310 PUNICA OnANATIIM. 



exclusively in houses, along with orange-trees, and we find, accordingly, that it 

 fruited in the orangery of Charles I., as Parkinson informs us, under the care of 

 Tradoscant, wIumi !i(> was that king's gardMier. At present, it is found in most 

 collections as an ornamental wall tree, and, in line seasons, in the neighhourhood 

 of London, frequently ripens its fruit, or at least, produces it of the full size; hut 

 the varieties most generally cultivated, are those with douhle flowers. The larg- 

 est tree of this species, in England, is supposed to he that trained against the 

 walls of Fulham Palace, which is said to be forty feet in height and fifty feet 

 broad. 



In the south of Europe, the pomegranate is cultivated for its fruit; and, in 

 .Nome places, as a hedge plant. It is also grown as an ornamental tree, the stem 

 being trained to a height of six or eight feet, and the head afterwards allowed to 

 spread, and droop down on every side. In the orange nurseries about Nice and 

 Cienoa, young trees are grown in boxes, in which they are exported to various 

 j)arts of the world. In the conservatories in the neighbourhood of Paris, and in 

 France generally, the double-flowered varieties are planted in large boxes, and 

 treated like the orange-tree; but, at Paris and Versailles, they will not bear 

 exposure to the open air too early in the spring, although they may be removed 

 from the house eight or ten days before the orange. At the two last-named cities, 

 there are specimens of the pomegranate, which are known, with certainty, to 

 have existed nearly two hundred and fifty years. Both the single and double- 

 flowered varieties are very frequently trained against walls, in Italy, as well as in 

 France ; and the more ingenious cultivators intermingle the branches of one sort 

 with those of the other, so as to make a display of both double flowers and fruit, 

 apparently on the same tree. -.' . 



The discovery and settlement of the Spanish colonies of the We.<5t Indies and 

 of South America, led to the early introduction of this tree into all the warmer 

 parts of those countries, where it is much cultivated for ornament in gardens, and 

 along the avenues of plantations, and where it is greatly admired, both for its 

 flowers and its fruit. In the southern states of North America, too, it is frequently 

 to be met with in gardens, and about houses and plantations, and is much esteemed 

 as an ornamental tree. It is also cultivated as a wall tree, or as a conservatory 

 plant, in various parts of the middle and northern states of the union, where it is 

 highly prized. 



Poetical, Mythological, and Legendary Allusions. The pomegranate is men- 

 tioned by the poets of all. ages. Ovid tells us that when Ceres discovered that 

 Pluto had stolen her daughter Proserpine, she implored Jupiter so earnestly to 

 restore her, that he consented, provided she had eaten nothing during her resi- 

 dence in the infernal regions. Unfortunately, however, while walking the Elys- 

 ian Fields, Proserpine had gathered a pomegranate, and eaten several grains of 

 it, which had been observed by Ascalaphus, who, on informing Pluto of what 

 had been done, was turned by Ceres into an owl, for his interference. Rapin, in 

 his poem entitled ' Les Plasirs du Gentilhomme Champetre," published in 1.583, 

 gives the following origin of this tree : A young girl of Scythia, having consulted 

 the diviners to know her fortune, was told by them that she was destined one day 

 to wear a crown. This rendered her so proud and vain, that she was easily seduced 

 by Bacchus, on his promising to give her a crown. He soon grew tired, and 

 abandoned her ; and, when she afterwards died of grief, he metamorphosed her 

 into a pomegranate-tree, on the fruit of which, he affixed a crown ; thus tardily 

 and ambiguously redeeming his promise. In the language of poets, this shrub is 

 regarded as the symbol of democracy ; " probably," says Loudon, " from its fruit 

 consisting of numerous seeds, which form its valuable part, and a worthless 

 crown. In allusion to the latter circumstance, Queen Anne, of Austria, had for 

 a device a pomegranate, with the motto, "My worth is not in my crown;" and 



