94 FRUIT GARDEN. 
mediately from the joints of the tree, in the form of little 
buds, with a perforation at the end, but not. opening or 
showing anything like petals or the ordinary parts of fruc- 
tification. As the fig enlarges, the flower comes to maturity 
in concealment, and in eastern countries the fruit is im- 
proved by a.singular operation called caprification. This 
is performed by suspending by threads, above the cultivated 
figs, branches of! the wild fig, which are full of a species of 
cynips.. When the insect has become winged, it quits the 
wild fig and penetrates the cultivated ones, for the purpose 
of laying its eggs; and thus it appears both to insure the 
fructification by dispersing the pollen, and afterwards to 
hasten: the-ripening by puncturing the pulp and causing a 
change of the nutritious juices.’ In France this operation 
is imitated. by inserting straws dipped in olive-oil.”—Lzb. 
of Ent. Knowledge. 
The Peacu (Amygdalus Persica) is a stone-fruit of 
oriental origin, said to have been brought:from Persia by 
the Romans about the beginning of the empire; but the 
precise period of its introduction into our British gardens, 
of which it has long been the pride and ornament, is not 
well ascertained. There are two principal varieties: the 
Peach, properly so called, with a downy: skin; and the 
Nectarine, with a smooth skin., ,These, following the 
authority of Linnzeus, we consider as one species; and as 
their culture is precisely the same, we shall speak of them 
as distinct only when referring to their sub-varieties. Hach 
of these varieties is again divided by gardeners into /ree- 
stones or péches, and clingstones or pavies, according as 
the stone parts freely from the pulp or adheres to it. We 
shall here treat chiefly of the freestones, as being most 
hardy and fittest for the open wall in Britain. 
