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.
An East Indian tree, bearing a fruit which is used in curries and for making jellies. Its slightly acid juice, sweetened with sugar, forms a cooling beverage. The wood is very tough, and is used for m...
A Mexican plant, bearing large seeds containing a quantity of starch, which is separated and used as arrowroot.
An East Indian tree which in part yields the black ebony wood of commerce, much used in fancy cabinetwork and turnery, door knobs, pianoforte keys, etc.
The Chinese date plum or persimmon. The fruits vary in size from that of a medium-sized apple to that of a large pear; they also vary much in their flavor and consistency, some being firm, and others...
This leguminous plant yields the fragrant seed known as Tonka bean, used in scenting snuff and for other purposes of perfumery. The odor resembles that of new-mown hay, and is due to the presence of _...
A plant from tropical America, the roots of which are used in medicine under the name of Contrayerva root.
The Dragon's Blood tree of Teneriffe. This liliaceous plant attains a great age and enormous size. The resin obtained from this tree has been found in the sepulchral caves of the Cuanches, and hence i...
Ti or cabbage tree of New Zealand. The whole of this plant is fibrous and has been used for paper making. The juice of the roots and stem contains a small amount of sugar and has been used for produci...
This plant belongs to the magnolia family and furnishes the aromatic tonic known as Winter's bark. It is a native of Chili and the Strait of Magalhaens.
A native of the Island of Sumatra. It furnishes a liquid called camphor oil and a crystalline solid known as Sumatra or Borneo camphor. Camphor oil is obtained from incisions in the tree, and has a fr...
The leaves of this Australian plant are chewed by the natives of Central Australia, just as the Peruvians and Chilians masticate the leaves of the _Erythroxylon coca_, to invigorate themselves during...
A common tree in the Malayan Islands, where its fruit forms a great part of the food of the natives. It is said to have a most delicious flavor combined with a most offensive odor, but when once the r...