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FIGS. 



HHHE Fig is the oldest of historical trees, and is frequently mentioned in tlie Bible ; it 

 abounded in Judea (Deuteronomy viii. S); its shade was highly valued 

 (1 Kings iv. 25); the putting forth of the fig tree was one of the earliest indications 

 of summer (Song of Solomon ii. 13) ; and a failure of its fruit was a great calamity 

 (Jeremiah v. 17). Xerxes, it is said, was tempted by the exquisite flavour of the 

 figs of Athens to undertake the conquest of Attica (Greece) in 480 B.C. Pliny has 

 recorded that the Eoma.ns possessed a number of varieties prior to the Christian era, and 

 they, according to tradition, introduced the fig into Britain, cultivating it in the Isle 

 af Thanet. Cardinal Pole imported fig trees from Italy in 1525, and planted them 

 against the Archbishop's palace at Lambeth. Two of these trees covered a wall area 

 50 feet in height and 40 feet in breadth in 1730. In the severe winter of 1813-14 

 these trees were cut down to the ground, but growing again from the roots they 

 were in a promising condition in I8LV, and were destroyed in 1836. Archbishop 

 Cranmer is stated to have brought fig trees from Italy, and planted them in the 

 Manor House Gardens at Mitcham (about 1533), these growing to a great size, with 

 stems nearly 1 foot in diameter. They were destroyed in 1790. In the time of 

 James I. a fine old fig tree existed in the Dean of Winchester's garden. Dr. Pocock, in 

 1648, introduced a fig tree from Aleppo, and placed it in the garden of the Eegius 

 Professor of Hebrew, at Christ Church, Oxford. This tree was healthy, 21 feet high, 

 and its stem 3 feet in circumference in 1806 ; but in 1809 a fire so damaged the trunk 

 as to cause its decay and removal. Fresh growths, however, sprang from the roots 

 and these were 21 feet high in the centre of the tree in 1819. Fruits from this 

 tree, a white variety, took first prizes at the London and Oxford Horticultural Societies' 

 shows in 1819 and 1833. 



Although there is no authentic record of the Eomans having brought the fig to 

 this country, there is proof that it was introduced at an early date, for figs were largely 

 cultivated in the thirteenth century, Matthew Paris mentioning this as one of the 

 fruits destroyed by the inclement summer of 1257. Tarring, in Sussex, was given by 



