is one of the "Calyciflorals." as formerly. The English now We will also talk of the Orders grow most of their own cocoa from which we get our oranges, in this island." and grapes, and raisins. The COCOA (or Cacao) PLANT. The Spanish word for a sheet is sabana. Thus, if you were to go to the Spanish parts of South America, and were to take a walk in the level tracts of land, you would find them to be called savannahs. Shall I tell you where there are some savannahs? If you go to the north-western part of South America, there is a country called COLUMBIA, which once belonged to Spain. It now consists of three independent republics, named Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador. If you go to Venezuela in particular, and the island of Trinidad, which belongs to the English (you had better look for those places on the map), there you will find low moist savannahs. In these savannahs the cocoa trees grow. L. Will you tell us about Trinidad, for I have seen "FINE TRINIDAD COCOA " on the bills in the grocers' shops? P. Very well. Suppose your self standing in the island of TRINIDAD with an Englishman, an owner of a cocoa plantation. He would say to you, "Sir, we grow plenty of cocoa in Trinidad. Once the greater part of the cocoa used in all parts of the world was grown in Venezuela. It was produced, too, in South Mexico and Guatemala, which you can see are neighbouring countries. But now it is not cultivated there so much Suppose, next, that you accompanied this gentleman to the plantation. As you went, perhaps he would give you some explanations. He might say the name cocoa is properly spelt cacao. The cacao tree is called by Linnæus THEOBROMA, from two Greek words, Theos, a god, and broma, food. Yet, though Linnæus called it "food for the gods," a traveller, in the sixteenth century, said that chocolate was a drink "fitter for a pig than a man." But people agree with Linnæus now, as you will hear soon. L. What does the name chocolate mean, papa? P. The word chocolate is derived from the Mexican word chocolalt. It is a compound word, composed of chacot, sound, and alte, water. When you reached the cocoa plantation with the planter, he would first direct your attention to the soil. "Look, sir," he would say, see what a soft, muddy savannah this is! Cocoa trees particularly require two things, moisture and shade. They so delight in water, that if you do not supply them carefully with it, they do not thrive. They do not require any other attention except that you must clear the grounds from weeds and shrubs. If you let them grow they will in a few years exhaust the soil, and destroy the plantation." If you asked how, in a tropical country like Trinidad, the cocoa trees could be kept in the Here it is. Let us pull it to shade, the planter would soon show you. He would say, "Do pieces. You observe, first, that you observe the rows of cocoa it is small and of a pale red trees? Now, if you notice, colour. There are five deep there are first two rows of cocoa red sepals in the calyx. Now trees, then a row of larger, leafy look at the five petals. What trees, with bright red blossoms. a curious shape they are! In They are placed there to shade their lower part they are broad, the others. Here is one of the and form a sort of gutter; in the larger trees. It is called by the middle they are quite narrow; Spaniards Madre del Cacao, or the points of all five are joined "The mother of the cocoa," be- together. Do you see these cause the cocoa tree is reared un- five points rising above the der the protection of its shadow. petals? (See No. 1 in the Cut.) You would next look at the These are false stamens. We trees themselves. The cocoa will pull off the petals, and get trees are about twenty feet the stamens out. You see now high. Some kinds reach to the that, besides the false stamens, height of thirty or even forty there are five true ones; they feet. The planter would, per- have anthers, but they are haps, point out to you the shorter than the others. They leaves. He would say, "the all form together a tube round tree is covered with fruit, the pistil, and this we will cut flowers, and leaves, all the year open. (See No. in the Cut.) round." The leaves are, you Let us next look at the ovary see, large and oblong. I will and pistil. In these parts the pick you one of the flowers. cacào tree resembles the mallow plants. The ovary has five distinct carpels, each with a separate style and stigma. The ovary is the part which the planter would feel most interested in. When ripe it becomes a large capsule or pod. It is for the sake of this pod that the tree is cultivated. I have brought you one to examine. (See cut at the beginning of the lesson.) The outside is, you see, covered with little round projections. Inside are the seeds; sometimes there are as few as twenty, and sometimes as many as a hundred. The original partitions are obliterated, and the seeds are arranged in rows round a central column. They are imbedded in a pulp, and before the capsule is ripe the soft seeds and pulp are very refreshing; it is said that they are often picked by travellers when they are weary. They are sometimes preserved in sugar, like the young green ginger; they are then nicer. When ripe they are of a fleshcolour; they are then dried and roasted, and they become brown. I need not tell you much about the uses of this plant. In America it is considered as a necessary article of housekeeping. Most families keep it on the house for daily use. When the Spaniards first arrived in that continent, they found that it was extensively cultivated in Mexico. It was even used as money, six seeds being worth a halfpenny, and this use is still partially continued. The seeds are eaten in various ways. Generally, after roasting they are ground into a paste, either with almonds, pepper, arnotta, cinnamon, aniseed, orange-water, sugar, rosewater, vanilla, or other things. There are various ways of preparing it; sometimes it is a solid food; being used as ground and mixed with water it forms a kind of bread. Cocoa and chocolate are used principally in America, France, and Spain, but now between two and three million pounds are used every year in England. It is largely used in ships, as a drink for sailors. But I am forgetting that we are learning Botany. This plant, Theobroma Cacào, is the one most known to us in the Order "Bromacea." The plants are mostly tropical, being found in the West Indies, tropical America, the north and south of Africa, and part of Asia. The bark of the Guazuma (a Mexican name) is used in clarifying sugar, and its pods are filled with a sweet and pleasant mucilage. Indeed, most of these plants contain mucilage, and in this they resemble Order 12, the Malvacea. The wood of the Guazuma is often used by coach-makers, and for casks. It also supplies medicine; a decoction of the inner bark is used by the negroes to cure "elephantiasis." Another plant of the Order supplies us with the Gum Tragacanth, which differs slightly from Gum Arabic; it is used in calico-printing. The plant is a low prickly shrub, growing in the Levant. You may now make a very short summary of the Order. Order 13.-THE COCOA TREE (Parts.) This Order is nearly related to the 12th Order, the Mallows. The flower of the cocoa five false and five true stamens, an tree has five sepals, five petals, ovary with five carpels, having five styles and stigmas. This description applies to most of the plants in the Order. (Place.) They are found in most tropical countries- in America, north and south of Africa, and in Asia. (Varieties and Uses.) The Theobroma Cacào supplies food; the Guazuma supplies wood, medicine, and a sweet mucilage; while from another plant we get the useful article Gum Tragacanth. THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER. SHROPSHIRE. "MY DEAR CHILDREN,"I am still travelling northward, keeping on the borders of Wales. "Did you ever hear of Scrobbes-burg! Burg is the Saxon for town, and Scrobbes, or scrubs, is the Saxon for shrubs. Thus," Scrubbesburg" means "the town of shrubs," which name was given to it on account of the woods in the neighbourhood. In the course of 1,300 or 1,400 years, this name has been "softened down"-Scrobbes has become Shrews, and burgh or borough, bury. I am stopping at SHREWSBURY. "There is a great deal of history belonging to these border counties. I passed over those of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, so we will talk of Shropshire. "This county, with some others, formed one of the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy. Its Saxon name was Myrcnarice, or "the land of the borderers;" this in time was changed into the Latin name Mercia; and was also called the Marches of Wales. "The Saxons of Mercia did not live in peace. The Welsh princes were brave and strong, and continually made incursions, just as the Picts and Scots in the north invaded Northumbria. One of the Mercian kings, named Offa, determined to keep out the Welsh if possible, and he built a high rampart, just as the Romans built the great Northern Wall. In some parts he dug a broad and deep ditch. The whole work was called Offa's Dyke. Very few traces of it remain now. "When ALFRED was king of all England, Scrobbesburg was one of his principal cities. "In the 11th century came WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. He gave Shropshire and the surrounding districts to his cousin, Robert de Montgomery, with all the lands that he might conquer from the Welsh. Scrobbesburg then contained 252 houses; but, in accordance with the feudal system, Robert erected a large castle, and demolished 51 of the houses to clear away a sufficient space. "In the contests of STEPHEN with Matilda, the daughter of Henry I., for his crown, the king besieged Shrewsbury, and took it. "In 1215, the last year of the reign of KING JOHN, the Welsh Prince Llewellyn took the town and castle without resistance. "In the long reign of Henry III. the city was sacked by the Welsh, and the inhabitants put to the sword. "In the reign of EDWARD I. Llewellyn was slain in battle; and Wales was conquered. At Shrewsbury, the Parliament condemned David ap Lllewellyn, to be hanged and quartered. between England and Wales. Wales was then united to For this it is well fitted by its England as a principality for position. Being on a peninsula the king's eldest son. on the great river Severn, "In the reign of HENRY IV. goods can be conveyed by the the celebrated Welshman OWEN river. The Shrewsbury and GLENDWR, and the Earl of Birmingham Railway also gives Northumberland and his son, it means of communication Hotspur Percy, rebelled; they with all parts of England. were defeated in a great battle near Shrewsbury. "At Shrewsbury the odious RICHARD III. executed the Duke of Buckingham without a trial. "The other important towns of Shropshire are Bridgnorth, which is also on the Severn, and also has a trade in Welsh flannels; Oswestry, again, with a trade in Welsh flannels; "When King HENRY VII. was Ellesmere, which is celebrated Duke of Richmond, he was re- for the large lakes in its neighceived by the people of Shrews-bourhood; and Ludlow, which bury, many of whom went forth is noted for its fine castle, and with him to the battle of Bos- woody scenery. worth Field. "But I do not intend to visit "In the reign of CHARLES I. these towns. I have heard of the king and his generals as- a part of the county which is sembled in this city. Soon far more interesting. In the after, the bloody battle of Edge-eastern part of the county, in hill was fought. the valley of the river Severn, "Such are some of the many is a part called COALBROOK pieces of history connected with DALE. Here are found not Shrewsbury and its county. only beds of coal, but abundYou will not, therefore, wonder ance of iron ore. that this county, like the two I "You may remember that I have lately visited, abounded spoke of the long line of iron in castles. Those of Bridg-furnaces of Wales which centre north, Shrewsbury, Ellesmere, in Merthyr Tidvil; they are not and Oswestry, are some of the so celebrated as those of Coalmost important. brook Dale, which you will perceive by the following account: "But Shrewsbury as it is is still interesting. Yesterday was the market-day, and it was a truly busy time. Here were the Welsh ladies in their singular hats, sleepy old Welshmen, and other country people; they were selling and buying flannel from Wales, with thread, linen, and many other things. 66 Shrewsbury has long been the principal mart for trade "THE IRON-WORKS OF COALBROOK DALE, on the banks of the Severn, are the largest in England; iron are begun and finished on one Here all the processes of making spot. This place is a winding glen between two immense hills, which break into various forms, being thickly covered, and forming beautiful streets of hanging-woods. The |