Areca nut

“ Here, as elsewhere in Indonesia, the people chew areca nut, and those sanguinary blotches are only the spittle of a multitude. Presently you will get almost used to it. In any case, the Malays, men and women, will go on smearing sireh leaves with a little lime, put in some areca nut, and some rose petals or other aromatic herb, leisurely chew their packets, and change the sensitive mouths of their youth into the semblance of an accident.
No port in the Indies has much to show that is more interesting than its fish market. ”

“ The Areca Palm is known in Hindostan as Supyari, and in Japan as Jambi. The Hindus adorn their gods with these Nuts, and forbid respectable women to deck either their heads or bosoms with them. According to Indian tradition, Devadamani, subduer of the gods, once appeared at the court of King Vikramâditya, to play with him, clothed in a robe the colour of the sky, having in his hand and in his mouth an Areca Nut enveloped in a leaf of the Kalpa-tree. This probably explains the Indian custom of presenting an Areca Nut to guests, which is eaten with the leaf of the Betel. ”

“ The nut itself is enveloped in a fibrous shell, like the cocoa-nut. In Europe a favourite dentifrice is prepared from the areca-nut.
Buyo (Piper betle) (Tagálog, Igmô) , is cultivated with much care in every province, as its leaf, when coated with lime made from [304] oyster-shells and folded up, is used to coil round the areca-nut, the whole forming the buyo (betel) , which the natives of these Islands, as in British India, are in the habit of chewing. To the chew a quid of tobacco is sometimes added. A native can go a great number of hours without food if he has his betel ”

“ We found the areca trees planted in rows, and growing to the height of some forty feet, with straight, branchless trunks, terminated at the top with ten or twelve pinnated leaves, each of which is full five feet long. The fruit grows in clusters immediately below the tuft of leaves. The outer shell is of a bright [pg 201] golden hue, that gradually deepens to crimson as the fruit matures, and when opened shows a brown, astringent nut about the size of a nutmeg. ”

“ The areca is a palm of great elegance; it rises to a height of about eighty feet, and a rich feathery crest adorns the summit. This is the most delicate stem of all the palm tribe; that of a tree of eighty feet in length would not exceed five inches in diameter. Nevertheless, I have never seen an areca palm overturned by a storm; they bow gracefully to the wind, and the extreme elasticity of the wood secures them from destruction.
This tree produces the commonly-called "betel-nut," but more properly the areca-nut. ”

“ The tobacco is allowed to remain in position for a long time, but it is not chewed. The custom of areca-nut chewing has been so often described that I will only remind the reader that the nut is the produce of a graceful and slender palm, which flourishes under cultivation in all Malayan countries and is called by Malays pinang. ”

“ The Madras Presidency largely trades in the same commodity. In the year 1872-1873 there were shipped thence to Bombay 43,958 cwt., besides about two millions of the entire fruit. [2504] An extensive traffic in areca nuts is carried on at Singapore and especially in Sumatra.
Uses—Powdered areca nut may be given for the expulsion of tapeworm in the dose of 4 to 6 drachms, taken in milk. The remedy should be administered to the patient after a fast of about twelve hours; some recommend the previous exhibition of a purgative. It is said to be efficacious against lumbricus as well as tænia. ”

“ Pimahi-ěun, wherewithall; sufficient for any purpose. Competency.
Pinang, the Areca nut palm. Areca Catechu. The Areca nut or Betle nut is in universal daily use among the natives for chewing with sěurěuh. This palm is slenderer in the stem than the cocoa nut tree, and is very graceful.
Pinang réndé, name of a dwarf Areca nut tree, Areca Pumila. Réndah is Malay for lowly, humble, but is not used separately in Sunda, in which language even the original word Réndah has been corrupted into Réndé. ”

“ By incinerating the powdered seeds, 2·26 per cent. were obtained of a brown ash, which, besides peroxide of iron, contained phosphate of magnesium.
Commerce—Areca nuts are sold in India both in the husk (pericarp) and without it, and the two sorts are enumerated in the Customs Returns under distinct heads. Their widespread consumption in the East gives rise to an enormous trade, of which some notion may be formed by a consideration of the few statistics bearing upon it which are accessible.
Thus, Ceylon exported of areca nuts in the year 1871, 66,543 cwt., value £62,593 ”

“ In this region, also ground acorns are made into bread with cereal flours and in this form is a common food. The hazel or filbert nut is also seen in the form of flour on the shores of the Black Sea. Races living in the tropics have utilized the many varieties of nuts indigenous to tropical climes such as the coconut, Brazil nuts, Java almond, Paradise nut, candle nut and African cream nut. In the Orient, the lichi, ginko and water chestnut, and in Italy and India the varieties of the pine nut are used to considerable extent. ”

“ Of the latter not more than thirty, and usually only twenty, develop into nuts; but a young tree in a good soil will probably bear three hundred and sixty nuts per annum, worth $9. In a walk, however, it is a good tree that is worth $3 per annum.
The trade in green nuts is of course limited; but they usually sell at the rate of two cents apiece. No more delicious drink is found in the tropical fruits than the rich milk of the nut when so green that the shell is easily cut with a knife. When fully ripe, the nuts may be piled in a damp place and left to germinate. ”

“ The shrub in itself has beauty, and it bears nuts sometimes as large as those of the average shagbark hickory. The kernel is of good quality, but the shell is so thick that these nuts are chiefly attractive to squirrels and to men who are out of work. I do not know the origin of the nut which is known in the market as the Barcelona hazel, but I imagine the plants bearing this nut are derived from the Corylus pontica. (Specimens of branches and nuts of various species and varieties of hazels are now passed about in the audience.) ”

“ Cajori's research has also shown the presence of growth-promoting vitamins in abundant quantity in the almond, English walnut, filbert, pine nut, hickory, chestnut and pecan.
That the nut is appreciated as a dainty is attested by the frequency with which it appears as a dessert and the extensive use of various nuts as confections. That nuts do not hold a more prominent place in the national bill of fare as food staples is due chiefly to two causes; first, the popular idea that nuts are highly indigestible, and second, the limited supply. ”

“ The causes that have made the use of certain nuts unprofitable commercially, should be studied with the view of correcting these stumbling blocks. For example, the freeing of the horse-chestnut from its poisonous saponins and enable us to use this starch rich nut as food is well within the range of possibility as indicated by experiments conducted in Austria during the war. Why do nut oils tend to become rancid easily and can this tendency be remedied? Is the freeing of the acorn and its tannin and other objectionable substances a practical consideration? ”

“ Surely there is no doubt in the mind of any member of this association concerning the importance of nut culture in the United States. From the standpoint of food alone, we are more than justified in waging a vigorous campaign for the planting of millions of trees. Who can mention any article of food that is more nutritious, more wholesome, more delicious than any and all of our native nuts as well as many imported species? And what other class of trees even approaches the nut as a dual purpose tree? In fact, as is well known, nut trees have four distinct values ”

“ In other words, an acre of ground covered with chestnut trees in full bearing will furnish food for more than six hundred times as many people as could be supported by the same area devoted to meat production.
As a source of protein and fats the nut is vastly superior to the ox and the pig. The nut is sweeter, cleaner, safer, healthier and cheaper than any possible source of animal products. ”

“ President Morris: The tree has been cut so much for scions that it has never had a fair chance. It is a prolific tree. It is well worthy of propagation. [Pg 87]
Mr. Littlepage: It is, perhaps,—judging from looking at it—a very fine shagbark for commercial purposes. Isn't it true that within the next ten years there will, in all probability, be a complete reversion in the mind of the nut culturist as to the kind and quality of the nut he will propagate. I will supplement that by saying that heretofore, both in the pecan and other nut fields, the whole tendency has been toward something big. ”

“ One mistake we must not make is not to be too sure of the value of a nut because it is large, thin-shelled and has a fine flavor but is a poor cropper. The nut that produces a very heavy crop is the valuable nut. Thus McAllister hican and the Stabler black are worthless because of their extremely thin crop.
Another nut that looks large and excellent on the tree is the Ohio black walnut, whose huge dirty hull and small nut condemns it. I like thin-hulled nuts that come out clean. ”

“ Pierce wrote me a letter after that and said that he didn't know why the Lord permitted trees to grow such nuts until he created a new race of human beings with gizzards in place of stomachs. That is because California men were not used to eating good, rich nuts. We claim for the pecan that it is about the best nut there is. We don't claim the earth but if you people can develop or discover any nut that is better in quality and more tasty and more alluring than the pecan, we shall be mighty glad to have you discover it, and we hope it will be adaptable to the South. ”

“ People have cultivated these nuts more or less intensively for generations, and many of the problems have been worked out, so far as Europe is concerned. Of course, when introduced in America, new problems confronted the growers here. The other type of nut industry is based upon indigenous nuts of which we know little, either from the orchard standpoint or as to the varieties concerned. Our native nuts, particularly the pecan, have forced themselves upon the attention of investigators of the department to much greater extent, perhaps, than any other nut with which we have to deal. ”

“ In the pine trees we have opportunity for combining beauty and utility. As a group they are mountain lovers preferring localities where the air drainage is particularly good, but many of them will grow thriftily and will fruit well on low grounds. Fine nuts range in character from the rich, sugary, oily and highly nitrogenous nut of the Mexican piñon to the more starchy bunya bunya of Australia, as large as a small potato and not much better than a potato, unless it is roasted or boiled. ”

“ Of course, we got a lot of self-pruning and a lot of competition, as we would in forests by the trees growing up and competing with each other and reaching for height and light. Some of them died and some were so badly suppressed that they failed to make any growth at all. But there is one tree that we still have in that orchard that we are proud of, not from the standpoint of nut production, nor does it produce a very good nut as far as the human taste is concerned. But it has made a single stick that far surpasses any other tree we have in the orchard. ”

“ Professor Craig: I think that point is well taken.
President Morris: There is no doubt about that. In that same connection—I would choose nuts for seed purposes of a mean type, for the reason that nature is all the while establishing a mean. The big pecan is a freak. If you plant big or small nuts, you don't get big or small nuts in return. You get both big and little seeking a mean.
Mr. Roper: The large nut will give a better tree. ”

“ Unfortunately, many of the nuts offered in the general trade for seed purposes at the present time are coming from orchards composed of a mixture of species or types comparable to the 1938 Philema planting before culling. This is very undesirable because of the great variability in the nuts produced by trees with such an origin. When grafted or budded trees of the newer and improved varieties are available to orchardists chestnut growing for nut production may be based on the same sound practices as the other fruit industries. ”

“ President Morris: We have got to get away from the idea that we are going to find the best hickory nut or the best walnut or the best nut of any kind in the largest nut. Nature spreads out just so much material in the way of flavor and good quality of a nut, and if it is in a large nut, those good qualities are spread out thin; if it is in a small nut, they are concentrated. ”

“ It bears the nuts when six or eight years old, after which period it is never seen without them; they grow usually six or eight on one stalk, which diverges from the heart of the tree; they are the size of a man’s head, but more conical. The nut, it is well known, when divested of its husk, is exceedingly hard, and requires a hammer to break it, or to be sawed through the middle to procure the nourishment it affords; when young, this consists of a white liquid, which I can compare to nothing better than to milk and water mixed with sugar, and which is an exceedingly cool and agreeable beverage ”