CHAP. C. URTICA CE®. Ficus. 1367 
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 Jeft 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 se- 
veral 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 mea- 
sured 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 25ft. 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. Inthe East, as well asin Italy 
and Spain, figs form a principal article of sustenance for the population, and 
a considerable article of commerce. According to M‘Culloch, the import- 
ation 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 | ft. in diameter. At Tarring, 
and at one or two other places near Brighton, fig trees are grown as standards, 
