Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
Practical advice on growing food and flowers, improving soil, and making the most of small spaces. Start anywhere — the garden will meet you.
This tree belongs to the _Lauraceae_. Camphor is prepared from the wood by boiling chopped branches in water, when, after some time, the camphor becomes deposited and is purified by sublimation. It is...
This is a native of the West Indies, and furnishes a pale olive-colored bark with an aromatic odor, and is used as a tonic. It is used by the natives as a spice. It furnishes the true canella bark of...
The caper plant, a native of the South of Europe and of the Mediterranean regions. The commercial product consists of the flower-buds, and sometimes the unripe fruits, pickled in vinegar. The wood and...
A meliaceous plant, native of tropical America, where it grows to a height of 60 to 80 feet. The bark of this tree possesses febrifugal properties and is also used for tanning. By pressure, the seeds...
This is the South American papaw tree, but is cultivated in most tropical countries. It is also known as the melon-apple. The fruit is of a dingy orange-color, of an oblong form, about 8 to 10 inches...
A pandanaceous plant from Panama and southward. Panama hats are made from the leaves of this plant. The leaves are cut when young, and the stiff parallel veins removed, after which they are slit into...
On the river banks of Guiana this grows to a large-sized tree. It yields the butter-nuts, or souari-nuts of commerce. These are of a flattened kidney shape, with a hard woody shell of a reddish-brown...
This myrtaceous plant produces the well-known spice called cloves. It forms a beautiful evergreen, rising from 20 to 30 feet in height. The cloves of commerce are the unexpanded flower-buds; they are...
This fine palm is a native of Ceylon, and is also found in other parts of India, where it supplies the native population with various important articles. Large quantities of toddy, or palm-wine, are p...
A Mexican plant, belonging to the orange family, with a fruit about the size of an ordinary orange, which has an agreeable taste, but is not considered to be wholesome. The seeds are poisonous; the ba...
The cassias belong to the leguminous family. The leaflets of this and some other species produce the well-known drug called senna. That known as Alexandria senna is produced by the above. East Indian...
This is a Mexican tree, which yields a milky juice, forming caoutchouc, but is not collected for commerce except in a limited way.