2 3O Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



The native countries of the fig reach from the steppes 

 of the eastern Aral, along the southern and south-western 

 coasts of the Caspian, through Kurdistan to Asia Minor. 

 At the present day it grows apparently wild over the vast 

 region of which Syria is the centre that is to say, from 

 the east of Persia, or even from Afghanistan, across the 

 whole of the Mediterranean region, as far as the Canaries, 

 though not ascending far up the mountains. As a rule, 

 in Asia it stops at the foot of the Caucasus; and in 

 Europe, at the foot of the rising grounds which limit the 

 basin of the Mediterranean. But it has long since been 

 conveyed to numerous distant parts of the world. In the 

 southern United States eastern Florida in particular 

 there are trees that yield twenty to thirty bushels of fruit 

 every year. In Alabama the fig is considered to be the 

 most prolific of fruit-trees. It holds the same reputation 

 in Texas and in California. Plantations have already 

 been made in some parts of Australia. The Atlas 

 Mountains, in North Africa, are still noted for figs such 

 as those praised by the elder Cato, when he threw them 

 down in the Senate, saying, " The country where this 

 fine fruit grows is only three days' voyage from Rome," 

 uttering in these, the famous words which were the begin- 

 ning of the downfall of once-glorious Carthage. 



When first brought to England is not known, but in all 

 probability, the original introduction took place under the 

 Roman governors. Cardinal Pole, temp. Henry VIII. , is 

 accredited with the gift; what is related of him refers most 

 likely to some new or superior kind. Almost as common, 



