vigour, when Dr. Neill, and the other members of the deputation of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, inspected the archiepiscopal gardens. On our visiting the grounds, however, in September, 1836, we found that the trees had been destroyed some years before, when the palace was undergoing repair; and that the only traces left of them were some young plants raised from cuttings, which are now growing in the archbishop's kitchen-garden. At Mitcham, in the garden of the Manor House, formerly the private estate of Archbishop Cranmer, there was, in Miller's time, the remains of a white fig tree, confidently asserted to have been planted by Cranmer himself; but it was destroyed in 1790. Its stem, some years before, was 10 in. in diameter; but its branches were very low and weak. In the Dean's garden at Winchester, there existed, in 1757, a fig tree protected by a wooden frame, supposed to be of very great age. On the stone wall to which it was trained there were several inscriptions, one of which bore testimony that, in 1623, James I. “ tasted of the fruit of this tree with great pleasure." Miller says that it was suffered to perish for want of necessary repairs to the framework. A fig tree brought from Aleppo by Dr. Pococke, and which was planted by him, in 1648, in the garden of the regius professor of Hebrew in Christ-Church, Oxford, seems to be the only ancient fig tree on record still existing in Britain. Some of the figs produced by this tree were exhibited at a meeting of the London Horticultural Society, in August, 1819; and others gained a prize, as the best white figs, at a meeting of the Oxford and Oxfordshire Horticultural Society, in August, 1833. An account of this tree, by Mr. Baxter, curator of the Oxford Botanic Garden, will be found in the London Horticultural Society's Transactions, vol. iii. p. 433. ; from which it appears that, in 1806, Dr. White, then professor of Hebrew in Christ-Church, caused an engraving to be made of the tree. It was at that time 21 ft. high, and the trunk measured 3 ft. 6 in. in circumference at its upper part. The tree, when we saw it in 1833, contained but very slight remains of the old trunk; but it had thrown out a number of branches, perhaps at that time of 20 or 30 years' growth, and some of which were upwards of 25 ft. in length. (See Gard. Mag., vol. x. p. 105.) The fig tree, though introduced so early, appears for a long time not to have been extensively cultivated in England. Professor Burnet thinks that this was owing to a popular prejudice, the fig having been once a common vehicle for poison: a singular contrast to the ideas expressed in the Bible respecting this fruit; the best blessing of heaven being typified by every man sitting under his own fig tree. In France, the culture of the fig tree was not carried to any degree of perfection till the time of Olivier De Serres; but it is now general throughout the whole country. In the south of France, figs are grown for drying as an article of commerce, but in the northern provinces they are only used for the table. In the East, as well as in Italy and Spain, figs form a principal article of sustenance for the population, and a considerable article of commerce. According to M'Culloch, the importation into Britain is about 20,000 cwt., notwithstanding that every cwt. pays a duty of 21s., which exceeds 100 per cent upon the price of the figs in bond. If this duty were reduced, he says, to 8s. or 10s. the cwt., it may very fairly be concluded that the quantity imported would very soon be trebled, or more. In Britain, the fig is in general cultivation in first-rate gardens; usually against walls; but in some parts of the southern counties, as along the coast of Sussex, and in Devonshire, &c., as standards. In Scotland, it is never seen as a standard; but it ripens its fruit against a south wall, without the aid of fire heat, in some parts of East Lothian, and in Wigtonshire; and against a flued wall, even in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. The largest fig tree against a wall which we have seen in England is at Farnham Castle, where, in 25 years, it has reached the height of 40 ft. against the walls of the castle. The largest standard fig trees that we have seen are at Arundel Castle, where they are upwards of 25 ft. high, with trunks 1 ft. in diameter. At Tarring, and at one or two other places near Brighton, fig trees are grown as standards, and produce abundant crops; though the fruit is inferior in flavour to that ripened against walls, except in very fine seasons. Properties und Uses. The fig is cultivated almost entirely for its fruit. Its wood, which is extremely light and tender, is used, in France, for making whetstones, from its facility in receiving and retaining the emery and the oil that are employed to sharpen smiths' tools. The soft wood is white, and the heart-wood yellow. It loses a great deal in weight by drying; but it acquires by that process so much strength and elasticity, that the screws of wine-presses are made of it. When used as fuel, it does not give a very intense heat; but its charcoal has the valuable property of consuming very slowly. The fruit is esteemed demulcent and laxative; and it has been long used in domestic medicine as a poultice. King Hezekiah's boil was cured by a lump or poultice of figs, applied according to the directions of Isaiah, and which, Professor Burnet observes, is the first poultice that we read of in history. In the Canaries, in Portugal, and in the Greek Archipelago, a kind of brandy is distilled from fermented figs. The leaves and bark of the fig tree abound in a milky acrid juice, which may be used as rennet, for raising blisters, and for destroying warts. This milky juice containing caoutchouc, Indian rubber might consequently be made from the common fig tree in England, if it were thought desirable; and, on account of the same property, the very tenderest of the young leaves might be given to the larva of the silkmoth. All the species of the genus Ficus, and also of the allied genus Cárica, are said to have the singular property of rendering raw meat tender when hung beneath their shade. On what chemical principle this is to be accounted for, we are ignorant, but the fact seems undoubted. As a fruit tree, the fig is valuable for thriving and ripening fruit in situations not favourable in regard to light, air, or soil; such as against walls in court-yards, against the walls of houses in crowded cities, on the back-walls of green-houses and forcing-houses, comparatively in the shade, &c. It also bears better than any other fruit tree whatever, in pots; and, with abundance of liquid manure and heat, will produce, in a stove, three, and sometimes even four, crops in the course of a year. Culture and Management of the Fig in Countries where it is grown as an Article of Commerce. In France, more particularly about Marseilles, when a fig plantation is to be formed, an open situation is made choice of near the sea, and exposed to the south and the east. The ground is trenched 2 ft. or 3 ft. deep, and richly manured; and the trees are planted in squares, or in quincunx, at from 12 ft. to 15 ft. distance from each other. The plants are watered frequently during the first summer, and left without any pruning whatever; but in the winter of the second year they are cut down to the ground. The third year, they throw up vigorous shoots, five or six of which are retained to form a bush; and in the following, or fourth, year the tree is suffered to ripen fruit. In some cases, the trees are trained to single stems; and this is generally the case in Italy and Greece, where the climate is milder, and the tree attains a larger size than in France. In the future management of the trees, they require very little pruning, except when they get too much crowded with branches. They seldom suffer from insects; but always more or less, during very hot summers, from the want of water, which they require in abundance, on account of the excessive transpiration which takes place from their large leaves and very porous bark, which has but a very slight epidermis. Hence, in seasons of very great drought, the branches are sometimes completely burnt up. Severe frost has the same effect on the branches in winter, even at Marseilles, as extreme drought has in summer. In the south of France, and in all countries which may properly be called fig climates, two crops are produced in a year: the first is from the old wood, and corresponds with our crops in England; and the second from the wood of the current year, the figs produced by which, in this country, are never ripened except in hot-houses. In Greece and Egypt a third crop is sometimes produced. The first crop is ripened, in the south of France and in Italy, in May; and the second crop in September. Those which are to be dried are left on the tree till they are dead ripe, which is known by a drop of sweet liquid which appears hanging from the eye. The figs, being gathered, are placed on wicker hurdles, in a dry airy shed; and, when the dew is off, every morning they are exposed to the sun during the hottest part of the day. To facilitate the progress of drying, the figs are occasionally flattened with the hand; and, in moist dull weather, they are placed in rooms warmed by stoves. When thoroughly dried, they are packed in rush baskets, or in boxes, in layers, alternately with long straw and laurel leaves, and in this state they are sold to the merchants. In some parts of the south of France, figs are prepared by dipping them in hot lye made from the ashes of the fig tree, and then dried; the use of lye being to harden their skins. The white figs are preferred for the market, the violet kind being retained in the country for the use of the inhabitants; and forming in Greece, with barley bread, their principal food for a great part of the year. Fowls are remarkably fond of figs; and, where they are abundant, as in the department of the Var in France, and in the islands of the Archipelago, they are given to horses, mules, and oxen, with a view to strengthen and bring them into good condition, or to fatten them. Culture and Management of the Fig in the North of France. Except in the gardens of private persons, where the fig is generally trained against walls, as in England, there are only two or three places where it is grown for its fruit as a standard; and the principal of these is at Argenteuil, in the neighbourhood of Paris. We visited the fig gardens there in 1828; and an account of them, at length, will be found in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. vii. p. 262. The fig trees are kept as low bushes, and the shoots are never allowed to attain more than three or four years' growth; because it is necessary to bend them down to the ground, and retain them there, by means of stakes, or stones, or a mass of soil, to protect them from the drying effects of the frost. It is observed in the Nouveau Cours d'Agriculture, that the figs at Argenteuil are never brought to such a degree of perfection as to please the palates of those who have been accustomed to the figs of Marseilles. They are, says the writer, always either insipid or half rotten; and, even to bring them to this state, it is necessary to pinch off the points of the shoots, in the same way as is done with the vine when early grapes are wanted; or with the pea, to accelerate the maturity of the pods. An additional process is requisite in cold seasons, and at the latter end of every season; and that is, the inserting of a small drop of oil, by means of a straw, into the eye of the fruit; which has the effect of destroying the vital principle, and causing the fig to part readily from the shoot, like ripe fruit; after which it soon begins to decay. Caprification. This process, which we shall hereafter describe, and which has been in use for an unknown length of time in the Levant, was first mentioned by Tournefort; and, though it is laughed at by many of the French physiologists of the present day, we cannot help thinking that it must be of some important use. It is alleged by Bosc that it has no other object than that of hastening the maturity of the crop; but others are of opinion that, by insuring the fecundation of the stigma, it tends to increase the size of the fruit, and, by filling it with mature seeds, to render it more nourishing. Olivier, the botanical traveller, asserts that, after a long residence in the islands of the Archipelago, he is convinced of the inutility of the practice; and Bosc, though he allows that it may hasten the maturity of the figs, as the larva of the pyrale pommonelle hastens the maturity of the apple in France, yet believes that it has no effect in improving either the size or the flavour of the fruit. M. Bernard, the author of a Mémoire sur le Figuier, and of the article on that tree in the Nouveau Du Hamel, goes farther, and asserts that the figs which have undergone the process of caprification are inferior to others in size, flavour, and the property of keeping. In Egypt, where the sycamore fig is the prevailing species, an operation is performed on the fruit, which is said to answer the purpose of caprification, as far as respects early ripening. When the fruit is a third part of its size, a slice is cut off the end of it, of a sufficient depth to remove all the stamens, which have not by this time matured their fertilising dust. The wound is immediately covered with sap, which thickens, and forms a mass that excludes the air from the interior of the fruit; and the consequence is, that it ripens, or becomes ready to drop off, in half the time usually taken by nature, without losing any of its size or of its flavour. This process, Bosc observes, deserves a trial in France. The Process of Caprification is described by Tournefort; and his description differs very little from that given by Pliny. It consists in inducing a certain species of insect of the gnat kind, which abounds on the wild fig, to enter the fruit of the cultivated fig, for the purpose of fecundating the fertile flowers in the interior of the fruit by the farina of the barren ones near its orifice. The details will be found given at length in Rees's Cyclopædia; under the word Caprification in Martyn's Miller; and in the Encyclopedia of Geography. Propagation and Culture. The fig is easily propagated by cuttings of the shoots or roots, not one of which will fail; and also by suckers, layers, and seeds. In British nurseries, it is generally propagated by layers; though these do not ripen their wood, the first season, so well as cuttings. When the fig is to be planted as a standard tree, constant attention must be paid to remove all suckers from its collar, and all side shoots from its stem. When trained against a wall in a `cold climate, the branches should proceed from a single stem, and not from the collar, as is generally the case; because the plant, when so treated, produces shoots which are less vigorous, and, consequently, more likely to ripen their wood. Insects, Accidents, and Diseases. The fig, in hot countries, and in dry seasons, especially when at a distance from the sea, is apt to have its leaves and fruit scorched and shriveled up by the sun. It is scarcely subject to any diseases; but it is liable to the attacks of the cochineal, the kermes, and psylla. In British gardens, it is very seldom injured by insects in the open air; but it is very liable to the attacks of the red spider, the coccus, and the honey-dew, under glass. Abundance of water, and a moist atmosphere, like that of its indigenous habitat, the sea shore, are perhaps the best preventives. Statistics. The largest standard fig trees that we know of in the neighbourhood of London are at Syon, Chiswick, and in the Mile End Nursery, where they are about 15 ft. high. In Sussex, at Arundel Castle, there are several standard trees in the old garden, 25;ft. high; at Tarring, near Worthing, in the largest fig garden, there are 70 standard trees, from 12 ft. to 15 ft. high. At Blackdown House, near Haslemere, there are some fine old standard fig trees, which ripen fruit every year In France, in the neighbourhood of Nantes, the tree, as a standard, seldom exceeds 18 ft. in height : at Avignon it attains the height of 20 ft. or 25 ft.; and, in 1819, we observed some very fine specimens in the garden of the Military Hospital there. In Italy, at Monza, a tree, 60 years old, is 30 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk 14 ft., and of the head 60 ft. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 1s. 6d. to 5s. each, according to the variety; at Bollwyller, 2 francs each; and at New York, from 50 cents to 1 dollar. GENUS V. BO`RYA W. THE BORYA. Lin. Syst. Dice`cia Di-Triándria. Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 711.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., vol. 5.; Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot., p. 178. Synonymes. Adèlia Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 223.; Bigelòvia Smith in Rees's Cyclop., Addenda. Derivation. Named in honour of Bory de St. Vincent who visited the Mauritius and the Isle of Bourbon, to examine their botany. Smith, in Rees's Cyclopædia, objects to the name of Bòrya being applied to this genus, because La Billardière had previously given the same name to another genus; and he suggests the substitution of the name of Bigelòvia, in commemoration of Dr. Bigelow of Boston, author of the Florula Bostoniensis, and of the American Medical Botany. The genus Borya Lab., and the genus Bòrya Willd., are both cited in Lindl. Natural System of Botany, and it is most probable that another name will be instituted for one of them. Description, &c. Deciduous shrubs, growing to the height of from 6 ft. to 12 ft. in common garden soil, with a dark brown or purple bark, and small, deep green, opposite leaves. Propagated by cuttings, and quite hardy. 1. B. LIGU'STRINA Willd. The Privet-like Borya. Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 711.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., vol. 5. Synonymes. Adèlia ligústrina Micha. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 224.; Bigelòvia ligústrina Smith in Rees's Cyclop. Addenda, Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. The Sexes. The plants bearing this name in Loddiges's arboretum have not yet flowered. Spec. Char., &c. In habit and leaves, somewhat resembling the common privet (Ligustrum vulgàre L.). Leaves with very short petioles, and disks that are lanceolate-oblong, entire, somewhat membranous. Fruit rather shortly ovate. (Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer.) A native of North America, in thickets about rivers, in the countries of the Illinois, Tennessee, &c.; flowering in July and August. (Smith.) Introduced into England in 1812, by Lyon; and there are plants in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, where it grows freely in common garden soil, forming a shrub, apparently a fit associate for Ligústrum, Fontanèsia, and Prìnos. 2. B. (? L.) ACUMINATA Willd. The acuminate-leaved Borya. ed. 1836. The Sexes. Uncertain which is in England. Engravings. Michx. F). Bor. Amer., 2. t. 28. ; and our fig. 1229. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves membranous, lanceolate in almost a rhombic manner; but most tapered to the outward end; 1 in. long, serrulate.-Male flowers several together in small sessile tufts, encompassed with several ovate bracteas. Female flowers stalked, very small. Fruit pendulous, elliptic-oblong, nearly 1 in. long before it is ripe, tapered to the tip in a beak-like manner. - It appears that the taper lateral branches form something like thorns. (Michx. and Smith.) Indigenous to the banks of rivers in Carolina and Georgia. Introduced into England in 1812; but the plants in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges have not yet flowered. The only difference which we can observe between B. acuminata and B. ligústrina is, that the former has the leaves of a paler green. -- 1229 3. B. (L.) PORULO'SA Willd. The pore-like-dotted-leaved Borya. Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 711.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., vol. 5. The Sexes. Uncertain which is in England. pec Char, &c Leaves coriaceous, sessile, lanceolately ovate, but with a blunt point, entire; the lateral edges revolute; under surface rather rusty, . and punctured with little holes. (Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer.) It is indigenous to the coasts of Georgia and Florida. Introduced into England in 1806. The plants in the collection of Messrs. Loddiges differ from B. ligústrina, chiefly in the leaves being shorter. 4. B. DISTICHOPHY'LLA Nutt. The two-rowed-leaved Borya. Identification. Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Pl., 2. p. 232. Spec. Char., &c. A shrub, 12 ft. to 16 ft. high. Leaves in two rows, subsessile, lanceolate, acute, entire rough at the edge, membranous. Branchlets very slender. Scales of the bud pungently acute, [?]" confluent in the leaves." Indigenous to the banks of French Broad River, East Tennessee. Nuttall, who had seen it alive.) Mr. George Don thinks that this plant has been introduced; but we have never seen it. CHAP. CI. OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THe order ulma ceæ. THEY are included in three genera, which have the following names and characters : U'LMUS L. Flowers, in most species, protruded earlier than the shoots and leaves of the year; disposed in groups, each group lateral, and proceeding |
