In order to make paper, it is soaked for three or four hours in water; after which the external skin, and the green internal coat, are scraped off, and the strongest and firmest pieces are selected; the produce of the younger shoots being of an inferior quality. If any very old portions present themselves, they are, on the other hand, rejected as too coarse. All knotty parts, and every thing which might impair the beauty of the paper, are also removed. The chosen bark is boiled in a lixivium till its downy fibres can be separated by a touch of the finger. The pulp so produced is then agitated in water till it resembles tufts of tow. If not sufficiently boiled, the paper will be coarse, though strong; if too much, it will be white, indeed, but deficient in strength and solidity. Upon the various degrees and modes of washing the pulp, much also depends as to the quality and beauty of the paper. Mucilage obtained from boiling rice, or from a root called oreni (Kampf., 474.), one of the mallow tribe, is afterwards added to the pulp. The paper is finished much after the European mode, except that stalks of rushes are used instead of brass wires." (Pen. Cyc., art. Broussonètia) The India or Chinese paper used for taking proofs of engravings is thus made. In Otaheite, the bark of this tree is made into dresses. Plants are readily propagated by layers, suckers, or cuttings of the root.

Statistics. In the environs of London, the largest plant we know of is in the Botanic Garden at Kew, where it is 20 ft. high. In Berkshire, at White Knights, 25 years planted, it is 23 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 94 in., and of the head 20 ft. by 13 ft. In Cheshire, at Eaton Hall, 10 years planted, it is 8 ft. high; diameter of the trunk 3 in., and of the head 7 ft. In Oxfordshire, in the Oxford Botanic Garden, 14 years planted, it is 25 ft. high; diameter of the trunk 4 in., and of the head 15 ft. In Worcestershire, at Croome, 40 years old, it is 20 ft. high; diameter of the trunk 12 in. In Scotland, in Perthshire, at Kinfauns Castle, 8 years planted, it is 5ft. high. In France, at Villers le Bacle, 10 years planted, it is 25 ft. high. In the Botanic Garden, Toulon, 20 years planted, it is 25 ft. high; and the diameter of the trunk is 1 ft. 2 in.'; at Nantes, in the nursery of M. De Nerrières, 30 years planted, it is 25 ft. high in the Botanic Garden at Avranches, 40 years planted, it is 40 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 74 in., and of the head S0 ft. In Austria, at Vienna, in the University Botanic Garden, 20 years planted, it is 22 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 10 ft. at Laxenburg, 20 years planted, it is 14 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 4 in., and of the head 6 ft.: at Hadersdorf, 6 years planted, it is 14 ft. high. In Italy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 40 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of the head 20 ft.

Commercial Statistics. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 1s 6d. to 2s. 6d. each; at Bollwyller, 1 franc each; and at New York, the male plant 50 cents each, and the female plant 75 cents.

GENUS III.

7

MACLU`RA Nutt. THE MACLURA. Lin. Syst. Dio'cia Tetrándria. Identification. Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Plants, 2. p. 233.; Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot., p. 178. Synonyme. Toxylon Rafinesque in 1817, Gard. Mag., vol. viii. p. 247.

Derivation. Named, by Nuttall, in honour of William Maclure, Esq., of the United States; an emi. nent natural philosopher.

1. M. AURANTIACA Nutt. The orange-like-fruited Maclura, or Osage

Orange.

Identification. Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Pl., 2. p. 234.

Synonymes. Bow-wood, Yellow Wood, N. Amer.

The Sexes. Both male and female plants are in the Horticultural Society's Garden, and in the Hackney arboretum.

Engravings. Appendix to Lambert's Monog. on the Genus Pinus, 2. p. 32. ; and our fig. 1226., in which a is the female flower, and b the male.

Description, &c. The maclura is a deciduous widely spreading tree, with spiny branches, growing to the height of about 30 ft., on the banks of the Red River; or, according to Nuttall, of 60 ft., in the Arkansas. The leaves are ovate acuminate, of a bright shining green, broad, with a cuspidate point, 3 in. or 3 in. long, and about 2 in. broad. The petiole is often 1 in. long. The spines are simple, rather strong, about 1 in. in length, and produced in the axils of the leaves. The flowers are inconspicuous, and nearly green, with a slight tinge of yellow. The fruit, which in size and general appearance, at a distance, resembles a large Seville orange, consists of radiating, somewhat

woody fibres, terminating in a tuberculated surface, and contains numerous seeds (or nuts, as they are botanically termed), and a considerable quantity o sweetish milky fluid, which, when exposed to the action of the air, coagulates like milk. The sap of the young wood and leaves is also milky, and soon dries on exposure to the air. It is insoluble in water, and contains a large proportion of caoutchouc. This tree is found on the banks of the Red River, and in deep and fertile soil in the adjacent valley. The Arkansa appears to form its northern boundary. It was first introduced into the gardens of St. Louis, on the Mississippi, from a village of the Osage Indians; whence it obtained its popular name of the Osage orange. It was afterwards planted in the nursery of Mr. M'Mahon at Philadelphia, whose widow now carries on the business, and still possesses the original tree. About 1818, seeds were sent to England by M. Correa de Serra (See Gard. Mag., i. p. 356.); and, subsequently, plants of both sexes were imported by the London nurserymen.

1226

Properties and Uses. The fruit, when ripe, is of a golden colour, and on the tree has a splendid appearance; but, though eatable, it does not appear to be any where used for human food. M. Le Roy, nurseryman at Angers, informed us, in June, 1836, that he had tasted some of the fruit which had ripened at Lyons; and that it was scarcely so good as that of the Arbutus Unedo. Fruit has also been ripened at Clairvaux, near Chatellerault (Recueil Indust., 2d ser., tom. ii. 1836, p. 50.); and at Montpelier. (See Algemeine GartenZeitung, Nos. 36. and 37., for September, 1836.) An Osage orange sent to us by Dr. Mease of Philadelphia, from Mrs. M'Mahon's Nursery, in Jan. 1830, (of which fig. 1227. is a view, and fig. 1228. a section; both of the natural

size;) measured 9 in. round one way, and 94 in. the other. It weighed 15 oz. when gathered. The colour was of a greenish yellow, and the taste insipid,

but slightly acid. It did not appear half ripe when we received it; and it decayed without coming to maturity. We have since, at different times, received two other fruits, also from Dr. Mease; but perceived no difference between them and the one figured above. The seeds in the fruit last received appearing full, we distributed them; and young plants have been raised from them by M. Vilmorin of Paris; Mr. Gordon of the London Horticultural Society's arboretum; Mr. Campbell of the Botanic Garden, Manchester; and others. Mr. R. Buist, in the American Gardener's Magazine, vol. ii. p. 77., states that there are four trees in Mrs. M'Mahon's Nursery, Philadelphia, which were among the first introduced into that part of America. They are planted two and two, each pair being about 400 ft. apart. In 1831, it was discovered that one of these trees produced larger fruit than the others, and that this fruit contained perfect seeds. Two of the other trees produced smaller fruit, but the seeds they contained were abortive; while one of the trees was entirely barren. The next year, it was discovered that the barren tree was the male plant; and that the tree which produced perfect seeds was the fertile plant, which stood by its side. The wood is of a bright yellow colour, uncommonly finegrained, and elastic; and, on account of the latter property, it is used by all the southern tribes of American Indians for bows. It is said to be extremely durable, and capable of receiving the finest polish. It resembles the wood of the Maclura tinctòria, or fustick tree (a stove plant, a native of the West Indies), in affording a yellow dye. The tree is said by the Americans to be very ornamental, not only from its general form, its shining foliage, and its golden orange-like fruit, but on account of its retaining its leaves longer than any other deciduous tree. The branches being thorny, it has been proposed by some to employ it as a hedge plant, and by others as a stock to the mulberry; and it has been suggested that it might prove a valuable substitute for, or auxiliary to, the M. a. multicaúlis, as food for the silkworm. A memorial to the latter effect, it is said, has lately been presented to the French Institute. (See Amer. Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 400.) M. Bonafous, visiting the Botanic Garden at Montpelier, in 1835, and observing the luxuriance with which the maclura grew there, had a number of the leaves gathered, and tried to feed silkworms with them, in the same way as is done with those of the mulberry. He gave the leaves of the maclura to 18 silkworms, as their only food, and they produced very beautiful cocoons; but it is not stated how these cocoons turned out when they were reeled. A second experiment was made in 1836, by M. Raffeneau De Lile, director of the Montpelier Garden, by giving 50 silkworms the leaves of the maclura only during the latter part of their existence. The worms were not fed on the maclura till the 19th of May, when they cast their second skins. These worms never seemed to eat the leaves greedily; but they increased in size as much as those that were fed on the

:

leaves of the mulberry. In the course of feeding, 15 silkworms wandered away or died; and, during the time of spinning, 20 more died, the latter becoming black, rotten, and reduced to a liquid. The cocoons were not ready till some days after those of the worms fed on mulberry leaves only 5 of them were quite perfect, but several others were tolerably so; and from all these the silk was reeled easily, and was of excellent quality. Other experiments have been tried in Italy, but with still less favourable results. (Otto's Garten Zeitung, vol. iii. p. 292.) The tree is perfectly hardy about Philadelphia, and also in the climate of London; where, when cut down after having been two or three years established, it throws up shoots 6 ft. or 8 ft. in length, and nearly in. in diameter, with fine, broad, shining, succulent leaves. Hitherto it has had no proper trial as a standard in England, having been originally considered tender, and planted against a wall; but we have no doubt it will, in time, become a valuable timber tree of the second rank. It is propagated with the greatest ease by cuttings of the roots, or by layers; and it will grow in any common soil.

Statistics. In the environs of London, the largest plant, as a standard, is a female tree in the Hammersmith Nursery, which is nearly 16 ft. high. In our garden at Bayswater, a female plant, against a wall, is about the same height. At Kew, one against a wall is 12 ft. high. In Staffordshire, at Blithefield, in 1834, it was 6 ft. high against a wall. In France, in the Jardin des Plantes, 10 years planted, it is 18 ft. high; in the nursery of M. Sidy, at Lyons, where it has fruited, it is 25 ft. high; at Villers la Bacle, 8 years planted, it is 15 ft. high; in the Botanic Garden at Toulon, 5 years planted, it is 12 ft. high. In Austria, at Brück on the Leytha, 10 years planted, it is 6 ft high. In Italy, at Monza, the female tree, 6 years planted, was, in 1835, 16 ft. high, and fruited for the first time. In North America, at Philadelphia, the four largest trees are those mentioned as in Mrs. M'Mahon's Nursery; and there are also large trees in Landreth's Nursery, which, in 1831, "were full of fruit." In Virginia, at Beaverdam, a female tree, with a globular head, yielded, in 1835, 150 fruit, many of which weighed 18 oz. or 19 oz. each. Amer. Gard. Mag., 2. p. 9.)

Commercial Statistics. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 2s. each; at New York, female plants are 1 dollar, and male plants 2 dollars, each.

GENUS IV.

FICUS Tourn. THE FIG TREE. Lin. Syst. Polygàmia Dice'cia.

Identification. Tourn.; T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Pl. Fl. Germ., fasc. 3. No. 6.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 1131.; Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot., p. 178.

Synonymes. Figuier, Fr.; Feigenbaum, Ger.

Derivation. Some derive Ficus from fœcundus, on account of its abundant bearing; and others from sukos (Greek), or fag (Hebrew), the names for the fig tree in those languages. The fig tree has nearly the same name in all the European languages.

Description, &c. The species are all trees, natives of warm climates, and remarkable, in a popular point of view, for having their flowers concealed by the fleshy receptacle known as the fruit. The sycamore of Scripture (Fìcus Sycómorus L.) is a species of fig, a native of Egypt, where it is a timber tree exceeding the middle size, and bearing edible fruit. A large tree of this species is figured in the Picture Bible, vol. ii. p. 181. The only species which will endure the open air in Britain is the F. Cárica, or common garden fig. These two species are the only ones which produce eatable fruit. It is mentioned in the Nouveau Du Hamel, that the receptacle which forms the fruit of the fig is not always entire and connivent; but that there are some few sorts in which the fruit constantly opens when it approaches maturity; dividing ordinarily into four parts, which expand like the petals of a flower, to such an extent, that each division becomes perpendicular to the peduncle. The varieties which exhibit this singularity are called the Barnissotes and the Verdales. (N. Du Ham., tom. iv. p. 198., note.)

1. F. CARICA L. The common Fig Tree.

Identification. Lin. Sp., 1513.; Willd. Sp., 4. p. 1131.; Lam. Dict., 2.; Mill. Ic., t. 73. p. 489.; N. D Ham., 4. p. 198.

Synonymes. F. commanis Bauh. Pin., 457.; F. hùmilis and F. sylvéstris Tourn. Inst., 663.; Figuier commun, Fr.; Gemeine Feigenbaum, Ger.

Engravings. Mill. Ic., t. 73.; Lam. Ill., t. 861.; N. Du Ham., t. 55. ; and the plate of this tree in our last Volume.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves palmate and subtrilobate; rough above, pubescent beneath. (Willd.) A low deciduous tree, a native of the East, cultivated in Britain from time immemorial; and ripening its fruit against walls, in the climate of London, in the month of September.

Varieties. Botanically, the common fig may be considered as existing in three different states:-1. Wild, in which the leaves are comparatively small, and not much cut; and the fruit small, and sometimes blue and sometimes white. 2. Cultivated, with very large leaves, very deeply cut, such as the blue Ischia and the Brunswick fig, and other sorts; the fruit of some of which is white, and of others dark. 3. Cultivated, with very large leaves, not much cut, as the white Marseilles fig, and others with fruit of different colours. Those who are disposed to go farther may form three subvarieties under each of these heads, according as the fruit is blue or black, red or purple, or yellow, white, or green.

Garden Varieties. These are very numerous. In the Nouveau Du Hamel, a selection of 36 choice sorts is given, and several of them figured. In the Horticultural Society's Fruit Catalogue for 1831, 89 sorts are enumerated, independently of synonymes. In the Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, a selection of 22 sorts is given for a large garden; and also selections for smaller gardens. For an arboretum in the climate of London, and to be treated as standards, we would recommend the wild fig (which has the leaves generally entire, and of which there is a standard tree in the Twickenham Botanic Garden), the white Marseilles, the Brunswick, and the small brown Ischia. The latter will, in very fine seasons, and in warm situations in the climate of London, ripen a few fruit on a standard in the open air.

Description, &c. The common fig is a low, deciduous tree, rarely exceeding 20 ft. in height as a standard, even in the south of Europe; with large deeply lobed leaves, rough on the upper surface, and pubescent beneath. The branches are clothed with short hairs, and the bark of the trunk is greenish. The fig is a native of the west of Asia and the shores of the Mediterranean, both in Europe and Africa. In no country is it found in elevated situations, or at a distance from the sea. Hence its abundance in the islands of the Archipelago, and on the shores of the adjoining continents. It has been cultivated from time immemorial; and, indeed, the fig was said to have been the first fruit eaten by man. In the Bible, we read frequently of the fig tree, both in the Old and New Testament. Among the Greeks, we find, by the laws of Lycurgus, that figs formed a part of the ordinary food of the Spartans. The Athenians were so choice of their figs, that they did not allow them to be exported; and the informers against those who broke this law, being called sukophantai, from two Greek words, signifying the discoverers of figs, gave rise to our modern word sycophant. The fig tree under which Romulus and Remus were suckled, and the basket of figs in which the asp was conveyed to Cleopatra, are examples familiar to every one of the frequency of the allusions to this tree in ancient history. At Rome, the fig was carried next to the vine in the processions of Bacchus, who was supposed to have derived his corpulency and vigour from this fruit, and not from the grape. Pliny, also, recommends figs as being nutritive and restorative; and it appears from him, and other ancient writers, that they were given to professed champions and wrestlers, to refresh and strengthen them. Pliny mentions six different kinds of fig, enumerating the peculiar qualities of each.

The first fig trees planted in England are said to have been brought from Italy in 1548, in the reign of Henry VIII., by Cardinal Pole, and placed by him against the walls of the archiepiscopal palace at Lambeth. In Miller's time, these two trees covered a surface of 50 ft. in height, and 40 ft. in breadth; and the diameter of the trunk of one tree was 94 in., and of the other 71⁄2 in. These trees were much injured by the severe winter of 1813-14; but the main stems being cut down, they recovered, so as in 1817 to be in tolerable