Anguat 7, 18S6. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



107 



The town of Joppa itself is built on a hill ; the narrow 

 Jtreets composing it are steep, and in some cases ascended by 

 steps, with arches supporting other houses thrown across. 

 There are still houses " by the seaside ;" and ono of these is 

 shown as that once inhabited by Simon the tanner, who re- 

 ceived and lodged St. Peter, and from whose friendly doors the 

 Apostle went forth— journeying by the valley of Sharon— to 

 Cresarea, to be the means of bringing the house of Cornelius, 

 the Gentile centurion, into the Church of Christ. Joppa is 

 also further endeared to us aB being the house where Tabitha 



dwelt that " Dorcas " whose good works and almsdeeds have 



been a pattern for all Christian women. 



The plain of Sharon — so often mentioned in the Bible as a 

 place on which Nature has lavished the " excellency " of her 

 choicest gifts, and as " a fold of flocks " — begins in the vicinity 

 of Cresarea, and extends, for about thirty miles in length and 

 ten in breadth, as far south as Joppa and Lydda. The tract 

 immediately along the shore is low, and in some parts marshy ; 

 the interior part, along the base of the hills, is everywhere 

 fertile and cultivated. The wood scattered in the plain is 

 deciduous Oak, which in the north rises into trees, but in the 

 south these are only shrubs. Besides the Oak there is the 

 Arbutus, with here and there plantations of Olives and Carob 

 trees. White Clover springs spontaneously from the soil. 

 Flocks of goats are dotted about, browsing in the valleys or on 

 the hillsides, giving a civilised homely look to the scene. The 

 wild flowers that have been noticed are Asphodels and Lilies, 

 scarlet Anemones, Lavender, a pink Phlox, blue Iris, a small 

 red Tulip, and white Asters. The Cistus roseus (L.), grows so 

 abundantly that it has been supposed to represent the " Rose 

 of Sharon " spoken of in the Song of Solomon ; but amongst 

 the Syrian plants sent to me there is a lovely species of a 

 small white Rose, which seems to me a fitter emblem. 



Kitto, in his " Physical History of Palestine," mentions, on 

 the testimony of others, that the Fig tree and Sycamore flourish 

 at Jaffa ; that in the gardens there are the Peach tree and the 

 Terebinth, as well as the Orange ; and that a small quantity 

 of Cannabis vulgaris is cultivated, which the Moslems reduce 

 to powder, and make with it a narcotic confection, which has 

 the same effect upon them as opium. The leaf of this plant 

 is also smoked — a curious way of evadiug that " drinking of 

 the shameful," by which title they class (according to Pal- 

 grave), smoking tobacco as the second deadly sin. 



The other Jaffa plants mentioned in Kitto are Hyoscyamus 

 aureus, Parietaria officinalis, Lycium spinosum, " of which the 

 Latin monks believe the thorny crown of Christ to have been 

 made," a species of Spurge in the hedges, Papaver rha>as, 

 and Malva vulgaris. Kitto also states that the Heath is cut 

 at Jaffa and burnt, and the ashes used in the manufacture of 

 soap. The Water Melons of Jaffa have been greatly celebrated, 

 and the Oranges are said to be the best on the Mediterranean. 



Can we picture to ourselves this city on a hill, at whose feet 

 on one side the blue waves of the Great Sea rage and swell, or 

 lie down in passive beauty ? From the " house tops " the 

 eye can glance away from the water over the fertile valley 

 which spreads before you. For two or three miles there is, as 

 it were, a belt of Date Palms (which in this locality rarely 

 ripen their fruit to perfection), and Orange groves scenting the 

 air with the rich perfume of their blossoms. People of fair 

 complexion — the women wearing high pattens on their naked 

 feet — are wandering here and there ; and, added to the sweet 

 breath of flowers, there is the music of many birds. 



The route from Jaffa to Ramleh, a village situated not far 

 from Lydda on the way to Jerusalem, is for the most part a 

 lovely one. Pleasant sandy lanes, with hedges of Briar, from 

 which depend wreaths of Bindweed, lead through groves of 

 Oranges, Lemons, Pomegranates, Almonds, and Vines, with 

 many a wild flower intermingled, amongst which the most 

 noticeable is a beautiful species of Salvia. The road then 

 emerges into open undulating plains, which extend for about 

 fifteen miles to the foot of the " hill country." These plains 

 are well and cleanly cultivated with grain, amongst which, 

 near Ramleh, maybe found the Amaryllis orientalis, "with 

 its round terminal head thick set with florets." In the same 

 neighbourhood, I read, the Anemone alpina grows abundantly, 

 and the Cyclamen hedera?folium " attains a size and bright- 

 ness of colour beyond its wont in Europe." While gathering 

 the flowers there may be heard the full joyous song of the 

 skylark as she wings her quivering flight towards heaven ; and 

 the cry of the plover will denote that one of the many pools 

 of water abounding in the plain is at hand. There are also 

 felds of Cucumbers and Vegetable Marrows. A few disreput- 



able-looking villages are scattered in the distance, but ftie 

 route avoiding these continues by the plain till it reaches 

 Ramleh (Arimothea), where travellers are received and hospi- 

 tably entertained at the Franciscan convent ; and there, from 

 its terrace in the still evening's light, they may look out on a 

 fair eastern view. Beneath them lie gardens surrounded with 

 hedges of Prickly Pear ; tall Palm trees rise in the distance, 

 while the heaven's above are alight with stars. From amongst 

 these perhaps they will single out ono more brilliant than the 

 rest, that their dreams may be of those " wiso men," who, 

 like themselves, had left their homes that they might worship 

 Him, whose birth a star proclaimed, at the manger of Beth- 

 lehem. 



After a two-hours ride from Ramleh the route enters a defile 

 of the mountains, which you are told is that " highway " by 

 which the kine bore the "ark when turned loose with it by the 

 Philistines of Ekron. 



At the foot of the bleak-looking hills the traveller halts and 

 rests for a time under the friendly shadow of some wild Fig 

 trees, and by the wayside he may gather a lovely species of 

 Geranium and the Peganum harmala ; there, too, he may find 

 Erythraea centaurium, the pretty pink blossoms of which, 

 although a little smaller than our English Centaury, will 

 carry him back to the hedgerows of England. Besides these 

 there is the Nepeta curviflora, which grows in the neighbour- 

 hood of Jerusalem. 



After the rest there comes a dreary ride of several hours 

 over bleak hills, clothed with stunted shrubs and trees, having 

 the look of rough coppice wood on a stony Westmoreland 

 hill, with here and there pasturage for a few sheep and goats, 

 the latter guarded by children in scant eastern costume, con- 

 sisting of a sack tied at the waist, with two holes for the legs, 

 and a shirt of white, blue, or snuff colour, with a loose strip of 

 coloured calico which they throw over the head or round the 

 body at pleasure, the girls drawing it over the face at the ap- 

 proach of strangers. TheBe children offer jars of milk to the 

 passing pilgrimB, a courtesy for which they expect, and demand 

 a little loudly, too, a small return in coppers. 



As you gain the last hill top you come suddenly on the view 

 of Jerusalem. It is a difficult task to approach the " City of 

 God " with a mind at unity with itself, so conflicting are the. 

 sentiments that overpower you. The eighteen hundred years 

 which have passed away since the "veil of the temple was 

 rent in the midst," is as a watch in the night ; yon seem to be 

 standing midway between the old and the new dispensations— 

 between the living and the dead. Among the pilgrims you meet 

 there will be Jew as well as Christian, both drawn by love to 

 the " Holy'City," both watching and waiting for a fuller mani- 

 1 testation of the same Messiah ; but one has the firm step and 

 j glistening eye of faith, and the other the weary watchfulness 

 I of hope deferred, never to be realised on earth till the end. 

 ; And mingled with all these thoughts there is the " to-day "— 

 • the knowledge of what !> ; the ruin of many a goodly building 

 I partially built over ; villas and gardens springing up as they 

 | spring up around a modern city; vegetation struggling to 

 assert its repairing power ; young plantations of Olives, Al- 

 monds, Peach, and Apricot trees. The traveller longs to note 

 it all, but he feels bewildered and oppressed, and all the while 

 the beast beneath him carries him onward, even to the " gates 

 of Jerusalem," and he is awakened from his overpowering 

 thoughts of the ancient glory and present degradation of the 

 city of David to find himself isolated amidst a crowd of Jew 

 and Moslem, to both of whom he is but " a Christian dog." 

 Before the gate there is a band of lepers, shunned and avoided 

 alike by all ; yet not quite by all, for gliding here and there in 

 gentle ministration to the loathsome mass of misery he sees a 

 calm, fair woman, wearing on her bosom the badge of the 

 Crucified — the shadow of a glory greater than that surround- 

 ing Solomon's Temple seems to be cast before her steps— there 

 is a voice in the air proclaiming to the leprous in mind and 

 body, " I will, be thou clean ;" but he passes on, and then it 

 is— Jerusalem. — Filix-fu:mina. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Vacant ground, or that which can be cleared of early crops, 

 may be still planted with winter GreenB, first giving it a good 

 dressing of manure and a good deep digging. Stir the surface 

 of the soil among growing crops. Broccoli, move the earth 

 amongst them and winter stuff, and, if earth must be laid 



