SEPTEMBER 35 



plants of the caterpillar.' He added : ' Fortunately our 

 three handsomest English butterflies feed on the nettle 

 the Peacock, the Small Tortoiseshell, and the Red 

 Admiral. The Purple Emperor is too rare for considera- 

 tion.' I, being a gardener before all things, did not think 

 it was at all fortunate that their natural food was nettles. 

 I had spent my whole life in eradicating nettles, so it is 

 perhaps not astonishing if butterflies have become less in 

 my garden. 



We have had a great many Figs this year, and they 

 have ripened well. No doubt they do better since we 

 have removed suckers and the small autumn Figs that 

 never ripen here. It is curious how few people in England 

 realise that, apparently, the Fig never flowers, and that 

 what we call the fruit is the flower. Male and female 

 mixed are inside the Fig, which when it enlarges forms the 

 receptacle and encloses numerous one-seeded carpels im- 

 bedded in its pulp. This may be seen quite plainly by 

 cutting open a slightly unripe Fig. I used to think the 

 flower of the Fig was so small that it was invisible ! My 

 little Mulberry-tree, planted only fifteen years ago and 

 now a good size, did wonderfully well this year. All 

 over England Mulberries fruited in great quantities 

 from the hot dry season. They are trees that 

 require much judicious pruning, and taking out great 

 branches now and then, or the fruit never ripens 

 because of the size and thickness of the leaves. I have 

 lately read that Leonardo da Vinci's great patron at 

 Milan, Ludovico il Moro, was so named, not from the dark- 

 ness of his complexion, as Gibbon supposes, but because 

 he took a Mulberry-tree (moro) for his device from its 

 being considered wiser than all other trees, as it buds later 

 and does not flwer until it has escaped the injuries of 

 winter, when it immediately bears fruit. This the Prince 

 considered was emblematic of his disposition. To us it 



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