PALMS OF BORDUtHERA. 



was beincT erected on the Piazza San Pietro in 1586, and the 

 dry rope was sagging, helped the builder Fontana out of 

 his tlileuiina h)' his timely shout of ''Water on the rope". 

 The Bresca famil}' grew their Palms in Bordighera 

 because thev thrive better in the sandy clay there, than 

 in the heavy cla)' of San Remo. Thus the Palm indus- 

 try of Bordighera dates back to the Middle -Vges, and 

 even today it is this place that supplies most of the 

 Palm-fronds in Rome for the celebration of Easter 

 Sunday. The Christian Church has adopted the Palm- 

 frond, as it has so many other s'\'mbols of Oriental 

 imagers', from the Pagans and the Jews. And as Palm- 

 fronds graced the Feast of Osiris in Eg)'pt, the triumphal 

 entries of kings and heroes into Jerusalem and the 

 Olympic Games of (jreece, so today they are used to 

 decorate the altars of Roman Catholic churches. 



Instead of spreading their crowns freeh" in the air, 

 most of the Palms of Bordighera have their inner fronds 

 bound up together like the tail of a horse. The object 

 is to produce a special development of the ^'oung 

 growing lea^ es. Not all Palms are equall)^ adapted to 

 such treatment, and a distinction is rtiade between those 

 which are suitable for the Roman Catholic Church and 

 those which are adapted to the Jewish ritual. For the 

 Jews also use Palm-fronds at their Feast of Tabernacles. 

 The natives of ]5ordighera call the one Palm briefly 

 "Cattolica" and the other "Ebrea". The leaves of the 

 Roman Catholic I'alm are slender, and those of the 

 Jewish Palm short and compact. In the "Cattolica" the 

 heart of the crown is bound tighth' together so that the 



