IN THE FAR PAST 7 



is not so clear, until we recall the " happy mar- 

 riage " of vine and elm so often sung of old, 

 examples of which may be seen to this day in the 

 hedgerows of fertile Lombardy. For practical 

 reasons, therefore, it is probable that elm and vine 

 were introduced hand in hand. With them too, 

 no doubt, came the sweet chestnut the " Sardian 

 nut" valued in southern Europe from earliest 

 times, and abundant still in the woodlands and 

 coppices of Sussex and Kent, where it has sur- 

 vived the vine, more perhaps on account of the 

 worth of its timber at a certain stage of growth, 

 than for the produce of nuts which demand more 

 sunshine than our cool grey skies can give to bring 

 to any size or perfection. 



Again, on the coast of Sussex a rich and shel- 

 tered belt of land crops out from the prevailing 

 chalk of the district, and here, at the present time, 

 numerous fig orchards in favourable seasons pro- 

 duce abundance of their luscious fruit. The fig 

 was the most popular fruit of ancient Rome, and 

 so it has remained to this day. No less than 

 twenty-six named varieties are on record as having 

 been cultivated in very early times. Now tradition 

 has it that the fig-trees of that Sussex district date 

 their existence from the time of the Roman rule. 

 Certainly there is no reason why they should not 

 be the descendants of trees so introduced, for their 

 origin is unmistakably ancient. It may be only 

 right to add, however, that there are other 

 claimants for the honour. One story relates how 

 Thomas a Becket, returning from a pilgrimage to 

 Rome, planted at Tarring the first fig-tree that 



