310 PUNICA GRANATITM. 
exclusively in houses, along with orange-trees, and we find, accordingly, that it 
fruited in the orangery of Charles I., as Parkinson informs us, under the care of 
Tradescant, when he was that king's gardener. At present, it is found in most 
collections as an ornamental wall tree, and, in fine seasons, in the neighbourhood 
of London, frequently ripens its fruit, or at least, produces it of the full size ; but 
the varieties most generally cultivated, are those with double flowers. The larg- 
est tree of this species, in England, is supposed to be that trained against the 
walls of Fulham Palace, which is said to be forty feet in height and fifty feet 
broad. 
In the south of Europe, the pomegranate is cultivated for its fruit; and, in 
some places, as a hedge plant. It is also grown as an ornamental tree, the stem 
being trained to a height of six or eight feet, and the head afterwards allowed to 
spread, and droop down on every side. In the orange nurseries about Nice and 
Genoa, young trees are grown in boxes, in which they are exported to various 
parts of the world. In the conservatories in the neighbourhood of Paris, and in 
France generally, the double-flowered varieties are planted in large boxes, and 
treated like the orange-tree ; but, at Paris and Versailles, they will not bear 
exposure to the open air too early in the spring, although they may be removed 
from the house eight or ten days before the orange. At the two last-named cities, 
there are specimens of the pomegranate, which are known, with certainty, to 
have existed nearly two hundred and fifty years. Both the single and double- 
flowered varieties are very frequently trained against walls, in Italy, as well as in 
France ; and the more ingenious cultivators intermingle the branches of one sort 
with those of the other, so as to make a display of both double flowers and fruit, 
apparently on the same tree. 
The discovery and settlement of the Spanish colonies of the West Indies and 
of South America, led to the early introduction of this tree into all the warmer 
parts of those countries, where it is much cultivated for ornament in gardens, and 
along the avenues of plantations, and where it is greatly admired, both for its 
flowers and its fruit. In the southern states of North America, too, it is frequently 
to be met with in gardens, and about houses and plantations, and is much esteemed 
as an ornamental tree. It is also cultivated as a wall tree, or as a conservatory 
plant, in various parts of the middle and northern states of the union, where it is 
highly prized. 
Poetical, Mythological, and Legendary Allusions. The pomegranate is men- 
tioned by the poets of all ages. Ovid tells us that when Ceres discovered that 
Pluto had stolen her daughter Proserpine, she implored Jupiter so earnestly to 
restore her, that he consented, provided she had eaten nothing during her resi- 
dence in the infernal regions. Unfortunately, however, while walking the Elys- 
ian Fields, Proserpine had gathered a pomegranate, and eaten several grains of 
it, which had been observed by Ascalaphus, who, on informing Pluto of what 
had been done, was turned by Ceres into an owl, for his interference. Rapin, in 
his poem entitled " Les Plasirs du Gentilhomme Champetre," published in 1583, 
gives the following origin of this tree : A young girl of Scythia, having consulted 
the diviners to know her fortune, was told by them that she was destined one day 
to wear a crown. This rendered her so proud and vain, that she was easily seduced 
by Bacchus, on his promising to give her a crown. He soon grew tired, and 
abandoned her ; and, when she afterwards died of grief, he metamorphosed her 
into a pomegranate-tree, on the fruit of which, he affixed a crown ; thus tardily 
and ambiguously redeeming his promise. In the language of poets, this shrub is 
regarded as the symbol of democracy ; " probably," says Loudon, " from its fruit 
consisting of numerous seeds, which form its valuable part, and a worthless 
crown. In allusion to the latter circumstance, Queen Anne, of Austria, had for 
a device a pomegranate, with the motto, "My worth is not in my crown;" and 
