CHAP. C. URTICA^CEJE. FrCUS. 13t>5 



leaves of the mulberry. In the course of feeding, 15 silkworms wandered 

 away or died; and, during the time of spinning, 20 more died, the latter be- 

 coming black, rotten, and reduced to a liquid. The cocoons were not ready 

 till some days after those of the worms fed on mulberry leaves : only 5 of 

 them were quite perfect, but several others were tolerably so ; and from all 

 these the silk was reeled easily, and was of excellent quality. Other experi- 

 ments have been tried in Italy, but with still less favourable results. (O/A/.v 

 (rnrtcn Zd/ung, vol. iii. p. 292.) The tree is perfectly hardy about Philadel- 

 phia, and also in the climate of London ; where, when cut down after having 

 been two or three years established, it throws up shoots 6 ft. or 8 ft. in 

 length, and nearly in. in diameter, with fine, broad, shining, succulent leaves. 

 Hitherto it has had no proper trial as a standard in England, having been 

 originally considered tender; and planted against a wall ; but we have no doubt 

 it will, in time, become a valuable timber tree of the second rank. It is 

 propagated with the greatest ease by cuttings of the roots, or by layers ; and 

 it will grow in any common soil. 



Statistics. In the environs of London, the largest plant, as a standard, is a female tree in the Ham- 

 mersmith Nursery, which is nearly 16ft. high. In our garden at Bayswater, a female plant, against a 

 wall, is about the same height. At Kew, one against a wall is h? ft. hi.uh. In Staffordshire, at 

 Blithelield, in 1834, it was 6 ft. high against a wall. In France, in the Jardin des Plante>, 10 years 

 planted, it is 18ft. high ; in the nur.-ery of M. Sidy, at Lyons, where it has fruited, it is 25ft High ; 

 at Villers la Bade, 8 years planted, it is 15ft. high ; in the Botanic Garden at Toulon, 5 years planted, 

 it is 12ft. high. In Austria, at Briick on the Leytha, 10 years planted, it is b' ft. high. In Italy, at 

 Monza, the female tree, 6 years planted, was, in 1835, 16 ft. high, and fruited for the first time. In 

 North America, at Philadelphia, the four largest trees are those mentioned at in Mrs. M'.Mahon's 

 Nursery ; and there are also large trees in Landreth's Nursery, which, in 1831, " were full of fruit." 

 In Virginia, at Beaverdam, a female tree, with a globular head, yielded, in Ib35, 150 fruit, many of 

 which weighed 18 oz. or 19 oz. each. (Amer. Card. Mag., 2. p. 9.) 



Commercial Statistics. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 2s. each; at New 

 York, female plants are 1 dollar, and male plants 2 dollars, each. 



GENUS IV. 



FPCUS Town. THE FIG TREE. Lin. St/st. Polygamia Dice'cia. 



Identification. Tourn. ; T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. PL Fl. Germ., fasc. 3. No. 6. ; Willd, Sp. PI., 4. 



p. 1131. ; Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot.,p. 178. 

 Synonymcs. Figuier, Fr. ; Feigenbaum, Ger. 

 Derivation. Some derive F"icus from fcecundus, on account of its abundant bearing ; and others from 



stikos (Greek), or fag (Hebrew), the names for the fig tree in those languages. The fig tree has 



nearly the same name in all the European languages. 



Description, fyc. The species are all trees, natives of warm climates, and 

 remarkable, in a popular point of view, for having their flowers concealed by 

 the fleshy receptacle known as the fruit. The sycamore of Scripture (jFicus 

 Sycomorus L.) is a species of fig, a native of Egypt, where it is a timber tree 

 exceeding the middle size, and bearing edible fruit. A large tree of this 

 species is figured in the Picture Bible, vol. ii. p. 181. The only species which 

 will endure the open air in Britain is the F. Carica, or common garden fig. 

 These two species are the only ones which produce eatable fruit. It is men- 

 tioned in the Nouveau Du Hamel, that the receptacle which forms the fruit of 

 the fig is not always entire and connivent ; but that there are some few sorts 

 in which the fruit constantly opens when it approaches maturity ; dividing 

 ordinarily into four parts, which expand like the petals of a flower, to such 

 an extent, that each division becomes perpendicular to the peduncle. The 

 varieties which exhibit this singularity are called the Barmssotes and the 

 Verdales. (N. Du Ham., torn. iv. p. 198., note.) 



1 1. F. CA'RICA L. The common Fig Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1513. : Willd. Sp., 4. p. 1131. : Lam. Diet, 2. : Mill Ic., t. 73. p. 489. : N. D 



Ham., 4. p. 198. 

 Synonymes. F. communi* Bau/i. Pin., 457. ; F. hiimilis and F. sylv^strii Tourn. Insf., fi63. ; Figuier 



rominun, Fr. ; Gemeine Feigenbaum, Ger. 



4u 4 



