Chapter LXI: 1189. Why are vegetable productions so widely diffused?

Because they everywhere form the _food of the animal creation_. Without them, neither man nor beast could exist. Even the flesh-eating animals are sustained by them, since they live by preying upon the bodies of vegetable-eaters.

They also enrich and beautify the earth. They present the most charming diversities of proportions and features. From the cowslip, the primrose, and the blue-bell of our childish days, to the broad oak under which we recline, while children gambol round us, they are all beautiful or sublime, and eminently useful in countless ways to man.

They spread a carpet over the surface of the earth; they cling to old ruins, and cover hard rocks, as though they would hide decay, and give warmth to the coldness of stone. In tropical climates they supply rich fruits full of cool and refreshing juices, and they spread out upon the crests of tall trees those broad leaves which shelter the native from the scorching heat of the sun.

They supply our dwellings with furniture of every kind, from the plain deal table, to the handsome cabinet of satin or rose-wood; they afford rich perfumes to the toilette, and luscious fruits and wines to the desert; they charm the eye of the child in the daisied field; they adorn the brow of the bride; they are laid in the coffin with the dead; and, as the cypress or the willow bend over our graves, they become the emblems of our grief.

[Verse: "The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works."--PSALM CIV.]

1190. _What is mahogany?_

Mahogany is the wood of trees brought chiefly from South America and Spain. The finest kind is imported from St. Domingo, and an inferior kind from Honduras.

We all know the beauty of mahogany wood. But we do not all
know that mahogany was first employed in the repair of some of
Sir Walter Raleigh's ships at Trinidad in 1597. The discovery
of the beauty of its grain for furniture and cabinet work was
accidental. Dr. Gibbons, a physician of eminence, was building
a house in King-street, Covent-garden; his brother, captain of
a West Indiaman, had brought over some planks of mahogany as
ballast, and he thought that the wood might be used up in his
brother's building, but the carpenters found the wood too hard
for their tools, and objected to use it. Mrs. Gibbons shortly
afterwards wanted a small box made, so the doctor called upon his
cabinet-maker, and ordered him to make a box out of some wood
that lay in his garden. The cabinet-maker also complained that
the wood was too hard. But the doctor insisted upon its being
used, as he wished to preserve it as a memento of his brother.
When the box was completed, its fine colour and polish attracted
much attention; and he, therefore, ordered a bureau to be made of
it. This was done, and it presented so fine an appearance that
the cabinet-maker invited numerous persons to see it, before it
was sent home. Among the visitors was her Grace the Duchess of
Buckingham, who immediately begged some of the wood from Mr.
Gibbons, and employed the cabinet-maker to make her a bureau
also. Mahogany from this time became a fashionable wood, and the
cabinet-maker, who at first objected to use it, made a great
success by its introduction.

1191. _What is rose-wood?_

Rosewood is the wood of a tree which grows in Brazil. It is, generally speaking, too dark for large articles of furniture, but is admirably adapted for smaller ones. It is expensive, and the hardness of the wood renders the cost of making articles of it very high.

[Verse: "I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof."--II. KINGS XXIII.]

Respecting the other woods used in the manufacture of furniture,
we have nothing special to say, except of the oak--the emblem of
our native land. This tree yields a most useful and durable wood,
and as it not only defends our country by supplying our "wooden
walls," but gives to us the floors of our houses, furnishes our
good substantial tables, and comfortable arm-chairs, it will be
well for us to know a few facts about this celebrated tree. It is
said that there are no less than one hundred and fifty species
of the oak. The importance of the growth of oaks may be gathered
from the fact, that the building of a 70-gun ship would take forty
acres of timber. The building of a 70-gun ship is estimated to
cost about £70,000. Oak trees attain to the age of 1,000 years.
The oak enlarges its circumference from 10-1/2 inches to 12 inches
in a year. The interior of a great oak at Allonville, in Normandy,
has been converted into a place of worship. An oak at Kiddington,
served as a village prison. A large oak at Salcey, was used as a
cattle fold; and others have served as tanks, tombs, prisons, and
dwelling-houses.

The _Mammoth tree_, which is exhibiting at the Crystal Palace,
is one of the great wonders of the vegetable creation. It is the
grand monarch of the Californian forest, inhabiting a solitary
district on the elevated slopes of the Sierra Nevada, at 5,000
feet above the sea-level. From 80 to 90 trees exist, all within
the circuit of a mile, and these varying from 250 to 320 feet in
height, and from 10 to 20 feet in diameter. The bark is from 12 to
15 inches in thickness; the branchlets are somewhat pendent, and
resemble those of cypress or juniper, and it has the cones of a
pine. Of a tree felled in 1853, 21 feet of the bark from the lower
part of the trunk were put in the natural form as a room, which
would contain a piano, with seats for forty persons; and on one
occasion 150 children were admitted. The tree is reputed to have
been above 3,000 years old; that is to say, it must have been a
little plant when Samson was slaying the Philistines. The portion
of the tree exhibiting at the palace is 103 feet in height, and 32
feet in diameter at the base.

1192. _What is tea?_

Tea is the leaf of a shrub (_Thea Chinensis_). The plant usually grows to the height of from three to six feet, and resembles in appearance the well-known myrtle. It bears a blossom not unlike that of the common dog-rose. The climate most congenial to it is that between the 25th and 33rd degrees of latitude. The growth of good tea prevails chiefly in China, and is confined to a few provinces. The _green_ and _black_ teas are mere varieties, depending upon the culture, time of gathering, mode of drying, &c. _Coffee was used in this country before tea._ In 1664, it is recorded, the East India Company bought 2lb. 2oz. of coffee as a present for the king. In the year 1832, there were 101,687 licensed tea dealers in the United Kingdom. Green tea was first used in 1715. A dispute with America about the duty upon tea led to the American war, out of which arose American independence. The consumption of tea throughout the whole world is estimated at above 52,000,000 lbs., of which the consumption of Great Britain alone amounts to 30,000,000. (_See_ 1225).

[Verse: "Every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God."--ECCLESIASTES III.]

1193. _What is coffee?_

Coffee is the berry of the coffee plant, which was a native of that part of Arabia called Yemen, but it is now extensively cultivated in India, Java, the West Indies, Brazil, &c. (_See_ 1224).

The first coffee-house in London was opened in 1652, under the
following circumstances. A Turkey merchant named Edwards, having
brought along with him from the Levant, some bags of coffee, and a
Greek servant who was skilful in making it, his house was thronged
with visitors to see and taste this new beverage. Being desirous
to gratify his friends without putting himself to inconvenience,
he allowed his servant to open a coffee-house, and to sell coffee
publicly.

Here we have another illustration of the great results springing
from trifling causes. Coffee soon became so extensively used that
taxes were imposed upon it. In 1660 a duty of 4d. a gallon was
imposed upon all coffee made and sold. Before 1732 the duty upon
coffee was 2s. a pound; it was afterwards reduced to 1s. 6d.,
at which it yielded to the revenue, for many years, £10,000 per
annum. The duty has been gradually reduced, and the consumption
has gone on increasing, until at last above 25,000,000 of pounds
are consumed annually! Fancy this great result springing from a
"friendly coffee party" that assembled in the year 1652.

1194. _What is chocolate?_

It is a cake prepared from the cocoa-nut. The nut is first roasted like coffee, then it is reduced to powder and mixed with water, the paste is then put into moulds and hardened. The properties are very healthful, but its consumption is very insignificant, as compared with tea or coffee. The cocoa tree grows chiefly in the West Indies and South America.

1195. _What is cocoa?_

Cocoa is also a preparation from the seeds or beans of the cocoa tree. But the best form of cocoa for family use is to obtain the beans pure, as they are now commonly sold ready for use, and to break them and then grind them in a large coffee mill.

1196. _What is chicory?_

Chicory is the root of the common endive, dried and roasted as coffee, for which it is used as a substitute. Some persons prefer the flavour of chicory admixed with coffee. But very opposite opinions prevail respecting the qualities of chicory. We believe it to be perfectly healthful, and attribute the prejudice that prevails against it, to its having been used, from its cheapness, to adulterate coffee.

[Verse: "He that tilleth the land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough."--PROVERBS XXVIII.]

1197. _What is sugar?_

Sugar is a sweet granulated substance, which may be derived from many vegetable substances, but the chief source of which is the sugar cane. The other chief sources that supply it are the maple, beet-root, birch, parsnip, &c. It is extensively used all over the world. Sugar is supposed to have been known to the ancient Jews. It was found in the East Indies by Newcheus, Admiral of Alexander, 325 B.C. It was brought into Europe from Asia.

The art of sugar refining was first practised in England, in 1659,
and sugar was first taxed by name by James II., 1685. Sugar is
derived from the West Indies, Brazil, Surinam, Java, Mauritius,
Bengal, Siam, the Isle de Bourbon, &c. &c. Before the introduction
of sugar to this country, honey was the chief substance employed
in making sweet dishes; and long after the introduction of sugar
it was used only in the houses of the rich. The consumption in
England in 1700 reached only 10,000 tons; in 1834 it had reached
180,000 tons. The English took possession of the West Indies in
1672, and in 1646 began to export sugar. In 1676 it is recorded
that 400 vessels, averaging 150 tons, were employed in the sugar
trade of Barbadoes. Jamaica was discovered by Columbus, and was
occupied by the Spaniards, from whom it was taken by Cromwell, in
1656, and has since continued in our own possession. When it was
conquered there were only three sugar plantations upon it. But
they rapidly increased. Until the abolition of slavery in the West
Indies, the production of sugar was almost exclusively limited to
slave labour. (_See_ 1226).

1198. _What is wheat?_

Wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, and maize, all belong to the natural order of grain-bearing plants. They all grow in a similar manner, and all yield starch, gluten, and a certain amount of phosphates. They are commonly spoken of as _farinaceous foods_.

[Verse: "I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk."--EZEKIEL XVI.]

From the Sacred writings we learn that unleavened bread was common
in the days of Abraham. In the earlier periods of our own history,
people had no other method of making bread than by roasting corn,
and beating it in mortars, then wetting it into a kind of coarse
cake. In 1596, rye bread and oatmeal formed a considerable part
of the diet of servants, even in great families. In the time
of Charles the First, barley bread was the chief food of the
people. In many parts of England it was more the custom to make
bread at home than at present. In 1804, there was not a single
public baker in Manchester. In France, when the use of yeast was
first introduced, it was deemed by the faculty of medicine to
be so injurious to health that its use was prohibited under the
severest penalties. Herault says that, during the siege of Paris
by Henry the Fourth, a famine raged, and bread sold at a crown a
pound. When this was consumed, the dried bones from the charnel
house of the Holy Innocents were exhumed, and a kind of bread
made therefrom. Bread-street, in London, was once a bread market.
From the year 1266, it had been customary to regulate by law the
price of bread in proportion to the price of wheat or flour at
the time. This was called the assize of bread; but, in 1815, it
was abolished. In the year 272 there was a famine in Britain so
severe that people ate the bark of trees; forty thousand persons
perished by famine in England in 310! In the year 450 there was a
famine in Italy so dreadful that people ate their own children.
A famine, commencing in England, Wales, and Scotland, in 954,
lasted four years. A famine in England and France, in 1193, led to
a pestilential fever, which lasted until 1195. In 1315 there was
again a dreadful famine in England, during which people devoured
the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and vermin! In the year 1775,
16,000 people died of famine in the Cape de Verds. These are only
a few of the remarkable famines that have occurred in the course
of history. Let us thank God that we live in times of abundance,
when improved cultivation, the pursuit of industry, and the
settlement of the laws, render such a calamity as a famine almost
an impossibility.

1199. _What is cotton?_

Cotton is a species of vegetable wool, produced by the cotton shrub, called, botanically, _Gossypium herbaceum_, of which there are numerous varieties. It grows naturally in Asia, Africa, and America, and is cultivated largely for purposes of commerce.

The precise time when the cotton manufacture was introduced
into England is unknown; but probably it was not before the
17th century. Since then, what wonderful advances have been
made! The cotton trade and manufacture have become a vast source
of British industry, and of commerce between nations. It was
some years ago calculated that the cotton manufacture yielded
to Great Britain one thousand millions sterling. The names of
Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton, Cartwright, and others, have
become immortalised by their inventions for the improvement
of the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Little more than half a
century has passed since the British cotton manufactory was in its
infancy--now it engages many millions of capital--keeps millions
of work people employed; freights thousands of ships that are ever
crossing and re-crossing the seas; and binds nations together
in ties of mutual interest. The present yearly value of cotton
manufactures in Great Britain is estimated at £34,000,000. About
£6,044,000 of the above sum is distributed yearly among working
people as wages.

1200. _What is silk?_

Silk, though not directly a vegetable product, is, nevertheless, indirectly derived from the vegetable creation, since it is a thread spun by the silk-worm from matter which the worm derives from the _mulberry leaf_.

[Verse: "And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel."--I SAMUEL XXV.]

Silk is supplied by various parts of the world, including China,
the East Indies, Turkey, &c., where the silk-worm has been found
to thrive. The attempts that have been hitherto made to cultivate
it in this country have proved unsuccessful. At Rome, in the time
of Tiberius, a law passed the senate which, as well as prohibiting
the wearing of massive gold jewels, also forbade the men to debase
themselves by wearing silk. There was a time when silk was of the
same value as gold--weight for weight--and it was thought to grow
upon trees. It is recorded that silk mantles were worn by some
noble ladies at a ball at Kenilworth Castle, 1286. It was first
manufactured in England in 1604. In the reign of Elizabeth, the
manufacture of silk in England made rapid strides. In 1666, there
were 40,000 persons engaged in the silk trade. The silk throwsters
of the metropolis were enrolled in a fellowship in 1562, and
were incorporated in 1629. In 1685, a considerable impetus was
given to the English silk manufactures. Louis the Fourteenth
of France revoked the edict of Nantes. The edict of Nantes was
promulgated by Henry the Fourth of France in 1598. It gave to the
Protestants of France the free exercise of their religion. Louis
the Fourteenth revoked this edict in 1685, and thereby drove the
Protestants as refugees to England, Holland, and parts of Germany,
where they established various manufactures. Many of these French
refugees settled in Spitalfields, and there founded extensive
manufactories, which soon rivalled those of their own country;
and thus the intolerance of the king was justly punished. What
important facts we see connected with the simple thread of the
silk-worm!

1201. _What is wool?_

Wool is a kind of soft hair or coarse down, produced by various animals, but chiefly by sheep.

This is another of the useful productions of nature, for which
we are indirectly indebted to the vegetable kingdom; for were it
not for the rich pastures forming the green carpet of the earth,
it would be impossible for man to keep large flocks of sheep for
the production of wool. Wool, like the hair of most animals,
completes its growth in a year, and then exhibits a tendency to
fall off. For the production of wool in England and Wales it has
been estimated that there are no less than 27,000,000 sheep and
lambs; and, in Great Britain and Ireland, the total number is
estimated at 82,000,000. Wool was not manufactured in any quantity
in England until 1331, when the weaving of it was introduced by
John Kempe and other artizans from Flanders. The exportation or
non-exportation of wool has from time to time formed a vexed
subject for legislators. Woollen clothes were made an article of
commerce in the reign of Julius Cæsar. They were made in England
prior to 1200. Blankets were first made in England in 1340.
The art of dyeing wools was first introduced into England in
1608. The annual value of the raw material in wool is set down
at £6,000,000; the wages of workmen engaged in the wool trade,
£9,600,000. The number of people employed is said to be 500,000.

1202. _What is starch?_

Starch is one of the most useful products of the vegetable kingdom. As a rule, _a vegetable, if nutritious at all, is so according to the amount of starch which it contains_. It is most abundantly found in the seeds of plants, and especially in the _wheat_ tribe.

It is also met with in the cellular tissues of plants, and especially in such underground stems as the _potatoe_, _carrot_, _turnip_, _&c._, and the stems of the _sago-palm_ fig, &c. It is also found in the _bark_ of some trees.

[Verse: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."--JAMES I.]

1203. _Why is the horse chestnut, though containing a great quantity of starch, unfit for food?_

Because (like many other vegetable productions) it contains with the starch an _acrid juice_, which renders it unhealthy; and although the juice can be separated from the starch, the process is too expensive to be made generally available.

The starch which is used for domestic purposes is an artificial
preparation, and does not properly represent the starch of
nutrition. A better idea of it is afforded by _the meal of a
flowery potatoe_. The starch used by laundresses is frequently
prepared from diseased potatoes. This does not impair the quality
of the starch, for the purposes of the laundress, and the reason
why potatoes that are diseased are thus applied is, that it is
one method of saving some part of their value. The finest kinds
of starch are prepared from rice. It is prepared by breaking the
pulp, and disengaging the starch from the cells; and it is then
put through other processes to remove the fragments of the broken
cells. But in the flowery meal of the potatoe, the starch cell may
be seen entire.