No. 151.] 461 



The Mulberrt. 



The Black Mulberry {J\Iorus nigra,) is generally supposed to be a 

 native of Persia, where there are still masses of it found in a seeming- 

 ly wild state J and, although the date of its introduction into Eu- 

 rope is unknown, it is occasionally to be met with in Italy, appa- 

 rently wild. This tree, however, is so frequently confounded with 

 the white mulberry, by the earlier writers, as to render it next to an 

 impossibility to ascertain the countries of which it is truly indigen- 

 ous. It has been known from the earliest records of antiquity, being 

 mentioned in " Holy writ," in the second book of Samuel, and in 

 the Psalms. Ovid evidently points out the black mulberry as the 

 one introduced in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe; and Pliny seems 

 to allude to it, where he observes that there is no tree that has been 

 so much neglected by the wit of man, either in grafting or giving it 

 names; " an observation," as Mr. Loudon remarks, " which holds 

 good to the present day, respecting the black mulberry, as it has only 

 one trifling variety or rather variation, and no synonyme, whereas 

 there are numerous varieties of the Morus alba." 



The Fig. 



The common Fig-free (Ficus carica,) is indigenous to the west 

 of Asia, and the shores of the Mediterranean, both in Europe and in 

 Africa. In no country is it found at a great distance from the sea, 

 and rarely in very elevated situations. Hence its a;bundance in the 

 islands of the Grecian Archipelago, the Azores, Madeira, and the 

 Canary Isles, and on the adjacent continent. 



According to the traditions of the Greeks, the origin of the fig 

 may be traced back to the remotest antiquity. It was probably 

 known to the people of the East before the cereal ia, and stood in the 

 same relation to the primitive inhabitants of society, as the banana 

 does to some of the present tribes of Africa, or the Indians of South 

 America. With little trouble of cultivation, it supplied their princi- 

 pal necessities; and afforded, not only an article of occasional luxury, 

 but of constant food, either in a fresh or in a dried state. As we 

 proceed to a more advanced stage of civilization, we still find the 

 fig an object of general attention. It is often mentioned both in the 

 Old and New Testament, in a manner to induce us to conclude that 

 it formed a principal part of the food of the Syrian nation. 



The fig was a fruit much admired by the Romans, who brought it 

 from most of the countries they conquered, and had so increased the 

 varieties in Italy, by the commencement of the Christian era, that 



