THE FIG. 289 



interior of a fleshy receptacle which is called, and finally be- 

 comes, the fruit. The flavour of the fig is exceedingly sweet 

 and luscious, so much so as not to be agreeable to many per- 

 sons, when tasted for the first time ; but, like most fruits of this 

 kind, it becomes a great favourite with all after a short trial, 

 and is really one of the most agreeable, wholesome, and nutri- 

 tious kinds of food. It has always, indeed, been the favourite 

 fruit of warm countries, and the ideal of earthly happiness and 

 content, as typified in the Bible, consists in sitting under one's 

 own fig tree. 



Its cultivation was carried to great perfection amotig the an- 

 cient Romans, who had more than twenty varieties in their 

 gardens. But the Athenians seem to have prided themselves 

 most on their figs, and even made a law forbidding any to be 

 exported from Attica. Smuggling, however, seems to have 

 been carried on in those days, and a curious little piece of ety- 

 mological histoiy is connected with the fig. The informers 

 against those who broke this law were called sukopkantai, from 

 two words in the Greek, meaning the "discoverers of figs.'' And 

 as their power appears also to have been used for malicious 

 purposes, thence arose our word sycophant. The fig was first 

 introduced from Italy about 1548, by Cardinal Poole, and to 

 this country about 1790, by Wm. Hamilton, Esq. 



Propagation. This tree is very readily increased by cut- 

 tings taken off" in the month of March, and planted in light soil 

 in a hot bed, when they will make very strong plants the same 

 season. Or, they may be planted in a shady border in the open 

 air, quite early in April, with tolerable success. In either case 

 the cuttings should be made eight or ten inches long, of the last 

 year's shoots, with about half an inch of the old, or previous 

 year's wood left at the base of each. 



Soil and culture. The best soil for the fig is one mode- 

 rately deep, and neither too moist nor dry, as, in the former 

 case, the plant is but too apt to run to coarse wood, and, in the 

 latter, to drop its fruit before it is fully ripe. A mellow, calca- 

 reous loam, is the best soil in this climate — and marl, or mild 

 lime in compost, the most suitable manure. 



As in the midcUe states this tree is not hardy enough to be al- 

 lowed to grow as a standai-d, it is the policy of the cultivator to 

 keep it in a low and shrub-like form, near the ground, that it 

 may be easily covered in winter. The great difficulty of this 

 mode of training, with us, has been that the coarse and over- 

 luxuriant growth of the branches, when kept down, is so great 

 as to render the tree unfruitful, or to rob the fi'uit of its due 

 share of nourishment. Happily the system of root-pruning^ 

 recently found so beneficial with some other trees, is, in this 

 climate, most perfectly adapted to the fig. Short jointed wood, 

 and only moderate vigour of growth, are well known accom- 



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