1 30 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



success of the annual currant-harvest. Its people do not 

 ask what is our opinion of the literature that first lived 

 upon their classic soil ; they are content to know that we 

 look wistfully at their little vineyards. A recent traveller 

 in Greece, who tarried awhile at one of the convents, tells 

 us that even the monks, in the currant districts, can talk 

 of nothing but their staple fruit. " How many inmates are 

 there in this monastery?" we asked. "Three hundred," 

 they replied ; " and how much do you think the grapes 

 will fetch this year in England?" England, it should 

 be here interposed, consumes just about one half of the 

 entire produce. "Is your library in good order?" "No; 

 but our grapes are of excellent quality." " May we see 

 your church?" " Certainly; but we hope you will recom- 

 mend us to your merchants at Patras." And so on. 

 Quite right. Anything that shows that the dry bones 

 have begun to live again is to be contemplated with satis- 

 faction. If their pursuits do not call forth the more 

 brilliant faculties of the mind, the modern Greeks, in 

 their pleasant contribution of currants to the wealth of 

 the world, do a good work which must needs, little by 

 little, initiate a well-deserved prosperity. 



The total imports of raisins and currants, taken 

 together, into England, in 1880, amounted to 1,215,436 

 cwts., of the value of ;i, 801,860. 



The interest pertaining to the botanical family named 

 after its chief member, the vine ipsissima, by no means 

 ends with that illustrious plant. There are many other 

 species belonging to various countries, some of which, 



