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Myrtle. Myrtus communis, L. (Myrtace^e). 



The fruit of the myrtle is eaten by the modern as it was by 

 the ancient Athenians^ It is, however, of httle prominence in the 

 cookery of even southern nations. Camerarius® speaks of a tree 

 that produced fruit without seed. 



Olive. Olea Europcea. (Oleace^^). 



The recent prominence given to oHve culture in CaHfornia, 

 has brought to view some facts concerning the corelations of seed- 

 lessness with quahty. The following is taken from the bulle- 

 tin of Feb. 15th, 1890, from the University of California Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, (No. 85). 



1 Forest Flora, 407. 



2 Fruits, 1866, p. 347. 



3 Forskal, fl. Aeg. Arab. 1775, p. xxxiii. 

 4Brandis. Forest Flora, p. 40S. 



5 Schuyler, Turkistan, i. 196. 



6 J. Harlan, U. S. Pat. Off. Rept. 1861, 529. 



7 Hogg, Jour, of Bot. i. 117. 

 SCamerarius, Hort. med. 15S8, 95. 





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Asiatic countries the fruit is held in esteem. In Kashmere and 

 Afghanistan, says Brandis', there are varieties sweet and acid, of 

 all shades of color from a white to a deep blackish purple- 

 Downing- describes one cultivated variety of J/, rubra, one of 



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the j\L nigra, and one the Everbearing, derived from il/. ninlti- 

 caults. The fruit of several other species are, however, valued 

 in the Orient. 



ForskaP notes about Constantinople the cultivated mulberry as 

 having a succulent pulp and few seeds. Brandis* quotes Stocks 

 that in Beloochistan there is a seedless variety called Bedana. 

 Schuyler^ says that in Turkistan the Khorasmi mulberry from 

 Khiva, large white, almost seedless, is greatly used for food 4 



both when fresh and dried. Harlan^ says that in the markets of 

 Cabul, the white-seeded mulberry or Shah- toot, the thickness of 

 the small finger, is very sweet, and in its season forms the chief 



food of the poor. It is a grafted fruit. 





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