i oo Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



corresponding with the amygdaline of the peach-tree, 

 in which the kernels go shares, the pulpy portion of 

 the fruit is perfectly innocuous, and not only so, but 

 fairly palatable and nice. When large, plump, and well- 

 ripened, it makes an interesting addition to the October 

 dessert. It supplies material, also, for a capital tart, a 

 good jelly, and an excellent jam; but in making these, 

 because of the poisonous matter, the stones should first 

 be removed, a process quite easy, as they readily part 

 from the flesh. 



The Cherry-laurel is a native of Asia Minor, the 

 Crimea, and the northern parts of Persia, coming into 

 Europe barely three hundred years ago. From the 

 account given by Clusius, the famous botanist of Vienna, 

 in the sixteenth century, it would seem to have been first 

 cultivated in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. It 

 was from that place that the original plant was sent 

 to Clusius, in 1576, as one of many curious novelties, 

 all of which, excepting the cherry-laurel and the horse- 

 chestnut, perished on the way from the severity of the cold. 

 The particulars related by Clusius as to the difficulty he 

 experienced in establishing his little protegee, have all the 

 charm of a romance of human life. It was six feet high, 

 and bore the name on arrival of Trebison Cumani, " the 

 date of Trebisond." The Italians, to this day, call it 

 Lauro di Trabesonda. It was by Clusius, the original 

 recipient, that it was named Lauro-cerasus. Parkinson 

 says that in England it was first cultivated at Highgate, 

 by a Mr. Cole, a London merchant, who used to cover it 



