THE PEACH. y3 



Caprificatwn, or assisting the fructifying and matura- 

 tion of figs, lias often been sneered at; but here we see 

 reason in that kind of it which consisted in hanging or 

 shaking the branches of the wild fig {eaprificiis) over 

 the cultivated tree at the time when both were in 

 blossom. 



^' There is something very singular in the fructifica- 

 tion of the fig: it has no visible flower, for the fruit 

 arises immediately from the joints of the tree, in the 

 form of little buds, with a perforation at the end. but 

 not opening or showing anything like petals or the 

 ordinary parts of fructification. As the fig enlarges, 

 the flower comes to maturity in concealment, and in 

 eastern countries the fruit is improved by a singular 

 operation called caprification. 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 fig and penetrates the cultivated ones, for the 

 purpose of laying its eggs ; and thus it appears both to 

 insure the fructification by dispersing the pollen, and 

 afterwards to hasten the ripening by puncturing the 

 pulp and causing a change of the nutritious juices. In 

 France this operation is imitated by inserting straws 

 dipped in olive-oil." — Lib. of Ent. Kiioivledge. 



The Peach [Amygdalus Persica) is a stone-fruit of 

 oriental origin, said to have been brought from Persia 

 by the Romans about the beginning of the empire ; 

 but the precise period of its introduction into our 

 British gardens, of which it has long been the pride 

 and ornament, is not well ascertained. There are two 

 principal varieties : the Peach, properly so called, with 

 9 " 



