Chap. 8.] THE TEEES OF IKDIA. 107 



this number, which have begun to be naturalized among us, 

 will be treated of when I come to speak of the fruit-trees in 

 general. For the present, I shall only make mention of the 

 really exotic trees, beginning with the one that is applied to 

 the most salutary uses. The citron tree, called the Assyrian, 

 and by some the Median apple, is an antidote against poisons. 24 

 The leaf is similar to that of the arbute, except that it has 

 small prickles 25 running across it. As to the fruit, it is never 

 eaten, 26 but it is remarkable for its extremely powerful smell, 

 which is the case, also, with the leaves ; indeed, the odour is 

 so strong, that it will penetrate clothes, when they are once 

 impregnated with it, and hence it is very useful in repelling 

 the attacks of noxious insects. The tree bears fruit at all 

 seasons of the year ; while some is falling off, other fruit is 

 ripening, and other, again, just bursting into birth. Various 

 nations have attempted to naturalize this tree among them, for 

 the sake of its medical properties, by planting it in pots of 

 clay, with holes drilled in them, for the purpose of introducing 

 the air to the roots ; and I would here remark, once for all, 

 that it is as well to remember that the best plan is to pack all 

 slips of trees that have to be carried to any distance, as close 

 together as they can possibly be placed. It has been found, 

 however, that this tree will grow nowhere 27 except in 

 Media or Persia. It is this fruit, the pips of which, as we 

 have already mentioned, 28 the Parthian grandees employ in 

 seasoning their ragouts, as being peculiarly conducive to the 

 sweetening of the breath. We find no other tree very highly 

 commended that is produced in Media. 



CHAP. 8. (4.) THE TREES OF INDIA. 



In describing the country of the Seres, we have already 



24 See B. xxiii. c. 55. Fee remarks, that the ancients confounded the 

 citron with the orange-tree. 



25 Fee remarks, that this is not the case. The arbute is described 

 in B. xv. c. 28. 



26 In the time of Plutarch, it had begun to be somewhat more used. It 

 makes one of the very finest preserves. 



27 At the present day, it is cultivated all over India, in China, South 

 America, and the southern parts of Europe. Fee says, that they grow 

 even in the open air in the gardens of Malmaison. 



26 B. xi. c. 115. Virgil says the same, Georg. B. ii. 11. 134, 135. 

 Theophrastus seems to say, that it was the outer rind that was so used. 



