244 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



not openiniT or shewing: any thinp: like petals, or the 

 ordinarj' parts of fniclification. As the fig- enlarges, 

 the flower comes to maturity in its concealment ; and 

 in the eastern countries the fruit is improved by a sin- 

 gular operation known by the name of caprijication. 

 This is performed by suspending^ by threads, above 

 the cultivated figs, branches of the wild fig, which are 

 full of a species of cynips. When the insect has 

 become winged, it quits the wild figs and penetrates 

 the cultivated ones, for the purpose of laving its eggs; 

 and thus it ap]iears both to ensure the fructification 

 by dispersing the pollen, and afterwards to hasten the 

 ripening by jnmcturing the pulp, and causing a dis- 

 persion or circulation of the nutritious juices. In 

 France, this operation is imitated by inserting straws 

 dipped in olive oil. 



The double, and, in some climates, the treble, crop 

 of the fig-tree, is one of the most curious circum- 

 stances belonging to its natural history, and further 

 illustrates the value attached to it in the countries 

 of the East. It offers the people fruit through a 

 considerable portion of the year. The first ripe figs, 

 according to J3r. Shaw, are called boccore, and come 

 to maturity about the latter end of June ; though, 

 like other trees, they yield a few ripe before the full 

 season. These few are probably of inferior value ; 

 for the prophet Hosea says, " I found Israel like 

 grapes in the wilderness ; I saw your fathers as the 

 first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first time." When the 

 boccure draws near to perfection, the karmouse, or 

 summer fig, begins to be formed. This is the crop 

 which is dried. When the karmouse ripens in Svria 

 and Barbary there appears a third crop, which often 

 hangs and ripens upon the tree after the leaves are 

 shed. 



The time of gathering the summer-fig in the Le- 

 vant, with its corresponding process of drying and 



