358 



HISTORY OP THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



ones ripened; that he manured the ground every 

 autumn; and that he pruned as little as possible. 



In the neighbourhood of Worthing, and in- 

 deed along nearly all the south-east coast of 

 Sussex, fig trees are verj' common in the gardens. 

 At Tan-ing (about two miles from Worthing) 

 there is a remarkable plantation of figs, called 

 by the inhabitants of that village, the "fig gar- 

 den." The trees, which are about eighty in 

 number, grow luxuriant!}' at intervals of about 

 twelve feet, on the sides of the paths. They 

 are about fifteen feet high; and the stems ai-e 

 from six to eleven inches in diameter. The 

 people to whom the garden belongs know nothing 

 of the history of these trees; but it is believed 

 that they were planted about fifty years ago. 



With the requisite degree of care, figs may be 

 readily obtained in this country in a hot-house; 

 but they require a mode of cultivation so peculiar, 

 that if it is wished to procure them in perfection 

 they ought to be cultivated along with no other 

 fruit, and then two or three crops may be 

 gathered. 



Figs may be propagated in all the modes usual 

 with other fruit trees. Tlie most approved 

 method is by layers or cuttings, which come 

 into bearing the second, and even the first year. 



The fig tree, as already stated, is distinguished 

 from almost all others by the extraordinary pro- 

 perty of producing two crops of fruit in the same 

 year on distinct shoots, in climates congenial to its 

 growth. The shoots formed by the first or spring 

 gap, put forth figs at every eye, as soon as the sap 

 begins to flow again in July and August. These 

 figs, which form the second crop of the year, ripen 

 in their native climate during the course of the 

 autumn; but rarely if ever come to perfection in 

 England, where, though they cover the branches 

 in great abundance at the end of that season, 

 they perish and fall off with the first severe frosts 

 of winter. The shoots formed by the second 

 flow of sap commonly called midsummer shoots, 

 put forth figs in like manner at every eye, but 

 not until the first flow of sap in the following 

 spring. These last mentioned figs, which form 

 the first crop of each year, ripen in warmer 

 climates during tlie month of June and July, 

 but not in this country before September or Oc- 

 tober. In warmer climates indeed very little 

 attention is given to this first crop, because the 

 midsummer shoots on which it is borne are 

 commonly in proportion only of one to six or 

 eight in length, when compared with the shoots 

 of the spring, which produce tlie second crop, 

 and the crop itself is always small in the same 

 proportion; but in England it is tlie reverse, as 

 no care or skill of the gardener can ever insure 

 a second crop of ripe figs in tlie open air. 



The Olive (oleaEuropcea). Natural family 

 oleincE ; diavdria, monogpiia, Linnsus. The 

 olive is a low branching evergreen tree, in height 



from twenty to thirty feet, with stiff narrow 

 dark-ffreen or bluish leaves. The flowers are 



produced in small axillary bunches, from wood 

 of the former year, and appear in June, July, 

 and August. The fruit is a berried drupe of an 

 oblong spheroidal form, the fleshy part hard and 

 thick, at first of a yellowish green colour, but 

 becoming black when ripe. The tree is supposed 

 to have been originally a native of Greece ; but 

 it is now naturalized in the south of France, 

 Italy, and Spain, where it has been extensively 

 cultivated for an unknown length of time, for 

 the oil expressed from its fruit. The tree attains 

 an incredible age. Near Ferni, in the vale of 

 the cascade of Marmora, is a plantation, above 

 two miles in extent, of very old trees, and sup- 

 posed to be the same plants mentioned by Pliny 

 as growing there in the first century of the Chris- 

 tian era. 



The young olive bears fruit at two years old ; 

 in six years it begins to repay the expense of 

 cultivation, even if the ground is not otherwise 

 cropped. After that period, in good years, the 

 produce is the surest source of wealth to the 

 farmer. A common saying in Italy is, " if you 

 want to leave a lasting inheritance to your chil- 

 dren's children, plant an olive." There is an 

 old olive tree, saj''s a recent traveller, near Geri- 

 comio, whicli last j^ear (1810) yielded two hun- 

 dred and forty English quarts of oil; yet its 

 trunk is quite hollow, and its empty shell seems 

 to have barely enough hold on the ground to se- 

 cuie it against the mountain storm. 



There is something peculiarly mild and grace- 

 ful in the appearance of the olive tree, even apart 

 from its associations. The leaves bear some re- 

 semblance to those of the willow, only they are 

 more soft and delicate. The flowers are as deli' 

 cate as the leaves. At first they are of a p.ale 



