prevent the possibility of
sodium-hydrate being carried over mechanically during
distillation; this is adjusted to the tube of the condenser
by a rubber tube.

(13). A condenser with tube of block tin is best, as
glass is decomposed by steam and ammonia vapor, and
will give up alkali enough to impair accuracy; the tank
should be made of copper, supported by wooden frame,
so that its bottom is 11 inches above the workbench on
‘which it stands. It should be about 16 inches high, 32
inches long, and 8 inches wide, gradually widening 6
inches toward the top; the water-supply tube should ex-
tend to the bottom, and there should be a larger over-
flow pipe above.

The block tin condensing tubes should be about ° of
an inch inner measure and seven in number, entering the
tank through holes in the front side of it near the top
above the level of the overflow, and pass down perpen-
dicularly through the tank and out through the rubber
stoppers, tightly fitted into holes in the bottom; they
should project 114 inches below the bottom of the tank,
and connect by short rubber tubes, with glass bulb tubes,
of the usual shape, which dip into glass precipitating
beakers. These beakers should project about 6%
inches high by 3 inches in diameter below, gradually nar-
rowing above, and should be about 500 cubic centimeters

[31]

capacity. The titration can be made directly in them.
The seven distillation flasks should be supported on a
sheet-iron shelf attached to the wooden frame which
supports the tank at the front; where each flask is to
stand, a circular hole should be cut with three project- -
ing lips to support the wire gauze under the flask, and
three other lips to hold the flask in place, and to pre-
vent its moving laterally out of place while distillation
is going on. Below the sheet-iron shelf should be a
metal tube carrying seven Bunsen burners, each with a
stopcock like those of a gas combustion furnace. These
burners are of larger diameter at the top, which prevents
smoking when covered with fine gauze to prevent the
flame from striking back.

(14). The stand for holding the digestion flask
should consist of a pan of sheet iron, 29 inches long by
8 inches wide, on the front of which is fastened a shelf
of sheet iron as long as the pan, 5 inches wide and 4
inches high. In this are cut six holes 15g inches in
diameter. At the back of the pan is a stout wire running
lengthwise of the stand, 8 inches high, with a bend or
depression opposite each hole in the shelf. The diges-
tion flask rests with its lower part over a hole in the shelf
and its neck in one of the depressions in the wire frame,
which holds it securely in position, and heat should be
supplied with Bunsen burners below the shelf.

THE DETERMINATION

One gram of the substance to be analyzed is brought
into a digestion flask with approximately 0.7 grams of
mercuric-oxide, and 20 cubic centimeters of sulphuric
acid, and the flask is placed on the frame described in an
inclined position, and heated below the boiling point of
the acid for from five to fifteen minutes, or until froth-
ing has ceased. The heat is then raised until it boils
briskly. No further attention is required until the con-
tents of the flask have become a clear liquor, which is
colorless, or, at least, has only a very pale straw color.

The flask is then removed from the flame, held
upright, and, while yet hot, potassium permanganate is
dropped in carefully and in small quantities at a time

[ 32 ]

until, after shaking, the liquid remains of a green or
purple color.

After cooling, the contents of the flask are then trans-
ferred to the distilling flask with water, and to this 25
cubic centimeters of potassium-sulphide solution are
added, 50 cubic centimeters of the soda solution, or suffi-
cient to make the reaction strongly alkaline, and with a
few pieces of granulated zinc.

The fiask is at once connected with the condenser and
the contents of the flask are distilled until all of the am-
monia has passed over into the standard acid contained
in the precipitating flask previously described and the
concentrated solution can no longer be safely boiled.

This operation usually requires from 20 to 40 min-
utes. The distillate is then titrated with standard am-
monia.

The use of the mercuric-oxide in this operation greatly
shortens the time necessary for digestion, which is rarely
over an hour and a half in the case of substances most
difficult to oxidize, and is more commonly less than an
hour.

In most cases the use of potassium permanganate is
quite unnecessary, but it is believed that in excep-
tional cases it is required for complete oxidation, and, in
view of the uncertainty, it is always used.

Potassium-sulphide removes all mercury from solu-
tions and so prevents the formation of mercuro-am-
monium compounds which are not completely decom-
posed by soda solution.

The addition of zine gives rise to an evolution of
hydrogen and prevents violent bumping.

Previous to use, the reagents should be tested by a
blank experiment with sugar, which will partially reduce
any nitrates that are present which might otherwise
escape notice.

This method cannot be used for the determination of
nitrogen substances which contain nitrate or certain
albumenoids.

These methods of analysis are suitable to all spices
and have been used with them. They are but a general
process, however, and are dependent for their value on

[ 33 ]

uniformity in the way they are carried out and the man-
ner in which peculiarities of proximate composition in
different spices are considered in drawing conclusions;
determinations of particular substances, such as piper-
ine, require, however, modifications, which must be de-
scribed when discussing the analysis of each separate
spice.

The chemical composition of olive stones and cocoa-
nut shells is about as follows:

Witkenic eet ic ta hol eye, Mums 6.15
Mahar te) San ceo aden Q.15
Fibete hat yk Sera as 37.15
Albumenoids, . . . 1.56 1.25
INibnomeng 0s die. 25 .20

[ 34 J

oe wh

BLACK PEPPER (Piper Nigrum)

Malabar 7,8
Acheen or Sumatra 9, 10
Mangalore 12
Singapore 13
White, from Penang, withall three coats removed 14
White, with one coat removed 15

Parts of spikes
Fruit

Ovary with stamens
Stamens

Portion of spike

A flowering twig:

CHAPTER IV.

BLACK PEPPER

RENCH, Poivre; German, Pfeffer; Italian,
Pepe Nero; Spanish, Pimienta; Portuguese,
Pimenta; Cyngalese, Gammaris, Javanese, Ma-

richa; Persian, Filfll-Seeah; Hindoostanse, Gol-mirch.

Pepper (Piper) Nigrum, a name employed by the
Romans, and derived by them from the Greek word
peperi; the Greeks in their turn must have derived it
from the Hindoos. Botanically it is applied to the
typical genus plant of the natural order piperaceae.

Of all the varieties of spices used as a condiment, pep-
per is the only one which grows on a climbing vine, and
there is no kind of spice better known or more esteemed
or more extensively used than pepper. Its consump-
tion is enormous.

Black pepper is one of the earliest spices known to
mankind, being of extreme antiquity. Choice spices
and rare gums were among the precious treasures of the
kings of Kgypt more than two thousand years before
the Christian era.

The history of its development from earliest times is
well brought out by the account given in the Pharma-
copeia. According to Fluckiger and Hanbury the
spice was well known as early as the fourth century B.: C.
Arrian, the author of Periplus of the Frythrean Sea,
which was written about A. D. 618, states that pepper
was then imported from Barake, the shipping place of
Nelkunda localities, which have been identified with
points on the Malabar coast. To this spice, Venice,
Genoa, and other commercial cities of central Europe
are indebted for much of their wealth.

The caravan of trading Midianites, who pur-
chased Joseph from his brethren and sold him into
Egypt were bearers of “spices and balm” for the
Egyptian market, and when the sons of Jacob were

[ 35 ]

making preparations to visit the land the second time to
propitiate the lord of the realm, their father said to them:
“Take of the best fruits of the land and carry down a
little baim, and a little honey, spice, and myrrh, nuts and
almonds.”

During the palmy days of Egypt, when they em-
balmed all of their distinguished dead, precious gums
and fragrant pungent spices were largely called into
requisition. Even the Iraelites in their ritualistic wor-
ship held in such high esteem many of these rare gums
and oils that their law forbade their use for any other
purpose.

Pepper received mention in the epic poems of the
ancient Hindoos. ‘Theophrastus differentiated between
round and long pepper, Diascarides mentioned long pep-
per, white pepper and black pepper, and Pliny, the
naturalist, expressed his surprise that it should come into
general use considering its want of flavor, and he states
that the price of pepper in his time at Rome was nine shil-
lings and four pence per pound, English money. Both
he and Diascarides, as well as Hippocrates, write of the
medicinal virtues of spices and of their use in medicine.

Pepper has been so scarce at times and so expensive
that one pound was considered a royal present, and was
used like money as a medium of exchange, while at
other times its market value has been very low.

In its frequent mention by Roman writers of the
Augustan age we are told that it was used by them to
pay tribute. One of the articles demanded by Alaric,
the daring ruler of the barbaric Visigoths in 410 A. D.,
of this conquered and greatly humiliated race was 3,000
pounds of pepper. During this dark middle age pepper
was so costly that rents were paid in pepper corn, the
amount being about one pound at stated times. Even
now in places this custom still continues. — It is not,
therefore, surprising that during the first centuries of
the Christian era the common black pepper was prized
as highly in the city of Rome as its weight in gold.
Black pepper is found in the East Indian Islands,
among which may be mentioned the Malay Archipelago,
Java, Sumatra, Rhio, Johore. It is also a native of

[ 36 ]

Siam and Cochin China, and it grows wild in the forests
of Malabar and Travancore. It is cultivated in some
parts of the United States and in the West India Islands.

The early history of the pepper trade is similar to that
of other Eastern spices. The Dutch for a long time
confined the cultivation of it to the Island of Java. To
accomplish this they forced its cultivation with so much
earnestness that they defeated their own purpose and a
more enlightened system has prevailed for the past thirty
years. Since it is no longer under government monop-
oly, and entire freedom is allowed in the raising of this
spice, its cultivation has been greatly increased.

The king of Portugal contracted with middlemen in
each of his forts on the coast of Malabar for an annual

‘supply of 30,000 quintals of pepper, and bound himself
to send five ships every year to export that amount. All
risk was held by the middlemen or farmers “ who landed
it in Portugal.” Asa compensation for this risk, the
middlemen obtained the price of twelve ducats a quintal
and had great and strong privileges: * First, that no
man of what estate or condition soever he be, either Port-
ingall or of any place in India, may deale or trade in pep-
per, but they upon paine of death which is very sharply
looked into. And although the pepper were for the
king’s own person, yet must the farmers pepper be first
laden to whom the Viceroy and other officers and Cap-
tains of India must give all assistance, helpe and favour
with watching same and all other things whatsoever that
shall by said farmers be required for the safetie and
benefite of the said pepper.”

In fact, it was because the price of pepper was so high
during the Middle Ages that the Portuguese were led to
seek a sea route to India. After the passage around the
Cape of Good Hope had been discovered, about 1496,
there was a considerable reduction in the price of pepper,
and when it began to be cultivated in the Islands of the
Malay Archipelago, another reduction was made. It,
however, remained a monopoly of the Portuguese crown
for many years, even as late as the eighteenth century.

The earliest reference to a trade in pepper in England
is A. D. 978-1016, when it was enacted that traders bring-

[ 37]

ing their ships to Billingsgate should pay at Christmas
and Easter, with other tributes, ten pounds of pepper.

Great Britain derived a duty from it for centuries, and
as late as 1628 this duty was five shillings, or about $1.20
per pound. English grocers were known as “ Peppers.”
Even in 1828 the duty was two shillings and six pence
per pound. The pepper alluded to by Pliny at his time
in Rome must have been the product of Malabar, the
nearest part of India to Europe, and must have cost in
Malabar about 2d. per pound. It probably went to
Europe by crossing the Indian and Arabian oceans with
the easterly monsoon, sailing up the Red Sea, crossing
the desert, and then going down the Nile, and making its
way along the Mediterranean. This voyage in our time
can be made in one month; at that time it probably took
eighteen months. Transit and custom duties must have
been paid over and over again and there must have been
plenty of extortion. ‘These facts will explain how pep-
per could not be sold in the Roman market under fifty-
six times its prime cost. Immediately previous to the
discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good
Hope we find that the price of pepper in the market of
Europe had fallen to 6s. a pound, or 3s. 4d. less than
in the time of Pliny. What probably contributed to this
fall in price was the superior skill in navigation of the
now converted Mohammedan Arabs, Turks, and Vene-
tians, and the extension of their commerce in the East-
ern Archipelago, which abounded in pepper.

Black pepper was then for many years considered a
very choice article and, like gold, silver, and precious
stones, it was possessed only by persons of wealth, and
was for generations found only on royal tables and those
of the rich and noble who aspired to rank with the rulers
of the realm.

The British gave up the chief pepper ground of the
world, which was the grand Island of Sumatra, to the
Dutch for the small Dutch colony in Western Africa,
which has involved both nations in little wars and has
cost the Dutch more lives and money than it is worth;
but prestige must also be sustained, and generai after
general returned with a shattered reputation from the

[ 38 ]

“Atyeh,’ as the Dutch called Acheen. When the Kast
India Company first formed a settlement on the coast of
Sumatra, it directed its attention to produce large
growths of pepper. A stipulation was made with some
of the native chiefs, binding them to compel their sub-
jects each to cultivate a certain number of pepper vines,
and the whole product was to be delivered to the com-
pany’s agents at a price far below the actual cost of
cultivation and harvesting. The chiefs for a long time
enforced obedience to this arbitrary measure and their
success in this was supposed to be permanently assured
by granting them an allowance proportionate to the
quantity of pepper delivered.

This arbitrary practice was too keenly felt by the
natives to be endured, and, the influence of the chief's
soon declining and the people becoming negligent in the
cultivation, the annual supply fell off. The chiefs,
unable longer to maintain their despotic practice, aban-
doned to the agents of the company the task of obliging
the people to labor that others might reap. Now the
rights of the people are more respected and the injustice
of the methods formerly used are fully acknowledged;
the cultivation of pepper in Sumatra, as well as else-
where, is free.

Perhaps the earliest writer to describe the extent of
the cultivation of pepper was Linschoten. He speaks
of its coming from Mala or Malabar, and his friend
and commentator of pepper, Paludanus, enters into a
long account of its medicinal virtues. “It warmeth
the mawe,”’ he writes, “‘ and consumeth the cold slymenes
thereof to ease the payne in the mawe which proceedeth
of rawnesse and winde, it is good to eat fyve pepper
cornes everie morning. He that hath a bad or thick
sight, let him use pepper cornes with annis fennel seed
and cloves for there by the mystinesse of the eyes which
darken the sight is cleared and driven away.” But in
modern medicine it is very little used, being rarely pre-
scribed except indirectly as an ingredient of some com-
pound.

Black pepper is the dried fruit of the piper nigrum, a
perennial climbing shrub indigenous to the forests of

[ 39]

Travancore, a native state in India, province of Madras,
and of Malabar, a province of India, from which it has
been introduced into the other countries mentioned.

Two species of piper will be found under drugs,
“Cubebs”’ and a third falls within the range of the
articled drugs “ Kava-Kava,’ and Narcotics; and two
others are dealt with under “ Narcotics.” There remain
then for description as spice, black pepper, white pepper,
long pepper, and Ashantee pepper.

In planting a new garden where no wild pepper vines
are to be had, level land is selected which borders on a
river or small stream without much sloping, but not so
low as to be liable to any overflow from the stream, as the
land must be kept well drained. Pepper is a hardy
plant and will grow on almost any soil, but not on old,
worn-out plantations or on poor sandy or clay soil, as
more depends on the soil than on the cultivation. It
should not be planted on hillsides because the earth will
wash from the roots in time of rains. The best soil for
pepper culture is a well-drained vegetable loam; swamp
lands are very good in a hot climate with heavy rains.

The vine may be propagated either from the seed or
by cuttings. When berries are selected for seed they
are first soaked for three days, when the outer coat can
be removed. The seed is then dried in the shade, after
which it is sown by drills in nursery beds, which are made
in the usual manner in good moist soil in a shady locality.

Frequent watering will be necessary, if it be a dry.
time, until the plants have four leaves, when they will be
ready for planting.

The land to be planted is to be cleared of underbrush.
Sometimes large trees are burned by setting fire to their
trunks. The tree will then decay and will be attacked
by insects and will become a heap of rotten dust. This
dust is washed by the rain around the roots of the vines,
making a good fertilizer.

The land cleared is next well planted and hoed and is
Imed out 7 x 7 feet, and holes are dug two feet square
and fifteen inches deep, which are filled with good soil-or
leaf mold if it can be secured. In filling these holes they
should not be heaped, as depressions are better for the

[ 40 ]

plant, but care should be taken that ail that portion of
the plant underground in the nursery should be buried in
the garden.

The land is fenced by mud walls made into terraces.
The vines need support, for if they are not supported
they will spread over the ground with the result that
there will be much loss of fruit.

When posts are used, as is the case on the Island
of Borneo, they should be twelve feet long and
eight inches square, with the lower end_ tarred
for two feet, to prevent decaying in the ground.
The plantation will then have the appearance
of a hop field. But there are many disadvan-
tages in connection with the post support, as the
posts must be reset at intervals (much oftener than the
vines) and the removing of the post disturbs the aerial
roots of the vine, which cling to them. Even if
the vine be trained to its new post, it will take some
time for it to attach sufficiently to receive any support
or nourishment. As the poles furnish little or no shade,
a severe drought will largely ruin the plants. For these
reasons the use of posts has not proved a success. Dif-
ferent countries use different growing trees for the sup-
port, thus securing shade protection as well. Many
kinds of trees are used. One of these is the mango or
the bread tree, which will yield the planter one crop of
fruit each year in addition to the pepper crop; but the
bread tree (artocarpus-incioa), being of slow growth,
should not be used for a support until it is twelve years
old. The Jack tree (artocarpus-integrifolia) is some-
times used in Malabar as a second choice, but its fruit is
diminished in quantity and quality by the pressure of
the pepper, and sometimes the monkeys will pull them out
or the crickets nip off the tops. The erythrina-Indica
(erythrina coroilodendron), a thorn tree called by the
natives chingkariang, is much used in Sumatra for an
early support. It grows quickly and is easily started
by simply sticking a large branch in the ground in the
rainy season. It will be capable of supporting the vine
in one year, but it will soon be killed by the growing
vine, not lasting more than twelve years. For this rea-

[41]

son the mango or bread tree is planted beside it and when
the erythrina-Indica tree dies out the first choice mango
tree (manganifera-Indica) is ready to take its place and
will furnish support for the vine for twenty years.
Moreover, the fruit of the tree will not be affected by
the growing vines. Plantations are set on the tilled
land from July to August about twelve paces apart. In
February and March the supporting trees are planted
forty feet apart. They are kept well watered during the
dry season, and when ten feet high are topped and kept
trimmed or the leaves are picked off so as not to shade
the plant too much. If the pepper garden is small, the
vines may be planted near the trees already growing. __

Plants raised from the seed in nurseries are trans-
planted in May or June, being placed in the prepared
holes five feet apart with their root end from the
tree and with the growing perennial vine top directed
towards its support. The root should be as far distant
as possible from the support. If the plants are of slow
growth, manure may be applied to the surface of the
ground. In China burnt earth and rotten fish are used.
The land must be kept free from weeds and the plants
must be kept well watered on alternate days in the dry
season.

The pepper vines are trained to their support in
October and November. They may begin to bear fruit
the first year, but do not yield much until the
third or fourth year. The hoeing, training, and
fertilizing are kept up twice each year in
October and November and July and August.
The moist earth should be heaped up and _ well
tramped down about the plant. When the vines are six
feet high they will cling to the trees without further
training. The vines will bear for about fourteen years
and even thirty years sometimes in extra good soil, but
when past fourteen years they will usually decline in
vigor and fruitfulness. The vine, after topping, is
from eight to ten feet long, but if left to grow its full
length will be from twenty to thirty feet long and will go
to wood and bear less fruit, and the fruit would be diffi-
cult to gather. When cuttings are to be used for plant-

[ 42 ]

ing, at least three should be placed in each hole with
six inches under ground or four inches above ground,
the portion above ground to be directed towards the sup-
port. The plantation is next covered with leaves, dried
grass, or weeds as a protection from the sun and to keep
the earth moist and cool.

The vines grow rapidly if it is wet weather. When
they have run up the support two feet, the ends are nip-
ped off so as to cause lateral branches to start out. In
some places, when the vines are from a year to eighteen
months old and have grown five feet up the support,
they are carefully detached and the ends, having been
coiled up in a spiral form, are buried in a hole dug in the
ground close to its roots, except a small surface of the
‘stem. ‘This process is called letting down. It insures
a large crop, producing seven or more vines to one sup-
porting tree. Plants raised from cuttings will only
bear from seven to eight years, but the quantity and
quality of the pepper is far superior to that raised from
the seed.

The planting of the cuttings in baskets is often car-
ried on in the following manner: The cuttings, which
are about eighteen inches long, are put half a dozen in
a basket; at higher altitudes more are used, sometimes
as many as ten or twelve. ‘The basket is then filled with
earth and is buried at the foot of the supporting tree,
care being taken that they do not touch. In October
and November the ground around the baskets is dug up
and the vines are manured with cow dung and leaves.
The baskets are said to be a great protection to the young
vines and they insure much better results. The end of
the vine makes the best cutting, as it is a growing termi-
nal bud. Vines growing wild, such as are indigenous
to the forests of Malabar and Travancore, are left
planted with the forest trees for their support. The
surplus shade and underbrush are cut out and the ground
is weeded, old vines being replaced by young ones. ‘The
product raised in this way is about as good as the culti-
vated.

A pepper garden is generally planted with plenty of
room for roads, so as to secure easy access to all parts

[ 43 ] .

of it and with the least possible grade, which should not
be more than one foot in twenty. The garden contains
anywhere from five to fifteen acres and is divided into
plots by hedges of shrubs, each plot containing from
five hundred to one thousand plants: The plants
are pruned or thinned by hand as they grow bushy at
the top, when the flexible stems generally entwine at the
top of their support and then bend downward, having
their extremities as well as their branches loaded with
fruit. It matters not how many stalks grow from the
same root until the vine begins to bear fruit, but when
fruit bearing begins only one or two stems should be
left, as more would weaken the root and it would not, for
that reason, bear as abundantly. All suckers and side
shoots must be carefully removed. ‘Trenches are cut to
the neighbor props where the vines have failed, and
through these trenches superfluous shoots are conducted,
where they soon ascend around the adjacent tree. By
this means the plantation is of a uniform growth, and,
since the ground is kept well weeded and is elevated, and
since there is an open border of twelve feet wide around
each garden, there is given to the plantation an admi-
rable symmetry and neatness of appearance.

The pepper vine or climbing shrub is mentioned by Sir
John Mandeville in his travels of 1822 to 1356 as fol-
lows:

“The pepper growethe in manere as doth a wylde
vine that is planted fast by the trees of the woodee for
to susteynen it by, as doth the vyne and fruyt thereof
hangethe in manere as Reysinges; and the tree is so
thikke charged that it semethe that it wolde breke, and
when it is ripe it is all grene as it were ivy berryes; and
then men kytten them as men doe the vynes and then
they putten it upon an owven and there it waxeth blak
and crisp.

This simple description will in some respects answer
our purpose at the present time. The leaf of the pepper
vine is entire, simple, alternate, without stipules, broad,
and fleshy, or oval or heart-shaped. The leaves are
arranged in clusters of five to seven in number, opposite
the flower stalk, and the flowers, which are glossy-white,

[ 44 ]

we be

.

Ai as
ia e

HARVESTING OF BLACK PEPPER

COAST NEAR MANGALORE

are very insignificant in appearance upon a long slender
pendulous spadix. ‘They are for the most part uni-
sexual, either mancecious or dicecious; that is, the stami-
nate (male flower) and pistillate (female) flowers are
separate either upon different branches of the same
plant (maneecious) or upon different plants (dicecious) .
The leaves are four to six inches long, and they partake
strongly of the aromatic and peculiar smell and
pungent taste of the berry. The small fruit grows
loosely on the pendulous fruit stalks or spikes. A
single vine will bear from twenty to thirty fruit spikes
and each spike contains twenty to forty berries. If
they were allowed to ripen, the berries would
lose some of their pungency and would gradually
fall off.

The pepper vine produces two crops annually, the
first in December and January, at the time of the first
monsoon. ‘The flowers of the second crop appear in
March and April, at the time of the little monsoon, and
the crop is gathered in July and August. The second
crop is inferior both in quality and quantity, probably
on account of lack of moisture.

The pepper berry is a small, round, sessile, fleshy
fruit, which at first appears green, next red, and finally
yellow when fully ripe. When one or two berries at the
base of the spike begin to turn red the entire spike is
pinched off.

In gathering the fruit, the natives make use of a small
triangular ladder made of bamboo, with which they go
around the tree and reach all the fruit as they go. The
fruit is put in smail baskets slung over the shoulder (see
illustrations) of the gatherer. It is then taken by those
who work on the ground to a smooth, level spot of clean,
hard ground and spread on mats or platforms to dry
(mat drying is said to give heavier returns), care being
taken to carry it in at night so as to escape the dews.
After three days, as the drying proceeds, the berries are
removed by rubbing with the hands and are picked
clean or winnowed in large round sieves. In some east-
ern localities mills operated by hand facilitate the work.
After the berries have become dry they will shrivel and

[ 45 ]

turn black or chocolate. Those gathered too soon will
after being dried become dust.

The berries after drying are spherical and about one-
fifth of an inch in diameter and are wrinkled on the sur-
face, indistinctly pointed below by the remains of a very
short pedical and crowned by three or four lobed stigmas.
The thin pericarp tightly encloses a single seed, the em-
bryo of which, on account of the premature gathering
is not fully developed and is replaced by the cavity below
the apex. ‘The seed itself contains within the thin red-
brown testa a shining albumen of angular, radically
arranged, large-celled parenchyme, gray and horny
without and mealy within.

The transverse section of a grain of pepper exhibits
a soft, yellowish epidermis covering; the outer pericarp
is formed of a closely packed yellow layer of large and
most radically arranged thick-walled cells, most of
which are colorless and loaded with starch; others con-
tain a soft, yellowish, amorphous mass, each containing
in its minute cavity a quantity of dark brown resin,
while the middle layer of the pericarp consists of starch
and oil, the shrinkage of which causes the deep wrinkles
on the surface of the berry. The next inner layer of
the pericarp exhibits its circumference tangentially
arranged soft parenchyme, the cells of which possess
either spiral striation or spiral fibers, but towards the
interior lose parenchyme free from starch and con-
taming very large oil cells. The testa is formed in the
first place of a row of small yellowish thick-walled cells,
next to which follows the true testa as a dense, dark-
brown layer of lignified cells, the individual outlines of
which are indistinguishable. If thin slices are kept
under glycerine for some time these masses are slowly
transformed into needle-shaped crystals of piperine.
The angular cells of the interior of the seed are, of
course, the more prominent and, when once seen, their
characteristic form and contents are easily recognized
again. ‘The structure of the outer coats is made out
with more difficulty, and before attempting to do so
on ground pepper it is best to soften some whole
black and white pepper corns in glycerine and cut

[ 46 ]

sections from various parts of the exterior of the
berry.

White pepper, since it is allowed to ripen fully, has
the most distinctness, and, since it lacks the wrinkles,
it will not be found difficult to pick out three layers of
different cells from a section from it mounted in glycer-
ine, composing the outer coat of the corn, besides angu-
lar large cells of the interior which are filled with starch
and piperine, the latter being yellow in color. The first
of these layers, the outer one, is made of colorless, large,
loosely arranged cells with some fibers toward the exte-
rior more compact than those toward the interior of the
layer and carrying globules of oil. This layer makes up
the principal part of the husk of the white pepper. The
second layer is a part of what is generally called the
testa and consists of small yellow cells, thick walled and
closely oppressed. Next comes the third Jayer and sec-
ond portion of the testa, which consists of lignified brown
cells, which in their transverse appearance resemble some
of the cells of mustard hulls. The individuality of these
cells is not made out easily, owing to the thickness of
the walls. After the observer has become thoroughly
familiar with these appearances of the white pepper he
should examine ground pepper, which will be found to
differ in the way in which these coats are to be presented ;
they can be recognized, however, and must be studied
until thoroughly understood.

The black pepper is not as simple in its arrangement
as the white, the maturity of the white giving it distinct-
ness, while the shrunken character of the black berry
makes the recognition of its various tissues difficult. In
a section from the exterior of a softened black pepper,
the interior coats, after what has been learned of the
white, will be quickly recognized, but they are not plainly
developed. The coats of the outer pericarp, which in
the white pepper were wanting, will be found to be
darker colored, shrunken and confused, so that it
requires much study to discover the forms of the cells,
which may be more easily found in the powdered black
pepper; there the structure already recognized in the
ground white pepper will be seen and in addition dark-

[ 47 ]

brown particles, portions of the outer coats. Careful
examinations of different particles will reveal some
which consist of the elongated, vertical exterior cells
containing resin, while others are the shrunken paren-
chyme cells of the second layer, whose structure is indis-
tinct.

The colored portion of a ground black pepper divides
itself into two classes, the dark particles which have just
been mentioned and the deep reddish ones which are
made up of the testa of the seed and its adherent paren-
chyme. The two will be readily recognized and distin-
guished from adulterants by investigation.

There are in all about forty different species of pep-
per plant, consisting of herbs, shrubs, and trees. They
are generally named from the city or country of export.
The differences in appearance of the product coming
from various sources are sufficiently marked to be
readily noticed when samples of each are at hand side by
side, but otherwise it is almost impossible to distinguish
between some of them. ‘The goodness of the pepper
depends more on the quality of the soil than on the culti-
vation, although cultivation will increase the yield. The
fine Tellicherry pepper together with the Alleppy are
considered the best varieties. 'Tellicherry is named from
the city of Tellicherry of British India, province of
Maladar, district of Madras. Alleppy is named from
the city of Alleppy, which is the capital of the native

state Travancore in the district of Madras. ‘These are
— closely followed by the Malabar pepper from the district
of Malabar, India. These varieties are sun-dried. Next
comes the fine Penang pepper, named from the city of
Penang, meaning “ betalnut” (see illustration) in the
Straits Settlement. This is followed by the Singapore,
named from the city of Singapore, and meaning City
of the Lion (see illustration), which is also in the Straits
Settlement, and is the largest export city of spice in the
world, being the center of export for spices grown in.
the Malay Peninsula as well as in Java and Sumatra
and of that rich state known as Johore, in the southern
extremity of the Malay Peninsula.

Singapore pepper, by reason of its dark color and

[ 438 ]

ACHEEN

TELLICHERRY COAST FROM OLD FORT, LOOKING NORTH

ay

fairly uniform quality, is a good-looking pepper, and
for that reason it is esteemed, but for grinding purposes
it has not been heretofore so highly regarded, because
of its smoky odor, as it is dried over smoke. The pepper
plantation and the gambier plantation of Johore are
usually under one management, and in boiling down the
gambier to make the vegetable extracts there are sus-
pended over the kettle mats on which are placed quanti-
ties of the Singapore pepper.

The smoke from the furnace dries and at the same
time blackens the pepper and gives it the unmistakable
smoky smell which is characteristic of Singapore pepper.
This smoky odor is retained to a considerable degree
after the pepper is ground, and it is one of the tests by
which pepper merchants determine whether a given
sample is Singapore or not. The Singapore pepper
from Borneo is divided into, first, the Mullacca, which
is the best and heaviest; second, the Caytongee; and
third, the poorest sort, Negara, which is most abundant,
and which is small and usually falls to dust. Manga-
lore pepper, named from the city of Mangalore (Fig.
3), is the largest pepper corn grown. It is nearly twice
the size of ordinary pepper, is of a deep black color,
very clean, and of uniform size. When ground it yields
a powder of a characteristic greenish appearance. Lam-
pong pepper takes its name from a district bordering
on the east end of the Island of Sumatra near the Straits
of Sunda where it grows. ‘There is also a city in the dis-
trict by the name, Lampong (meaning bobbing in
water), where all the men and women meet at a central
market house to transact their business matters. The
Lampong pepper corns are less uniform in size than
those of the other varieties before mentioned, and are
also of a lighter color, and the surface contains much
dirt. Acheen, Sumatra, or West Coast, are names
applied to the pepper found on the great wild island of
Sumatra, visited by Marco Polo in 1291. The island
is divided into semi-independent states, each being ruled
by its own prince or chief, who may be called Sultan,
Rajah, or Datto. The interior of Sumatra is inhabited
by the lion and the tiger, and by bands of savage Malays

[ 49 ]

mixed with Dyaks of Borneo and Hindoos, some of
whom are very savage. Among these are the head-
hunters, or cannibals, who impose as a penalty for
certain crimes that the guilty one is to be cut
to pieces and eaten, and sometimes is to be eaten
alive. This class of people are found in the south
of Achin.

Acheen pepper (Fig. 2) takes its name from the dis-
trict by that name, or from the city of Acheen (native
dialect, Atkeh) (see illustration) and the district of
Acheen, which exported in the year 1904, 60,000 piculs
(136 lbs. each); Telak Betang (South Sumatra) ex-
ported 50,000 piculs (136 Ibs. each) ; Padang, Sumatra
(meaning an open plain), produces much pepper of
good quality, and the Bataks, of North Sumatra, have
long been devoted to its cultivation. The designation
East and West Coast, as formerly used, have been (as
have also the three names it was known by on the island,
“ Tada-Iawor ” or “ Lampoon,” “Iada Manna,” and
“Tada Jambee’’) lost track of, and the pepper is now
designated according to its specific gravity as A, B, C,
or D grade.

A grade weighs at least 4 lbs., 13 oz. to the imperial
gallon (481 grams per liter).

B grade weighs at least 4 Ibs., 5 oz. to the imperial
gallon (431 grams per liter).

C grade weighs at least 3 lbs., 13 oz. to the imperial
gallon (881 grams per liter).

D grade weighs at least 3 lbs., 5 oz. to the imperial
gallon (586 grams per liter).

There has probably not been any of the A grade of
Acheen black pepper in this country for several years,
for the reason that it is this grade of pepper that is pre-
ferred by the manufacturers of Penang white pepper;
and since it is used up in that way it does not reach our
market except in the form of white pepper, Fig. 5. The
best way to test the quality of the whole pepper is by
weight, the heavier being the best.- It takes 6,984 Sin-
gapore pepper corns (Fig. 4) to weigh one pound, while
the finer grades of Tellicherry or Malabar (Fig. 1)
require but 6,400.

: [ 50 ]

CENTRAL MARKET LOMPONG (Bobbing in Water) TELAH BENTONG

a,

SiSs

A HOME IN ALLEPY

Pepper is sometimes graded by putting it in water,
when the heavy sinks and the light swims; the water also
removes the dirt that might adhere to it.

Shot pepper is the heavier black pepper put through
a soaking and hardening process. Afterwards it is
oiled to give it a better appearance, but as the water is
injurious to the berry it is now generally separated in
a column of air. The better appearance thus given to
the shot pepper makes it more in demand and gives it a
higher market value.

From what has been said, we can readily understand
that the quality of pepper differs in the different locali-
ties. Pepper will hold its strength longer than any
other spice. It has been found by mixing Malabar for
weight, Penang for strength, and Sumatra for color,
we get the most desirable powdered article. Malabar
pepper has about twice the strength of Singapore, which
has twice the strength of Sumatra. The Atjeh, Atchin
or Acheen, pepper from the northeastern part of
Sumatra, and that from the province of Batak in the
more central eastern part of Sumatra Island, as received
in this country, contain much earthy matter, and the
East Archipelago pepper culture, including the islands
of Jahore and Rhio, is so widely spread as to give us
large and various qualities.

The city of Penang, in the Straits Settlement,
exported in the year 1904, 53,613 bags of black pepper
and 22,415 bags of white pepper, being about half of
the entire supply, and the Island of Ceylon exported in
1904, 2,746 ewt. of pepper valued at $379.83. Saigon,
China, has also many acres under cultivation. Of
course, when the price of pepper is high, there is more
profit for the grower, and the laborer is given more em-
ployment, since the acreage is increased. Advances of
money are made to the Chinaman by the merchants,
who take security on the growing pepper at a rate fixed
much below its actual value. The Chinaman on this
advance money erects a small building required as a
home, and purchases his farming implements and has
two dollars monthly for food and for opium, and at the
end of the third year the plantation is equally divided

[51]

between the contracting parties. One man can take
care of about 3,000 plants after they come into bearing.

Ashantee pepper or West African (and as it is some-
times called, African Cubebs) is the fruit of the piper,
(Cubeb) ‘“ Clusi,” and is principally from Niam-Niam,
a district in Guinea bordering on the Gulf of Guinea in
Africa, and is locally used as a substitute for black pep-
per, but has a hollow berry, much smaller and
less wrinkled. In the southwest of India, where pepper
grows wild, it is found in rich, moist soil, usually in
narrow valleys. It propagates itself by running along
on the ground and throwing off shoots every few feet.
The natives, in caring for it, merely tie the ends of the
vines to trees at distances at least six feet apart, and
especially to those having a rough bark, as the vine
readily clings to the rough surface of the tree. In
India the berries of (KEmbelia) (Samara) Ribes are
often mixed with pepper.

There is also a fruit called Melegueta pepper, known
also as “‘ Guinea Grains,” Grains of Paradise, or Alli-
gator pepper, which is the seed of Amomum Mele
Gueta, a plant of the ginger family, which contains
seeds which are exceedingly pungent and are used as a
spice through Central and Northern Africa.

The cultivation of the pepper plant in the Western
Hemisphere has been attended with fair success where
it has been perseveringly pursued, but there is little prob-
ability that it can successfully compete even in the West
India islands with that of those countries where the plant
is indigenous. Jamaica pepper, which is a native of
the Island of Jamaica, belongs more to the fruit of
pimenta, an account of which is given under a separate
chapter. The yield of pepper varies in different locali-
ties and may be from one and one-half to eight
or ten pounds toa single vine. The third year the yield
is one catty; fourth year, one and one-half catty; the
fifth year, three and one-half catties, a catty being one
and one-third pounds. Four thousand pounds is a good
average to one acre. Ten pounds of green berries make
only four to five pounds when dried and bagged for
the market.

ear

SINGAPORE (City of the Lion)

Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.

VIEW IN HARBOR OF PENANG FROM STEAMER LOOKING NORTHWEST

It is hard to estimate the amount of black pepper
used each year, but it is very great. The United States
consumes more spices pro rata than any other country.
This fact is well known by exporters after long ex peri-
ence, and now many spices are shipped direct to the
United States ports instead of by the way of London.

The chief use of pepper is that of a spice added prin-
cipally to meats, but also to other food substances.
Pepper is sometimes used for medicinal purposes, as it
stimulates the stomach on account of the piperine it con-
tains, and thus aids in digestion. In removing ring-
worms it has few equals. The native doctors of India
consider it a stimulant, and they prescribe an infusion
of the toasted berries in cases of cholera morbus; it will
check violent vomiting in that disease when many other
remedies fail. ‘Chey also prepare a liniment from pep-
per which they think has sovereign virtue in chronic rheu-
matism. In Europe it is sometimes used as a stimulant
in gout and palsy, and the watery infusion has proved
a useful gargle in relaxation of the uvula. The dose
of black pepper should be about six grains.

The chief enemies of the pepper vine are white ants,
the black bug and white bug, the borer, male crickets,
and the Cinchana caterpillar. A strong solution of
tuba root is sufficient to keep away white ants, and tuba
root mixed with juice of common tobacco will prevent
the black and white bug work, and in mild cases ashes or
sulphur and lime applied early in the morning will be
found sufficient. ‘The borer begins by attacking the
joints of the branches and its presence is known by the
light yellowish color of the bark. There is no known
preventive for the borer, except to catch it before it
has gone too far. It always works around the joints,
and when it has completed the circle, it commences to
bore down the center of the branch, and sometimes, but
very seldom, the stem. ‘The male cricket goes for the
roots, but does the least damage; if it has gone too
far to be dug out, the best way is to plug up its hole as
far as possible with clay.

The green Cinchana caterpillar attacks the leaves
only, but may destroy many of them; the only plan to

[ 53 ]

make way with it is to send a coolie around to collect
and destroy the insects.

Whole pepper is seldom or never adulterated,
although much is uncleaned. Old, water-soaked stock
is at times found on the market. Several years ago two
thousand bags were thrown into the Thames River from
a wharf which was on fire, and was later offered for sale
at auction. ‘lhe powdered article, however, is adulter-
ated more than any other condiment used as a table
spice. ‘lhe adulteration is made by almost any cheap,
foreign article attainable and in a most ridiculous and
not only unlawful but inhuman way. ‘The probable
reasons why pepper is selected for this more extensive
abuse are found in the fact that adulteration is more
easily covered up and in the further fact that, owing to
the large amount of pepper used, the gain is much
greater.

The quality of a ground pepper can be told by an
expert from its weight and color, and on examination
with a lens of low magnifying power. ‘The particles
are not coarsely ground, and it is not difficult to pick out
pieces of husk, yellow corn, and rice; if necessary, a
more careful investigation under a microscope of higher
power will serve for confirmation. Black pepper is
much more liable to be adulterated than the white,
although it is perfectly easy to dilute the latter with
broken rice or cracker-dust, or with long pepper. There
is a disposition many times on the part of those who can
afford it to have the best that can be made, in appear-
ance at least, and it is thought by some that the whiter
the color of the pepper the purer the quality. This is a
great mistake. ‘The removing of the outer covering
of the black in order to make white pepper removes the
most pungent part of the fruit. This work is sometimes
carried so far that, while the fruit, when ground, is
nearly as white as starch, there is little left but starch.
It is questioned whether this practice is not as much
an adulteration as the skimming of milk, as it takes away
the most valuable part of the fruit. Long pepper is
also used to adulterate pepper, but the taste and smell of
the long pepper cannot be disguised, and its starch is

[ 54]

nearly double the size of that of ordinary black pepper.
Not only are the pepper shells used to adulterate ground
pepper, but also other by-products, such as middlings,
wheat, corn, ground olive stones, cocoanut shells, almond
shells, mustard hulls, long pepper, Cayenne pepper,
sago, and linseed.

These are sold to the spice grinders under the name of
“P. D.” pepper. Pepper adulterants and pepper mix-
tures,— P. D., pepper dust; H. P. D., hot pepper dust;
W. P. D., white pepper dust — consist of such products
as the grinder has at hand or can obtain at the lowest
price, the mixer requiring only that the colors shall be
such as are suitable for his trade. In London, the olive
stones are much used, put up in colors of both black
and white. Pepper mixtures are sold under the name
of “Poivrette or Pepperette.” ‘Their natural color is
pale buff, much resembling the middle layer of the
pepper berry when ground, and they cannot be distin-
guished from the pepper by the eye, even with the use of
a hand lens, when mixed with a powdered pep-
per, but with the aid of the microscope with one-sixth
or one-eighth objective, it is seen that they consist of
pale, dense, lignous cells, being entire and marked
with linear air spaces; some are torn and
indistinct. Other substances examined showed finely
ground clay and brick dust. The presence of pep-
per husks and charcoal is generally known by the
immensely increased proportion of black particles in the
field, as appears in Fig. 43, opposite page 25, Chap. III.

The true pepper powder, and one in which rice starch
is present, is given in Fig. 21 and in Fig. 42, which also
gives us an idea of the size of the pepper starch, which is
very small as compared with any other kind of starch.

Much authority might be quoted on the adultera-
tions of pepper, but enough has been written to give the
reader an idea of its vastness. I will next endeavor to
give the method of examining peppers microscopically.

First, the sieve examination of those particles left
upon a forty to sixty-mesh sieve is of value. This exami-
nation will frequently reveal the nature of the adulter-
ant or the too large portion of pepper husk.

[ aed

Next, by the aid of a good dissecting microscope, fif-
teen to thirty power, the frequency of the occurrence of
the coarse particles, after a little experience, will not be
difficult to sort out, and the presence of sand or a notable
excess of P. D. may be detected and estimated. Back-
grounds of white and black with reflected light and
afterwards transmitted light may be used in the manner
so conveniently afforded by Zeiss’s stand made for this
purpose. A portion of the powdered pepper or the
separated coarse particles should also be treated with
a chloral-hydrate solution for twenty-four hours, to
render it more transparent for examination with higher
powers, and in the meantime a part of the coarse par-
ticles collected from the sieve may be examined under a
one and one-half inch objective and then crushed and re-
examined, using both plain and polarized light. In this
way husky matter may be distinguished and foreign
starches rejected. Polarized light is then the means of
bringing out more plainly the starches, the proportion of
which iodine will reveal. Due allowance should be made
for the smaller granules of pepper starch and all optically
active tissue, such as the fibers and sclerenchyma or stone
cells, which are found in olive stones and cocoanut shells.

The chloral-hydrate preparation should now be exam-
ined, much of which disappears, and the starch is found
much swollen. The structure of the pepper itself has
already been explained and is supposed to be so well
understood that it cannot be confused with the foreign
matter, as the husky matter present is rendered so much
clearer that its identification and differentiation are much
easier. Experience with half a dozen samples of cheap, in
comparison with a pure, pepper will soon teach one the
best means of making out what has been _ briefly
described.

It has been found most valuable to digest about a
gram of pepper with nitric acid, specific gravity 1.1,
and chlorate of potash for several hours, or until the
color is bleached, when it is then possible to distinguish
the denser cellular structure more easily than in any
other way. This is particularly true of the stone cells,
which make up the larger part of the cocoanut shells

[ 56 ]

and ground olive stones, especially when polarized light
is used. Care should be taken not to confuse the stone
celis of the pepper husk with those of olive stones or
other adulterants. Charcoal at the same time remains
unbleached. ‘The analyst will find many variations in
the samples met with and should always be on guard for
something new.

Chemical composition of black pepper.— The analy-
sis of the pure ground pepper shows the amount of
water to be between 8 and 10 per cent., but, of course,
it varies with surrounding conditions. The ash in
black peppers does not exceed from 4-10 to 7-10 per
cent., and in white, 1 4-10 per cent.; it is fair to believe
that anything above 5 per cent. for black and 2 per cent.
for white is suspicious. The volatile oil, to which pep-
per owes its flavor, varies in black pepper from 1.69 to
.70, and in white 1.26 to .57 are found, but this deter-
mination is not of great value as a means of detecting
adulterations.

Piperine, which is a neutral crystalline substance, and
resin, to which the pepper owes its pungency, of which it
yields about two per cent. in its composition, are similar
to oil of turpentine as well in specific gravity as in the
boiling point. These substances furnish a most valu-
able check on the purity of both white and black pepper.
Pepper contains from 7.90 to 7.24 per cent. of these
substances, showing a great constancy in amount, and
on addition of adulterants, this is plainly affected,
which seems better than a determination of pure piper-
ine, which is difficult and causes much loss. It has also
proved impossible to make determinations of piperine
by the combustion, or K. Jeldahl, methods by applica-
tion of Stutzer’s copper-hydrate process, the percentage
of nitrogen being so small, 4,912 in piperine, as to make
the error very large when converting the former to the
latter, the necessary factor being 20.36.

The determination of starch or its equivalent in re-
ducing sugars has been looked into with care, and a pre-
liminary extraction with alcohol and water is necessary
to obtain results which are fairly constant, which deter-
mination shows black pepper to contain from 34 to 38

eae

per cent. of starch, or 42 to 47 per cent. of substances
of reducing sugar equivalent, calculated on dry ash free
substance. White pepper contains in the same way
from 40 to 43 per cent. starch and gives from 50 to 55
per cent. of reducing sugar equivalent on dry ash free
substance.

The crude fiber in black pepper does not vary
far from 10 per cent., but in the white pepper is much
reduced, depending to a certain extent on the perfection
of the decortication. Four to 8 per cent. are prob-
ably fair limits, and this determination is quite necessary
in revealing the presence of foreign woody or fibrous
matter.

Albuminoids do not vary widely, 10 per cent. being
the average, with extremes of 7.69 and 11.50. The |
addition of nitrogenous seéds, of course, increases the
amount, and of fibrous or woody matter diminishes it.

We have the following result as a standard:

WY aber oe los is civic) ahd alr ee 8.0 to 11.0
| ea a igs ted teiiab) eters TE Ico EO sas)
Valnule Oil, ‘ WEA Ted be “pO: to. dao
Pepperine aad pee : Jtgce han Oe SbON STO
Starch 0 OPE cia, Ve RS otO cate aeuO
Crude Fiber, . S40. te. 110
Albuminoids, 1.0-\to 1220

[ 58 ]

CHAPTER V

WHITE PEPPER

duced by a separate plant, but it is the fruit

of the black pepper vine, the change in appear-
ance being brought about by artificial preparation. ‘The
poor natives are said to collect for market some white
berries, which have been left on the vines until fully ripe
and then have fallen to the ground and, by their expo-
sure to the sun, have lost the outer black coating. That
which remains is called the “ genuine” white pepper.
This collection of the white pepper corns by the natives
has given rise to the story that a small bird called bal-
laree, feeding on the black pepper, digests nothing but
the outer husks and, the balance, having passed whole
through the organs of the bird, becomes white.

The pepper vines are injured by allowing the berry
to ripen before gathering to make white pepper. For
this reason the unripe fruit is often used, and some
manufacturers make it a business to prepare or make
the white pepper. ‘The unripe black pepper is robbed of
its outer coat, to make white pepper, in several ways,
according to the extent to which the decorticating proc-
ess is carried. Thus, we may have decorticated pepper
from which all three coats are removed, or only one or two
of them. All of these kinds are called factitious white
pepper. Thus we have Tellicherry, which is particu-
larly fine, and, second, the “‘ coriander white,” so called
from its close resemblance to the seed of that name.
This is also a fine grade. It is made in imitation of the
coriander seed by cutting off from the end of each corn
a piece of the outer hull, so that the dark-colored inner
portion shows. The ordinary white follows next, which
is made from the Singapore, Penang, ete. This is often
bleached to imitate the first two, but it makes a sad imi-
tation.

NAY ices pepper is thought by many to be pro-

[ 59 ]

The Tellicherry and coriander are packed in cases
of about 200 pounds, each with marked tare on every
case. ‘The ordinary white is packed in bags of about
150 pounds, with 2 per cent. tare, with an allowance of
one pound to each package.

The process is as follows: The black pepper may
be kept in the house for several days and then bruised
or washed in a basket to remove the stalk and pulpy
matter, after which it is dried in the sunshine before
shipping. It is also prepared by steeping in water
in which it has been allowed fully to ripen and then
removing the outer coat by friction. ‘The natives also
remove the outer layer by placing the ripest red grains
in running water or in pits made near the river bank or
in stagnant pools. Sometimes it is only buried in the
ground, and when it has been under this treatment for
about one week it will swell and burst the outer husk,
which is then easily removed by rubbing with the hands
while it is drying in the sunshine. After being win-
nowed it is ready for export. Another way of preparing
white pepper, often used, is to place the black pepper in
a solution of chloride of lime water to remove the dark
coating, after which it is rubbed and dried as in the
other preparation.

Although the white pepper has the name of being a
superior article, it is not. It is very true that only the
marrow of the black pepper berries can be used to make
white pepper, and the product does have an exquisite
flavor; but since the greater strength lies in the outer
cover, there is some doubt as to the quality of the white
pepper. Moreover, the real goodness of the pepper is,
in fact, not improved by this process, as the water injures
its strength, the outer husk contains more of the aroma,
and the quality of the pepper removed is almost propor-
tionate to the weight of the pepper corn. The only
gain obtained is in the appearance, and this process is
but another way of meeting the public demand for
something to please the eye, instead of the palate.

White pepper brings a higher price to the grower,
but when the waste and extra labor are considered it is
seen that the grower’s profits are largely reduced.

[ 60 ]

White pepper corns allowed to ripen fully are larger
than black and can be reduced to a powder more readily,
and will present a more uniform appearance.

China and the Straits Settlement export much of
the cheaper white pepper found in our market and much
of it comes from the island of Rhio, and it is imported
in the whole.

Chemical composition of white pepper:

Wiateryurhtaiot 2 RV Abdu te iteheky. esOnete dO
a Hi. take Det ay ok. EO shat aco
WAGE | au TORY © 7 lO ne Oo ee 250-tOL Lal
Piperme ane Resiny 73s 3 O00 750 tory 8.0
SEAPEM OM PIAt) Gy cok ite ah he AOLO8 ‘Eo °4:4.0
Grodecbiber sn sole ohh hes eviews | Antes 8.0
Albuminoids, Ces case RAL 8.0 to 10.0

By mixing one part ground white pepper with two
parts of slacked lime and a sufficient quantity of water,
and evaporating the solution to dryness in a water bath,
the powder being exhausted with commercial ether,
piperine can be obtained nearly pure in large crystals
of a faint straw color.

To obtain it perfectly pure, it must be dissolved in
alcohol and recrystallized.

[ 61 ]

CHAPTER VI

LONG PEPPER

ONG pepper is the fruit spike of a wild plant of
Piper longum (Chavica Roxburgh) and of
Piper (C. officinarum) , there being two species —

French, Poivre longue; German, Langer pfeffer;
Italian, Pepe lungo; Spanish, Pimienta larga; Javanese,
Chabi-Jawa; Hindostan, Pipel; Cyngalese, Tipilie,
elephant pepper; Cochin Chinese, Caylot.

Long pepper (Piper officinarwm) is a perennial plant
and has oblong leaves attenuated at the base, and is a
native of Indian Archipelago, Nepaul, and Java. It
is found growing along the streams of the Kast Indies,
Sumatra, Celebes, and Timor, and is also found in
Malabar, Ceylon, and East Bengal, and in the Philip-
pines, being indigenous to most of these countries. It
is distinguished from the former by having cordate
or heart-shaped leaves at the base, which are pinnate and
five-veined.

In Bengal the plants are raised from suckers and are
set five feet apart in rich, high, dry soil. Its stem is
smooth with a slender branch and scandant leaves, cor-
date pointed and nerved, and of a deep-green color. The
flowers are dicecious and small, in short, dense, terminal
solitary spikes, which are nearly cylindrical and opposite
to the leaves. They are very similar to black pepper,
with some characteristic differences.

Long pepper appears to have been known by the
ancient Greeks and Romans, and in the tenth century
mention is made of long pepper or Macro-piper.

The minute baccate fruit, which is closely packed
around the central axis, is at first green, becoming red
when ripe. The peppers are hottest in their immature
state and are then gathered and dried in the sunshine,
when they change to a dark gray color. They are im-
ported in the spikes which have the appearance of being

[ 62 ]

LONG PEPPER (Piper Longum)

limed. They are about one and one-half inches in
length by one-fourth inch thick, but vary in size and are
indented on the surface. The yield from an acre is
three maunds of eighty pounds the first year, twelve
the second year, and eighteen the third year, after which
the yield diminishes. ‘The roots are finally grubbed up
and dried and sold as “ pi pli mul,” which is a favorite
medicine of the Hindoos, who use it for palsy and apo-
plexy. The infusion of the powdered fruit mixed with
a little honey is said to be good in catarrhal affection,
when the chest is loaded with phlegm.

In structure it does not bear a close resemblance to
black pepper, as its pepper corns, or berries, and husks
all harden together on a long, central, irregular, climb-
ing stem, much in the same way that in the pines the seed
and covering are all hardened into one cone. It not
only has more woody fiber but brings with it much more
sand, which is found imbedded in the crevices of the
irregular fruit, than is found in ordinary pepper.

Long pepper is a spice often called for during the
fall season for pickling. It imparts a flavor to pickles
which causes a demand for it for preserving purposes.
There is much old stock on the market, which is poor.
This is often used to adulterate ordinary pepper, but
it can be readily detected by its disagreeable odor,
which warmth will develop, and by its slaty color and
the amount of sand it contains. Although grinders try
to destroy the odor by bleaching, and the slaty color by
sifting out the husk to make it lighter, its characteristics
cannot be covered up in the true pepper.

In gathering the long pepper, the native, being paid
by the weight for what he brings to the market, takes care
not to less the weight of dirt, but rather to increase it,
and in consequence we find that it has always from 3
to 7 per cent. of insoluble sand and clay in addition
to the proper ash of the fruit. It is impossible to clean
it as pepper should be cleaned for grinding, except with
difficulty and by hand.

The pepper is harvested in January and when thor-
oughly dry is put up in piculs of 13514 pounds each.

The ash of the long pepper contains a very large pro-

[ 63 ]

portion of salts insoluble in hydrochloric acid, and when
ground the hard husk and woody centers, as well as the
dirt, are necessarily ground along with the minute ber-
ries. Although it contains more sand and more woody
fiber than genuine ground pepper of the corresponding
shade, it does not contain as much cellulose as the most
husky black pepper.

Long pepper is always cheaper than the best black
pepper and may be sold as long pepper on the market
without offense, but it has no more right to a place on
the market as black pepper than has any other admixture,
and as such is as fraudulent as buckwheat meal and is
just as objectionable.

A sure test for long pepper as an adulterant in ground
black pepper is to heat a piece of cold meat between two
plates and sprinkle some of the suspected fresh long
pepper on it, when the smell and flavor will be so offen-
sive that one will feel obliged to reject the meat.

The presence of long pepper may be determined by
the following characteristics:

1. If much long pepper is used, its peculiar slaty
color will show, although sifting and bleaching will
partly hide the color; but the odor of the mixture when
warmed is unmistakable to an educated olfactory sense,
even if the amount of mixture be moderate. The odor
cannot be destroyed by bleaching, for that has been tried,
and even the ethal as well as the alcoholic extracts from
which the solvent has been evaporated at a low tempera-
ture yields, when warmed, the characteristic odor very
plainly. Admixture of long pepper would also intro-
duce much sand in the powdered black pepper, and
in white pepper it would be much more noticeable,
as white pepper does not contain 21% per cent. of sand
and more would mean an admixture. There being also
much woody matter in powdered long pepper, arising
from the smallness of the berries as well as the hardened
setting and from the central woody tube, this may be
detected either by chemical analysis or by micro-
scope, and some of it by the naked eye or with the
aid of a large hand lens. If the sample be spread
out in a smooth, thin layer on strong paper by

[ 64 ]

means of an ivory paper knife, pieces of fluffy
woody fiber will be detected, especially if the thin layer
be tapped lightly from below. These pieces come from
the central part of the indurated catkin, which cannot be
completely ground fine as genuine pepper stalks are
ground. Much of this matter is removed by the grind-
er’s sieves, but enough pass through the meshes of the
silk to be useful as a corroborative indication, and if any
particles of husk pass through they can be told from
those of the genuine pepper husks.

A proportion of the starch granules of long pepper
is of larger size, about .0002 inch, and of angular shape,
very slightly smaller than rice granules and more loosely
aggregated in clusters or isolated. Here it is neces-
sary to notice that the statement is made in books that
genuine pepper starch is round in form. Pepper starch
is doubtless round in the main, but not invariably. (See
illustration.) The loose granules of the interior are
spherical, but in the dense portions of the berry they
become more angular by pressure on each other.

Chemical composition of long pepper:

AMAEAIG ASTIN Dad Melis isuhace UY Arts enaMines' Shh tay ye ye oes 8.91
Sand and ash matter converted into sugar, H. C. L., £2
Total matter soluble in 10 per cent. of H.C. L., . 67.83
Starch and matters convertible intosugar, . . . 44.04
Albuminous matter soluble in alkali, . . . ... 15.47
Cellulose, HOC oie ek Raves ine pamela Ss aos |
Pmbeted pyaaleainols srt. 7 sp) ba | Sit as Loops kee) | diode
Extracted by ether SS shee SME”, Paw tian a Bee a
WIILEG RENAE CASO) Lo bias be (ESS Loy AE Cee! veh er er ead

Long pepper also contains piperine, resin, and volatile
oil.

The principal cities of export are Singapore and
Penang, the annual amount of export being from 2,000
to 8,000 piculs of 13514 pounds each from each city at
a London market value of 37 to 45s. a ewt.

[ 65 ]

CHAPTER VII

CAPSICUM, OR CAYENNE

AYENNE pepper, Guiana pepper, Spanish pep-
per, Mexican chilli, as it is often called, more
commonly spoken of as red pepper, is a genus of

herbs or shrubs of the nightshade family (Salanaceoe)
the fruit of any species of capsicum. ‘The name capsi-
cum is of uncertain origin, perhaps from kato, to bite —
all of them having a strong, pungent flavor, or from
L. capso, box or chest, from the shape of the fruit; the
latter name being given to it by Broconna.

ANNUUM HERBACEOUS OR SUFFRUTESCENT

The true peppers are members of a totally distinct
order, the Piperaceoe.

French, Piment or Corail des Jardins Powra d’Inde
or Guinee; German, Spanisher Oderkerscher Pfeffer.

Cayenne takes its name from the city of Cayenne
(Koyen or Kien) (see illustration), or from the island
and river, both of same name, on which it is located, or
from the province of Cayenne in French Guiana, South
America. The city of Cayenne is a French penal sta-
tion, and exports large quantities of Cayenne, which we
call Guiana pepper.

Probably the first known history of Cayenne pepper
in Europe is that given by Martyr, who writes of
Columbus bringing it home with him in 1493, and speaks
of it as being more pungent than that from Caucasus,
probably referring to the Oriental black pepper. About
a century later, Gerarde writes of its being brought into
Europe from Africa and Southern Asia and being
grown in European gardens. Probably the first record
of its use is that given by Doctor Chauca, who was physi-
cian with Columbus’s fleet in 1494, and who alludes to
it as a condiment used in dressing meats, dyeing, and
other purposes, as well as a medicine.

[ 66 ]

CAPSICUM OR CAYENNE
1 Zanzibar 3 Sierra Leone
2 Bombay 4,5,6and7 Common Garden

Cayenne pepper is supposed to have first been brought
to America by the Portuguese, who found it growing
in a wild state. Our greater supply now comes from
Zanzibar, Nepaul, Bombay, and Penang.

Almost every gardener knows the red pepper plant.
The plants are generally started in a nursery or hot-
house in early spring, from the seed, and are trans-
planted when a few inches high, as soon as the weather
will permit, in the prepared garden, about four feet
apart. When about six inches high, a little rich fer-
tilizer should be worked in the soil about the plants.
The Cayenne pepper plant is an annual and is a slow
grower, and it seldom rises higher than four feet. It
has a rough stem, nearly globulous, with branches dif-
fused and often scandent; the leaves are lancelate, quite
entire and repand, small, smooth, petioled, alternate in
pairs or near each other, greenish white flowers, seldom
violaceous; solitary or in twos and threes with rotate five,
rarely six or seven, cleft corrolla; stamens, five, and
rarely six or seven, with five bluish anthers (connivent
and dehising longitudinally) and an obtuse stigma, calyx
usually embracing base of ovary, which soon becomes
a pod, consisting of a fleshy envelope at first and after-
wards a leathery, oblong, linear, juiceless pod or fruit,
in which are the spongy pulp and seeds. ‘These fruit
pods are of several varieties, varying in shape and color,
and being long or short, podded and oval, round or
heart-shaped. The pods are bright red or yellow,
divided into two or three cells full of small white seeds,
known as pod pepper. The pods which are of a green
color, when full grown, commence to change first to a
lovely canary yellow and then to a rose pink, and so
on through the different shades until they are intense
scarlet when ready for harvesting in August and Sep-
tember (see illustration) .

Don gives a list of thirty-three varieties in his General
System of Gardening and Botany, which are used to
make Cayenne pepper, but there are ninety different
species of capsicum known, and ranging in height from
a small plant of six inches to ornamental plants
six feet in height, and of many varieties or species

[ 67 ]

of capsicum two contribute to that found in com-
merce.

The C. frutescens of the Fastigiatum (perennial)
sometimes reaches to a height of several feet with
branching and spreading tops, sometimes decumbent,
leaves broadly ovate, fruit of various shapes and colors,
usually small and very pungent, borne on long peduncles
and is the species which is officinal in both the British
and United States Pharmacopeeias. It grows in tropi-
eal Africa and America and is called Zanzibar pepper,
and often by the name of Mexican chillies, and is of a
high grade of Cayenne (Fig. 1). Its pods are very
small, being from one-half to three-fourths inch long
and very bright red, containing white seeds, the skin of
the pods being tender and very pungent. The color of
its powder is lighter yellow than C. annum, has a fibrous
root system. Potato and tomato belonging to the same
family, it is found growing in the United States and
Europe and has been growing in English gardens since
1548 and, although indigenous to South America, is now
cultivated in India, Hungary, Italy, and Turkey.

Nepaul capsicum (or Nepal and Nipal), as it is
sometimes called, has an odor and flavor resembling orris
and a pod the color of amber when dried. It is most
esteemed as a condiment, being aromatic and appetizing,
and not so acrid or biting as is most Cayenne. It is
found cultivated on the mountain side in Hindoostan.

Cayenne of the African variety comes from Sierra
Leone in the east and from Natal, southeast of Cape
Colony, including Zululand and Tangaland, or from a
territory that has a coast line of 300 miles. It grows to
a height of five or six feet producing long, kidney-
shaped, orange-colored pods. It is shipped from the
port of Natal. Itis considered the best for fluid extract.
That from Sierra Leon (Fig. 3) has pods that are small,
conical-pointed, and less than one inch in length. It is
very pungent, and when reduced to powder is a light
brownish yellow with a peculiar odor and somewhat aro-
matic. It is stronger in the powder than in the dry fruit,
and to the taste is bitterish, acrid, and burning, producing,
a fiery sensation in the mouth, which continues for a long

[ 68 ]

CAYENNE

time. ‘There is a new Cayenne on the market of recent
date, called Mombassa, from the city of the same name
in Africa.

Bombay Cayenne (Fig. 3) has large pods, from two
to three inches long, which when dry become flat in shape
and of a pale-red color. It is not so fine flavored or pun-
gent as the Zanzibar and is of less value.

The true Mexican chillies are grown mostly in Fran-
tera de Tabasco, Mexico, the name being much used
for Cayenne chillies from other countries, as has been
mentioned.

The smaller varieties (C’. baccatwm) have been known
in the English gardens since 1731; plants, small and very
erect, and slender branches, fastigiate, flexous; corolla,
small, spreading about one-half an inch, and has a globu-
lar fruit called cherry or berry capsicum, and are usually
known as the “ chillies” or “ bird pepper.” ‘They are
not more than one-half to three-quarters of an inch while
the C. annuwm is two to three inches long.

C. fastigiatum (minimum) which is usually termed
the shrubbery capsicum and by Rheede is called capo-
malago, is found growing wild in South India and is
extensively cultivated in tropical Africa and America.
It is three to six feet high with prominently angled or
somewhat channeled stem and loosely spreading or trail-
ing branches; leaves broadly ovate and acuminate, three
to six inches long and two to three and one-half inches
wide; peduncles, slender and one to two inches long in
pairs, usually longer than the fruit; calyx, cup-shaped,
embracing base of fruit; corolla, often with acherous
markings in the throat; fruit, red, obtuse or oblong, acu-
minate, three-fourths to one and one-fourth inches long,
and one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch in diameter,
and very acrid.

C. annuum (Longum crossum), bell-shaped, of
Algeria, which are often spoken of as herbaceous, and
by Rheede as vallia capo-malago, the difference being
chiefly in the nature of the stem.

It is two feet high with few branches and very large
leaves, often three to five inches long, and sometimes
caricous, lower ones usually pendant petioles, deeply

[ 69 ]

channeled; peduncles, about one inch long; corolla,
large and spreading seven-eighths to one and one-fourth
inches; fruit, large, oblate, oblong or truncated, three
to four-lobed, usually with basal depressions, more or
less sulcate and rugose; flesh, thick, firm and mild flavor.

The Minimum in Hindoostan is named “ Dhan
Nurich.” The C. grossuwm bears fruit as large as a
small apple and is called by the English in India coffrie
chillie. It is preferred for pickling, the seed being first
removed. The skin is fleshy and tender.

C. fasciculatum has few branches and clustered leaves
or crowded in branches about the summit, elliptical, lance-
olate, pointed at both ends; fruit clustered erect, slender,
about three inches long, one-fourth inch in diameter,
very acrid and is the red cluster pepper.

Acuminatum (C. chilense) , herbaceous, very branchy,
about two and one-half feet high, becoming a dense
mass of foliage; flowers, medium size, spreading one-
half to three-fourths inch; fruit, larger than C. fascicu-
latum.

C. cerasiforme has leaves medium ovate, oblong, acu-
minate, about one and one-fourth to three and one-half
inches long; calyx seated on base of fruit; corolla, large
and spreading seven-eighths to one and one-half inches;
fruit, one-half to one-eighth inch thick, spherical, sub-
cordate, oblate or occasionally obscurely pointed, or
slightly elongated, smooth, or, rarely, minutely rugose
or sulcate; extremely pungent, and cherry yellow.

T'etragomum, or bonnet pepper, is a species much-
esteemed in Guiana, which bears very large, handsome,
fleshy fruit, two colors, scarlet and golden yellow; and
C. frutescens (spur or goat pepper) has been growing
in the English gardens since 1856, is said to yield most
of the Cayenne pepper which comes from the West
Indies and South Amreica; largely used in salads.

A kind called tobacco pepper is said to possess the
most pungent properties of any of the species. It
yields a small red pod generally less than an inch in
length, and is longitudinal in shape, mostly borne above
the leaves, and is so exceedingly hot that a small quantity
of it is sufficient to season a large dish of any food.

[ 70 ]

Owing to its oleaginous character it has been found im-
possible to preserve it by drying, but by pouring strong
boiling vinegar on it a sauce or decoction can be made
which will possess in a concentrated form all the essen-
tial qualities of the vegetable, a single drop being enough
to flavor a whole plate of soup or food.

The chilli plant is the Lat-tsiao of Cochin Chinese.
It is constanly found in its wild state in the eastern
islands. ‘These varieties are enumerated by botanists;
their fruits differ in degrees of pungency. All capsi-
cum is a low grade of Cayenne. It requires but the
simplest culture, and cultivation appears to increase the
size of the fruit, but it diminishes its pungency.

Several varieties of C. annuwm have little or no pun-
gency. One of these is abundantly grown in Austria-
Hungary, from which we obtain Paprika of the Mag-
yars. Another kind is imported into this country from
Spain in a powder for feeding birds to improve the
colors of their feathers and to make them sing.

There are growing in the botanical gardens of Cal-
cutta six species of capsicum, viz, annuum, grosswm,
frutescens, baccatum, purpureum, and minimum. The
grosswm in Hindoostan is called “ Kaffrie Murich ” and
of the frutescens there are two varieties, the red and the
yellow, called by the Bengalese “ lall-lunka,” “ Murich ”
and “ huldi-lunka” Murich. The Cyngalese name for
frutescens is Casnairis. There is said to be a black pod
as well as a red and yellow known on the Island of
Ceylon. ;

The consumption of chillies in India is immense, as
they are used by both rich and poor and constitute the
principal seasoning for the poor in their rice. The
natives of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico use them
very extensively.

West India stomachic man-drum is prepared by wash-
ing a few pods of bird’s pepper and mixing them with
sliced cucumber and shallots, to which add a little lime
juice or Madeira wine.

A great quantity of agri or Guiana pepper is grown
in Peru, a variety which the natives are very fond of as
a condiment. It is not uncommon for an American

iced

Indian to make a meal of twenty to thirty pods of capsi-
cum and a little salt and a piece of bread washed down
with chica, their popular beverage.

The wort, or Cayenne pottage, may be termed the
national dish of the Abyssinians, as that, or its basis,
“ dillock,” is almost always eaten with their ordinary
diet. Equal parts of salt and well-powdered red Cay-
enne pod are mixed together with a little pea or bean
meal to make a paste which is called dillock. This mix-
ture is made in quantities at a time, being preserved in a
large gourd shell, generally suspended from the roof.
The wort is merely a little water added to the paste, which
is boiled over the fire with the addition of a little fat
meat. More meal is added to make a kind of porridge,
to which sometimes are also added several warm seeds,
such as the common cress or black mustard. Sometimes
the larger peppers are harvested when full grown, while
yet green in color, to be used for mangoes by removing
the seeds and stuffing with chow-chow pickles. Cay-
enne may be considered one of the most useful vege-
tables in hygiene as a stimulant and auxiliary in diges-
tion and has been considered invaluable in warm climates.
It is used medicinally for various ailments in form of
tinctures, as a rubefacient and stimulant, especially in
case of ulcerated sore throat and also dropsy, colic, and
toothache; when mixed with honey and applied exter-
nally is a good remedy for quinsy. It is also used for
tropical fevers, for gout and paralysis. It acts on the
stomach as an aromatic condiment and when preserved
in acetic acid it forms chilli vinegar. When the seed of
the chillies or capsicum is fresh it has a penetrating, acrid
smell, and this irritant property which prevails obscures
the narcotic action. Its acridity is owing to an oleagi-
nous substance called capsicine, and this extremely pun-
gent principle produces a most painful burning in the
mouth. Capsicum or chillies is generally imported in
bales of 130 pounds each and occasionally is bottled in
vinegar when green or ripe. In the large factories a
special mill is usually reserved for powdering Cayenne
exclusively, instead of burr-stone mills with the ordinary
shaking sifter. A high-speed iron plate mill is often

[onl

NIE, hs
mee? fT eB

PUBLIC BUILDINGS, BOMBAY

A MADRAS FAMILY
As the children marry, they build an addition to the old home

used, and in connection with this a large revolving reel
is required for sifting the spice as it is ground. ‘The
coarse part or tailings are returned to the mill auto-
matically by means of a suitable, connected-bucket ele-
vator. A special grinding outfit of this kind can be
arranged so that it does not require much attention from
the workman, a device which is very essential, as the fine
powder works into the skin and great care must be used
in handling the goods. Small grinders prefer to buy it
powdered from the large factories. | Sometimes the
powdered Cayenne pepper is adulterated by mixing
with wheat flour and made into cakes with yeast and
baked hard like biscuit, then they are ground and sifted.

The pericarp consists of two layers, the outer being
composed of yellow, thick-walled cells; the inner layer
is twice as broad and exhibits a soft, shrunken paren-
chyma, traversed by their fibro-vascular bundles. ‘The
cells of the outer layer are especially the seat of the fine
granules of coloring matter, which contain a fat or oily
substance, as may be found if they are removed by alco-
holic solution of potash.

The structural details of this fruit afford interesting
subjects for microscopical investigation. The peculi-
arities described are so distinctive that the presence of
foreign matter is easily detected. The cells of the peri-
carp or epidermis are of a peculiar flattened and chain-
like angular form, which are characteristic of Cayenne.
The other structures are not as prominent, but are not
liable to be confounded with those of any adulterants.
Diagrammatic representatives of this structure are given
in Fig. 45, Chap. III, and the appearance of the pure
ground Cayenne under polarized light in Fig. 44.

The portions of the seed in the powder are not readily
distinguished without careful examination. ‘They are,
however, characteristic and contain starch, the form of
which is shown in Fig. 20, Chap. III. The adulterants
used are mineral coloring matter to hide the loss of color,
which takes place on exposure of Cayenne to light, and
for added weight ground rice, tumeric, husk of mustard,
etc. Rice and corn flour adulterations are shown in
Fig. 45, which cannot be confused with the few starch

BY oa

grains found in the lower layer of the pericarp or in the
seed. ‘The tumeric and mustard are recognized by their
peculiar structure.

The chemical composition of capsicum is (1) a fixed oil
without sharp smell or taste and which is almost entirely
in the seed; (2) a camphor-like substance which tastes and
smells sharp, and which contains the peculiar principle of
Cayenne (capsicine) ; this principle is found both in the
pod and in the seeds, but in greater quantity in the pod;
(3) a resinous body, the red coloring matter (capsicum
red), which is found only in the pod.

In the detection of the adulterations of Cayenne by
chemical methods, determination of water and ash,
_ ether extracts and albuminoids are of value, and as a rule
when combined with a microscopic examination will
reveal the means and amounts of adulterations without
difficulty.

Chemical composition of Capsicum annum, water at
100 degrees:

Water at 100 deg., Seed, 8.12 Pod, 14.75 Whole Fruit, 11.94
Albuminoids, . Seed, 18.31 Pod, 10.69 Whole Fruit, 13.88
Fat (ether extract), Seed, 28.54 Pod, 5.48 Whole Fruit, 15.26
Nitrogen, free ex- 2

tract by difference, Seed, 21.33 Pod, 38.73 Whole Fruit, 32.63

Crude Fiber, . . Seed, 17.50 Pod, 23.75 Whole Fruit, 21.09
Ash,'. . .-. . ‘Seed, .3.20 Pod, 6.62 Whole Fruit; 45.20
OLA Trea aed 97.00 100.00 100.00
Nitrogen,. . . 2.93 1.71 Pha eees

[ 74]

‘ s ev
, — .

ae

—

PIMENTO OR ALLSPICE
1 Garden Allspice 2 Wild Allspice

CHAPTER VIII

PIMENTO, OR ALLSPICE

HAT’S inaname? That which we call allspice
by any other name would have as fine a flavor.
Pimento officinalis (Myrtus Eugenia pi-
menta), an order of Jamaica Pepper (Icasandria Mon-
ogyia).

Pimenta vulgaris myrtaceae. (These are names
applied to the immature fruit of pamento.)

Spanish name, Pimento.

French, Piment des Anglais Toute epice Powwre de la
Jamiaque.

German, Nelkenpfeffer, Nelkenkopfe, Neugewursz.

The pimento tree belongs to the myrtle family and is
one of the most beautiful trees known as an evergreen.
It grows to a height of from twenty to thirty feet and
occasionally it reaches a height of forty feet. It is slen-
der, straight, and upright, with many branches at its top.
The trunk is covered by a smooth, gray, or ashen-browa
aromatic bark which peels off in flakes as the tree grows.
The leaves are opposite, stalked from four to six inches
long, and are oblong, lanceolate, and somewhat taper-
ing. The petioles are blunt and rather emarginated
at the apex, and entire, smooth on both surfaces, with
deep green, pale, and minute glands, dotted beneath,
with the midrib prominent. They are particularly
aromatic when fresh, abounding in essential oil
which is the aromatic property of all kinds of fra-
grant fruits. :

This tree is a native of the West Indies, and is found
most abundantly on the limestone hills on the Island of
Jamaica. It is the only common spice having its origin
in the New World. It is found, but not in abundance,
in most of the West India Islands, as well as in Mexico,
Costa Rica, and Venezuela. It takes it name, pimento,
from the Spanish word for pepper. This name was

EG |

given to it by early explorers of the New World because
of its resemblance to pepper corn. It is called allspice
because of the combination, or of the supposed combina-
tion, of various flavors.

Some writers have claimed that it is a child of Nature,
and that it defies cultivation, but this is a mistake, as
may be seen by comparing the illustrations of the garden
berry (Fig. 1) with those of the wild berry (Fig. 2).
It is seldom cultivated, however, and it is found at its
best growing wild 6,000 feet above the sea and very near
the coast line, on a poor rocky lime or chalky soil, with a
very shallow surface mold.

The tree will not do well in a clay or sandy or marshy
soil, but the soil must be kept well drained, and a hot, dry
climate is the best. Since the pimento seeds are scat-
tered by birds, the trees are found in greater or less num-
bers in many parts of the Island of Jamaica. They
sometimes are found in groups of from five to twenty,
and again in great forests. It is the predominating
tree on the island and is seldom found alone.

After the tree has obtained a certain growth the
underbrush and other wood, with some of the pimento
trees, are cut out, leaving the trees from twenty to twen-
ty-five feet apart, as they will not yield so well if left
closer. It is in this way that the beautiful pimento
walks (Pi-men-to-wak) are formed which we read of in
Jamaica.

The pimento tree flowers twice each year, in July
and April, but it bears only one crop annually and
begins to bear when three years old, and arrives at
maturity at seven years, when it abundantly repays the
patience of the planter.

In July the tree is covered with small greenish-white
fragrant flowers of four reflected petals. The flowers
are in bunches or trichotomous panicles at the extremities
of the branches with a calyx divided into four roundish
segments. The filaments are numerous and longer than
the corolla, spreading, and of the same color as the
petals, supporting roundish white anthers. The style
is short and single and erect with an obtuse stigma. As
the tree branches symmetrically, and has a very luxuriant

764]

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foliage, its rich green leaves and profusion of small
white flowers give a very handsome appearance. The
air is freighted with its fragrance for quite a long dis-
tance, and every breeze which disturbs its branches con-
veys the delicious odor.

The fruit which appears soon after the blossoms, is
a smooth, glossy, succulent, globular berry, from two-
tenths to three-tenths of an inch in diameter, or about
the size of a small pea.

Planters do not allow the berries to ripen fully,
because in that case they would be difficult to cure and
would become black and tasteless, losing their aromatic
property. When the berries have their full size in the
month of August, though yet green in color, they are
gathered.

The harvesting is done by hand, by breaking off the
twigs and stems which bear the berries. These are
placed on a raised wooden floor or terrace to dry on mats
for from seven to twelve days in the sunshine. Great
care should be taken to turn them, so as to expose them
fully to the sun, to prevent their quality being injured
by moisture. Some planters dry them in kilns.

The one who removes the berries from the trees keeps
three persons busy gathering them below, who are usu-
ally women or children. Care must be taken to sepa-
rate, as far as possible, all ripe berries from those which
are green, as otherwise the crop will be made of inferior
quality. ‘The fruit, which necessarily ripens on the tree,
before the bulk of the crop is harvested, falls to the
ground and is of no commercial value, as it has lost its
aromatic properties. ‘The problem which the planter
has to contend with of harvesting his crop before it
ripens is a serious one, for the harvesting often must be
done rapidly, and it is often difficult to obtain help
enough among the indolent natives to pick the crop.
Thus many thousand pounds often go to waste. In wet
weather the system of smoking is sometimes adopted
for drying. The proper degree of dryness is ascer-
tained by the wrinkled appearance and by the dark or
reddish-brown color of the spice and the rattling noise
made by the seeds when they are shaken. When the

Seaee

berries begin to dry they are frequently laid in cloths to
preserve them from the dews. They are exposed to the
sun’s rays every day and removed under cover every
evening until sufficiently dry. They lose one-third of
their weight in drying. The breaking of the branches
in gathering the fruit answers to a rude kind of prun-
ing. The crop is very abundant, some trees yielding as
high as 150 pounds of green or 100 pounds of dried
berries. ;

Pimento is exported chiefly from Kingston, Jamaica,
in 120 to 180-pound bags. About one-third of the crop
comes to the United States; most of the balance goes
to England, whence it is exported to other countries.
The pimento del tobasco tree, a native of Mexico, pro-
duces a larger berry than the true pimento, but it is less
aromatic and is often used to adulterate the allspice of
commerce, but the true pimento is so cheap that it is
adulterated but very little. The pimento is ground on
common burr stones. It is used for medicinal purposes
to prevent the taste of nauseous drugs, and it stimulates
and gives tone to the stomach. It is sometimes used in
tanning some kinds of leather. The small trees are used
for walking-sticks and for umbrella handles. The
berry is crowned with a persistent calyx of a black or
dark-purple color when ripe, and when the four short
thick sepals are rubbed off a scar is left like an elevated
ring. At the other extremity of the fruit there is a
shorter stalk attached.

The berry has a brittle, woody shell or pericarp, easily
cut, of a dark ferruginous-brown color externally. The
roughness on the surface is caused by the small essential
oil receptacles. The berry is less aromatic than the peri-
carp. Its hull consists of a delicate epidermis of large
thin-walled cells with light or dark red contents which
are called portwine cells (see illustrations). Fig. 46,
Chap. III.

The fruit is two-celled, each cell containing a single
flattish or kidney-shaped berry. ‘The embryo is large
and spirally curved, and the berry, when ripe, is filled
with a sweetish pulp, which has then partly lost the aro-
matic property which it contained in the unripe state.

[78 ]

HARVESTING OF ALLSPICE

The aroma is supposed to be a mixture of the aromas
of nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon.

The microscope shows that the outer layer of the peri-
carp just beneath the epidermis contains, with its col-
lection of brown cells, an interior mass of fibro-vascular
bundles traversing a mass of tissues of constructed par-
enchymous-walled cells, containing resin and tannin and
small crystals of calcic oxalates. ‘The seed contains
much starch in minute grains, and yields from 3 per cent.
to 414 per cent. of volatile oil, by distillation. This oil
is composed mainly of eugenol C1oH12, and very closely
resembles the oil of cloves in all respects, but in odor, the
difference being in the nature of the sesquialteral
accompanying the eugenol. Its specific gravity is 1.04
to 1.05 at 15 degrees C. The yield of oil from the leaves
is nearly 1 per cent.

Polarized light is a most important aid in examining
powdered allspice, as it brings out strongly the stone
cells and ligneous tissue (Fig. 1, Chap. III), and dif-
ferentiates these from the great mass of other matter.
It also makes the oil cavities distinct.

It is hard to give a true chemical composition of
pimento, but a good understanding of the tannin should
be known, and especially a good estimation of the vola-
tile ol. ‘The amount of ash found in pimento is about
6 per cent. in the whole and 5 per cent. in the powdered
state.

The chemical composition of a sample of whole
pimento was found to be as follows:

Witter weeny 9 2h 6219) | Undetermined, \:\s 0. 59228
Pee eter, 2 3, 4cOl > -Albuminoidss ‘2 >...) es 4.38
Volatile Oil, . . . 3t04% Nitrogen, Rr eens we .70
excdsOne. i, . << 6.105 . Tannin Equivalent; ...10.97
Crude Fiber, . . . . 14.83 Oxygen Required, . . 2.81

The best adulterant is baked barley.

The specific gravity of the volatile oil is 1.04 to 1.05
at 15 degrees C.

Pimento meal loses its aromatic flavor very rapidly.

*The taste of allspice is warm, aromatic, pungent, and
slightly astringent, and it imparts its flavor to water

* State of Michigan, Dairy and Food Commission.

[79.1

and all its virtue to alcohol. The infusion with water
is of a brown color, and reddens litmus paper. All-
spice yields volatile oil by distillation, a green fixed oil,
a fatty substance in yellowish flakes, and tannin, gum,
resin, sugar, coloring matter, malic and galic acids,
saline matter, moisture and lignin.

The green oil has the burning, aromatic taste of
pimento, and is supposed to be the acrid principle.
Upon this, therefore, together with the volatile oil, the
active properties of the berries depend. ‘The shell con-
tains 10 per cent. of volatile oil, and perhaps a little
chlorophyl.

Allspice is reported to contain an alkaloid having the
odor of caneine. ‘The volatile oil, which is used as a
flavoring in alcoholic solution, is of a brownish-red, clear
appearance, and has the odor and taste of pimento, but
is warmer and more pungent. It is readily soluble in
alcohol, and if two drops of the oil be dissolved in one
fluid drachm of alcohol, and a drop of ferric chloride
test solution be added, a bright green color will be pro-
duced. If one C. C. of the oil be shaken with twenty
C. C. of hot water it should not give more than a scarcely
perceptible acid reaction with litmus paper.

If, after cooling, the liquid be passed through a wet
filter, the clear filtrate will produce, with a drop of ferric
chloride test solution, only a transient greyish green,
but not a blue or violet color, a fact which indicates the
absence of carbolic acid.

Pimento oil consists, like the oil of cloves, of two dis-
tinct oils, a hght and heavy oil, separated by distilling the
oil from caustic potassa. The light oil passes over, leav-
ing the heavy oil behind, combined with the potassa. The
heavy oil may be recovered by distilling the residue with
sulphuric acid. The heavy oil has the acid property of
combining with the alkalides, forming crystallized com-
pounds, which is identical with the eugenol from the oil
of cloves, from which is prepared the vanillin of com-
merce. Powdered allspice is often adulterated with
clove stems, peas, almond shells, cracker dust, etc.

[ so ]

ee wrMwmre

CINNAMON AND CASSIA

Ceylon 5 Sargon
Batavia 6 Cassia Liguea bud
Cassia Liguea 7 Leaf stalk or flowering twig

Java

CHAPTER IX
CINNAMON AND CASSIA

Robbed of your bark in masses large,
It’s sent abroad by ship and barge;
And India’s fragrance you bestow,
In summer climes and frigid snow.

HE cinnamon tree has been known to live two

hundred years and its history is nearly as old as the

history of man. It appears to have been the first
spice sought after in all Oriental voyages, and is one of
the few condiments that has been honored with a price
that only the wealthy can buy. Both cinnamon and
cassia are mentioned as precious odoriferous substances
in the Masonic writings. Bible history mentions cinna-
mon at a very early date in Exodus, Chap. X XX, 23; in
Proverbs, Chap. VII, 17; in Song of Solomon, Chap.
IV, 14, being then introduced by the Pheenicians. It
was likewise known to the Greeks and Romans under
the name of kinnamomun. Vespasian, on his return
from Palestine, dedicated to the Goddess of Peace, in
one of the temples of the Capitol, garlands of cinnamon
enclosed in polished gold, and in the temple built on
Mount Palatine by the Empress Augusta in honor of
Augustus Cesar, her husband, was placed a root of the
cinnamon tree set in a golden cup. It is recorded that
two hundred and ten burthens of spice were consumed
on the funeral pile of Sylla, and that Nero burnt at the
obsequies of his wife, Poppza, a quantity of cinnamon
and cassia exceeding the whole importation of one year.
Dr. Carl Schumann’s Kirtische unter Suchungen uber
die Zimtlander, published as a supplement to Peter-
mann’s Mitterlungen, is a most erudite contribution to
history of geography and commerce. The author care-
fully examines the notices on cinnamon and cassia to
be found in the writings of the ancients and of the
Arabs, and critically examines these by the light of
modern research. The ancient Egyptians procured

fsa

their cinnamon from punt, which is identified with the
Rego Cinnamonifera at the promontory of Garadafiri
of the modern Somaliland. But neither cinnamon nor
cassia was a product of this region, nor are they at the
present time, which is amply proved and illustrated by
a consideration of the geographical distribution of the
Louracea. Arabian merchants intentionally shrouded
in mystery their manner or place of obtaining cinnamon
and, in consequence, the ancients entertained the most
preposterous ideas on the subject.

The “ Khisit” of the inscriptions of the temple of
Doral Bahari is correctly translated cinnamon or cassia.
The latter word and the gizi of Galen and the Keziah of
the Hebrew are derived from it, but it is of itself a cor-
ruption of Kei-shi, the Chinese name for cassia. From
this fact, the author concludes that China supplied the
ancient world with most, if not all, of its cinnamon, but
did so through traders settled in parts of Arabia or the
Somali coast, who maintained their monopoly until the
discovery of cinnamon in the Island of Ceylon.

Herodotus relates that cassia grew in Arabia, but that
cinnamon was brought there by birds from India, the
fabled birthplace of Bacchus. This writer states that
cassia grew in a shallow lake, the borders of which were
infested with winged animals resembling bats; that these
were powerful creatures and uttered piercing cries; but
that the Arabs made war against them for the purpose
of obtaining the spice and, defending their eyes from
the attack of the monsters, drove them from their strong-
hold for a brief period and then, unmolested, collected
the cassia.

A. still more marvelous account was given by a
Grecian historian of the manner in which cinnamon
was obtained, which is as follows: ‘“‘ The Arabs them-
selves were perfectly ignorant of the situation of the
favored spots which produced this spice; some, however,
asserted with much appearance of probability that it
grew in the country where Bacchus was born, and they
gave the following account of the plan resorted to for
obtaining cinnamon: Some very large birds collected
together a quantity of the shoots and small branches of

[ 82]

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the cinnamon and built their nests with it on the lofty
mountains inaccessible to man; and the inhabitants of
the country placed large pieces of carrion flesh near the
haunts of the birds who bore it to their nests which, not
being made strong enough to hold the additional load,
gave way, falling to the valley below, where it was
gathered up by the natives and exported to foreign
lands.”

It was exported into India in the time of the authors
of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, and even long
before it was much used among masters of the ancient
world.

Celsius recommends that it should: be given “ perpa-
rationem.” It is mentioned in the herb book of the Chi-
nese Emperor Shen-nong, and was known in China
2,700 B. C. under the name of: ‘“‘ Kwei” and was intro-
duced into Egypt about 1,600 or 1,500 B. C., and China
maintained her monopoly until the discovery of cinna-
mon on the Island of Ceylon. It would appear that
cinnamon was not confined to Asia, much less to Ceylon,
in former times. Ibn-Batuta is credited with having
first mentioned the Island of Ceylon as a cinnamon
region, for the Sayalan of Kazwini and Yakut is not
Ceylon, as supposed by Colonel Yale and others, but
Rami or Sumatra.

The Romans were supplied by the Arabs, the cinnamon
being carried up the Nile in ships, then across the desert
on camels to the Red Sea, which they crossed to a port of
Arabia, where India merchants were met and exchanges
took place, the cinnamon being the most important
article of commerce from India, and in this way the
odors of the far-famed cinnamon spice came, by poetical
liberty, to be associated with “ Araby the Blest ” by the
system of transit by caravans overland through Arabia.

The Romans communicated with India only once each
year during the reign of Augustus, and at such times
invested about £403,000 in the trade of cinnamon.
They figured on about 100 per cent. profit. History
tells us it was at one time sold in Rome at $25 per pound.

Even in comparatively modern times the products of
the more eastern parts of Asia were chiefly imported

[ 83 ]

into Kurope by way of Egypt. ‘The Venetians almost
entirely controlled this lucrative branch of commerce,
and through their hands these articles were supplied
to the rest of Europe. But when the passage around
the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by the Portu-
guese, in 1498, Indian commerce was turned into a dif-
ferent channel and the Portuguese soon supplanted the
Venetians in the traffic of Indian commodities. Early
in the sixteenth century they obtained permission from
the powers of Ceylon to establish a factory on that island.
Although the Europeans had obtained license from
the ruling authorities to pursue this trade, the Arab
merchants did not submit without a struggle to the intru-
sion. ‘They vigorously opposed the landing of the
strangers who were taking their trade away from them,
but the Portuguese built the fort of Colombo and soon
after made a treaty with the king of Kandy, by the
terms of which the Portuguese agreed to assist the king
of Kandy and his successors in all their wars and in
return were to receive out of the Kandyan territory an
annual supply of 124,000 pounds of cinnamon. ‘The
Dutch viewed with a jealous eye the rich and thriving
Portuguese, and soon after they established themselves
in the East Indies, and became desirous of monopolizing
the cinnamon trade, they tried to undermine the Portu-
guese by showing favors to the king of Kandy, and
in this way tried to have him drive the Portuguese from
the island. ‘The Dutch were partly successful in their
bold attempt, as the king of Kandy, in 1612, agreed to
sell the Dutch East India Company all the cinnamon
that he could collect in his kingdom. The Portuguese,
however, would not quietly submit, but after a long con-
testing of the matter it ended in 1645 in a treaty of
peace with the Dutch, by which both nations were to share
equally. During the time this treaty was in force both
nations employed native cinnamon cutters to cut and
prepare the aromatic bark, and all that was collected
on either side was deposited in a central situation upon
the river Dondegam, near Negombo. When the cinna-
mon harvest was completed an equal division of the
quantity obtained was made, each party paying half the
[ 84 ]

cost of harvesting. ‘This amicable arrangement was
not, however, of very long continuance, and in 1652 a
fresh war proved more disastrous to the Portuguese,
who were finally expelled from the Island of Ceylon in
1658. ‘The Dutch now made strenuous efforts to ob-
tain a monopoly of the cinnamon trade, and they also
tried for the exclusive commerce of the Malabar coast.
This was very expensive to the Dutch, as merchants of
other countries, by paying a good price, were always able
to obtain it from the natives notwithstanding the decrees
of the princes of the country.

All through the Portuguese and Dutch periods, cin-
namon was the principal source of wealth. The Dutch
first tried cultivating it in 1767, thereby occasioning
much fear on the part of the native Sinhalese that the
cultivation would ruin the cinnamon forest. Previous
to this time, in 1506, large trees were found by the Por-
tuguese growing wild and scattered through the interior
of Ceylon. 'The Dutch, after many attempts to restrict
the cultivation of it to the Island of Ceylon, passed a
law making the removal of the seed from the island a
crime punishable by death. The law also provided that
persons should be compelled to care for the tree, even if
it were on their property, and it further provided that
any person discovered in cutting a shrub of cinnamon
on the island should have his right hand cut off. ‘This
law so retarded planting that up to 1808 or 1809 only
15,000 acres were cultivated. Exportation was restricted
to 8,000 bales of 100 pounds each. In 1796, Ceylon
was captured by the English. They put an end to these
barbarous laws, but a monopoly was continued until
1832. Afterwards the cultivation of the tree was intro-
duced by the Dutch into their own islands and the Malay
Peninsula, an act which would have been much more
creditable to the Dutch had they tried this means earlier,
instead of warring with other countries.

It is estimated that the world’s production of true
cinnamon does not exceed 400,000,000 pounds, while
an equal amount of cassia is collected chiefly in China
and the East Indies. Cinnamon is not an article which
enters into the daily food of the masses of the people,
[ 85 ]

and the consumption does not increase with a low price
or decrease when the price is high. 'The present con-
sumption does not equal one pound to each 500 inhabit-
ants of the earth.

Cinnamon and cassia blume are the barks of several
species of genus cinnamomum (natural order lau-
rocece) and the true cinnamon, with which cassia is often
compounded, is produced by cinnamomum Zeylanicum,
formerly called Laurus, which is a member of the laurel
family (French, Cannele de Ceylon; German, Zimmt
Ceylon, Zimmt Kaneel; Arabic name, Kinsman).

The true cinnamon tree, if left in its natural states,
varies in height and dimensions in different sections,
growing to the height of twenty to forty feet with a
straight trunk, and is from twelve to eighteen inches in
diameter. It is the hardiest of any of the spice trees,
and in its natural climate grows on almost any soil and
at almost any elevation, with an average temper-
ature of 85 degrees and an inch of rainfall for
every degree. It may be grown by cultivation
in any place where it is found growing wild. When
sheltered from the wind and the direct rays of the hot
sun, it will grow from 1,500 to 8,000 feet above the
sea level. It is found in those angles of the mountains
which face the monsoons. Where it is cultivated, it
is cut back when six years old to about fifteen feet and
every two years thereafter, and then has the general
appearance of an orange tree. It is an evergreen with
a beautiful scarlet foliage which changes to a dark glossy
green.

The leaf and leaf-stalk are globous and are nearly
opposite, oblong, ovate, obtuse, the largest bemg from
eleven to twelve centimeters in length and from five to
seven centimeters in width. ‘The leaf is coriaceous and
shining bright green above and glaucous beneath.
Besides the middle vein there are also two other veins
on each side starting from the stalk, rounded to the
shape of the edge of the leaf nearly to its extremity.
The leaves on drying acquire a reddish brown color due
to the oxidation of the essential oil which they contain.

Small, dingy, white or greenish blossoms disposed in

[ 86 ]

terminal panicles appear in January or February, their
strong and unpleasant odor resembling a mixture of
lilac and rose. In color they resemble mignonette. By
May they develop into small, purplish, brown-colored
berries enclosed at the base by a calyx and shaped like
an acorn. ‘The berry contains a soft brown pulp and
has but one seed, which ripens in August and is gathered
by the natives for the fragrant oil it contains.

The entire tree contains an aromatic flavor of cinna-
mon and no part of it is lost, as the entire tree is used
for some purpose, every part of it having a distinct
flavor. It is impossible to discover the cause or causes
by means of which different qualities are produced from
the same branch, since the shoots and the same tree
are found to yield cinnamon of different qualities. The
quality of a cinnamon tree is often determined by the
size of the leaves, as well as by tasting the inner bark;
the larger the leaf the better bark the tree will afford.
The quality of the bark varies very much with local
conditions, some being so inferior as to be harvested only
for the purpose of adulterations. Two of these inferior
varieties are the korahedi and the velli, the latter growing
more quickly than any other cinnamon known, being
often at two years’ growth four to five inches in girth
and eight to ten feet high. It has a very coarse bark
and takes its name from sand velli because it grits under
the teeth. The bark is often so hard that it will turn
the edge of a peeling knife. There are several varieties
of cinnamon. Next in order after Ceylon are the fol-
lowing:

1. Penne or Rosse Kuroondu (which signifies honey
or sweet cinnamon).

Naya Kuroondu (or snake cinnamon).

Kapooru Kuroondu (or camphor).

Kabatte Kuroondu (or astringent cinnamon).
Sevel Kuroondu (or mucilaginous cinnamon).
Dowool Kuroondu (flat or drum cinnamon).

. Nika Kuroondu (or wild cinnamon, whose leaf
resembles that of nicaso or vitx negundo).

8. Mal Kuroondu (or bloom or flower cinnamon).

9. Tompat K. (or trefoil cinnamon).

[ 87 ]

ce oe

Only the first four are strictly varieties of the Laurus
Cinnamomum, and as the names given are only known
by the planters of cimnamon or by the native Sinhalese,
I will not refer to them again except by the names
known to commerce.

The true cinnamon is a native of the Island of Ceylon
and it adds sweetness to the breezes which “ blow softly
o’er Ceylon’s Isle,” and nowhere else has it been found
growing so well or so spontaneously. ‘The large trees scat-
tered through the older forests of the interior are every
year gorgeous in bloom of every shade of pink from a
faint rose to bloodred. The Ceylon variety is the best in
the world, and the product in 1904 was 9,216 hundreds,
valued at $278,430. It grows up six or seven feet, like
willows, and the twigs are cut down for exportation; the
smaller the twigs the finer the quality.

The farm plantation is called a “ Cinnamon Garden.”
In Ceylon these gardens are the most famous in the
world, the owners living like princes. Some of the
carved wood in these homes are literally worth their
weight in gold. There are certain trees and species that
are taken in charge by the royal surgeons. Such have
the official stamp indicating what their medical value is.
This cinnamon commonly sells at $15 to $25 per pound
and sometimes as high as $100. While the ordinary
China cassia, handled by our grocers, sells at wholesale
at six or seven cents a pound. ‘The medicinal cassia,
however, has about the value for cooking purposes that
the ordinary Saigon cassia has. Many cinnamon gar-
dens are being rooted up and planted to tea, however,
as tea culture is more profitable. A sandy loam soil
mixed with humus matter is favorable for the culture of
cinnamon, and old, worn, coffee estates are often used in
Ceylon for cinnamon plantations.

The cinnamon crop has few enemies. Cattle, goats,
and squirrels eat the growing shoots while tender. 'The
principal insect enemy is a minute beetle that breeds in
the leaves and sometimes does injury by retarding the
growth and rendering the wood unpeelable, as well as
ubhealthy. A red worm, about two inches long, eats
its way up the center of some old and unhealthy sticks

[ ss ]

COLOMBO, CEYLON

A PLANTATION IN CEYLON

growing on partially decayed roots, but the injury from
the insect is scarcely worth considering. White ants eat
dead roots but seldom injure living wood, and they are
to some extent enemies of all other insects which prey
upon cinnamon trees. They build their nests around
live branches, but this does not interfere with their
growth. Crows and wood pigeons devour the berries
with great eagerness, but in the process of digestion
the productive qualities of the seed are not injured and
by this means the seed is scattered over a large extent of
country. Plants may be raised from the seed or by
“laying.” The culture of the best kind, which is the
true C. Zeylanicum, a cultivated Curanda or honey cin-
namon (called penne rasse Kuroondu by the Sinhalese).
is from the Kadirona, Ekla and Muradana gardens,
between Colombo and Negunbo, which occupy a tract of
country upwards of ten miles in length and in a winding
circuit; as well as from the Maratuwa and Beruwala
gardens, and those of Galle and Matara.

There is also a Cingalese bark found in the archi-
pelago, which is very pungent and much resembles the
true bark from Ceylon. It brings a fair price on the
market, and is more aromatic than that of Ceylon.
There are several kinds of it, some of it bringing an ex-
orbitant price, and it is cultivated solely for royal use.
The outer bark is never removed from it and for that
reason it has the dark Java color. It, like the Saigon,
is exported in 500-pound bundles.

No system was first regarded in planting cinnamon
groves in Ceylon. This neglect greatly hindered culti-
vation. The usual way of establishing a garden is first
to cut down all the brush and small trees on new ground,
leaving the tall trees at intervals of from fifty to sixty
feet, as a protection from the wind and from the strong
hot rays of the sun. The fallen brush is next burned
and the plat cleared is lined out. The soil is turned up
for hills in squares of about one to four feet at intervals
of from six to ten feet, according to the richness of the
soil. The longer intervals being provided with the richer
soil. The ash from the burned brush mixed with the
broken ground and vegetable matter, and from four to

[ 89 ]

five of the berries are sown in each hill. Branches of
trees are placed over the earth where the seed is planted
to protect them from the sun and to keep the earth from
parching.

Care should be taken in selecting the seed, as that
from trees ten years old and up is best. Seed from old
trees with coarse wood produces coarse and unpeelable
bark, which helps to increase the chips. If the tree is
to be raised from shoots, the youngest, or those not
containing more than three leaves, must be selected, for
if older they will surely die. The method of raising
plants from layers is very good, because the numerous
side branches which issue from the bottom of the trunk
also furnish an abundant supply, well adapted for the
purpose intended. The transplanting of the divisions
of old roots or stumps is also much approved, as they
yield shoots of useful size twelve months after planting.
Great care must be taken in planting or removing the
roots or the divisions of the parent stump, for should
any of the rootlets become bruised, even to the tenth
part of an inch in diameter, the injured part will cer-
tainly perish. Care must also be taken when removing
the roots or stumps to keep as much earth on them as
possible, or as can be carried with them. ‘The dirt
originally taken from the holes should not be returned,
but there should be used, instead, that from the sur-
face which has been burned and contains ashes mixed
with vegetable manure. When old cinnamon trees are
cut down and burned on their stumps, the roots will
later produce a superior quality of cinnamon. Plant-
ing of seed is least advantageous as it requires greater
attention than other modes, and the trees are longer
reaching perfection. As they are planted four to five
seeds in a hill, and as they are quite sure to germinate,
the plants grow in clusters. Should no rain fall after
planting on either the roots or stumps, they must be kept
watered every morning and evening until the sprouts
shoot out fresh buds. This will be in about two weeks
from the planting and is an indication that they have
taken root. Ina month the shoots will be from three to
four inches high. When seed is sown and dry weather

[ 90 ]

a.
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NEGOMBO CANAL

follows, the seedlings will perish. It will be necessary,
therefore, to plant the ground anew. It is wise, there-
fore, to raise plants in a nursery to supply the vacancies
in the hills.

For a nursery, a plat of rich soil is selected, free from
stone and cleared from brushwood, except the tall trees.
which are left for shade. ‘The ground is dug over and
formed into beds from three to four feet wide and the
seed is sown nine to twelve inches apart and shaded at
eight to twelve inches above ground, by a pendall of
leaves. The plants are kept watered on alternate days
until they have one pair of leaves, but the shade should
not be removed until the plants are six to eight inches
high and are able to bear the sun. The seed will germi-
nate in from two to three weeks. The planting takes
place in autumn when the seed is gathered fully ripe.
The seeds are heaped up in shady places, as the sun would
crack and spoil them; the outer red coating will rot, turn
black, and come off easily; the seed is then washed and
dried in the air, but not in the sun; that which will float
on water is rejected. The plants are taken from the
nursery in October and November, and under favorable
situations they will grow from five to six feet high in from
six to seven years. A healthy bush will then afford two
or three shoots ready for peeling, but should unfavor-
able results occur they will not yield for from eight to
twelve years. After the plants are fully established in
the field, very little cultivation is required, except to
keep them free from the weeds. In a good soil from
four to seven shoots may be cut every two years. Some-
times thriving plants may be cut first in four years and
sometimes even in two years. _

The quality of the bark depends upon its position on
the branch; that from the middle is the best, that from
the top second, and that from the base, which is the
thicker part of the branch, the third grade. Shoots
exposed during growth to the direct rays of the sun
have their bark more acrid and spicy than the bark of
those which grow in the shade. A marshy soil rarely
produces good cinnamon, its texture being cross-grained
and spongy, with little aroma. The quality is deter-

[91 ]

mined by the thinness of the bark — the thinner and
more pliable the finer. The finest quality of bark is
smooth and somewhat shiny and of a light yellow color.
The shoot bends before it breaks, and when the fracture
occurs it is generally in the form of a splinter which has
an agreeable, warm, aromatic taste with a slight degree
of sweetness.

Two crops are gathered each year — the first from
April to August and the second from November to
January. ‘These particular seasons are selected for har-
vesting on account of their coming just after the heavy
rains, Just as the young, red leaf assumes the normal
dark green. The sap then is more active and the bark
is more easily detached. If there is not sufficient rain
the garden may have to be cut over several times.

In harvesting, the shoots are not all cut at one time,
but by degrees as they arrive at the required maturity.
Those sticks which promise to peel at the next cutting
are left. In pruning, with plenty of help, every stick
older than two years is cut, whether it will peel or not.

A. grayish, corky appearance is an indication of the
fitness of the shoots for cutting. A certain amount is
marked off for each day’s cutting, and it is an offense to
go outside of that limit, but within the limit every one is
allowed to go’ where he pleases. When fifteen or
twenty persons are allowed to scramble as they please,
the trees are agitated as by a whirlwind passing over
them and in less than forty minutes the best sticks are
cut and appropriated. Then systematic work begins.
Every stick is then tested before cutting, and, if the
wood is in a fair condition for peeling, it will take
about two hours to finish a plat of 484 square feet.
There are four such plats to an acre. They yield from
twenty-eight to forty-eight pounds each. When called
off, no one is allowed to cut another stick. (See illus-
tration.)

As long as the seed is on the bushes, which is nearly
till the end of the year, the sticks carrying them do not
peel, owing possibly to the growth being checked and
with it the free flow of sap in the effort to mature the
seed. If, therefore, this seed is allowed to remain

[ 92 ]

CUTTING CINNAMON

great loss results, as by the time the seed-bearing bushes
are peelable they will have grown so much as to yield
coarse bark, fit only to quill coarse cinnamon, or not fit
to be quilled at all. ‘To avoid this loss the seed is
stripped from the limb, when it will peel in its proper
time. <A plantation should not be expected to bring
Jarge returns for eight or nine years.

After the crop, which is taken from four to six inches
above ground, has been cut, the stumps should be
covered with fresh earth gathered from the space
between the rows and formed into a heap around the
base. Sometimes a fire is made on the old stump. The
next year two or three times as large a crop may be
gathered, and so on year after year, until at length the
bushes will become so thick as to admit only the weeders
and peelers. The only manure required is the weeds,
which three or four times a year are placed between the
rows and covered with earth. When the shoots are har-
vested from old stumps, they should be cut with one
stroke of the heavy knife, in order to avoid splitting the
stems. As the cutting takes place twice each year, there
is a succession of young wood of different ages on the
tree.

The branches are cut off from three to five feet long
when tipped at the ends by means of a long knife in
shape of a hook or sickle (catty). The shoots, after
they have been cut and the tops have been removed, are
tied into bundles and carried to the “ wadi or peeling
shed,” where they are allowed to sweat for the preparation
of the bark. The leaves, side branches, and outer bark
are next removed from the shoots. The peeler (Chali-
vas, Sinhalese caste of cinnamon peelers), sits on
the ground beside his bundle and with his left
hand cuts the inner bark in two pieces (and some-
times three if very heavy and thick), longitudinal slits
the entire length of the stick. It is then easily removed
by means of a peeling knife (mama), which is round-
pointed and has a projecting point on one side for rip-
ping and running beneath the bark and lifting it about
one-half inch on both sides. The bark will usually come
off in halves eight to nine inches wide. The assortment

[ 93 ]

is made at the same time. ‘lhe coarse peelable bark is
for coarse cinnamon, and that which is not peelable goes
as chips. If the bark adheres firmly, the separation is
facilitated by friction with the handle of the knife
rubbed dextrously down it or with some smooth, hard
piece of wood of convenient length.

When the day’s work is finished the assorted bark is
piled in a small enclosure made by sticks driven in the
ground and is covered with the day’s scrapings and
with a mat. This treatment is called “ fermenting,”
but it is rather to hold the moisture and soften the bark
for the next operation. After remaining twenty-four
hours, or on the morning of the second day, three sticks
are driven into the ground at such an angle that they
will cross each other about one foot high. They are tied
firmly at the point of crossing and are used for support-
ing the end of a fourth stick, the other end of which
rests upon the ground. Before this support the native
sits upon the ground and taking a strip of the bark
places it on the stick and holds the upper end firm with
his foot. ‘Then with a small curved knife, having a
slightly serrated edge, he scrapes off the cuticle, for if
any remains it will create a bitterness. (See illustra-
tion.) While it is yet moist with sap, it is placed with con-
cave side downward to dry and it then contracts and
curls into tubes or quills. The pipe maker, as he is
called, is furnished with a board about one yard in length,
a measuring stick, and a pair of scissors. He takes a
bundle of the prepared sticks and sorts them into three
or four grades, according to quality. Slips for the
outer covering are then selected, the ends being cut
square with the scissors. Placing this on the boards, he
proceeds to pack within it as many of the smaller pieces
(see illustration) as it will close over when dry, which is
called piping. When the day’s work is finished the
pipes are arranged on parallel lines stretched across the
shed. ‘They are then placed on hurdles covered with
mats to dry in the sunshine until firm enough for hand-
ling. Afterwards, if necessary, the outer edges are
pressed in and the ends are dressed and they are tied
into bundles of about thirty pounds each. Three bun-

[ 94 ]

CUTTING AND QUILLING CINNAMON

PEELING AND-QUILLING CINNAMON

dles are tied together to form a bale. ‘This bale is
covered with canvas. In this form the product is put
on the market ready for export, where it appears in
long brittle sticks of a pale yellow-brown color or white
to lightish yellow (Fig. 1). The best grade is nearly as
thin as paper, not being more than one-eighth to one-
sixteenth of an inch in thickness. It has a very delicate
flavor and is very superior in aroma and strength to
the ordinary Chinese variety. It lacks the strength of
Saigon, however, and is seldom called for except for
medicinal use, for which in many cases it is highly valu-
able. A well-made cinnamon pipe, as it is called, will
be of uniform thickness and quality; the edges will be
neatly joined and in a straight line from end to end
with the appearance of a tight roll of paper, which will
feel firm under pressure of the thumb and finger, and
the size of the pipes will vary according to the quality of
the spice. In the finer sorts there are from fifteen to
twenty-four pipes to the pound. In the next grade
there are from ten to twelve. The coarser are stuck
together without regard to appearance. In Ceylon the
yield is about 150 pounds per acre, but on good soil and
with careful tillage and manuring larger returns are ob-
tained.

Following the Ceylon in value are the Saigon, Java,
and Batavia and China. The Saigon (Fig. 5) comes
from Cochin China, taking its name from the city of
Saigon. (See illustration.) The thinner-quilled Saigon
bark, which is from selected twigs and smaller branches,
is known as Java (Fig. 4). It has a very dark color
and possesses an aroma and strength superior to these
qualities in the Saigon.

The Java is sold chiefly in the whole state (the outer
rind is never removed) and in a variety of packages
known as piculs, containing 135 pounds each, mostly
in cases, sometimes valued higher than Ceylon. The
Tellicherry and Malabar are from Bombay and the
province of Malabar. The Tellicherry is equal to the
Ceylon in appearance, but the interior surface is more
fibrous and the flavor is inferior and the bark thicker.
It is superior to the Malabar, which is the true cinnamon

[95 ]

introduced into India by the English. 'The Malabar
contains nearly all the qualities of the Ceylon, but is
paler in color with a feeble and less permanent odor. The
sticks after piping are in length equal to those of the
Ceylon, but the bark is shorter and the length of the
stick is due to the method of telescoping the sticks of
bark into one another. Batavia bark (Fig. 2) has a
pale straw color and is a heavy bark superior to China
Cassia Lignea (Fig. 3). | It is exported in rolls of
about fifty pounds each. .

The bark of the larger or coarser shoots cannot be
quilled and is removed in thick pieces. When mixed
with the bark of the prunings and with those sticks
which do not peel well it is known as chips. It brings
a low price on the market and is used for grinding; and,
although it does not have the delicate flavor of the
quilled, what is lacking in delicacy is made up in pun-
gency and, therefore, in many cases, it is preferred.
Chips bring so low a price in the market that they may
be purchased by the miller of spices and sold in the pure
powdered state at a price much below what he can sell the
bark at. This fact may account in a measure for prices
given in the table in chapter II, page 7, on adulteration.

The exporting of cinnamon chips is carried on by the
planters to a great extent and at a great detriment to
themselves. By doing this there is shortsightedness on
their part, as the chips are bought by the miller at a low
price in place of the high-priced bark, which necessarily
must partly go begging for a market. Thus, the more
valuable product so depreciates as to leave but little
profit for the grower; his margin of profit is so small
that he does not give his cinnamon grove proper atten-
tion and many times cuts it for wood. If the planter
would distill his waste pruning and coarse chips for the
oil which they contain he would be well paid for his
labor.

The cultivators of cinnamon give employment to a
large number of people, several thousand being now en-
gaged in the cultivation of the trees and the prepara-
tion of the bark. The pruning immediately follows the
cutting and consists in cutting out all wood of more than

[ 96 ]

BATAVIA

two years’ growth and reducing all stumps left too high
and removing all weak and crooked shoots and super-
fluous branches. ‘This waste material, with the weed-
ing, is buried near the outer roots, as it is found that
organic matter is an excellent fertilizer for cinnamon,
as the shoots reach out in all directions and permeate
the decaying matter and so bring much benefit to the
tree. It will not do to raise a mound around the base
of the trunk, as the roots are thereby forced against
their natural course and throw themselves into the
mound. When this is once done they must be allowed
to remain, as any disturbance would injure the tree.
When the Ceylon cinnamon tree becomes too old to pro-
duce good growth it is cut down and the bark removed
from the larger branches and the trunk, and is called
mate cinnamon.

Although the finest bark is obtained from the culti-
vated trees there is much bark obtained from the unculti-
vated, of which C. multiflorum and C. ovalufolium are
used for purposes of adulteration,

Cassia bark (Iig. 8), I’rench cassia and German
cassia, are the dried bark of a tree which grows twenty
to forty feet high, sometimes even sixty feet high,
irregular and knotty, with large spreading horizontal
branches, outer bark thick, rough and scabrous, with ash
color, speckled inner bark reddish with dark green and
light orange color. It is known to commerce as cassia
lignea or China cinnamon, and is from the Cinna-
momum aromaticum. It is found in South China and
is a native of Ceylon, Cochin China, Kast India, and
Java, and has been brought from China since the earliest
days of history. It is produced by an undescribed tree
of several species of cinnamomum, differing from each
other in foliage and in inflorescence and aromatic prop-
erties, and has about as many names in Chinese as there
are provinces in which it is found growing. It is found
most abundantly in the province of Kwangsi in the south
of China, large quantities being brought to Canton
annually from “ Kwei lin Foo” (literally the City of
the Forest of Cassia Trees), deriving its name from
the forests of cassia around it, and is the capital and

[ 97 ]

principal city of the province. ‘The exact botanical
source of China Cassia lignea was not known until
1884, although it was generally attributed to the tree
now proved to yield it (Cinnamomum cassia). It is
cultivated in the three following districts of China:
Taiwu, Kwangsi province, and Lukpo and Loting,
both in Kwang-tung province. Taiwu is about 180
miles west of Canton and from four to five miles from
the West River, but the nearest cassia plantations are
from twenty-five to thirty miles farther, in a southern
or southwestern direction. The Loting district com-
mences from eight to ten miles from Loting City.
After leaving the West River about eighty miles of the
Loting River and the Nam-Kong must be traversed
before reaching the city, and from there the distance
is made overland. In these plantations there are 52,600
acres which have been under cultivation for about forty
years. lLukpo is least important. The city of Lukpo
is situated on the northern bank of the West River.
The nearest plantation is about fifteen miles distant
from Lukpo City.

Cassia is also found in the following provinces:
Hunan, Shensi, Hupeh, and Eonsu, and under the fol-
lowing Chinese names: Yuk-quai-she, Toro-Tsao,
Chu-eh or Tsao, Chu-eh, Eh-Ming or Chueh Mings;
for drugs — fungus, Huei-hua, Mu-erh. The Chinese
have varieties which they cultivate under special cir-
cumstances, almost sacred, and by their long familiarity
with different kinds and their expertness in determin-
ing its value they use it in many ways of which we are
ignorant. The thick bark of the old uncultivated trees
found growing near the Annam frontier is very highly
valued by the Chinese on account of its supposed medici-
nal purposes, especially a dark bark called Ching Fa
Kwei from the trees growing on the Ching Fa Moun-
tains in Annam. The bark is stripped from the limbs
as are the other grades of cinnamon. It is only about
sixteen inches in length, has a dark-brown color and dull
flavor, is not so sweet as true cinnamon and has a bitter
taste. The bark is thick and heavy and not uniform in
size. It is not enclosed or quilled and is brittle, with

[ 98 ]

a less fibrous texture. It is less pungent and has a
more mucilaginous or gelatinous quality. The outer,
corky bark is of a deeper color and i is the kind mixed
with much coarser bark, known as “ Cassia Vera,” which
is ground by our spice grinders in place of the true cin-
namon. This bark is imported in mats of from three to
four pounds each, bound up in bamboo splints, and is
shipped in bales of about eighty pounds.

Inferior cinnamon trees are found scattered over a
large tract of country in the Indian Archipelago, C.
Tamala Nees, and Ebern, extending into Silhet, Sik-
kin, Nepaul, Kumaon, and even into Australia. There
are two species of Archipelago C., Cassia Blume and C.
Burmanii Blume, the last being a Chinese variety found
growing in Sumatra and Java, and the Philippines
furnish “Cassia Vera.” Several other cassia Cinga-
lese species of cinnamon cassia bark are found in their
respective localities.

In the Khasia Mountains of East Bengal there is the
bark of Abtusifolium Nees, and C. Pauciflorum Nees,
and C. Tamala Nees, and Eberm found growing at
1,000 to 4,000 feet elevations, shipped from Calcutta.

Cinnamomum iners reinw is a kind found in India,
Ceylon, Java, and Sumatra, and other islands in a vari-
able state and has a paler and thinner and different
veined leaf than the true cinnamon. Young branches
of the tree are collected and tied up in fagots constitut-
ing cassia twigs, which form a large article of com-
merce.

In order to powder cinnamon bark, it must first be
passed through a cracker machine, as it is called, to
reduce it to a proper size for feeding in a mill. The
mill consists of a roller provided with very coarse teeth,
which revolve through similar stationary teeth. The
material is retained by a semi-circular, perforated plate,
until it is reduced to the size of the perforation, or
about the size of a coffee bean, when it is then ready
for the burr stones.

True ground cinnamon (see Figs. 22 and 23, Chap.
IIT) consists of long cells of woody fiber which repre-
sent the thin layers found in the bark and scattered

[ 99 ]

through it, consisting of a little starch in stellate cells.
There is nothing more distinct between cinnamon and
cassia than the amount of volatile oil the bark con-
tains, and yet some of the inferior cinnamon bark does
not contain as much volatile oil as does good cassia, but
cinnamon oil is of a much higher and more delicate
aroma. It is hard to detect cassia (see Fig. 41, Chap.
III; adulterated, Fig. 46) in ground cinnamon, as the
flavor is so similar, but the cassia contains but little
wood fiber and few stellate cells and the presence of
starch is more marked. ‘To test cinnamon, experts
are required. ‘The usual test is by chewing, but this
method soon makes the mouth sore. The most inferior
ground cassia, however, bears such a close resemblance
to the best cassia and to the true cinnamon that it may
be substituted for it or used as an adulterant without
being easily detected. The following instructions are
useful in examining powdered cinnamon.

Make a decoction of pure ground: cinnamon, also
a decoction of the suspected mixture, and filter both;
when cold add to thirty grams of each one or two drops
of iodine, when the decoction of pure cinnamon will be
but slightly affected while the mixture will assume a
blackish-blue coloration. | Although much depends
upon the age of the oils, the greater the age of the oil
the smaller the quantity of iodine solution absorbed by
it. The cheap sort of cassia, or “ Cassia Vera,” can be
distinguished from China cassia and from true cinna-
mon by its richness in mucilage, which can be extracted
by cold water as a thick glary liquid, which on the addi-
tion of corrosive sublimate or neutral acetate of lead
yields a dense viscous precipitate. The most reliable
test for cassia in true cinnamon is to obtain the pro-
portion of ash in each, the ash in cinnamon being 4.59
and 4.78 per cent., cassia lignea giving but 1.84 and
“Cassia Vera” nearly the same as cinnamon, 4.08.
Another test is to ascertain the amount of ash soluble
in water. The quantities are 25.04, 28.98 per cent. in
whole cinnamon, about 18 per cent. in chips, and 8.15
in “Cassia Vera,” and 26.40 in cassia lignea. Again
the proportion of oxide of manganese is never more

[ 100 ]

than 1 per cent. (0.13-0.97) in cinnamon, but it is over
(1.18 - 1.53) in “ Cassia Vera ” and 3.65 - 5.11 in cassia
lignea. The cinnamon ash will always be found white
or nearly so, while both the cassia ashes are gray or
brown and yield an abundance of chlorine on heating
with hydrochloric acid. The cinnamon or cassia in the
bark is easily distinguished, as the inferior kinds are
thicker and appearance coarser and their color darker
brown and duller and have a more pungent taste, which
is less sweet than the true cinnamon, succeeded by a
bitter taste.

The Ceylon bark is characterized by being cut
obliquely at the bottom of the quill while other kinds.
are cut transversely. Ground cinnamon will deterio-
rate very rapidly. Cinnamon is so singularly sensitive
in the bark that great care has to be taken in regard to
its surroundings in shipping aboard vessels to prevent
loss. Recourse has been made to various expedients,
but it is found that the only effective safeguard is to
pack bags of pepper between the bales. Ceylon alone
exports 6,000 pounds of bark to this country annually
in gunny bags of about 100 pounds each. Colombo
(see illustration), which has one of the largest botanical
gardens and the largest cinnamon grove in the world,
is the principal city of export.

Cassia Buds (flores cassie immature clavelli cinna-
momi) are the calyces of the immature flowers of the
cassia tree which yields cassia lignea. The cassia buds
of commerce bear a resemblance to cloves but are
smaller and have the odor and flavor of cassia lignea or
cinnamon. They are gathered in an unripe state at
about one-fourth their normal size and are exported
from Canton in piculs of 150 pounds each. Can-
ton exported about 100,000 pounds in the first quarter
of 1905, and Canton exports 19,000 piculs of cassia cin-
namon of 133 pounds each and 500 piculs of twigs annu-
ally, and it is the principal city of export in the world
for cassia barks. In Southern India the cassia buds
are gathered from a variety of wild Cinnamomum iners
reinw in a mature state, but they are inferior to the
Chinese cassia buds. They have the appearance of

[ 1014

nails with roundish heads of various sizes, and if com-
pletely dried the receptacle is nearly dark, firmly em-
bracing the embryo seed, which protrudes.

Seeds which are used for seeding are obtained from
trees ten years old and upward, which are not cut back
but are allowed to grow naturally from fifty to sixty
feet apart, while the balance of the orchard is cut down
every six years for the bark. The seed trees are cut
only in cases of necessity to supply a great demand for
the thick bark on the trunks, when some can be sacri-
ficed.

The Chinese frequently adulterate the oil of cassia
with colophony, which may be easily detected, as it has
a greater specific gravity. Extra pale colophony has
a specific gravity of 1.070 and the pale colophony has
a specific gravity of 1.110. Any oil heavier than 1.070
should be handled with suspicion. ‘The darker the
sample and the higher the specific gravity, the greater
the adulteration. The tips of the branches and the
other trimming which collects are carefully dried and
distilled and sold as cinnamon oil.

Oil of cinnamon or cassia depends entirely upon the
amount of cinnamy] aldehyde it contains. Oil of the true
cinnamon bark (cinnamomum Zeylonicum) is the finest
essential oil to be had. It is worth $5 per pound, while
common cassia is worth only about seventy cents. True
cinnamon oil is obtained in Ceylon and is of a golden
color when fresh, with an aromatic odor, and is very
pungent, being powerful enough to blister the tongue,
but varies by age from cherry to yellow-red, the paler
varieties being the most esteemed. Cinnamon leaf is
redistilled in London to obtain the -desired color,
although at a loss of about 10 per cent. (formula
CioH14), with a small quantity of benzoic acid. Fine
cinnamon oil has a taste of intense sweetness, far
sweeter than sugar, and a clove-like taste is at first de-
veloped. It is largely used in perfumery and medicine.
Ceylon ships about 15,000 to 40,000 ounces annually.
China exports as much. After a time it loses its
sweetness and is no better than cassia oil. The tree
yields essential oils from the leaves, bark, and root, each

[ 102 ]

oil differing in composition and value, which accounts
for the many different grades or prices for cinnamon
oil found on the market. Cinnamon and cassia oils are
of the same chemical compositions, their value being
estimated by the amount of cinnamyl aldehyde they
contain. That obtained from the roots is light, while
that obtained from the leaves is so heavy as to sink in
water.

There is but a small amount of oil in the bark, the
yield being but 1 to 1.5 per cent.; six and one-half
ounces of heavy oil and two and one-half ounces of light
oil to eighty pounds of bark. It consists chiefly of cin-
namyl aldehyde or the hydride of cinnamy]l and a vari-
able quantity of hydrocarbon. The oil derived from
the coarser bark is a dark-brownish color. The oil dis-
tilled from the true bark is worth about eighteen times
as much as the oil distilled from the leaves or leaf stalk
or flower stalk. The latter oil is chiefly of eugenol,
a hydrocarbon having an odor of cymene, a little
benzoic acid and cinnamy] aldehyde. When mixed with
the young twigs and cassia buds of cassia shrubs, this
oil becomes a beautiful bright oil of excellent taste —
characteristics which denote a higher percentage of alde-
hyde. Twigs show a familiar sweet cinnamon taste,
but they yield a smaller percentage of essential oil than
is distilled from the leaves, and has a specific gravity
of 1.45 at 15 degrees C., showing 90 per cent. of alde-
hyde. The leaves yield sweet oil at 15 degrees C., spe-
cific gravity 1.056, aldehyde 93. Cassia buds yield
essential oil 1.550 per cent., specific gravity 1.026, alde-
hyde 80.4 per cent. Stalk of cassia leaves, leaf stalk,
and young twigs mixed yield essential oil 0.77 per cent.,
gravity 1.055, aldehyde 93 per cent.

The oil from the root contains cinnamyl] aldehyde,
hydrocarbon and ordinary camphor, and is lighter than
water, both the oil of the bark and of the leaves being
heavier. Oil from cinnamon bark and shoots is seldom
exported. The oil is obtained in Ceylon by macerating
the powdered bark or roots with a saturated solution of
common salt for two days, after which the whole is dis-
tilled.

[ 103 ]

Cinnamy] aldehyde, which is a very pleasant smelling
colorless liquid, may be separated from hydrocarbon,
which is also found in the oil, by bringing the oil in
contact with concentrated nitric acid. The crystals,
which separate in long rhombic prisms or small
plates, are decomposed by water into nitric acid. Free
cinnamyl aldehyde may be prepared by allowing a mix-
ture of ten parts benzolaldehyde, fifteen parts acet-
aldehyde, 900 parts of water, and ten parts of a 10 per
cent. solution of caustic soda to stand eight or ten days,
at a temperature of 30 degrees, the whole being fre-
quently agitated. Finally the aldehyde is extracted by
means of ether.

The pure Chinese cassia lignea bark, essential oil
1.5 per cent., has a specific gravity of about 1.035 to
1.060; aldehyde, 89.9 per cent., and at 15 C. should
have a specific gravity of 1.050 to 1.070. On distilling,
about 90 per cent. of pure cassia oil should pass over,
and the balance, 10 per cent. residue, must not become
solid in cooling, must not be brittle but must be in a
semifluid state. If the oil contains less than 70 per
cent. of cinnamyl] aldehydes it may be considered adul-'
terated, and at 75 per cent. should be handled with
suspicion.

14 to 9 years old, 79 per cent. Cinnamy] aldehyde
15 yearsold, . . 70 per cent. Cinnamy] aldehyde
16 years old, . . 73 per cent. Cinnamy] aldehyde

Cinnamic acid occurs in the flowers of cinnamon
and forms in small quantities by oxidation of the cinna-
my] aldehyde when it comes in contact with the open air.
It will dissolve in 3,500 parts of water at 17 degrees
and is more readily soluble in boiling water and crys-
tallizes from it in lustrous plates. From the cassia
buds, refuse bark, young shoots and roots a fragrant
volatile substance is obtained which floats on water,
and when removed and allowed to cool, it becomes a
suet, giving a delicious odor in burning, called a cinna-
mon suet, or wax, which is used largely by the Catholics
and Buddhists in worship and at high native weddings.
It was formerly used in Ceylon for making candles.

When true ground cinnamon and cassias are ex-

[ 104 ]

amined microscopically with polarized light, differences
are revealed at once which are characteristic enough to
distinguish the specimens, as shown in Figs. 41 and 23,
Chap. III. But of the proximate chemical composi-
tion of any of the barks but little is known. Numerous
determinations and analyses of the ash have been made
with a view to detecting peculiarities or the addition of
mineral matter. The percentage of ash is extremely
variable, depending on the age and quality of the bark.
Saigon chips have been known to have 8.23 per cent.,
while unknown cassia bark has been found with but
1.75 per cent. Cinnamon bark will be likely to average
less than cassia. Fiber-like ash is very variable, Saigon
yielding 26.29 per cent., true cinnamon 33.08 per cent.,
while unknown cassia gives 14.20; that containing the
least fiber contains the smallest amount of lime.

The albuminoids are also variable; the Batavia and
Saigon barks appear to contain the most. The pres-
ence of over 4 per cent. is an indication of an inferior
quality.

The amount of the tannin runs extremely small, any
addition of which can be readily detected. One-fourth
of the ash of cinnamon is soluble in water, but
less of “Cassia Vera,” and less yet of cassia
lignea. Little has been learned which would form
a sound basis for distinguishing these barks. The pres-
ence of manganese cannot be considered as indicating
that substance an essential element of the ash, nor
is the fact one from which such definite conclusions
could be drawn as to serve as the basis of legal testi-
mony, but it is what gives to the different barks their
different colors. ‘True cinnamon contains less than 1
per cent. of oxide of manganese; “ Cassia Vera” more
than 1 per cent., and cassia lignea as high as 5 per cent.

The essential oil is but 0.5 to 1 per cent. of the bark
of cinnamon and much less in inferior cassia.

We also find the presence of mucilage, coloring mat-
ter, resin, acid, starch, and lignea as well as volatile oil.
Aside from the determination of volatile oil upon which
the properties of cassia bark depends, chemical analysis
seems to be of little value; the principal dependence

[ 105 ]

must, with our present knowledge, be placed on the
mechanical and microscopic examination.

To detect the adulteration of oil of cassia by oil of
cloves, a drop of the oil should be heated on a watch
glass. Genuine cassia evolves a fragrant vapor pos-
sessing but a little acridity. When, however, clove oil
is present, the vapor is very acrid and excites coughing.
With fuming nitric acid, cassia merely crystallizes; but
if cloves be present it swells up, evolves a large quantity
of red vapor and yields a thick reddish-brown oil. Pure
cassia oil solidifies with concentrated potash but will not
when mixed with clove oil.

A good test for cassia oil substituted for oil of cin-
namon is to add nitric acid, specific gravity 1.36, to
oil of cinnamon (one part of the latter to two parts of
acid), and shake the mixture. A bright orange-colored
liquid is first obtained, upon the surface of which floats
an orange, resinous substance, slowly becoming deeper
in color, until a beautiful cherry-red color is visible, by
which time it has changed to a liquid that floats on a
lighter-colored substratum, which also in a short time
becomes nearly of the same tint. Bubbles then com-
mence to appear and shortly afterwards spontaneous
ebullition occurs, with the evolution of nitrous fumes
and vapors of benzoic aldehyde. By the time this
ebullition has ceased the amber-colored liquid com-
mences to clear itself and finally a clear amber liquid is
left with orange globules floating on its surface. Upon
oil of cassia, nitric acid, specific gravity 1.36, has a
different action, as, after mixing one part of oil of cas-
sia with two of nitric acid, a dirty green supernatant
resinous mass (slowly turning brown) is seen floating
on a yellowish liquid, and no further change takes place.
If a large excess of the acid be added after the first
addition, the resinous mass changes to a deep reddish
brown and the subnascent liquid takes a cherry-red
color. ‘The same reaction occurs if a large excess of
nitric acid be added to oil of cassia at first, but in
neither of these cases is there any spontaneous ebulli-
tion or evolution of the nitrous fumes and benzoic alde-
hyde vapors.

[ 106 ]

If oil of cassia be mixed with oil of cinnamon, the
reaction with nitric acid takes place as with oil of cinna-
mon, but more tardily, according to the amount of cas-
sia oil present; and, at the end of the process, a turbid
subnascent liquid is seen, instead of a clear one, as is
the case with pure oil of cinnamon. Spirits of nitrous
ether can also be used to distinguish between these oils,
as it forms a clear solution with that of cinnamon, but
a turbid one with cassia.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CASSIA AND CINNAMON

Samples examined, ash of the whole being about 8 per
cent. and powdered 5 per cent.:

INSHUSSIPOUS EMH META CURES ire akon y singe its. fee arte s Boas
Wmbknoway Cassia ice Teh o ar yates yeu) een ee eg 1.75, extreme
Fiber Saigon, . . ist MONETARY avapratog LANE 2Ge29
Fiber of Cassia Gasaien eb AR A Aa EN WN ‘4 to 20, extreme
Bi Gers rice OIMMAMIOMN Uy), (a ibe i ep need Oe The ely knoe, Male eh BO O8
Albuminoids Saigon, .. NSA DE Ra OE RT MOS 455
Albuminoids Unknown Ce Bona . 2.45, extreme
Lime True Cinnamon,. . 40. o 36. 98, 40. 39 , in three specimens
Lime Cassia Lignea, . . . . Se (ah ae OGIO
Lime “‘ Cassia Vera,’ . uy Rh) UL iNT
Magnesia, True Cinnamon, . re! 65, 3. 30, ‘3. 86, 3 in three specimens
Magnesia, Cassia Lignea, RN DING bona io red a Are hE 5.48
NAEHICSIN WOnkalay Vera rhs s Lhe he A SG eri)

[ 107 ]

CHAPTER X

CLOVES

Your unexpanded flower-buds fair

Hold for us flavors fine and rare,

Welcome your petals in our home,

’Though Nature choose you should not bloom.

LOVES are the unexpanded flower buds of
C Eugenia Caryophyllata of Caryophyllus-aro-
maticus, a tree belonging to the natural order
Myrtacca, and are named from the French word clou,
signifying nail, which it sometimes resembles.

The French word, Girofle Clowx de Guirofle; Ger-
man, Gewurzuelken; Persian, Meykuk; Sanskrit,
Lavunga; Arabia, Kerunful; Bengalle, Lung; Malay,
Chankee, Lawang; Portuguese, Cravos da India;
Chinese, Thenghio; Java, Wohkayu, Lawang; Hindoo,
Laung.

It is indigenous to the Molucca or, as they are fre-
quently called, the “ Spice Islands.’ It was originally
confined to five of these islands, viz: 'Tidor, Ternate,
Motir, Batian, and Kian, but chiefly to the last.
These constitute a string of islands westward of
the large island Gilalo and, strange to say, the clove
tree does not appear to do well on the large islands,
such as Gilalo and Ceram and Celebes. It is probable
that Booro and the Xula Isles constitute about the
western limit of the successful culture of the clove.
Although it is a native of small islands, it will not do
well too near the sea where it receives much moisture, or
at a high elevation where it is cold. Sloping loam land
is best, where there is no stagnant water, 1,000 feet ele-
vation being the limit.

The clove tree is found outside the Moluccas and Am-
boina, Haruka, Saparua, and Naesalaut in the follow-
ing places: Guiana, Zanzibar, Pemba, Java, Sumatra,
Reunion, and West Indies islands.

[ 108 ]

CLOVES
(Eugenia Coryaphyllata of Coryaphyllas Aromaticas)

1 Zanzibar - 4 Benconlen
2 Amboyna 5 Calyx
3 Penang 6 Calyx

7 Flowering stem with leaves

Ells

:
aa NR Re ee nn ane aan ne SN

There are five varieties of cloves as follows:

1. The ordinary cultivated clove.

2. The female clove with pale stem, which natives
call poleng.

3. ‘The keriak or leory cloves.

4. The royal clove (which is very scarce).

5. The wild clove.

The first three are about equally valuable as spices,
the female being considered best for distillation of
essential oil, while the wild clove has very little aromatic
flavor and no value but for adulteration.

The royal clove is a curious monstrosity, which for-
merly had a great reputation as the Caryophyllum
regium, by reason of its rarity, and the curious observa-
tions which are made respecting it. Itis a very small clove
and is distinguished by an abnormal number of sepals
and by large bracts at the base of the tubes of the calyx.
The corolla and internal organs are imperfectly devel-
oped. In commerce the cloves are known and named
from the places of growth and are graded in value in
the order named — Penang (Fig. 3), Bencoolen (Fig.
4), Amboina (Fig. 2), Zanzibar (Fig. 1). They do
not exhibit any very decided structural difference, but
it takes 4,500 Penang cloves to weigh one pound and
5,000. Zanzibar for same weight. There also enters
into commerce as a secondary product clove stalks and
mother’s cloves, the latter being the dried ripe fruit.

Cloves were one of the principal Oriental spices, being
the basis of a rich trade from an early part of the Chris-
tian era, and the spice was well known to the ancients
and certainly formed an article of commerce, during the
Middle Ages, when Alleppo was the grand mart of
Eastern trade.

The Portuguese discovered cloves growing abun-
dantly on the Molucca Islands about the year 1600 and
they held possession of the principal clove trade for
nearly a century. Previous to this time, cloves were
brought to Europe from ports in the Mediterranean,
where they had been brought by Arabians, Persians,
and Egyptians.

About 1605, the Portuguese were driven from the

[ 109 ]

Moluccas by the Dutch, who endeavored to control the
clove trade by attempting to extirpate all the clove trees
growing in their native islands, and to confine the cul-
ture of the entire production to the islands of Amboina
and Ternate, paying the kings of the islands of Ter-
nate, Tidor, and Batian a tribute to permit and assist
in the extirpation of the trees.

In the years 1769 and 1771, the French, under M.
Poivre, made two expeditions to the Moluccas and found
the clove tree growing in some small islands which had
been overlooked by the Dutch. From one of these
(Guebi) they obtained plants and transplanted them to
the Isle of France. In 1785, there were already between
10,000 and 11,000 clove trees growing in this island.

’ At the end of. the seventeenth century, an Arab carried

the clove seed from Baurbou and planted the plantation
in Zanzibar at Miltoni, on the road to Cheuni, and plants
were conveyed from the Isle of France to Cayenne,
Dominica, and to Mauritius. About 1770, the English
put such a high duty on spices in Dominica that they
ruined the trade there, and although M. Buee planted
the clove tree there over 100 years ago, one tree is yet
living.

Meanwhile the Dutch, who favored the one principal
isle, Amboina, selecting that part of it called Leytimeer
and the adjoining Uliasser Islands, divided :<Amboina
into 4,000 allotments. Each of these divisions was
expected to afford sufficient space for the growth of 125
trees, and it was ordered that this number should be
cultivated.

In 1720, a law was passed rendering it compulsory on
the natives to make up the full complement, and accord-
ingly 500,000 clove trees flourished within the limit of
the small island, their annual aggregate product amount-
ing to more than 1,000,000 pounds of cloves. One can
scarcely imagine the beauty of these immense groves
with their pinkish-white, snowdrop blossoms, the sweet
perfumes of which are carried by the gentle breezes far
out to sea.

The clove tree, owing to its noble height, fine form,
and luxuriant foliage, is attractive in appearance. Its

[ 110 ]

bark is thin and smooth and its wood exceedingly hard,
but it has a grayish color, which unfits it for cabinet
work. It is an evergreen and in its natural state grows
to a height of from thirty to forty feet, with a straight
trunk, making it the most beautiful of all known trees.
When four feet high, the tree spreads into several
branches with fork stems, on which leaves grow directly
opposite each other. The leaves are long, ovate and
smooth, narrow and indented on the edge, pointed and
of a thick consistency. The color of the upper surface
inclines to red, as also does the stalk, while the under
surface is green. ‘The entire tree is strongly aromatic
and the petioles of the leaves have nearly the same pun-
gency as the calyces of the flowers.

In cultivating cloves, the mother cloves are best
selected fresh, as they soon lose their vitality. The fruit
seed (called by the natives paleny), which have become
fertilized by remaining and ripening on the trees, are
first soaked in water three days, or until they begin to
germinate, and are next planted in a nursery of rich
mold with bud end above ground in shaded beds, six
inches apart if many plants are needed, twelve inches
apart for few.

Two seeds are planted in each hill in the trenches, to
provide for the failure of a part of the seed to germi-
nate, and care must be taken not to plant the seed more
than two inches below the surface. The nursery beds
are made about six feet wide and of any length desired,
and are shaded by a flat framework of sticks three to
three and one-half feet high, over which is placed grass
or cocoanut leaves. The ground is watered every morning
and evening by taking water in the hand from the water-
ing pot until the seeds have developed. When the plants
appear above ground they are watered every other day,
and when about six inches high every ten days.

The plants are kept in the shaded beds for nine
months or one year, when they will be about one foot
high. After this they are gradually left to the expo-
sure of the sun by removing the framework for one or
two months, when they are transplanted. Great care
is taken in moving the plants. The transplanting takes

Eee el

place in the rainy season. The soil is first cut around
the plant by a knife or triangular-shaped spade called
‘““moaa,” “‘ jembe,” or hoe, and the plant is lifted with
as much soil adhering to it as possible and is placed
across two banana strips of fiber, which are three to four
inches wide and one to two feet long. The four ends of
these strips are wrapped around the plants and firmly
tied together, and in that way the plants are carried to
the place for pianting. Before planting, the pieces of
fiber are cut beneath at each corner and the plant is
placed in holes dug for them, which are about thirty feet
apart; the earth is heaped around them and the balance
of the fiber at the top is removed. ‘The plant is watered
every day if it is very dry weather, and at intervals for
a year, or until it is about eighteen inches high.

A great many plants usually die out and continually
replanting is necessary. For this reason, a nursery is
kept for about five years.

After the clove garden is planted there is no need
of shading, but as the trees have only a slight hold in the
ground, they are easily destroyed. ‘They should be
planted in sheltered situations. For example, a hurri-
cane which visited Zanzibar in 1872 destroyed nine-
tenths of the clove groves, but the adjoining island of
Pemba did not suffer nearly so much, especially on the
west side of the island, which was fairly well protected.
For this reason the clove trees are protected by belted
double rows of casuarina and cerbera trees. Cocoanut
trees are also planted at irregular places among the clove
trees. The slaves, who have their own small orchards,
often plant cassava, cocoanut, and mangoes with the clove
not only for shelter but to secure extra crops from the
other trees. In Amboina the young trees are planted in
old clove orchards for shelter, and when the young trees
grow up the old trees are cut down. A clayey sub-
stratum, dark yellow or volcanic earth, intermingled
with gravel and dark loam, with a small amount of sand
to reduce its tenacity, is the best soil. Marshy soil is fatal.
Plants obtained from a garden of self-sown seeds are the
best, but sometimes young branches are laid down and
kept moist, when they will take root in about six months.

[tie]

Clove trees after being well rooted require but Little
care, and as the clove tree attracts much moisture, little
other herbage will grow beneath it, but they must be
kept well weeded or the trees will run into wild cloves.
New leaves form in the wet season in May, the old leaves
dropping off as new ones come, and soon after the leaves
are out the germ of fruit is discovered and the tree
begins to bear.

The clove tree needs no pruning with the exception of
topping, and no manuring except by leaves which fall
from the trees, which are very good fertilizers.

The flowers are of a delicate pink color and grow at
the extremity of the branches. There are from nine to
fifteen flowers in a cluster. ‘These clusters, or branched
peduncles, are arranged in tricahatomous terminal
cymes, jointed to the branches. The unexpanded
corolla forms a ball on the top of the bud between four
of the calyces. The calyx is elongated and to it the
ovary is united. It tapers downward and is the cup of
the unripe fruit seed, giving the seed the resemblance
of the clove (garafa, which is no doubt a corruption of
the French word girofle).

As soon as the coroila begins to fade the calyx changes
its color, first to yellow and green (Fig. 6), and then to
red (Fig. 5), and, together with the embryo seed, which
is about the size of a small pea, is at this stage of its
growth the clove of commerce and is ready for harvest-
ing. If it is allowed to remain on the tree three weeks
longer it will gradually swell, forming an oblong berry
containing one or two cells and as many seeds. It is
then ripe, and is known as the mother clove (by the
native, paleng). It has then lost the pungent property
of the clove and will have entirely lost its value as a
spice, and is valuable only for seed.

The clove, then, we find composed of two parts. The
part we use is the flower clove. It is about six-tenths of
an inch in length. It has a long cylindrical calyx, divid-
ing above into four pointed spreading sepals, which sur-
round four petals or leaves that are the unexpanded
flowers. Thus the filaments are rolled into a globular bud
or head of the clove, which is about two-tenth of an inch

[ 113 ]

in diameter. ‘Che parts may be seen by soaking: the clove
in water, when the leaves will soften and unroll. ‘The
petals are of a light color on account of their numerous
oil cells, which spring from the base of a four-sided
epigynous dise with angles directed towards the lobes
of the calyx. ‘The stamens are very numerous, being
inserted at the base of the petals and arched over the
style, which is short and sublate and rises from depres-
sions in the center of the disc. Immediately below it,
and united with the upper portion of the calyx, is the
ovary, which is two-celled and contains many ovules.

‘The lower end of the calyx (hypanthium) has a com-
pressed form, is solid, but has internal tissues which are
far more porous than the walls, the whole calyx being of
a deep, rich brown color. It has a dull, wrinkled sur-
face and dense, fleshy texture, and abounds in essential
oil which exudes on a simple pressure of the finger nail.

The clove tree is not subject to any fungoid disease,
but it suffers from a caterpillar which often strips the
leaves in dry weather, but the tree will soon recover after
the rain sets in. ‘The white ant also attacks the ‘root.
No remedy is undertaken for either of these pests. - A
worm also insinuates itself into the wood and thousands
of trees sometimes perish from its work.

Harvesting should begin as soon as the fruit is at the
proper stage and should be rushed with as much haste
as is possible, or much of the crop may be lost by over-
ripening. As all buds do not mature at one time, it
takes about three weeks to complete the harvest.

Cloths are first spread on the ground beneath the tree.
The fruit must be picked mostly by hand. Although
the twigs are easily broken, the harvesting is very tedi-
ous. T'our-sided ladders or movable stages are used
for the lower limbs and seed poles for beating the fruit
from the upper branches, which cannot be reached from
the ladders. The limbs of the tree are so brittle that
great care must be taken not to break them, lest the crop
for the next year be injured. Boys and girls from ten
to fourteen years old, are the best help for gathering
the fruit. The clove and clove stems are both gathered
at the same time, and are dried on mats to prevent fer-

[114]

LOVES

HARVESTING C

mentation. ‘Those which fall from the tree are dried
in the sunshine. ‘They have a shriveled appearance, dull
color, little essential oil, and are of inferior value. ‘The
flowers are next dried, when they assume the brown
color of the clove. The finest cloves are dark-brown
with a full, perfect head free from moisture. The
inferior are smaller and poorer in essential oil. ‘The
drying process is usually by simple exposure to the sun
for several days on mats, but in some places the flowers
are smoked on hurdles covered with matting near a slow
fire. Ina few cases they have been scalded in hot water
before smoking. After the drying process, they are
ready for packing, if they are brittle or readily break
between the fingers.

Cloves are now exported in large amounts from Zan- ~
zibar and its neighboring island Pemba, twenty miles
distant. They are cultivated there by all classes, from
the Sultan to the humblest of his subjects. Zanzibar
cloves, being very dry, do not lose much in weight by
drying and may be stored for some time and will not
mold, but the Pemba production arrives in a damp
condition and must be sold or milled at once to save loss
from shortage. The Zanzibar cloves are larger than
the Pemba variety and have a reddish head by which
they may be known, while the dry Pemba cloves, by
reason of the greater amount of moisture they contain,
have a darker color. The Zanzibar cloves, being well
cultivated, are very fine, but the Pemba, having more
rains, have an advantage over the Zanzibar in quantity,
but they are lacking in quality. Zanzibar, Island is
fifty miles long by twenty miles wide, and alone pro-
duces 7,000,000 pounds of cloves annually, and Pemba
a much larger quantity. Pemba is divided into two dis-
tricts, Weti in the north and Chaki in the south. ‘The
two islands produce 90 per cent. of all the cloves raised
in the world.

Whole cloves have a great affinity for water. Some
exporters have taken advantage of the fact by attempt-
ing to place their sacks in a position aboard vessels
where they may imbibe water and increase their weight,
much to the detriment of the clove.

fe

Cloves in their natural state lose from 50 to 60 per
cent. in drying. One frasila of thirty-five pounds of
freshly gathered cloves is equal to but half a frasila
when dried. ‘The difference in shortage between cloves
at Zanzibar and on their arrival in Europe is about 8
per cent. Only about two-thirds of a clove garden is
depended on for bearing, one-third being allowed for
barren young trees. ‘The tree in its native islands
begins to bear when from four to five years old and is
at its prime at twelve years; but in Amboina and other
Molucea islands, Haruka, Saparua, and Naesalaut, it
does not bear much until it is from ten to twelve years
old, and it requires much more attention.

The tree yields but one crop each year, which, on an
average, is about seven pounds. A _ good healthy
orchard at maturity produces about 875 pounds to the
acre, less one-third for young trees, or about 300 pounds.
The yield is often fifteen to twenty pounds to a tree, and
we have records of trees which bore as high as seventy-
five pounds at the age of 150 years. The ordinary life
of a tree is from twenty to thirty years, though it varies
much in different localities. When the clove tree be-
comes old and worthless for bearing it will have a ragged
appearance.

Cloves are shipped to native ports in hides and are
sometimes exported in sacks made from split cocoanut
leaves, containing 133 1-3 pounds each, called “ piculs,”
also in twenty-two-pound packages called “kilos.”
They are more often exported in double mats in bags
called “ frales,” of eighty to 100 pounds (called by the
natives “mankunda”’). These bags are preferred to
gunny sacks, though there is more shortage, a fact which
is strangely marked, since the mats, though double,
admit a large amount of dampness.

The average annual consumption of cloves through-
out the world has been estimated at 11,000,000 pounds.
No cloves were exported from Singapore in the year
1904, but the city of Penang exported in that year
$7,373.91 worth, and Colombo, Ceylon, exported 115
hundred weight of cloves and mace in the same year.
A transverse section of the lower part of a clove shows‘a

[146-1

TaAgEL
hee treter
iit ne

on

CITY OF ZANZIBAR

VIEW OF ZANZIBAR HARBOR

dark rhomboid zone, the tissue on either side of which
is of a lighter hue, which is chiefly made up of about thirty
fibro-vascular bundles, another stronger bundle travers-
ing the center of the clove. The outer layer of this,
beneath the epidermis and belonging to it, we find to be
a debris of no apparent structure, consisting of numer-
ous cells and fibro-vascular bundles within their spiral
vessels, with deep shreds of brown cellular matter
attached. There are also tissues bordering on the oil
cells. These cells are frequently as many as 300 micro-
millimeters in diameter.

About 200 oil cells may be counted in one transverse
section, so that the large amount of essential oil in the
drug is well shown by its microscopic character. Pol-
len grains and sometimes whole anthers are present and
concretions of oxalate of lime.

The fibro-vascular bundles, as well as the tissues bor-
dering on the oil cells, assume a greenish-black hue on
coming in contact with alcoholic perchloride of iron.
Oil cells are largely distributed in the leaves and petals
but no starch is found in them.

The clove is very rich in essential oil, containing a
greater proportion than any other plant. The oil has
a greater specific gravity than water and, therefore,
sinks in it. Water extracts very little of the flavor of
cloves. The oil combined with resinous matter in cloves
gives them their pungency, and their aromatic property
depends on the amount of oil they contain.

In studying the structure of both the whole or the
powdered cloves, an examination for starch in the pow-
der should first be made in water, as the starch granules
swell by the use of the chloral-hydrate solution. This
solution must be used, however, as the sections and f rag-
ments will not be transparent without it.

Cloves are ground on common burr stone, but great
care must be taken in grinding since they contain so
much oil. The best powdered cloves present a rich
meal of reddish-brown color and are a good preventive
of moths, but they deteriorate very rapidly. The
natives of China and India use cloves to flavor their rice;
the oil is also used for medicinal purposes. Cloves,

eet

stems, and leaves are shipped in large quantities from
Zanzibar for adulterating the powdered clove and are
called “ vikunia”; by the native, “swahil”; French,
‘ oriffers de girofle,’ “ peduncles de girofle”’; Italy,
‘ fustiand bastoreni”’; Latin, “stiptes caryophyll.”’

They form a dull, gray-colored powder and yield
only 5 to 6 per cent. of volatile oil, and, of course, have
only a corresponding percentage of the strength or
value of the true clove (the root yields 0.04 per cent.).
On account of their near appearance in color and flavor
to the powdered clove, and particularly for their cheap-
ness, they are much sought for by the miller of spices,
as he can thus sell his mixture at a price much below the
market value of the true powdered clove. This adul-
terant may be easily detected by the microscope, which
will reveal their thick-walled, hard, flinty stone cells and
long, yellow, fibrous tissue, as similar structures are not
found in the cloves in such abundance. ‘The fruit of
the clove, if added, contains starch granules, which are
not present in the meal of the leaves and stems.

Often the essential oil is pressed from the whole cloves
and they are then rubbed in oil between the hands and
mixed with cloves which drop from the trees; both are
then mixed with good cloves, and all are sold as prime
stock. They are, however, easily detected by their pale
color and shrunken appearance and lack of pungency.
On one occasion several bags of artificial whole
cloves arrived in Londen from Zanzibar, neatly manu-
factured by machinery from soft deal wood stained a
dark color and soaked in a solution of essence of cloves
to give them the required scent. Upon investigation it
was found that this manufactured article had been im-
ported into Zanzibar from America.

A great many flowers of plants contain the flavor
or perfumes of cloves. Among these are the flowers
of the lettsomia bana-nox, called by the natives of Ban-
gal “kulmiluta.” The flowers which are produced in
rainy seasons are large and pure white, expanding at
sunset with a strong flavor of cloves, but they wither at
sunrise. Sometimes the flower buds of Dicypellium
caryophyllatum of Brazil, which has a bark called clove

Late

cassia, are used as substitute for cloves (also called
Brazilian clove bark).

Cloves are largely adulterated with roasted rye and
when the price of cloves is high, pimento or Jamaica
pepper is often used as a mixture. This adulterant
may be detected by the microscope by reason of the thick
walls of the cells, which are not present in cloves, as well
as by the quantity of starch granules which are not
visible in the ground clove.

The essential oil of cloves is a mixture of two oils, one
a hydrocarbon isomeric with oil of turpentine and the
other an oxygenated oil eugenol or eugenic acid, which
possesses the taste and odor of cloves, depending on the
amount of eugenol it contains. This amount may be
estimated by separation as follows: Shake three parts
of the oil with a solution composed of one part caustic
potash or soda in ten parts of water; press the crystalline
paste of eugenol alkali which forms; take off the press
residue with water; decompose with hydrochloric acid;
wash the liberated eugenol with water, dry it with cal-
cium chloride and then rectify.

Clove oil is often adulterated with phenol. ‘This
adulterant may be detected by shaking the oil with fifty
times its volume of hot water; after cooling, it is de-
canted and concentrated at a gentle heat to a small bulk;
then a drop of liquid ammonia and a pinch of chloride
are dropped on the surface; if phenol is present the
liquor will assume a green color, which changes to a
blue shade, which will remain for a number of days; if
not adulterated, no coloration will be produced. Clove
oil is first colorless, or yellow, and darkens with age and
by exposure to the air. It consists of sesquialteral and
an oxygenated oil, the first passing over with vapor of
water, called “ light oil of cloves.”

When the crude oil is distilled with strong potash of
lye, its composition is C15H_24, specific gravity 0.190 at
15 degrees C., its boiling point 251 degrees to 254
degrees C., its optical power being very light.

The other, which is the eugenol, is the chief constitu-
ent. Its composition is CroH12O2. ‘This constituent
exists to the extent of 76 to 85 per cent., while very fine

[ 119 ]

may contain 90.64 per cent. in the oil of cloves, in direct
proportion to the quality of the product.

Good oil of cloves should have a specific gravity of
1.067 at 15 degrees C., and should be freely soluble in
alcohol at 90 per cent. An adulteration by turpentine
would lower the specific gravity and diminish the solu-
bility in alcohol. Eugenol is a strongly refractive
liquid with the characteristic smell and the burning taste
of cloves, and by exposure to the air it becomes brown; on
fusion with caustic potash it yields protocatechuic acid
convertible into vanillin by action of potassium per-
manganate. Eugenol is also found in pimento and in
the leaves of cinnamon and of many other trees and has
been artificially produced by the action of sodium amal-
gam on coniferyl alcohol. Pure eugenol has a specific
gravity of 1.072 at 15 degrees; its boiling point is 253
degrees to 243 degrees C., and it forms a clear solution
in 1 per cent. of caustic potash solution.

Clove oil has been found to contain some salicylic
acid, which gives the greenish blue coloration when it is
brought in contact with an alcoholic solution of per-
chloride of iron, and ‘produces the intense violet color
when it is agitated with metallic reduced iron. This
acid may be isolated by agitating the oil with a solution
of carbonate of ammonia. Caryophyllin (C1.H180),
a neutral, tasteless, inodorous substance, isomeric with
common camphor, crystallizable in prismatic needles,
has also been found in cloves by extracting with ether
cloves previously deprived of the greater part of their
essential oil by a little alcohol.

Cloves also contain 16 per cent. of a peculiar tannic
acid, 18 per cent. of gum, and about 18 per cent. of
water and extractive matter.

The chemical composition of cloves differs to quite
an extent in the different countries where they grow —
Amboina, 19 per cent. ; pat ee 17.5 per cent.

Waterss 255% 11.00 to 2:75
Aisha sav lo intee nas ERE Cia ot BO COOL LOMO ZOO
Volatile Oil, St dit oh ye) een 2 OO ROTO 400
Fixed Oil onal Resin, oe Sas) bey hl OO EOranoO
Crude Fiber, . . do ESL ee MOO O00
Aljeminews: Sete WEE eee 6 ie ek 8.00 to 4.00

[ 120 ]

Coffee oil is least volatile of any essential oil and is
obtained from the flower buds and the flower stalks of
cloves by aqueous distillation. This distillation is
largely carried on in England, and the proportion of
oil may amount to 16 or 20 per cent., but, to extract
the whole, distillation must be long continued; the water
being returned to the same material. The oil is a color-
less or yellowish liquid like all clove oil, with a powerful
odor and flavor of cloves, varying in specific gravity
from 1.046 to 1.058. It combines well with grease,
soap, and spirits, and is largely used in perfumery, and
in Germany it is often adulterated with carbolic acid

(phenol).

[ 121 ]

CHAPTER XI
GINGER

Ginger black or ginger white
Will furnish warmth in coldest night.
Without ginger how many would miss
A ginger cookie for little Sis.

national order zingiberaceoe Linn., monandria-
monogynia) .

French, Gingembre; German, Ingwer; Latin, Zingi-
ber; Italian, Zenzevero; Spanish, Gengibre; Portu-
guese, Gengiuare.

As a rule, spices grow above ground, but ginger is
an exception, it being the roots or rizomes of Zingiber.
The root is herbaceous and creeping, tuberous, and of
a somewhat flattened roundish form, marked with rings.

It is difficult to fix the original habits of the ginger
plant, and it appears to be an unsettled question as to
its native country, whether it be Asia or Brazil, but in
its wild state it would suggest Asia. Its history dates
back to a very early period.

Vincent’s “ Commerce and Navigation of the An-
cients ” speaks of the imports of it from the Red Sea into
Alexandria in the second century. It has been known
in India from a very remote period, the Greek and Latin
names for ginger being derived from the Sanskrit.
The Greek name for ginger is conceded to have been
taken from its Persian application.

Ginger is indigenous to China, and many leading
authorities aver that it derives its name ginger in China,
where it formerly grew abundantly, and that the plant
was first called gingi at that place. It was common in
the thirteenth and, fourteenth centuries and was next in
value to pepper, which was most common of all spices.

It was thought by the Greeks and Romans to have been
a product of Southern Arabia and was received by them

[ 122 ]

(ae (oficinale (Roscoe) amomum zingiber,

GINGER. (Amomum Zingiber)
1 Leaf stalk 3 Cochin ginger
2 Flowers 4 African
5 Jamaica

by way of the Red Sea. Pliny describes it as coming
from Arabia. ‘The Romans fixed a duty on ginger,
which is mentioned among other Indian spices, and
ginger is mentioned in the lists of dutiable goods of the
Middle Ages, showing that it constituted an important
item of commerce between Europe and the East. This
duty was levied in Paris in 1296; Barcelona, 1221; Mar-
seilles, 1228. Ginger appears to have been well known
in England before the Norman conquest, since it is
often referred to in the Anglo-Saxon books of the
eleventh century.

Marco Polo appears to have seen the ginger plant,
both in India and China, about 1280, and some of the
missionary friars who visited India about 1292 give a
description of the plant and refer to it as being dug
up and transplanted. The Venetian merchants in the
early part of the fifteenth century describe the plant
as seen by them in India, and, though the Venetians
received ginger by way of Egypt, some of the superior
kinds were taken from India overland via Afghanistan,
Persia, and Turkey, and the Black Sea, then through
the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean and to the Euro-
pean market. Francis de Mendoza is said to have first
introduced it into America in 1547, bringing it from the
East Indies.

There is good proof of its having been shipped for
commercial purposes from San Domingo in 1585, and as
early as 1547 considerable quantities were sent from the
West Indies to Spain.

The plant endures a wide range of climate. It
may be grown at the sea level or in high mountain
regions, providing the rainfall be abundant or irriga-
tion be adapted. It is found cultivated from the
Himalaya Mountains, 5,000 feet above sea level, to
Cape Comorin.

It is now found in Southeastern Asia, in some of the
islands of the Malayan Archipelago, on the west coast
of Africa, in South America, and the West Indies,
and, in fact, almost all warm countries, including China
and Japan, which are large exporters of ginger. The
city of Calcutta (City of Palaces), from two words,

[ 123 ]

Kali-ghatta, signifying the landing place of the God-
dess Kali, in Bengal India, exports more than any other
city in the world. The finest white ginger, which is
most in demand, comes from Jamaica. ‘The acreage
is not large, amounting to only 350 acres in 1891; it
probably does not now much exceed 400 acres, but im-
proved methods of cultivation have increased the aver-
age yield per acre to a large amount. Ginger is found
in the following districts of India: Mahur, Massa,
Patra, Darra, Kothi, Kotahi, Bagal, and Jayal. It is
found throughout the Kwang-tung province, China.
The district of Nan-hai, which belongs to the city of
Canton, produces a greater quantity and better quality
than any other of the neighboring districts. The inde-
pendent tribes of the Miso-tsu, in the mountains of the
northwestern border of the same province, produce
much ginger, as does also Cochin China, from which the
famous Cochin ginger derives its name. In the district
of Hsin-hsing, about thirty miles south of the city of
Chao-Ching, on the West River, three-tenths of the
flatland and seven-tenths of the cultivated soil in the
hills are planted with ginger. A distinction is made
between flatland ginger (in Canton dialect ten-keung)
which is generally soft and tender, and mountain ginger
(shan keung) which is brittle and pungent.

Three kinds of ginger were known among the mer-
chants of Italy about the middle of the fourteenth
century.

The first was belledi or baladi (an Arabic name),
which, as applied to ginger, would signify “ country ”
or “ wild,” and denotes common ginger.

Second: Calombina, which refers to Calumbum,
Kolam or Quilon, a port in Travancore, frequently
mentioned in the Middle Ages.

Third: Micchino, a name which denoted that the
spice had been brought from or by way of Mecca.

It is inferred from the examination of specimens of
preserved ginger that are sent abroad from China that
the Chinese have a species unknown in other countries.
This inference is in harmony with the well-known
Chinese secretiveness, a characteristic of this strange

[ 124 ]

BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF COCHIN

Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.

CLEAN AND AIRY CHOWRINGHEE ROAD (Esplanade at Left) LOOKING NORTH OVER
CALCUTTA, INDIA

people which is not only inbred but also inborn. It is
possible, however, that some other plant which is not true
ginger may be used in making the celebrated Canton
preserved ginger, but, while this possibility is suspected,
it has not been proven.

The British and American markets derive their sup-
ply of ginger from various parts of the world. The
principal kinds found in commerce are Jamaica (Fig.
5), Cochin (Fig. 3), and African (Fig. 4), the Sierra
Leone district producing the bulk of the African.
Although each of these in its turn has several varieties
and qualities, the best and most valued kind of all is
Jamaica (Fig. 5), and next to it is the Cochin (Fig. 3).
The Cochin when bleached resembles Jamaica to some
extent. Ginger is classified into several species, as the
narrow leaf, the broad leaf, and the Japanese red leaf ;
the narrow leaf being the most esteemed.

Ginger thrives best on rich clay or cool loam soil that
is well drained. New land which has been plowed but
two or three times is best adapted to its cultivation.
The ground should be dug up and cleared of
weeds. The plant will not grow in dry sand or hard
clay soil.

Ginger, being an underground stem of tuberous-
appearing roots, takes its botanical name, rhizome,
from the Spanish word rais, a root. ‘These roots are
known in commerce as races, and in Jamaica as hands,
from their irregular palmate form. The real roots are
the fibers thrown off the rhizomes.

It is a perennial, reed-like plant, similar in appearance
to our iris or flag root, two aerial stems being thrown
up from each of the underground roots (Fig. 1), which
soon rise above ground to the height of three or four
feet. The first of the shoots thrown up bears the leaves,
and the second or shorter stem, the flowers, which blos-
som in August (rhodon) or September. At this time
the ground will be covered by the spread of the leaves
which wither and fade at the close of the year, when
the root is in a ripe state and is ready for harvesting.
The leaves are alternate, bright-green, smooth, and
tapering or lanceolate at both ends, with very short peti-

[ 125 ]

oles which gradually diverge from the stem until they
are nearly horizontal, seven or eight inches in length.

The flowers are borne on the shorter separate stem
(Fig. 2), averaging from six to twelve inches high at
the apex of the stems. ‘They appear in dense, ovate,
oblong, cane-like spikes from two to three inches long,
composed of obtuse, strongly imbricated bracts or scales
with membranous margins between each bract, enclosing
a single small yellowish-white sessile flower with purple
or blue marking, and have an agreeable fragrance.

The ginger planting takes place in March and April
when the rainy season begins. The cleared lands are
made into beds with a little raised edge which forms
trenches between the beds (see illustration), with open-
ings between to allow the water to run off, for, if al-
lowed to stand on the beds, it will cause the tubers to
rot, and sometimes the beds are raised between the rows
to eighteen-inch squares, two rows being planted on
each ridge, the sides being perpendicular. Propaga-
tion is effected by divisions of the protuberances of the
roots which are broken in small pieces, one or two inches
in length, care being taken to leave at least one short
bud on each cutting; they are then planted in well-broken
beds four inches deep, in the manured holes in the
trenches made in the beds which are nine to twelve
inches apart and are shaded with bushes, which are
replaced in ten days by twigs. The land must be kept
well weeded during May, June, and July. It is well to
cover the land half an inch deep with a mold of dead
leaves, and when it rains the water will be impregnated
with manure which filters readily through the leaves to
the roots, and they must be kept watered in dry times.

The rhizome sometimes grows to a great size; often
a single root will weigh one pound. It is a great im-
povisher of land and the same ground should not be used
more than two consecutive years, and it is better to use
it but one year. The yield is 4,000 pounds and upwards
to an acre, each plant producing about eight tubers, and
eight to ten times more in weight than the amount
planted.

The ginger of commerce varies in form from single

[ 126 ]

MAKING A GINGER GARDEN

HOEING GINGER

joints an inch or less in length to flattish, irregularly
branched pieces of several joints from three to four
inches long. Each branch has a depression at its sum-
mit, showing the former attachment of a leafy stem.
The color in its natural state is a pale buff. It has a
somewhat rough or fibrous appearance, breaking with a
short, mealy fracture, and presenting on the surface
of the broken parts numerous short, bristly fibers.
When young, it has a light color, internally soft, and
changing to greenish. As it grows older it becomes
grey outside and reddish internally. When ready for
digging the texture becomes fibrous and firm and heavy,
and when dried it is covered with wrinkled striated
brown integuments which give it a crude appearance,
which is less developed on the flat surface and, inter-
nally, it is less bright and delicate than ginger from
which the cuticle part has been removed.

The best pieces of ginger root are collected at the
harvest and thrown into heaps and covered with cow
manure to keep the roots from drying for the next
planting.

The scraped ginger, or marrow, has a pale hue and
breaks readily and moderately short, the younger and
terminal portions appearing pale yellow, being soft
and starchy, while the longer transverse sections of the _
more perfect and outer parts are hard, flinty, and resin-
ous, surrounding a farinaceous center which has a
speckled appearance from the cut extremities of the
fibers and ducts. The external layer of coated ginger
is separated, about one millimeter broad, by a fine line
from the whitish mealy interior portion, through the
tissue of which numerous vascular bundles and resin cells
are irregularly scattered: The external tissue consists of
loose outer layer and an inner composed of tubular cells.
These are followed by peculiar short parenchymatous
cells, the walls of which are sinuous on a transverse sec-
tion, and partially thickened, imparting a horny appear-
ance. ‘This delicate, felted tissue forms the striated
surface of scraped ginger and is the principal seat of
the resin and volatile oil, which here fill large spaces,
the principal constituents being of the parenchymatous

[ 127 ]

cells loaded with starch and resin. ‘The volatile oil gives
ginger its odor; the resin, pungency. ‘The starch gran-
ules are irregularly spherical in form, attaining at the
utmost forty millimeters in diameter. Certain varieties
of ginger, owing to the starch having been rendered
gelatinous by scalding, are throughout horny and trans-
lucent. ‘The circle of vascular bundles which separates
the outer layers and the central portion is narrow and
has the structure of the corresponding circle or nucleus
sheath of tumeric. (See illustrations 12, 13, 14, Chap.
III; illustration 12 shows ginger adulterated; 13 and
14 pure.) Coated ginger has usually a less bright,
delicate hue than ginger from which the cuticle part has
been removed, much of it being dark, horny, and
resinous.

Ginger differs in quality and in commercial value in
different localities. It is also influenced by the cultiva-
tion, harvesting, and preparation, but all true ginger has
the same starchy, fibrous rhizome; the best quality
is plump, with little or no epidermis, while the inferior
quality is frequently coated and is not so plump.

Borneo or Cochin (Fig. 8) (or bleached ginger) is
said to be produced by submitting the root to the action
of the fumes of burning sulphur or by washing it in
chloride of lime, but by chemical analysis it has been
found that the bleached appearance is due to the appli-
cation of common whitewash to the root, which is dusted
over while wet with marble dust. This treatment, of
course, injures the quality of the root.

The Cochin ginger is what is called the white ginger.
It is prepared by washing and scraping the roots one at
a time. This process takes much time, and the only
benefit to be derived from it is that it makes the root
more agreeable to the eye, and for that reason causes it
to bring a much higher price.

At the time of digging the rhizomes boiling is kept in
the field with frequent changing of water, and the
roots intended for market are plunged into the boiling
water and allowed to remain for about ten minutes.
This process injures the aromatic spirits of the ginger.

At the first of the year, in January or February, the

[ 128 ]

KINGSTON, JAMAICA

harvesting takes place. The form in which ginger is
harvested differs in different countries. In some coun-
tries the ginger is dried with the epidermis removed.
This is known as scraped ginger. In other countries
the ginger is harvested without removing the epidermis.
These two forms of the product are known commer-
cially as coated and uncoated ginger. The scraped gin-
ger is exported mostly from Cochin and Brazil, the
coated from Africa and from a district of India, and is
known as Malabar ginger. It is exported from the
city of Calcutta.

When the roots are first dug they are placed in bas-
kets suspended by ropes and are pulled by two men
with ropes at each end of the basket for two hours each
day for two days, giving them a good shaking up to
remove the scales and rootlets. 'The rhizomes are next
spread on a raised platform to dry for eight days and
are then shaken, when two more days’ drying puts them
in keeping state for the market. ‘They are put up in
parcels of one hundred pounds each. 'The product is
known as black ginger.

With proper care much money might be made by
cultivating ginger in India, but since this crop receives
but little care it has but a small market value. The
roots many times are cared for by simply smearing
with cow manure. They are hung about huts to dry
and become shriveled and dirty, and although they may
be well smoked, they will be badly bored by the bamboo
insects.

India ginger is quite similar to African and is known in
commerce as Calcutta (not shown in illustration), from
the city of export and is largely used for flavoring. It
also is superior for ginger snaps, ginger beer, and gin-
ger wine.

The African and Barbadoes differ from the India by
the epidermis being less shriveled. ‘They are not so
hard or dark, and are sometimes scraped and bleached
and made white by the chemical process of chloride of
lime, a process which impairs the quality of the product
but increases its market value. The bleaching and coat-
ing with gypsum or carbonate of lime is a process often

[ 129 ] 2

applied to old and inferior roots to make them salable
by making them more attractive to the eye.

The Jamaica is the best ginger and is always told by
its pale, bright-yellow color, he real marrow or white
ginger (Zingiber album) is obtained from the scraped
Jamaica ginger, which is free from resin and will give
up properties to water very readily, a fact which makes
it very valuable for medicinal use.

China preserved ginger has a more agreeable aro-
matic flavor than that of the West Indies, and the cele-
brated Canton preserved excels all other preserved gin-
ger. ‘The syrup waters drawn off are used for cool
drinks. Canton exported for the first quarter of the
year 1905 650 piculs of preserved ginger of 1388 pounds
each,

When the tubers are intended for sugar-pressed gin-
ger, they are dug in early spring, while green, to obtain
that which is young, tender, and full of juice. The
soft, succulent, perennial rhizomes at such times rarely
exceed five to six inches in length and are known as
green ginger. ‘They are buried in another place for
a month and are then dried in the sunshine for one day,
after which they are fit for green ginger.

Preserved ginger (Condition Zangibaris) is prepared
by cleaning the green root, which is dug when young
and tender and full of sap, before it is hard and woody,
and scalding it until it is sufficiently tender. It is next
put into cold water and peeled and scraped gradually,
an operation which may last three or four days, the
water being changed often. After this it is put into
glass jars and covered with a thin or weak syrup which,
in two or three days, is changed for a richer syrup.
Sometimes even a third syrup is poured off for the
fourth and yet thicker syrup, but not often. ‘The
syrup will be very thick and the ginger will be
bright and nearly transparent. Che following rule for
making preserved ginger is infallible: uet the young
tubers boil for twenty-four hours, then peel off the dis-
colored and hard parts. Next boil one pound loaf sugar
in six pints of water and pour the syrup over twelve
pounds of the cooked ginger in a jar. Let it stand for

[ 1380 ]

CANTON, CHINA

MANDEVILLE, JAMAICA

- one week, when the syrup is drawn off and the ginger is
again boiled and treated to another syrup like the first
and left to stand another week, when again the syrup
should be drawn off through a fine sieve. Return the
ginger to the stone jar and pour over it the final syrup,
made of twelve pints of boiling water and twelve pounds
of loaf sugar, boiled and stirred until it is as thick as
good honey, and will drop slowly from a silver spoon,
the ginger having been previously covered with boiling
water and allowed to remain until cool. It is next
placed in the bottles or jars for which it is intended, in
small pieces, as closely as they will pack, up to the cork,
so that there will be no room for air. It is then corked
with a good, new cork. Candied ginger is dried,
sprinkled with sugar, and is imported in boxes.

In order to powder ginger root it must first be passed
through a cracker machine, as it is called, to reduce it
to a proper size for feeding ina mill. The mill consists
of a roller provided with very coarse teeth, which revolve
through similar stationary teeth; the material is retained
by a semi-circular perforated plate until it is reduced
to the size of the perforation, or about the size of a
coffee bean, when it is then ready for the burr stones.

In ground ginger little of its structure is seen beyond
the starchy grains which can readily be distinguished
by their shape and by their fibrous, vascular bundles
which are easily traceable. In the unscraped ginger the
outer horny layer is to be seen, but not distinct in its char-
acter at any time, and when scalding of the rhizomes takes
place, the starch grains are swollen and it is more diffi-
cult to find the foreign particles. Good powdered gin-
ger should have the fibers taken out by sifting.

The best ginger cuts pale, but bright, with a varied
color, both outside and inside. Its consistency is ascer-
tained by cutting, and varies from hard to soft or, as
is termed in the trade, flinty, the soft being the best.

The popular medicinal stimulant known as Jamaica
ginger extract is an alcoholic extract of ginger root,
and is often resorted to by old topers who can no longer
be satisfied with whiskey.

Salable essence of ginger is made by taking one

Faigh 4

pint of strong tincture of the finest Jamaica, to which
add in small portions at a time finely powdered slacked
lime, shaking vigorously after each addition, until the
tincture ceases to lose color, then throw the whole upon
a filter and pass through the residue proof spirit until
the product will measure two pints. Next add, drop by
drop, diluted sulphuric acid until the rich yellow of the
tincture suddenly disappears. Let it stand twenty-
four hours, dilute with water to four pints, and shake
with a little powdered pumice or silica and filter at 0
degrees C., if possible.

Ginger lozengers are used as a confectionery which
frequently benefits dyspepsia and generally encourages
flesh.

Ginger-beer powders are made by mixing two ounces
of white sugar with twenty-six grains of bicarbonate of
soda, five grains of powdered ginger, and one drop of
essence of lemon, put in white paper. In blue paper
put half ounce of tartaric acid. In drinking use in the
same way as seidlitz powder.

The following is a good recipe for making ginger
beer, and it has a high medical authority as yielding a
very superior beverage, and one that will keep for
several months: White sugar, twenty pounds; lemon
juice, eighteen fluid ounces; honey, one pound; bruised
ginger, twenty-two ounces; water, eighteen gallons.
Boil the ginger in three gallons of water for half an
hour, then add the sugar, the lemon juice, and the honey
with the remainder of the water, and strain through a
cloth; when cold, add the white of one egg and half an
ounce of essence of lemon; after standing for four or five
days, bottle. The bottles should be laid on their sides
in a cellar, and the beer is ready for use in about three
weeks. If a little yeast has been used the beer is ready
in oo two days, but in this case the beer does not keep
well.

The principal consumption of ginger is not only as a
useful aromatic spice, but when applied to the nostrils
it acts as an irritant and produces sneezing. The
native doctors prize it highly as a stimulant. It is
especially valued for paralytic and rheumatic troubles,

[ 132 ]

MONTEGO

PORT ROYAL, JAMAICA

and also for intermittent fevers. Kuropeans often use
infusions of ginger for delicate nerves in place of tea.
The green root cut into strips and steeped is thought to
be superior to the dried root.

Rhizome chewed relieves toothache and powerfully
increases the flow of saliva, and to the stomach it oper-
ates as a stimulant, first to the alimentary canal and,
secondly, to the body in general, especially the organs
of respiration. In enfeebled and relaxed habits, espe-
cially of old and gouty individuals, it promotes digestion
and relieves flatulency and spasms of the stomach and
bowels. It checks and prevents nausea and griping,
which is sometimes produced by some drastic purgative,
and a ginger plaster when applied to the forehead will
relieve headache. When powdered and used with hot
water and applied externally it produces a sensation of
intense heat, and slight redness, and adds cordial qualities
to the tonic.

Powdered ginger may be taken in doses of ten grains
or more in the form of a pill or in tea. When used to
excess, however, it is very dangerous, as it slowly
destroys the lining of the stomach and causes lingering
pain and agonizing death.

Ginger contains a great deal of alcohol. ‘This fact
accounts for the formation of the so-called ginger habit
to which the victim becomes a slave as to the whiskey,
opium, or tobacco habit. Indulgence in this habit is
more dangerous because ginger is supposed to be harm-
less.

A careful qualitative examination of the character of
the extracts at times may reveal the presence of an adul-
terant, but the chief dependence is examination under
the microscope. The microscope, however, will not
reveal the presence of exhausted ginger, and a careful
study of the effect of exhaustion on the proximate
composition of the ground root is, therefore, desirable.
It would naturally increase the relative percentage of
fiber and albuminoids and starch, and diminish that of
the extract matter.

There is a variety of ginger known and cultivated
by the Chinese under the name of Galangal A. offici-

[ 133 ]

narom, It is very thick and slightly flattened and is
prized by the Siamese and Chinese as a substitute for
ginger. In Siam itis known as Alpinia. ‘There is also
a variety found and cultivated in Siam similar to Alpinia
allughas, called luk reu or bastard cardamom, which has
the cardamom-like fruit. Ginger usually comes to New
York in 110 to 120-pound bags and 180-pound barrels.

The yield of oil from ginger is from 1.9 to 2.7 per
cent., having a specific gravity at 15 degrees C. of
0.880 to 0.885, and an optical rotation of 25 to 40
degrees in a 100-millimeter tube.

The chemical composition of ginger oil remains
unknown, but it is known to contain camphene and other
ingredients; its complex nature is indicated by the wide
range of its boiling’ point.

When distilled, after drying over CaClz, the boil begins
to pass over at 140 degrees C., accompanied by a few
drops of aqueous fluid, the temperature constantly and
rapidly rising to about 240 degrees, the chief portion
of the oil coming over between 240 degrees and 270
degrees C, and a little passes over between 270 degrees
and 800 degrees, but evidently accompanied by decom-
position products, a transparent, brown, tenacious, semi-
solid residue remaining in flask.

The lower boiling products retain the ginger aroma,
which is noted when diluted with spirits, and are much
more soluble in rectified spirits than higher fractions.
Oil of ginger is yellow in color and its odor is intensely
like that of the root; that of Jamaica is the most fra-
grant, but has not the burning, pungent taste of ginger,
which is due to gingerol, the active pungent principle of
the root.

Gingerole exists in the dried rhizomes to the extent
of from 0.600 to 1.450 per cent. It is of a pale straw
color and odorless, with a pungent, bitter taste. It is
soluble in alcohol in even 50 per cent. dilution; it is also
soluble in benzene, volatile oils, carbon disulphide, solu-
tion of potash and ammonia, and glacial acetic acid, and
very slightly soluble in petroleum ether, consisting of
resin, starch, mucilage, and jparaffine, organic acids,
oxalic acids as CaCeC4 cellulose albuminoids, ete.,

{ 184 ]

which constituents of ginger are found to be odorless
and tasteless.

The alcoholic solution is neutral in reaction and pives
no precipitate with the acetates of lead nor with lime,
and does not yield glucose when treated with diluted
sulphuric acid, Strong sulphurie acid dissolves it with
the production of a brown color; hydrochloric acid does
not affect it. Nitric acid converts it into a blood-red
resinous substance,

Adulterants of ginger are sago, tapioca, flour of rice,
wheat, and potatoes, Cayenne and mustard hulls, and
tumeric and exhausted ginger. The foreign starches,
Cayenne, and mustard hulls are easily detected, but the
tumeric (Mast India arrowroot) cells, from their resem-
blance to the resin globules of the ginger, are most con-
fusing. or detection of exhausted ginger recourse
must be had to proximate analysis.

Chemical composition of ginger:

Ash may vary from 8.4 to 8 per cent.; fiber, 1.7 to 9
per cent.

The white ginger has less ash than the dark, as is also
the case in regard to the percentage of fiber.

Water, PP he e's te ee se eo ee OO B10
ALG lwp den bo. ie ‘ed ixt 7 Ose be
VOCS ee cet ve ee le «Rabe: ..00
PURO Eile (og vcs. 4). woe 0 MPR tO 2,20
ween UA a ee Oe re 88,88 00 40,40
eis WISE, Fore ee 6 POR 2,70
Albuminoids,. . . . +. »« »« 10,85to 5.265

It is said that the water and starch extract from the
weight of the newly dug root 75 to 85 per cent., and yet
the dried root retains all the valuable aromatic qualities.

_
~
a

CHAPTER XII

NUTMEGS

Though all your parts we rashly grate
To particles most fine,

You yet return for cruel strokes,
Tears filled with perfume fine.

UTMEGS are the fruit of Myristica fragrans

(natural order Myristicaceoe) maschata officinalis.

Myristica is founded upon the Greek word
myrrh, myristikas, sweet smelling, and belongs to the
custard family.

Italian, Nace moscada; French, Muscades et macis or
Naix muscade; Portuguese, Noiz mascada; German,
Muskatnusse and Muskatbluther.

The nutmeg was known by the Persians (as jouz-
bewa) and by the Arabians (jowzalteib) in the eighth
century. There are about forty different species.
Although the name myristikas (sweet smelling) was
given to the genus on account of the odor of its fruit,
there is a material difference in the several species, the
commercial value of the fruit depending upon the de-
gree in which the essential oil producing this perfume
is present.

The true nutmeg is the kernel, mostly consisting of the
albumen of the fruit or the seed of a dicecious evergreen
tree, which in some countries, as in New Guinea, grows
from fifty to sixty feet high. It is a native of the Molucca
Islands. The nutmeg gardens of the world are the
Banda Islands belonging to the East Indies, but the
nutmeg is also found in the West Indies on the Island
of Jamaica, which is quite noted for its nutmeg planta-
tions. Nutmegs are also found in Bengal, Singapore,
Penang, and French Guinea and Brazil, in the west
peninsula of New Guinea, Damma, Amboina, Ceram,
Boro, Boero or Bouro, Gilolo, Sumatra, and they have
been successfully introduced in Ternate, Menando, in

[ 136 ]

NUTMEG. (Mysistica)

1 Nutmeg with Mace and part inner shell. 4 Singapore or Batavia
2 Brown Pedang 5 Flowering twig with leaf
3 Long Macassar with Mace 6 Burr just opening showing the Mace

mag
ed Dbb

the Celebes group, and in Java and Bourbon or Reunion,
but not in the Philippines. They do not do well except
between 12 degrees north and 5 degrees south of the
equator. They are found growing wild in the Banda
Islands, to which they are indigenous. ‘Three of these
islands are noted for their nutmeg gardens, viz: Great
Banda or Lantor (Lantor Banda), Pulo Nera, and
Goenong Api. The three islands together contain
thirty-four parks, of which Great Banda has twenty-
five, Goenong Api six, and Pulo Nera three.

These parks contain 319,804 bearing trees, which pro-
duce annually about 4,000 piculs of 139% pounds each
of nutmegs, and 1,000 pounds of mace. ‘This yield gives
about one and one-half catties of 139 pounds each of
spice to each tree per annum. But much of the fruit is
lost on account of the height of the trees, and the inac-
cessible places in which many of the nuts fall. Many
drop into the streams and float away, and many are lost
by being worm-eaten, also many are eaten by field rats.
The entire group of Banda Islands is comprised within
a space seven miles long and three miles wide; in fact,
these are the dimensions of the Island of Lantor itself.
The islands are of a light volcanic soil, and the great
moisture, due to the numerous rains, makes them most
favorable for nutmeg raising, and seems almost per-
fectly to suit the requirements of the tree. ‘The only
cultivation required is to keep the grass and weeds and
underbrush cut, no manuring or artificial stimulus being
needed. Almost the entire surface of the islands is
planted with nutmeg trees. The labor is performed by
Dutch convicts, who are banished to these islands, there
being no native population.

Plants which spring up spontaneously from the seed
are taken up and transplanted by simply heeling in the
ground of the required vacancy. In some places
clumps of trees are found growing not more than ten
to twelve feet apart under the shade of the canarium
commune. In fact, the nutmeg is more collected than
cultivated in the Banda Islands. ‘The trees grow from
fifty to sixty feet high, while those of the Straits are
but a shrub in comparison, and in other countries they

{ 187 ]

grow only from twenty to forty feet high, and need
much manuring and very careful cultivation. It would
appear as if the trees were overshaded in the Straits,
and yet they require much shade to protect them from
the strong winds which prevail there.

When a nutmeg plantation is to be started, great care
must be taken to select a good, rich, virgin soil, formed
of a deep loam with good drainage, as the plants will
not thrive on a sandy soil. The rainfall should be at
least from sixty to seventy inches per annum.
Although the nutmeg plant is essentially a lowland plant,
flourishing from two hundred to four hundred feet
above sea level, and not proving successful at a higher
elevation than fifteen hundred feet, it must be kept free
from stagnant water about its roots, for this would
surely kill it. Virgin forest lands, with a soil covered
with a layer of leaf mold or rotten wood, is well adapted
to the cultivation of the plant, and a hot, moist climate
is requisite. Plenty of shade is necessary to protect the
trees from the prevailing winds which would scatter the
flowers and uproot the trees, as the roots take but a
slender hold in the ground. Large trees should not be
allowed to grow with spice trees, as they would ex-
clude the vivifying rays of the sun and arrest the fall
of the night dews, which are necessary for quantity as
well as quality of the nutmegs. Large trees would
also rob the soil of its richness. A double row of cas-
suarina littorea and cerbera manghas planted at the
windward side of the plantations will afford ample
shade and protection from the winds, and trees with
these advantages will give good crops.

Plants are raised from the largest, round, fresh nuts
before they will rattle in the shell, care being taken that
they are not more than two months old. They may be
planted and staked in the field intended for the planta-
tion, about eight feet apart. If they are kept well
watered and manured, such planting is preferred to
sowing in a nursery. Plants raised in a nursery are
usually sown in bottomless baskets about one inch be-
low the surface in a place well sheltered from the winds.

The nurseries must be kept free from weeds and well

[ 138 ]

watered every day in dry weather, especially when the
seeds are planted in bamboo baskets, for should the
earth become hard and dry the nuts will not germinate.
If the land has been well tilled the seedlings will appear
in about sixty days. When they are from three to
four feet high they may be transplanted to a permanent
situation. ‘This should be done during wet weather and
the trees must be kept well manured. They must be
watered on alternate days and protected from the
sun. They must be cultivated for five years. Care
must be taken not to strike the roots of the tree in culti-
vating, for if the tap root is broken the tree is sure to |
die. When any roots become exposed they should be cov-
ered with leaf mold or with dirt mixed with cow manure.
When well started, the trees should be thinned out, leav-
ing them from twenty to thirty feet apart, according to
the richness of the soil; the richer the soil the wider the
space. Before the transplanting of the seedlings from
the nursery, holes are first dug and left open for a time
and filled with surface soil consisting of cow dung
mixed with burnt earth, but if the ground is very rich
the manure may be dispensed with. The holes prepared
in this way give the young plants a good start. The
trees are planted in prepared holes in the bamboo bas-
kets as they are taken from the nursery, slit down at
one side. Banana plants make good shade for young
trees and return good profit until they have to be cut
down to give room for the growing tree. When the
trees are backward in growing they should have extra
care. The soil about the roots should be loosened and
manuring should be done with farmyard compost
lightly scattered around the trees close to the stem, so
that it may work its way into the soil. To dig holes
would injure the roots and might cause the tree to die.

In very dry weather it is well to cover the ground
around the trees with dry leaves to protect them from
the sun’s rays and to keep the moisture in the ground.
On poor soil the trees must be kept manured until they
are fifteen years old. They need as many as ten large
baskets to a tree. The manure should be at first spread
in the sunshine to kill all the insects it may contain.

[ 139 ]

All parasitic and epiphytic plants which may attach
themselves to the stem and branches should be removed
at once, as they would have a most injurious effect.

The pruning operations are very simple. All suckers
should be cut away and the lower branches should be
removed gradually until there is sufficient space for
working under the trees. The nutmeg trees are mon-
cecious as well as dioecious. The sex of a tree cannot
be told until it flowers, which will be in about seven years,
when, on cutting the flower open longitudinally with a
sharp pen-knife, the sex may be determined. (See
illustration. )

The staminate flowers are from three to five, or some-
times more, on a peduncle, and the pistillate flowers
are often solitary, both kinds of flowers being small and
of a yellow color (without calyx), and the perianth is
bell-shaped with three or four teeth at the top.

The anthers are set around a central column, and if
the flowers be fully open the yellow pollen may be easily
seen in the pistillate or female flowers, in the form of a
little red disk knob. Soon after the fecundation of
the embryo the female flower drops off and the little
knob expands, gradually increasing in growth.

Ch bi
IY )

ae

B24

Fig. A, verticle section of male Fig. B, verticle section of female
flowers. flowers.

It will be noticed that the pistil is shorter than the
perianth and is swollen at the base and crowned with
the stigma which is indistinctly cut into lobes. It is a
good plan to plant two nuts or transplant two seedlings
in one hole about two feet apart, and when the flowers
appear it will seldom happen that both trees will be male
trees.

After determining the sexes the cutting out of the
surplus male trees should take place. Those which are

[ 140 ]

to remain should be left as much on the windward side
of the plantation as possible, so that the pollen may be
carried by the wind to the pistils of the female trees.
In this respect the parks are similar to our apple
orchards. If a surplus number of male trees be left
- growing, they are topped, or headed down and grafted
with scions from the female tree.

The parkineers* on the Banda Islands do not expect
a yield above 80 per cent. of male trees from the planted
seed, and seldom so many, and they think 2 per cent.
enough male trees to leave growing, while other coun-
tries look for a yield anywhere from 8 per cent. to
75 per cent. of male trees, and they estimate one male
tree to eight or ten female the right proportion.

The nutmeg tree is a handsome, bushy evergreen
with straight and lofty undivided trunk, and with red-
dish-brown bark and verticillate branching head, much
resembling our apple tree. It is cut back in the Straits
to about twenty feet. The bark on the young branches
is bright green, the dark, shining leaves, glossy on the
upper surface and whitish below, are alternate, simple,
and entire and oblong and obliptic and very aromatic.
They are strongly veined, the petiolate being devoid of
stipules or having very short foot stalks.

The nutmeg tree will begin to bear when from five
to six years old and will then produce from five to six
pounds of nutmegs and half a pound of mace to a tree.
The yield is more profitable when the tree is ten years old.
The tree will continue to produce fruit at sixty years
of age, and has been known to bear a crop when one
hundred years old. The male tree has a much shorter
life than the fruit-bearing trees. ‘The flowers are very
small and are clustered in the axils of the leaves. They
are a pale yellow and have a fragrance much like that
of the lily of the valley.

The nuts will often split before reaching maturity,
by reason of cold, damp weather and sudden changes.
The nutmeg tree, like the orange, is a constant bearer,
producing two crops in one year, and sometimes three,

** The parkineers is a term used in the Banda Islands.
[ 141 ]

in the East. A much larger crop, however, is harvested
in the later months of the year, and the smaller crops
in April, May, and June, and even in July. Some are
harvested every month of the year, as is the case to some
extent on the Banda Islands, and they are delivered
every month to the government boats. But the months
especially devoted to harvesting are the same on the
Banda Islands as in the Straits Settlement. From the
Straits the shipments are made quarterly.

The nutmeg fruit is about three inches long and about
two inches in diameter, and is found intermingled
with the flowers of the tree, it requires from six to nine
months to mature; fruits all the year around in a hot,
moist climate. In the Banda Islands the fruit hangs
upon longer and more slender stalks than is the case
in the Straits Settlement. The fruit hangs pendulous
from the tree and is fleshy and firm. At first it is round
or oval and smooth, much like a damson plum, but it
soon takes on the marked longitudinal, dented line and
pale green color — characteristics that give it more the
appearance of a peach or an apricot. It finally changes
to a golden or yellow color and to the shape of a pear
when ripe. ‘This outer covering, which is at first thin,
gradually grows fleshy, abounding in an astringent mass
which becomes dry and leathery, at which time it bursts
open into two valves from the apex, disclosing a brilliant
scarlet aril or net-like membrane, revealing the nutmeg
kernel, which is closely invested in a thin brown shell,
which separates the kernel from the aril or mace which ©
envelopes both.

In the early days the Dutch owned the Banda Islands.
They attempted to control the nutmeg trade. Accord-
ingly, they used to heat or lime the kernels before ship-
ping, to keep them from sprouting and so to prevent
the propagation of the trees. At one time they burned
three piles of nutmegss, each as large as a church, to keep
up the price. But Nature did not fancy this kind of
business and a large pigeon, called the “nutmeg pig-
eon,” also known by the name of walor and nut eater
(species of carpophoga), was attracted by the bright
color of the mace and, feeding on it extensively, swal-

[ 142 ]

HARVESTING NUTMEGS

(alles fest tea s

-

lowing the mace and rejecting the nutmegs, accom-
plished what the Dutch tried to prevent, by planting the
nuts in all the surrounding countries of Penang, China,
Ceylon, and India. ‘Thus the world at large was bene-
fited.

The brown shell which covers the nutmeg has about
one-fourth the weight of the nutmeg kernel. When the
nutmeg’ are exported without removing the. shell they
keep better, but the cost of freight to the importers is
increased.

The nutmeg fruit includes, first, the outer or fleshy
membranous part; second, the substance covering the
inner shell of the nutmeg, known as mace; next, the
inner shell; and, finally, the kernel or nutmeg.

The native women and children gather the fruit twice
each day, except Sundays, from under the trees and
carry them into the boucan, barn, or sheds, made of
brick with terraced roofs, rejecting the outer shell or
husk. In the Straits Settlement, if the trees are not too
high (the highest tree not being over thirty-five feet
on Penang Island), the nuts are beaten off by means of
long bamboo poles. In the Banda Islands the fruit is
gathered by the use of a neat oval bamboo basket, partly
open at the top, furnished with a couple of prongs.
With these prongs the harvester catches the fruit stalk
and by a gentle pull causes the nuts to fall into the
basket, which will hold three or four. By using this
method the mace will not be bruised as it would be by
falling to the ground, and they have a skin more free
from blemish, and it is thinner compared with the fruit
and of a well-uniformed proportion.

The outer shell or husk, which is harder than that of a
filbert, is removed by one man placing the nuts on a sort
of a drum head and another beating them with a flat
board, a process which will not bruise the nuts. One
man will beat out as many in this way as six men can
do in the way which is employed at the Straits. After
the envelope of the curious, red-colored network (mace)
is taken off the nutmegs are placed in receptacles which
have fine wire-mesh bottoms, made of splints, called by
the natives neebongs, to allow the air to pass through, or,

[ 143 ]

by being elevated above each other, they are kept before
a fire for a month or more, the first elevated being about
ten feet from the ground. After this they are exposed
to the sun two hours each day for two or three days until
they rattle inside the shell when shaken. 'They cannot
be removed when green without damage to the nut.
They are then cracked by beating with great care, as
hard blows would cause a black spot on the nuts, affect-
ing the sale. ‘They are then assorted into three grades,
the finest are exported, the second are reserved for home
consumption, and the third grade, made up of small,
damaged, or unripe stock, are burned or used for nutmeg
butter. Nutmegs are often affected by black spots or
gangrene on the outer covering, caused by an insect,
which deposits its larve on it in the husk and feeds on
the saccharine matter of the outer covering until it
bursts, when it makes its way into the soft nut itself.

The number one nutmeg’ are put up in half piculs
(heavy-made boxes) containing sixty to sixty-five
pounds. ‘The ovate nutmeg seed is marked with im-
pressions like the lobes or arillus (mace) which covers
it, one side being of a paler hue and slightly flattened,
and having the shape of the outer shell, with correspond-
ing dimensions in size, the largest being about one inch
long by eight-tenths of an inch broad. Four such nuts
will weigh one ounce. ‘They are of a grayish or brown
color, but they are coarsely furrowed and longitudinally
veined, and are marked on the flatter side with a shal-
low groove.

There are only three kinds of nutmegs generally
known to the trade. The darker brown, which is the
fruit of the myristica fragrans, is cultivated in Penang
and is known as the Penang nutmeg. It is exported
from the city of Penang (Betel-nut City, Fig.2). The
pale-brown, lined, Singapore or Batavian (Fig. 4), is
named from the city of Batavia, on the Island of Java,
from which this variety is exported. The long, slender,
wild nutmegs (Fig. 3) are known as Macassars, from
the city of Macassar (called by the natives Mangkasara)
on the Island of Celebes, the principal city of export.
But the three kinds are distinguished by the planters as

[ 144 ]

male or barren; second, the round female (nux myris-
tica foemina or green) (nux maschata fructo rotundo),
and the royal.

The royal nutmeg is no larger than a peanut (nux
maschata rigia) and produces the long nut which has
the aril or mace much longer than the nut, while the true
queen or female, which is the more valuable round
nutmeg, has its mace extending only half way down
the nut.

The average yield at six or seven years, at which time
the trees begin to bear, is five to six pounds, and a ten-
year-old tree will produce from ten to fifteen pounds,
and will cover an area of about five hundred square
feet. This yield, at forty cents per pound, including the
mace, would bring $300 per acre, besides the other
ingredients yielded, which are valuable. The older the
tree the greater the yield, and, of course, the tree is
valued accordingly. There is a tree on the Island of
Jamaica which bears over 4,000 nutmegs every year.

Nutmegs vary greatly in size, running from 60’s to
120’s as follows: large, 60’s to 80’s to the pound;
medium, 85’s to 95’s; small, 100’s to 130’s. There are
probably more of the 110 size used than of all other sizes
combined. Nutmegs are assorted into the several sizes
found on the market by passing them over different
mesh sieves. This process is called garbling.

The Penang nutmeg, the fruit of the myristica
fragrans, called by the Hindustanee and Bengalee
jaiphal, or true nutmeg, as its name implies, which is
the finest, is of a brown color and shaped like a damson
plum. It is furrowed on the interior and grayish inside,
with veins of red running through it, and possesses a
fine, delicate aroma of great strength and flavor. The
Penang nutmegs are not to be found in the spice-mill
stock because the poorer Batavia or the wild Macassars
will grind better, their worm holes will not show in the
meal, and they are not difficult to powder. Liming
nutmegs by the Dutch to prevent their sprouting has
lead to misunderstanding and many vices. Some think
limed nutmegs the best, taking them in preference to
the fine, brown Penang, and are willing to pay higher

[ 145 ]

prices for them. Such buyers seem to know nothing
about the convincing, easy tests that may be made by
weighing, the pure nutmegs being heavier on account of
the oil they contain, and by scraping the nut with the
finger nail to note if the oil starts.

Although there are only four kinds of nutmegs known
to the trade there are more than twenty-five (many
give as many as forty) different varieties. Those
known to commerce, when found in the order of their
quality, are as follows: The Penang, of which there were
exported in 1904, 2,828 piculs, valued at $175,592,
which are unlimed and are brown; second, Dutch limed
or Batavians; third, Singapore, which are a rougher,
unlimed, narrower kind, and of somewhat less value
than the Dutch Batavia; fourth,* “long ” or “ wild” or
“male nutmeg,” nux myristicamas, Clusius (nux mas-
chata fructo oblongo C. bouchin), which is the product
of myristica fatua. In addition to these, we have the
Malabar, found in the district of Malabar, province of
Madras, British India, which is the product of myristica
Malabarica. It resembles a date in size and shape, and
is closely allied to the long nutmeg, but has less flavor.
It is called by the Hindustanee and Bengalee jai-
phal, and those of myristica Malabarica, “ ran jaiphal,”
and ‘“ramphal,’ and in the native Malabar dialect, :
“panam palka,” and is largely used as an adulterant
for powdered true nutmeg.

The wild nutmeg (myristica argentea) tree grows
very high with a leaf equal in size to the horse chestnut,
with a silvery top, and in Germany it is called the “ horse
nutmeg.” It is found in New Guinea, Amboina, and
the Banda Islands. The nuts, when fresh from the
trees, are about four and one-half centimeters to six
and one-half centimeters in length, and four and
one-half centimeters to five and one-half centi-
meters in diameter. They are first of a bright red, but
later scattered yellow-brown veins or specks appear
which contain the aroma. After the husk is removed,
the nut is about three and one-half to four and one-half

* J. C. Sawyer’s Odorographia, Second Series.
[ 146 ]

S

CASSAR, CELEBES ISLAND

HARBOR OF MA

we = ew
eee ae

A FOREST

centimeters long and from two to two and one-half
centimeters in diameter, and the testa is nearly one
millimeter thick. ‘They abound in a disagreeable oil,
which, of course, will rob them of the pleasant nutmeg
flavor which is found in the cultivated nut. The thick
pericarp or outer covering is hard and brittle. The mace
which covered it is insipid, is of a reddish color, has a
disagreeable odor and it generally consists of four
stripes which are united above and below. It is broad-
est at the base, gradually narrowing toward the end.

The fruit is elongated, or ellipsoidal, rusty, tomentose,
in shape like a date, and differs from the true nutmeg
in being less marked by the arillus furrows. ‘The coty-
ledons are joined in a disc swelled at its edges to five
millimeters diameter, and the endosperm contains much
starch.

Myristica argentea nutmegs are sometimes used medic-
inally for dysentery, headache, and other ailments, and
those long nutmegs (male), wild myristica tomentosa
(myristica fatua), are next in flavor to the true myristica
fragrans, and are the kind sold in the market as Macas-
sars. Another kind scarcely worthy of mention is the
myristica succedanea, a variety found on the Island of
Tidor, which is very similar to the myristica fragrans.
Other so-called nuts which rarely figure in our market
except as a substitute to adulterate are the American,
Jamaicans, or Calabash (monodora myristica), Bra-
zilian (cryptocarya maschata), Californian or stinking
(torreya myristica), Madagascar or clove (agathophyl-
lum aromaticum), Peruvian (laurelia semperviren),
Plume (atherosperma maschata), Sante Fe (myristica
otoba) of New Granada and the myristica sebifera
virola sebifera aublet, the seed of which furnishes an
abundance of aromatic yellow tallow which has a crys-
talline appearance and is suitable to manufacture into
candles. All of these varieties are not much better than
the wooden nutmegs from the Nutmeg State, or the one
made by the heathen Chinese out of sawdust and clay.

Batavia nutmegs are often attacked by beetles or are
worm eaten. In this case they are pickled in lime water
made from calcined shell-fish and mixed with water

[ 147 ]

until it is of a semi-fluid consistency. Into this mixture
they plunge the nutmeg’s (which have been put in bamboo
baskets) two or three times until they are completely
covered with it. Next they are put in heaps and are
allowed to sweat. After this they are packed in boxes
or barrels made of the best Java teak for exportation,
with the worm holes plugged up. Sometimes it is
thought quite necessary to lime the Batavia nuts (the
kind most commonly used) before shipping, not only to
protect them from the ravages of the beetles or worms
which attack them, but also to prevent germination.
But it has been proven that this process is perfectly un-
necessary, as a simple exposure of the nuts to the action
of the sun is sufficient to destroy the vitality of the
embryo. It is also proven to be unnecessary, since the
true brown Penang is shipped without liming. If lime
is used, however, it should be in a dry state. After all
that has been said, it is evident that the dealer or the
consumer must be either foolish or ignorant who will
reject the fancy, round, brown Penang nutmegs for the
limed Batavia because it pleases the eye, and will for no
other reason buy old worm-eaten nuts with plugged-
up holes, relimed to give them a new appearance. ‘The
new coat of lime costs but little, but when the case is
empty there is found from one to two pounds of lime
in the bottom, not covered by tare, which has cost the
purchaser the price of good nutmegs. Just so long as
the trade will demand this class of stock, just so long
will deception be practiced and inferior stock will be
found on the market.

All nutmegs have a market value and must be sold.
In selecting stock, pick out of a lot the most inferior
looking nut and cut it into two parts. If it cuts firm like
wood and has plenty of oil and no worm holes, there is
not apt to be any danger of inferior nuts in the balance
of the stock.

In using nutmegs always grate from the flower end
instead of the stem end. ;

Good, fresh nutmegs cannot be ground by an ordinary
burr stone, such as is used in spice mills, but must first
be broken or cracked in a cracking machine. This

[ 148°]

machine consists of a roller provided with coarse teeth
which revolve through similar stationary teeth, the
material being retained by a semi-circular perforated
plate until it is reduced to the size of the perforation
or about the size of a coffee bean. After this it is pul-
verized by pounding or by stamps, as they are called, in
the same way that mustard seed is pulverized. Some-
times the nuts are extensively mixed with some dry,
foreign material, in which case they may be ground on
the burr stone by an experienced miller. One or two
stamps may be used in powdering nutmeg’s and mace,
two being about all one man can well handle. Pow-
dered nutmegs soon lose their flavor by standing, on
account of the loss of oil, but as they have the consistency
of tallow, the flavor is for a time preserved.

Nutmeg butter or balsam of nutmeg is often obtained
by powdering the broken nuts, when fresh, to a fine
powder or paste, and then steaming them for five or
six hours. ‘The substance is then put into bags, placed
between heated iron wedges or plates and is subjected
to a strong pressure, which presses out the fluid (though
this is sometimes extracted by ether or alcohol), which
is about 20 to 25 per cent. of the mass. Ten to 12
per cent. of this fluid is an orange-colored oil, which
gives it an agreeable odor. When it is cold it becomes
somewhat spongy and has a marbled or mottled appear-
ance. It becomes hard with age and is exported in small
bricks, ten inches by two and one-half inches, wrapped
in palm leaves. It is known under several names, as
nutmeg butter, balsam of nutmeg, concrete oil, or the
mace oil of commerce (French, beurre de mascade ; Ger-
man, masket butter, muskatnussal) , and as Banda soap,
sometimes made from the distilled nutmeg leaves. It
has an agreeable odor and a greasy taste, melts at 45
degrees C., and dissolves in four times its volume of
warm alcohol, 8 per cent. pure, or in two parts warm
ether. The Banda soap is soft to the touch, has a yellow
color, and is sometimes counterfeited by using a for-
eign fatty substance, as palm oil, suet, wax, and animal
fat, boiled with powdered nutmeg and flavored with
sassafras, which gives it the right color and flavor. The

[ 149 ]

best nutmeg oil is imported from India, often adulter-
ated by the distillation of the leaves of the eucalyphus
alba, which has a nutmeg odor and flavor. The fleshy
part of the nutmeg fruit is often preserved in sugar and
eaten as sweetmeats.

London’s annual import of nutmegs is 400,000 to
800,000 pounds, and of mace from 60,000 to 80,000
pounds. An amusing incident is told of an English
governor sent to the Isle of Ceylon who, noting the
statistics that nutmegs were very abundant and cheap,
and mace was scarce and high, called his council together
and said: “‘ We must raise less nutmegss and more mace.”

The tissue of the seed can be cut with equal facility in
any direction. By the microscopic study of a transverse
section of a cut nutmeg we find the testa consists mainly
of long, thin, radially arranged, rigid cells, which are
closely interlaced and do not exhibit any distinct cavities.
The endopleora, which forms the adhering coat of the
kernel and penetrates into it, consists of soft-walled,
red-brown tissue, with small scattered bundles of vessels,
thereby imparting the peculiar marbled appearance so
familiar in a cut nutmeg. In the outer layer the endo-
pleora exhibits small collapsed cells, but the tissue which
fills the folds that dip into the interior consists of much
larger cells. ‘The tissue of the albumen is formed of
soft-walled parenchyma which is densly filled with con-
spicuous starch grains and with fat partly crystallized.
Among the prismatic crystals of fat, large, thick, rhom-
bic or six-sided tables may often be observed. With
these are associated grains of albuminoid matter, partly
crystallized.

In carefully made preparations from the whole
nutmeg, the structure above described may be made out
by care and patience, but in the ground only the interior
parenchyma cells with their starch contents can be seen
when mounted in water, with the alternate use of com-
mon and polarized light. The fatty crystals are not
observed and the fragments of the endopleora, or red-
brown tissue, are only detected by their colors.

In chloral-hydrate the starch cells and grains are
swollen, but the red-brown tissue is much more trans-

[ 150 ]

parent, sufficiently so, in fact, to reveal any differences
between it and any adulterant which might bear a resem-
blance. There are but few bundles of fibers to be found,
and the structure as a whole will be found so simple that
the addition of any foreign material can be readily
detected.

The nutmeg owes its flavor and aroma to the oil it
contains, which is soluble in aleohol and may be obtained
by distillation of the pulverized nuts, the yield being
from 8 to 10 per cent. The oil is straw colored, with a
specific gravity of 0.098, consisting principally of a
hydrocarbon, C1oH 16, boiling at 165 degrees C. This
appears by research to be a mixture of at least two
hydrocarbons — one a terpene, boiling at 163 degrees;
the other, ordinary cymene, the cymene being extracted
by treating the mixture of hydrocarbons with sulphuric
acid, whereby the terpene becomes resinized and, on dis-
tillation with water, the cymene passes over unaltered;
when purified, this was found to be identical with all the
other known cymenes.

Oil of nutmegs also contains an oxygenated constitu-
ent, termed myristicol, whose assigned formula is
C1oH140, boiling near 212 degrees. Kixamined by po-
larized light in a 200-millimeter tube, oil of nutmeg, dis-
tilled, was found to deviate the ray 15.3 degrees to the
right, and oil of long nutmeg 28.7 degrees to the right.

A more minute analysis might be given, but enough
has been said to meet all requirements for distinguish-
ing between the pure and the adulterated nutmegs. To
add more might be confusing, and, since at present nut-
megs are almost entirely sold whole and grated in the
kitchen, attempts at adulteration have been very few.

Chemical composition of nutmegs:

Waterss. | 6.08". * Starch, ete.) ee. sas 36.08
SIE am Se eprte Pleis) ae Oo 3.27 .Crude Biber, soe fis: Jed eo
Volawle Oise vel). 82). 284° Albuminoids,) ‘sy s> ¢ - ¢ 5:16

Fixed: @ilor Fat. oa) 28) 34.37.) Nitrogen, i.) 2 ge) 5) 83

[ 151 ]

CHAPTER XIII

MACE

With your colors shining bright,

You stopped the pigeons in their flight;
From Dutchmen’s fields they planted seed,
Which brought forth wealth in time of need.

the same tree, and although they have similar prop-
erties, they are yet so different in growth and flavor
as to justify giving to them separate chapters.

The fleshy scarlet mantle or arillus which envelopes
the nutmeg (illustration under nutmeg), or the coat
between the outside pericarp and the seed of the nutmeg,
is called mace (Latin, Macis; French, Macis; German,
Maker) . It is not a continuous coat, but a network which
varies in amount in different localities, as well as on the
several species of nuts, being from 0.25 per cent. in the
Bandas to 10 per cent. in Jamaica. It would, therefore,
require from ten to 400 pounds of nutmegs to produce
one pound of mace.

Planchon says of this laciniate envelope that it is noth-
ing more than an expansion of the exostome and, there-
fore, an arillode or false aril. 3

Mace is harvested at the same time as the nutmegs
and sometimes it is removed from the nutmeg by scrap-
ing with a knife, but removing it by hand is considered
the better way. This is done by commencing at the base
of the nut, for the reason that there the interlacing or
lining becomes more expanded and at the same time
flattened. In this condition it is placed on mats or trays
to dry in the sunshine. The modern drier, however, is
now largely used and is preferable, even when the
weather is clear for a sufficient time to cure the mace, as
sunshine seems to absorb some of its substantial
qualities. The modern drier also prevents it from dry-
ing too rapidly. Mace, in drying, is first crimson, then

[ 152 ]

se nutmegs and mace are the fruit of

blood red, but in process of drying it loses this tinge, and
after a few months, when properly cured, it is of a yel-
lowish or golden-brown color, preferred by the dealers.
It is then firmly packed in bags (called by the Germans
in the Straits Settlements, sok kols). The Banda mace
is usually packed in one-half piculs of sixty-five pounds
and in barrels or casks containing about 280 pounds
each, the pressure being about equal to the weight of
the mace. When driers are not used and the weather
is wet, mace is dried by being smoked, care being taken
not to blacken it. Sometimes the base of the mace is
cut off and it is dried in double layers — a process which
many think has a tendency to keep worms from working
into it, but this is not true, as it, instead, furnishes a place
in which they can hide.

True mace is the product of the true nutmeg, which
is round and covered with single and double blades of
flat and somewhat irregular smooth slits. These are
slightly flexible or brittle membrane of a golden-yellow
color, and, in the odor and taste, analogous to the odor
and taste of the nutmeg. ‘They are rich in fixed and
essential oils and in aroma. While each is a part of
the same fruit, the nutmeg and mace are entirely differ-
ent in outward appearance and are separated for com-
mercial purposes, as well as for their separate uses.

The Penang mace is most esteemed because it is flaxy
and spreads. Penang exported 1,143 piculs, valued at
$105,032, in 1904. The Dutch or Batavian is more
fleshy and cheaper. ‘The Singapore is inferior to both
the Penang and the Dutch, while the wild or false mace
from the long nutmegs is dark red and has a coarse,
strong flavor, which is very different from that of the
true mace.

*Myristica Malabarica, known under the name of
Bombay mace, used to adulterate the true powdered
mace, is much larger and more cylindrical than the
arillus of the true nutmeg and has several flaps united
at the apex, forming a conical structure. The ana-
tomical structure is also different, as may be seen by

* Tamk Bedd, G. L., Sylv. t269; Rheede, Hort., M21, iv, t5.
[ 153 ]

the aid of a microscope. When moistened with hydro-
chloric acid, the Bombay mace presents the marked
peculiarity of assuming a greenish color. Bombay mace
may be detected by boiling the suspected samples with
alcohol and filtering through a white filter; if the mace
is pure the filter is stained a faint yellow, but if Bombay
mace is present the filter, especially the edge, is colored
red. A rather more delicate test is to add “ Goulard’s’’*
extract to the alcoholic filtrate; with pure mace only a
white turbidity is occasioned, but when Bombay mace
is present a red turbidity is obtained. The reaction
given by tumeric is similar, but it may be distinguished
from that of Bombay mace in the following manner:
A strip of filter paper is saturated with the alcoholic
solution, the excess of fluid removed, and the strips
drawn through a cold, saturated solution of boric acid.
When Bombay mace is present the paper remains un-
changed, but in the presence of tumeric it turns orange
brown. If a drop of potassium-hydrate solution is
now placed on the strip of paper, it causes a blue ring
if tumeric be present, and a red ring if the adulterant
is Bombay mace.

The myristica argentea produces a dirty-brown col-
ored mace, and the arillus generally consists of four
broad stripes which are united above and below. In
selecting mace care should be taken to select the orange-
colored with a transparent-like appearance. When it
has a tendency to crumble to dust it is considered of
poor quality. Dull-looking parcels should be avoided,
as such is never genuine mace, but is obtained from con-
crete virtue or expressed oil of bruised or broken nut-
megs.

Although pure mace has a flavor quite similar to that
of the nutmeg, it has a peculiarity of its own which most
people prefer. It is extensively used for medicinal pur-
poses.

Ground mace, which is powdered by stamps or by
pounding, the same as nutmegs or mustard, loses its
flavor very rapidly and when distilled yields a reddish,

* Pharmacographia Indica.
[ 154 ]

buttery oil, which can be obtained by process of distil-
lation. This oil is strong and volatile and contains an
oxygenated body, the properties of which have not been
determined. This buttery oil, mixed with other sub-
stances, is known as nutmeg balsam. (See nutmegs.)

The uniform, small-celled, angular parenchyma of
mace contains numerous brown cells of large size and
the inner parts contain thin, brown vascular bundles.
The cells of the epidermis on either side are colorless,
containing thick walls, longitudinally extended, and
covered with a peculiar cuticle of broad, flat, ribbon-like
cells as a continuous film which cannot be removed.
The parenchyma also contains many small granules to
which a red color is imparted by means of a solution of
meracious nitrate and an orange hue by use of iodine.
This result shows that they consist of albuminous matter
without starch.

The chemical characteristics are so marked and the
structure is so closely carried out that the adulteration of
ground mace is very easily detected.

All the details of structure in the ground powder of
mace are readily made out by chloral-hydrate prepara-
tion with the polarized light, as the brown vascular
bundles, the ribbon-like and epidermal cells are all polar-
izing substances, while the large mass of granular par-
enchymous cells are not. The ribbon-like cells are par-
ticularly interesting in the varied forms they assume.

THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MACE

The nature of the principal constituent of mace can
be found from the following experiments:

Seventeen grammes of finely pulverized mace were
entirely exhausted by boiling ether and the solvent left
to spontaneous evaporations. ‘The residue, amounting
to 5.57 grammes after dessications at 100 degrees C.,
was reduced in weight to 4.17, the loss 1.40 grammes
being the essential oil, which was 8.2 per cent. The resi-
due, amounting to 24.5 per cent., was thick, aromatic
balsam in which we can find no trace or presence of fat,
but, instead, it consisted of resin and semi-resinified
aromatic oil. Alcohol extracts from this 1.4 per cent.

[ 155 ]

of uncrystallizable sugar, which may be reduced by
cupric oxide. The drug after this treatment with alco-
hol and ether yields scarcely anything to cold water, but

boiling water extracts 1.8 per cent. of mucilage, which |

takes a blue color if treated with iodine, or a reddish-
violet if previously dried. This test shows that it has
qualities quite different from those of nutmegs. This
substance is not soluble in an ammoniacal solution of
cupric oxide; it seems rather to be an intermediary body
between gum and starch, and may be called amylo-
dextrin.* It is distinguished from the true starch by
being stained reddish brown instead of blue by an aque-
ous solution of iodine; the grains of amylodextrin* do
not appear to contain even a nucleus of starch. As seen
under the microscope, they have usually somewhat the
form of a rod and are often curved or coiled; less often
they are roundish or disc-shaped; they do not usually
exhibit any evident stratification.
Chemical composition:

Water wich e on eae OO T, Undetermined, . . . 41.17
PASE One o Piac ten Tae rite ied Crude: Fiber, Co atin -. 8.93
Wolatile: Oiler sc.) ie et: a OA Albumimoids,... 02). 2> 4e5e
Resnnrsh hak eer 1st SPO Nitrogens. 27%.) 2S oe ats

The city of Macassar, Celebes, exported during the
first nine months of the year 1905, $4,520.61 worth of
mace; and Padang, Sumatra, exported $1,617.17 during
the same time. The city of Singapore exported $22,-
710.12 worth during the year 1904.

* Amyloceous, starchy.

[ 156 ]

MUSTARD

1 Flowering stem with leaves 3 Pod
2 Flower 4 Yellow seed

5 Black seed

CHAPTER XIV

MUSTARD

You are an appetizer prime,

And a friend in time of pain.

What did they do without you, pray,
Before Old Lady Clements’ time?

RENCH, Moutarde; German, Senf ; Portuguese,
Mustarda; Spanish, Maszaza.

The mustard of commerce is the seed, whole or
powdered, of the several species of the genus brassica
(or sinapis) of the mustard family. They are (cru-
ciferous) plants which grow wild, or cinnamon charlock,
and are cultivated under various conditions.

Mustard dates back through a number of centuries,
and the mustard tree, spoken of in Luke XITI, 19, which
attains a height of ten or even fifteen feet in Palestine,
was probably the true mustard, brassica (sinapis) nigra,
according to Ragle and others. The tree meant is
Salvadora Persica, a small tree bearing minute berries
with pungent seeds which bear the name in Arabic of
mustard. Hippocrates used it in medicine under the
name of vanuit.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth, the Dutch were
employed to throw out the earth from the eighty-foot
dyke to drain the farms of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and
Cambridgeshire, which were covered with water and
had been the habitation of wild fowls. This dirt was
found to contain small brown seeds which, on being
exposed to the sun and air, sprouted and grew into
plants, producing a yellow blossom which proved to be
mustard.

The two common varieties are the black or brown
mustard, known as (brassica sinapis nigra), and the
white seed, as it is called, although of a yellow color
(brassica sinapis alba), usually found in whole mixed
spices. The Indian wild brown mustard seed (rai or

[ 157 ]

charlock juncea Sarepta brassica), taking the name
Sarepta from the city of that name in Russia, in the
government of Saratov, is sometimes offered as the black
mustard. Sinapis glauca and sinapis ramosa yield a
white seed found in South Russia and in the steppes
northeast of the Caspian Sea. Mustard is known by
every farmer and is an annual herb (see illustration),
from three to six feet high, with lyrate leaves, yellowish
flower, and slender pods containing round seed; it may
be grown almost anywhere.

As only a few kinds of mustard seed are known to
commerce, we will confine our history principally to
the black seed, which is yellow within (brassica nigra) ,
and which furnishes the most aroma. The seeds are very
small and do not weigh more than one-fiftieth of a grain,
while the seed of brassica alba, or the white seed, as it is
called, is three times as.large as the black.

Mustard seed is found in almost all of Europe, except
the most northern part, in Northern Africa, Asia Minor,
the United States, Mesapotamia, the West Indies,
South Siberia, and China. It is naturalized in North
and South America, and is cultivated to a great extent
in Bohemia, Holland, and Italy, and in Lincolnshire
and Yorkshire, England. It is generally put up for
market in bags of 200 pounds each. Much of the black
seed (Fig. 5) comes from California, and is brought
to the Eastern market by railroads; much comes also
from Kentucky. Each of these States produce large
crops, and the New York Spice Mills use large quanti-
ties of it on account of its being cheaper than the
imported. It does not contain as much flour as the yel-
low seed, but it is sweeter. ‘The best dark seed comes
from Italy and is exported from the city of Trieste,
Austria, and is called Trieste mustard. (See illustra-
tion.) It is often sent by the Mediterranean Sea to
London, and from there is transferred to New York
vessels, although some comes direct from Bombay and
Sicily.

The yellow or large, plump, straw-colored, rough,
hairy seed (Fig. 5) is much less remunerative than the
black, smooth seed; is white inside, and, though a native

[ 158 ]

TRIESTE, AUSTRIA

of Asia, is found in Russia and Africa. ‘The best of
it comes from England, and is often called English mus-
tard.

The Dutch seed is considered next grade in quality
to the English. In China and some parts of Europe a
species is cultivated for greens for the table, which are
prepared in the same way as spinach.

The great aim of the grower is to produce reddish-
brown seed, without any intermixture of gray. The
gray color of the seed is attributed to the influence of
the rains during the ripening. The presence of this
color greatly lowers the value of the seed.

The crop requires very little tillage. The seed is sown
broadcast, in the month of April, at the rate of one
bushel to an acre. ‘The harvesting will take place in
June and July. The land is sufficiently seeded to pro-
duce two crops, which are sometimes gathered in
one year. A yield of forty bushels to an acre is
not uncommon. ‘The seed weighs sixty pounds to the
bushel.

Mustard was first introduced as a table condiment in
the year 1720 by an old lady named Clements, residing
in Durham. It is from this fact that the well-known
Durham mustard takes its name. She prepared it in
a crude form by grinding the seed in a small hand mill.
The product was nothing more than the crushed seed.
This was passed through mesh sieves to separate the bran
from the husk. The secret of this process she kept for
many years.

Mustard was used as a medicine by the ancients and
is spoken of in history by Theophrastus and Galen and
others. Its use as a condiment is spoken of by Shakes-
peare in “ Taming of the Shrew,” Act IV, Scene ITT.
The mustard which was made in the time of King
George, who gave it his approval, was made from the
wild cuarlock S. arvensis and was prepared by Lady
Clements.

But as manufacturing gradually developed, in order
to cater to public taste, the seed meal has been changed
to the genuine mustard of to-day, which is the farina
or flour of the black or white mustard seed, made from

[ 159 ]

the interior of the seed, which is separated from the
outer coat or shell.

Mustard seed contains so much oil that it cannot be
ground on common burr stones. It is prepared for
market by first passing it through a winnowing machine
to remove the dust and any other foreign material; it
is next crushed by passing it between rollers; then it is
placed in silk bags made for that purpose, and the vola-
tile oil is extracted by hydraulic pressure. After the
cake is dried it is put into pots and is stamped or
pounded by a system of battery pounding, or by means
of roller mills, in which the pounders vary in number
from two to four, eight, twelve, or sixteen. The pound-
ing or stamping continues until the cake is reduced to
the consistency of soft middlings, or to the required
powder. It is next scooped out into a trough and more
cake is put into the pots. ‘The stamping continues until
all the cake is used up. Then it is scooped for bolting on
sieves made of silk cloth of fine or coarse mesh, as
required, which are set in frames and given a shaking
motion by an upright shaft, the meal falling into a
receptacle below. ‘The quality of powdered mustard
varies much, according to the quality of the mustard
seed. Prime seed yields 50 to 60 per cent. of flour, and
poor seed will run as low as 28 per cent. It does not
pay to prepare poor seed, as the time lost in its prepara-
tion would not make up for the cheapness of it.

The operation of properly reducing mustard seed
requires expert handling, and it can easily be ruined by
incompetent operators. More than 50 or 60 per cent.
of meal might be taken out at the first sifting, but to
do so the bran would have to be chopped up so fine that
some would pass through the sieve and spoil the appear-
ance of the flour. The flour which is taken out at the
first sifting is called superfine. If no more could be
obtained from the seed than the superfine flour, it is
very clear that the mustard flour would cost nearly or
quite twice as much as the cake, with all the labor added.
But to save this extra cost the miller often adds to the
remaining bran or tailings an equal quantity of good
wheat flour, and also 1 per cent. of good Cayenne pep-

[ 160 ]

per, and sufficient color (tumeric) to give the same tinge
as that of pure mustard. Pound this as before and by
the same process, the flour remaining is separated from
the bran and united with the wheat flour. In passing
through the sieve, 75 per cent. of the compound may be
extracted. This product, which is better than most of
the adulterated, is called fine. Nearly all of the wheat
flour will pass through the sieves, and about 25 per cent.
of the mustard and this 25 per cent. of bran is treated
as before. As the wheat flour is increased, the
hulls or bran will be less apt to affect the
appearance of the mustard. This is called seconds.
It is admitted that much of the good property of the
mustard is in the bran, and, after all, it is only neces-
sary to extract it to satisfy a popular prejudice as to what
a fine, yellow color pure mustard ought to have. This
notion is often wrong, just as coloring butter to please
the eyes is wrong. These mixtures may all be mixed
and powdered together, if rightly colored, and again
bolted to make various grades, or, with experience in
the use of a mill and an acquaintance with the nature of
the particular kind of seed or the quality of the pressed
cake, it may be powdered from the start, if sufficient
adulteration is added to the cake. Thus a grade com-
bining all the qualities may be made at one operation.
This process reduces the labor to a minimum. After
the sifting is completed there will remain a residue in
the sieves, which is called dressing. This is used in wet
mustard or French mustard, as it is known to the con-
sumer. It is sometimes used by pickle manufacturers.

WET MUSTARD OR FRENCH MUSTARD

Consists of a compound of crushed mustard seed and
vinegar, the seed having been passed between rollers
and then washed into a cask or vat. With it there is
often mixed garlic and such spice or flavoring material
as the fancy or experience of the manufacturer will
determine. This compound is ground two or three
times through a stone mill or through a line of several
mills, the material being fed from one to the other until
it is received in a final reservoir, from which it is put
[ 161 ]

up in bottles. It is of a consistency of paste, which
contains all the mustard, the oil, the flour, and the bran.
It may be compounded with an indefinite variety of
material, and the refuse bran of dry mustard may also be
added. Its use is steadily increasing, and a very satis-
factory article may be made at home by thoroughly
pounding the seed and mixing it with good vinegar. In
this way the maker can be sure that his compound has
the virtue of purity and also.of cheapness.

As the fixed oil has no pungency or mustard taste, it
adds nothing to the flavor of the flour, but, instead,
injures its keeping qualities, and, if left in, makes the
seed very difficult to be pulverized. It is used as a salad
and there is a ready market for it, as there is a great
demand for it by the Jewish people.

Since hydraulic presses are expensive, costing from
$2,000 to $4,000 each, but a small number of the spice
millers press their own mustard seed. They either buy
the mustard cake, which has been prepared by special
mustard mills, or buy the pure or adulterated flour,
already prepared for the market.

Some spice millers are suspicious of the cake, fearing
it may be adulterated or be made up of partially poor
seed, or of the refuse of previous workings, and they
have good reasons for their fears, as such adulteration
might occur, but as the pure article is to be Judged by
the flavor and pungency it may possess, it is as easy to
test the cake as the seed.

Mustard is not only very popular as a condiment but
is a medicinal rubefacient, as it has many stimulating
properties. The use of mustard plasters every house-
hold is familiar with; mustard also promotes digestion,
and it is a splendid emetic in case of poisoning.

A good story is told of a quack doctor who advertised
electric belts for sale. He had received many testi-
monials from those who had bought them, his patrons
speaking very highly of the benefit they had received
from their use, but as the belts became worn and were
ripped open it was found that the electricity they con-
tained was made up of mustard flour.

In the ground mustard or mustard meal, as has been

[ 162 ]

explained, we have only the interior of the seed, with
the exception of the few small portions of the husk,
which may have escaped in the operation of bolting.
The presence of these fragments enables us to recog-
nize the source from which the flour is derived, and also
to detect the use of mustard hulls as an adulterant of
other food materials.

The farina or black and white mustard differs but
little in appearance. ‘The brown, however, is slightly
darker. ‘The outer colorous epidermis consists of angu-
lar plates, or hexagonal tabular cells, with a center of
different brilliancy. It swells up and becomes slimy
in water, and, therefore, must be observed in glycerine.
At the best it requires some manipulation to see it well,
and it is far less prominent in the black seed.

The next coat, denominated the subepidermal, is not
prominent and can only be seen at all easily in the white
seed.

The third layer is an important one, and in it is found
the coloring matter of the brown seed. Its absence
is the cause of the lack of color in the white variety.
By this layer one is able to tell whether the flour is a
mixture of both the black and white seed or if it is
derived from one only. Fragments of this layer are
common in powdered mustard. It is distinguished by
the thick or colorless brown cell walls and their irregular
dotted appearance. Between the third and second
layers are numerous cells containing some color in the
brown seed, but of little importance. Within these
comes the important layer, denominated the inner tunic
or plasma layer. It separates readily from the other
parts of the husk and is often found by itself in the
powdered mustard. As its contents are broken up by
water or chloral-hydrate, it is necessary to use glycerine
or oil in mounting.

The cells and their contents of this layer are large
and much alike in both the black and white seed. The
interior of the mustard seed is made up of small, soft
parenchyma cells, containing the oil and the other con-
stituents of the mustard, but without any trace of starch
—a fact which makes adulterations easily detected.

[ 163 ]

The peculiar pungency and odor of the black seed are
due to an essential or fixed oil, myronic acid, which
is developed by the action of cold water (hot water will
not answer) on two peculiar chemical substances which
it contains, which form a compound, termed by the dis-
coverers myronate of potash, but since called synanthrin,
an acid with formula CioH19NS2O10. This acid is con-
verted into the volatile oil of mustard or sulphocyanide
of allyl C4HsNS, or &x,$S. Through the agency of
the myrosin, another constituent of brown seed, when
the two are brought in contact through the medium of
water, we have vegetable albumen, a bitter principle, a
little gum and sugar, and a peculiar green substance,
cellulose, and mineral water, called sulphocyanide of
sinapine.* The aqueous extract of yellow mustard seed
yields with a solution of ferric chloride a deep, blood-
red coloration, which is scarcely perceptible with similar
extract of black mustard. The aqueous extract of white
mustard acquires a powerful odor of sulphurated hydro-
gen in a few hours, while that of the black seed smells
only of the pungent mustard oil.

White mustard seed contains from 25 per cent. to
85 per cent. of an inodorous fixed oil with a little ten-
dency to become rancid and of little pungency, which
it will not give up in water. In place of myronic acid
converted into volatile oil of mustard, it contains a non-
volatile, bitter and acrid salt termed sulphocyanide of
sinapine (C17H24N2SQOs or C16H23NOsCN HS), myro-
sin gum cellulose and mineral matter. Now, as it is on
the volatile oil and the acrid and somewhat bitter salt
that the pungency and acridity of mustard depend, we
can see a strong reason why in the mustard of commerce
the farina of the two species, black and white seed,
should be blended together, in the proportion of two
parts of white to one of black. The black seed does
contain some of the acrid principle as well as the volatile
oil, as has been verified by the action of nitric acid, caus-
tic potash, and ferric chloride, on the alcoholic extract.
It is, therefore, the most valuable of the two seeds on

* Sinapaline sincaline.

[ 164 ]

account of the little volatile oil in the yellow seed. The
acrid principle of white mustard appears to possess but
little stability, although it has been said éo bear a tem-
perature of 130 degrees C. We find that it is readily
affected by heat and that it is not safe to evaporate
the alcoholic solution containing it at a higher temper-
ature than about 30 degrees C., for, if subjected to a
much higher temperature, it quickly loses its acridity
and acquires a bitter, caramel-like taste.

The oil extracted by ether from the brown seed is of
a bright and beautiful emerald-green color, owing to the
peculiar green principle described as one of its constitu-
ents. So deep and remarkable is the color of the oil
that it would be easy by means of a graduated scale
of tints to determine with very tolerable certainty the
percentage of brown mustard contained in any sample
of mixed mustard. Specific gravity, 1.017; boils at 148
degrees.

Myronate of potash decomposes under the influence
of the nitrogenous matter contained in brown mustard
into volatile oil, glucose, and acid sulphate of potash.
The quantity of each of these products of decomposi-
tion gives, therefore, by simple calculation, the quantity
of myronic acid; one hundred parts of this acid yield
23.85 parts of volatile oil.

Place forty to fifty grammes of mustard farina in a
flask of about one-half liter capacity; 250 cubic centi-
meters of tepid water should be poured over it, then
close the flask with a cork and shake well. After twen-
ty-four hours’ standing connect the flask with a Liebig’s
condenser and heat to boiling. Pour thirty cubic centi-
meters strong ammonia into the receiver, the end of
the condenser being dipped below the surface of the
liquid. Water and the volatile oil will pass over, the oil
at first floating in the shape of oily drops on the surface
of the liquid, which soon sinks to the bottom, especially
when the liquid is gently agitated. When no more oil
globules pass over, the distillation has finished. The
receiver should be closed with a cork and allowed to
stand twenty-four hours; at the end of this time all the
oil will be dissolved and is now contained in the liquid in

[ 165 ]

the form of thiosinamine (C4HsNz). This solution is
evaporated on the water bath in a weighed platinum
basin, the residue dried and weighed, and the quantity
of thiosinamine obtained, minus one molecule of am-
monia, represents the amount of volatile oil. To esti-
mate the amount of myrosin or albumen and sulpho-
cyanide of sinapine, the amount of nitrogen and sul-
phur in the mustard should first be obtained, the former
by combustion with soda lime in the well-known manner,
and the latter by deflagration of the mustard and oxida-
tion of its sulphur in a mixture of nitrate of soda and
carbonate of potash. First, dissolve the mass in water
or diluted acid, and the sulphuric acid contained in
the solution is estimated by means of chloride of barium,
and, from this data the amount of the myrosin and of the
sulphocyanide of sinapine, the acrid principle is caleu-
lated. As much sulphur and nitrogen are first deducted
from the totals of these substances obtained as is con-
tained in the quantity of myronic acid previously deter-
mined.

Next, the whole remaining sulphur, and as much of
the nitrogen as is required, are estimated in the acrid
principle, and, lastly, the surplus nitrogen is calculated
into myrosin, which has the same formula as vegetable
albumen. But now, having the amount of the acrid
principle and of the myrosin, a further calculation has to
be made, since myrosin contains about 1 per cent. of
sulphur, and this can be deducted from the total acrid
principle, a corresponding quantity of nitrogen being
in turn calculated into myrosin.

Chemical composition of white mustard:

Moisture, a eawee Qe Albuminoids3)/) 0.0/6) 1.128330

with variations Myrosin Albumin, . . 5.24
BS tier ates Meiers GAC A Ay Soluble Matter, . . . 27.38
Celhulosey Ge Lak ROese Volatile Onli R008
Sulohary bins ues OO G Asia licen tel eas i ae
Nitrogen ii.) 4)05) jie yok ae Solubles iss ceed Ono

[ 166 ]

Chemical composition of brown mustard seed:

MOIStURR EU ei Vio sy ASeOe SoM ey as heh eye 8
Ase eee one Sey eh s)he!) fal RDN A STA PMA I Mato noes Ge tens Wy forty UR
Pellulasey i Seo QLOn Pixed Oe vena ited SOL OO
Albuminoids, - J 2550 VolatalevOily yi Eee i OCaTS.
Myrosin and ye Aa ee a Potassium Myronate, . 1.692
Soluble Matter, . . . 24.22 BOlUBLe schon hao eae Wt
INIEOMEM Neh edule. |!) ste eb |) AOS with some variations

Mustard is, no doubt, adulterated more than any other
of the condiments, unless it be black pepper. ‘Tumeric
is the great agent used to bring out the desired color in
the adulteration, and Cayenne pepper is used to give it
a tonic flavor. In fact, tumeric has been so extensively
used in adulterating the mustard flour that many con-
sumers have become so accustomed to it that, in judging
the prepared mustard meal with the eye, they prefer it
on account of its yellow color to the genuine mustard.
It is claimed by some that tumeric is desirable in toning
down the pungency of mustard and in adding to its
keeping quality, but if it was too pungent more yellow
seed might be used in place of an admixture. Tumeric
is treated more as a constituent of the mustard than as a
foreign substance — a fact which makes it appear almost
a commercial necessity. This should not be allowed.

The natural color of a pure meal is grayish or ashen,
more like that of corn meal, and accordingly corn
meal is considered a very good article to use as an adul-
terant; turnip, radish, and rape seed, and broken crack-
ers are also often used. They are mixed with mustard
seed and milled with it to increase the bulk and obtain
more value from the cake.

Tumeric, whose coloring matter is called curcumin,
is a root containing starch. It resembles ginger and is
ground in the same way as ginger. It is more gener-
ally used in preference to ocher or yellow earth. As
mustard flour does not contain any starch, the fraudu-
lent tumeric and starch are readily detected in the farina
by the use of iodine and ammonia. Place a little of the
suspected sample, which has been previously heated and
afterwards allowed to cool, on a piece of glass and add
the ammonia or iodine, when the brown coloring prin-

i167.)

‘

ciple of the tumeric will be brought out. It may also
be detected by its action with borax or boric acid and
Martin yellow (dinitronapthol) by the use of 95 per
cent. of alcohol. If capsicum be present the test would
best be observed by treating the dry mustard with strong
alcohol by percolation, which would develop the peculiar
pungency of the capsicum when concentrated. The
microscope is the best aid to detect it. Wheat flour, if
used to adulterate, contains but 1.2 to 2.1 per cent., and
reduces the natural yellow color of mustard, which must
then be toned up with tumeric or some other coloring
matter.

In the discussion of the analysis of mustard seed we
may add that the flour is fairly constant m its composi-
tion; water is present in small amounts, varying between
3 and 7 per cent.; ash varies between 4 and
6 per cent., and so foreign mineral matter is easily
detected. Volatile oil is present in the seed in small
amounts, varying from 2.06 in one to as little as 0.55
in another. Fixed oil is one of the most prominent
constituents of the seed. It varies in amount from 31
to 87 per cent. Starch is entirely absent in the whole
seed. Crude fiber varies, depending on the care and
method of milling. The amount should not be more
than 6 to 7 per cent. Albuminoids make up a large
part of the seed, varying from 25 to 30 per cent. If
they are below 20 per cent. this fact points to dilution
with material poor in nitrogen. The undetermined
matter consists of gum and some unidentified sub-
stances soluble in alcohol, whose estimation is of no par-
ticular value, as a means of detecting adulterations.

As a whole, for general reference, the f ollowing table
may be used:

Water,!) 2) 30). 8). 0° 8) per cent:

Ashe Noi. ds & 0) toy, Oper ‘eent:

Volatile Oil, .. % to 2 per cent.

Fixed Oil, . . 31 to 37 per cent., from entire seed
Fixed Oil, . . 16 to 18 per cent., from cake
Starch... 4, Nene

Crude Fiber, . 5 to 18 per cent.

Albuminoids, . 25 to 32 per cent.

[ 168 J

SAGE

1 Flower
2 Flower without stamens

CHAPTER XV

HERBS

EARLY every one is familiar with the subject of

this chapter. The sweet and aromatic herbs for

culinary purposes are found in both hemispheres,
and little, therefore, need be said about them. Of those
who know them, none are better acquainted or more
familiar with their use than the farmer’s wife. The
herbs we are to consider are the few having that peculiar
property of imparting to fresh meats a flavor, so much
esteemed, which brings them into general use. They
are also used for medicinal purposes of which we have
the following kinds: Sage, marjoram, savory, parsley,
and thyme. “Herbs to still the summer.” “The
knowledge of stilling is one of pretty feat,” but it is
a lost art. The stilling room was also a drying room,
and in breezy shadows throughout the long summer
days were drying leaves and sprigs of many aromatic
plants. The branches were often made up into small
bunches, the size to be used for a kettle of soup or for
the basting of a single roast. “These were the fagots
of herbs so often ordered in old recipes, and were a not
unimportant part of household supplies. There is no
spice comparable for herbs use in rosemary.” Pliny
says that the serpents sought the shade of the fennel to
strengthen their sight. Culpepper noted the starry in-
fluence under which each plant grew.

SAGE

Sage (Salvia officinalis) is the common sage. Sage,
sauge, swage, natural order Laminaceoe.

French, Sauge; Portuguese, Salva; Italian and Latin,
Salvia, Salvas (Culpepper). It is governed by Mars.
Salvia, from salvo, to save or heal. The most exten-
sively used of the herbs is the sage. Its high reputation
as a medicine lasted for years. The Arabians valued it,

[ 169 ]

and the medical school of Salerno summed up its sur-
passing merits in the line, “ Cur morietor homo cut salvia
cresit in horto?”’ (How can a man die who grows sage
in his garden?) Perhaps this originated the English
saying, ‘““ Who eats sage in May shall live for aye.”
Parkinson says: “‘ It maketh the hayre blacke, it is good
for woundis. ior lethargy and forgetfulness bathe
the back of the head with a decoction of sage and smal-
lage.” Pepys notes that in churchyards between Gas-
port and Southampton, England, the custom prevailed
of sowing the graves with sage. Evelyn sums up its
noble properties by its assiduous use as making man im-
mortal. ‘‘ We cannot, therefore, but allow the tender
summities of the young leaves but principally the
flowers in our sallet.”

Salvia officinalis and S. grandiflora. 'The first is the
common garden sage, a native of southern Europe, and
has been naturalized for many years in this country as
a garden plant. It is a perennial shrub, seldom more
than two feet high and sometimes treated as an annual.
The plant has a pubescent four-sided stem with erect
branches, hoary with down, and leafy at the base, those
bearing flowers being about a foot or a foot and a half
long. The flowers are in racemes of blue variegated
with purple (rarely red), arranged in spiked whorls.
The flowers have but two perfect stamens, the filaments
of which bear at their summit a cross thread. A much-
elongated connective is fastened by a point and has one
cell of the anther at the upper end and the other, but
imperfect, cell at the other end. The seeds of many
species, when steeped in water, become covered with a
mucilaginous slime, like that of quince seeds. The
leaves are ovate, oblong, lanceolate, finely notched, are
curiously wrinkled or rough, hairy or tomentose, and of
a whitish-green color. The leaves and tops are gath-
ered and dried during the flowering seasons, which is
in June and July. Sage is slightly tonic with a pecu-
liar, strong, astringent, aromatic, camphorous odor, and
a sharp, warm, slightly bitter taste. These properties
are owing to its volatile oil (sage oil) , which may be ob-
tained by distilling the plant with water infusicn, but

arent

a

3,

hoe

4

Leaf and flower stem
Bract of flower
Different views of flower

MARJORAM

more especially in alcohol. Formerly it had a high
reputation as a sudorific and as an antiseptic, and was so
esteemed by the ancients, especially by the Chinese, but
at present, though officinal, it is little used as a remedy
except in domestic practice, and it has no place in the
pharmacopeeia. But the infusion is much valued in
cases of gastric debility as a gargle, checking flatulency
with speed and certainty. It is a good astringent and
nerve tonic as well as a good remedy for use in cases of
rheumatism. But its great use is as a condiment in
flavoring dress, sausage, cheese, etc. Sage grows
best in dry soil and is found growing on sunny
mountain slopes and rocks. It has long been in general
cultivation in gardens, and it is easily raised from the
seed or from cuttings or divisions of the root. Roots
should be planted about six inches apart. Sage brush
(Carteunissia hidenlata) is found on Western table
lands. The apple-bearing sage (S. pomifera) is a
native of Southern Europe and is remarkable for its red-
dish or purple bracts and large gall nuts growing on
the branches as on the leaves of the oak. These are
known as sage apples. They have an agreeable aro-
matic taste and are edible. Both these species are used
to adulterate.

The Salvia longiflora of Peru sometimes attains the
height of twenty feet, with flowers six to eight inches
long. Several kinds are found fifteen feet in height.
There are said to be nearly 300 varieties of sage, among
which are the following: S. splenden, with large spiked,
scarlet flowers, from Mexico, which is esteemed by flor-
ists; S. coccinea, with smaller, but handsome flowers;
the open-corolled S. patens, with tall, open spikes, with
large blue flowers; the bracteated S. involucrata, with
thick obtuse spikes of reddish-purple flowers; the Clory
S. sclarea, with large, beautiful, purplish-green decidu-
ous bracts.

MARJORAM

Marjoram (Origanum marjorum).

Origanum (meaning in Greek, joy of the moun-
tains).

f 179)

Sweet marjoram, a genus of the natural order of
plants labiatoe or mint family. It is chiefly a native of
Greece and the countries bordering on the Mediterra-
nean. It is an annual shrubby plant with a stem about
one foot high, and has a ten-ribbed, five-toothed calyx,
loose spikes, and broad bracts. It is peculiarly aromatic
and fragrant, and is much used, as other mint plants are
used, in common cooking. It has nearly an entire ovate,
or egg-shaped, grayish or green, leaf, covered on both
sides with a thin down, situated about three roundish
heads of small purplish flowers crowded in cylindrical or
oblong spikes, which are imbricated with colored bracts.
It flowers in August. The fiowers are very small and
inconspicuous. Marjoram contains a yellowish essential
oil (oil of marjoram or oil of origanum), which is ob-
tained from some species by distillation. It yields fifteen
ounces from one hundred and fifty pounds of the recent-
cut plants. This oil will become solid by standing. It is
used for toothache and for cancers. An infusion of it
is a stimulant and is a good remedy for nervousness.
It is mixed with olive oil to make a stimulating liniment,
which is used as a remedy for rheumatic complaints and
for baldness, and in case of sprains and bruises. ‘The
common marjoram, wild (O. valgore), is found on dry
hilly, bushy places.

PARSLEY

Parsley (Carwm petroselinum sativum).

French, Persil (Culpepper). It is governed by
Venus.

Parsley is a biennial plant, with a fleshy, spindle-
shaped root and a rough, erect, smooth-branching stem.
It is a native of the Eastern Mediterranean region. It
is now widely cultivated in all parts of the civilized
world as a culinary vegetable, and it sometimes runs
wild, the root being one of the principal parts. It is a
great favorite on account of its much-divided, finely
cut, crisped, aromatic leaves, which are used in flavoring
soups and other dishes and for garnishing. The leaves
of the wild parsley are plain. Parsley has a white or
greenish-yellow flower and from the seed an essential

wre

PARSLEY

1 Ripening fruit 4 Stamen
2 Ripening fruit, more developed pb) Pistill
3 Flower 6 Seed

oa

Or WN ee

SAVORY
Flower
Flower without stamens
Leaf

Flower cut, showing stamens
Corolla

oo-S

Leaves of an axil
Pistil

Stamen

Seed

oil is obtained, named apial, which is used as a drug in
place of quinine in intermittent fevers. Its leaves are
often chewed to neutralize the scent of onions. Parsley
wreaths were twined for the victors of the Nemean
games, but now it has fallen from its high estate to
flavor or to garnish some lordly dish. The seed was
formerly mixed in cheese curds with fennel and thyme
and other fragrant herbs. The roots were also used as
a relish, as noted in the words of Wynkyn, “de worde
in the Boke of Keriynge says ‘quinces and peres
Ciryppe with parcelery rate. Bight to begyn your
mele.” Parsley seeds germinate imperfectly and the
disappointment of the sower was explained by the belief
that the devil took his tithe thereof. Many dire evils,
belief in which can scarcely now be understood, were
attached to the sowing, gathering, and even dreaming of
parsley seed. These beliefs may have originated in the
fact that the Greeks strewed it upon newly made graves.
To be in need of parsley was a colloquialism which
expressed the imminence of death. Herrick said:
“Dear Perenna, Prithee come and with Smallage dress
my tomb.”

| SAVORY

Satureia Hortensis, a genus of the natural order
labiatoe, belonging to the mint family.

French, Savorae.

It is said to be governed by Mercury (Culpepper) and
was supposed to belong to the satyrs. The summer
savory is chiefly of two kinds — S. Hortensis, the sum-
mer savory, and S. Montana, the winter savory. Both
kinds are natives of Southern Europe. Savory is men-
tioned in the Old Testament (Genesis, Chap. XX VIT,
4th verse) : ““ And make me savoury meet such as I love,
and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may
bless thee before I die.” Savory was probably intro-
duced into Britain by the Romans, as we find it spoken
of in a Latin treatise, “ Husbandrie of Pallodius,” at
the fifteenth century, translated about 1420. It is a
common herbaceous plant, from ten inches to one foot
high, being half shrubby, with numerous stalks, which

iz]

are very hard and woody near the bottom. The leaves
are narrow, oblong or linear or lanceolate, entire, acute
at the end, with resinous dots and short axillary, standing
two at each joint, with a quantity of young ones in their
axils. The flowers, which grow on the upper part of
the stalk among the leaves, are white with a tinge of
blue or red. The whole plant of the common summer
savory (S. Hortensis), as our cultivated garden herb is
known, has an agreeable pungent taste and aromatic
odor, and is analogous to those of thyme (thymus),
differing from it in the regular five-toothed or fine-
cleft calyx and having the stamens bent together into
an arch under the upper lip of the corolla, both being
in common use as a seasoning in cooking, either fresh
or dried, for flavoring dishes, and especially for flavor-
ing beans, and is cultivated for these culinary purposes
in Europe and America. Its tea is used as a remedy for
colic and as a cathartic. Winter savory (8S. Montana)
is used in the same way as the summer savory.

THYME

Garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris) .

French, Thym; German, Thyman.

Thyme teucrium marum and Thyme palliwm. It is
a plant of the genus thymus, a humble, half-shrubby
plant of the natural order labiate (mint family) ;
Latin, thymus incense, thus indicating its former use
on sacrificial altars. It is said to have made the bed in
the stable at Bethlehem and was used in many charms
and incantations. “It is ever the bee’s alluring time,”
and it was wild thyme which gave the famed flavor to
the honey of Mount Hymettus. Among the Greeks
thyme denoted graceful elegance of the Attic style. To
smell of thyme was an expression of praise applied to
those whose style was admirable. In the days of chiv-
alry, peradventure, very highly noted ladies used to
embroider their knightly heroes’ scarfs with the figure
of a bee hovering about a sprig of thyme, the bees as
the belles of thyme. arly lists of English plants give
no name with which it can certainly be identified. It
grows from six inches to one foot high and has a two-

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Plant
Root
Leaf

,5 Stamens

ono-ls

lipped calyx and four diverging stamens and is clothed
with a hoary down, with narrow, almost elliptical leaves
with edges turned in. It may have many stems slightly
indented in pairs, standing erect upon short petioles or
decumbent at the base, which bear very small ovate
leaves, which are sharp-pointed, while those of the
whorls are blunt. The flowers are of a pale purple or
whitish or reddish color, which grow in separate whorls,
six ina whorl. It flowers from May until August and
is a native of Kurope and especially of Southern France.
It is commonly found growing on dry hills and is culti-
vated in gardens on account of its fragrance. It has
a pungent, aromatic property and is largely used as a
seasoning for soups, sauces, etc. From it is also dis-
tilled the oil of thyme, which is considerably used in
veterinary practice and for perfumery, and often passes
as oil of organum. ‘The tea of thyme is also used for
nervous habits. The wild creeping thyme, or mother of
thyme, is 7". serpillum, a less erect plant which has a pro-
cumbent stem with many branches from two to three
feet long, small entire oval leaves and purplish flowers,
arranged in whorls, which are united in a dense termi-
nal leafy head. ‘This variety is abundant on hills and
mountains in Great Britain and in all parts of Europe
and the north of Asia, between forty and fifty varieties
being described. It is less fragrant than garden thyme,
but both species have the same aromatic essential oil.

T'. serpillwm has procumbent stems, numerous short
ascending branches, ending in short, loose, leafy,
whorled flower spikes, the leaves being egg-shaped and
narrow and more or less fringed toward the bottom,
those of the flower spikes being similar but smaller.
There are two forms— 7". en serpillwm, with flowering
branches, ascending from shoots, which are barren at
the tip in one head, and the upper lip of the corolla
oblong; and 7’. chamoedrys, in which all the branches
ascend from the crown of the root stalk with whorls in
many axillary heads and a short and broad upper lip to
the corolla. The flowering branches, herba thymi and
herba serpylli, are used in medicine as a powerful stimu-
lant.

[175 ]

The lemon thyme, or lemon-scented thyme of our
gardens, is regarded as a variety of thyme serpyllum
known as citratus or citriodrus, which is generally a
hardy and very dwarfed traveling evergreen, of lower
growth than the common garden thyme. No species
of thyme is indigenous in America. Seed should be
sown in drills or broadcast in March or April, in light,
fine earth and raked in lightly. ‘The young plants are
transplanted in the summer when from two to three
inches high. After they are from three to five inches
in growth, they should be thinned out to about ten inches
apart. Thyme is also propagated by slips of the
branching shoots in the spring or early autumn, but more
especially by sections of the brush or by removing
rooted branches.

The harvesting takes place in August by cutting the
plants rather closely down with a very sharp sickle.
The seed should be dried on cloth, rubbed out clean, and
preserved in a dry place for sowing the following year.
In using the herb for distillation it should not be dried,
but the crop gathered each day should be put in the
still at once.

SEED

In addition to the seed before mentioned which are
used in connection with spices are the caraway, or
carum carut.

Coriander or the dried fruit of the Cariandrum
salivuum, and the cardamom or the dried capsules of
Elettaria cardamomum.

CARAWAY

Caraway (Carum carut).

The common name, caraway or carraway, is given to
the dried fruits carwm carut, which is a biennial umbel-
liferous plant. The English name caraway and the
Spanish name alcarahuega are derived from the name
given to the fruit by the Arabians, “karawya.” It is
a native of Great Britain, growing on very low ground
with a root much like the parsnip. The seeds are sown
in drills in the autumn soon after they are ripe, and

[ 176 ]

must be thinned out the same as carrots and other similar
plants, and must be kept free from weeds. They will
flower in June and are ready for harvesting in July.
The plant grows two or three feet high. ‘Ihe leaves are
long and subdivided into numerous pinnule or seg-
ments which are narrow-pointed and of a dark color.
The flowers grow in terminal umbels. The seeds are
two, naked, brown, striated, and of an oblong shape, hot
and acrid but pleasant to the taste. The seed abounds
in essential oil containing gummy and resinous parts.
Its tincture is used as a stomachic and carminative. It
is used as a flavoring in cooking.

CORIANDER

(Kariandrum.) The product known as coriander
seed consists of the dried ripe fruit of cariandrum
salivum, which is the only specie of the genus umbel-
liferoe. It is an annual herb cultivated in France and
Germany for its seed. It grows about two feet high
with branching stems. The stalks are round and erect
and hollow, but have a pith within. The leaves are bipin-
nate, the lower ones divided into broad or wedge-shaped,
deeply cut segments, while the upper ones are divided
into narrow parts and more finely cut. The flowers
grow in clusters of a white or reddish color upon its
branches. The umbels have five to eight rays without
2 general involucre and the partial ones consists of a few
small bracts. The seeds follow, two after each flower.
They are half round and are the only part of the plant
used. 'The most characteristic feature is this globular
fruit, which is of a chamois or pale-yellow color and is
about the size of the white pepper corn, which is crowned
by the teeth of the calyx and contains no oil channels on
the outer surface, but has two on the inner face of each
half of the fruit. The ridges are five in number and
very indistinct. As the two carpels, of which the fruit
is composed, do not readily separate one from the other,
they being protected by the ligneous pericarp, the fruit
must be broken before submitting them to distillation.
The unripe fruit possesses the intensely disgusting odors
of the other parts of the plant, and for that reason it

bi

should be allowed to ripen fully before gathering.
When they are dry they are sweet and fragrant. They
dispel wind and warm and strengthen the stomach, and
assist in digestion, and are good for pains in the head.
They are also used in whole mixed spices, used for pick-
ling.

CARDAMOM

Cardamom, Kardamom (Amomum cardamomum).

Cardamom is the fruit of various Kast India or Chi-
nese plants of the genera elettari of the ginger family
(Zingiberaceoe). Especially the most esteemed are
those contained in the dried capsules, . cardamomum
of Malabar, which differs from the genus amomum
by its elongated filiform tube of the corolla, by the pres-
ence of internal lateral lobes in the shape of very small
tooth-like processes and by the filaments not being pro-
longed beyond the anther. All the species are natives
of the tropical parts of India. Small or Malabar carda-
moms, as they are known commercially, are the rhizomes
which are thick, fleshy, or woody and ridged with scars of
the attachments of previous leaves, giving off fibrous
roots below. Stems, perennial, erect, smooth, jointed,
enveloped in the spongy sheaths of the leaves, from six
to nine feet high and about one inch thick, round and
green and hollow, but with pith within, and resemble
our reeds in many respects. The leaves are a half yard
long, alternate, sessile in their sheath, entire lanceolate,
fine-pointed, pubescent above, silky beneath, sheaths
slightly villous with a roundish ligule rising from the
mouth, and as broad as a man’s hand. Besides these
stalks, there rises from the same root others which are
weak and tender and about eight inches high, which
produce the flowers, which are small and greenish. Fol-
lowing every flower comes one of the fruits called the
great cardamom, which is a light, dry, hollow fruit of a
whitish color, and somewhat triangular in shape, and of
the size of a small bean, and of a dry substance on the
outside, but with several small seeds within, which are
reddish in color and very acrid but pleasant to the
taste. These fruits are called the lesser cardamoms or

[ 178 ]

cardamom seeds, and they are excellent to strengthen the
stomach and to assist digestion. ‘They also are good
for disorders of the head and are equal to anything to
be had for colics, and are best used by chewing. They
are used in whole mixed spices. ‘There are two other
kinds of cardamoms known as the middle cardamom, a
long fruit, seldom met with, and the great cardamom,
generally called “ Grain of Paradise.”

In the home market three kinds of cardamoms are
found under the curious names of “ shorts,” “ short-
longs,” and “ long-longs.” Shorts are capsules from 2
quarter to half an inch long and a quarter of an inch
broad, and the ‘longest of the long-longs is about one
inch in length.

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