156 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



injured by moisture. The branches should not be staked 

 down too early in the winter, or uncovered too soon in 



the spring. 



The ancients believed that there existed a sympathy 

 between plants, and they therefore planted rue near their 

 fig-trees, which was said to make the fruit sweeter; and 

 that the rue not only grew more luxuriantly, but more 

 bitter, by being thus neighboured by the fig-tree. We 

 think this is very probable, without its having any thing 

 to do with sympathy, as trees and plants will naturally 

 draw juices from the earth mos.t congenial to their nature: 

 the rue may therefore exhaust the earth of those pro- 

 perties suitable for the nourishment of bitter plants, and 

 leave the fig-tree to thrive from a soil which the former 

 has qualified, by consuming the particles of the earth that 

 are pernicious to sweet fruits. Shakspeare seems to have 

 been of this opinion when he wrote 



" And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best, 

 Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality." 



We have now in this country a great variety of this 

 most delicious and wholesome fruit, which is, we believe, 

 the only kind we possess that has sweetness, without 

 acidity or oiliness. It is nourishing, easy of digestion, 

 and grateful to the stomach ; and is much esteemed in the 

 countries where it is cultivated : but in England it seems 

 to please only the refined palates of the higher order of 

 society. In some parts of the coast of Sussex, where this 

 fruit ripens in perfection, we have known it not only 

 neglected by the middle and lower classes, but even men- 

 tioned with derision in their disputes. 



The fig-tree is distinguished from all other trees we 

 know of, by its bearing two successive and distinct crops 

 of fruit in one year, each crop being produced on a dis- 

 tinct set of shoots. The juices of these shoots are ex- 



