188 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



practised in gentlemen's gardens. There are three sorts of cur- 

 rants, distinguished by their different colours of red, white, and 

 hlack, and the several uses of all these are too well known to need 

 any description. 



269. FIG. — There are several sorts of figs, but some of them 

 will not ripen in England. Figs are raised either from cuttings 

 or layers, which are to be treated in the manner directed under 

 those heads, which see in the Index. The fig must stand against 

 a wall, and a warm wall, too. This is generally an unsightly tree, 

 suffered to grow without pruning, and it is true that it bleeds 

 much if pruned ; but yet does not suffer so much as is sup- 

 posed. The ground in which they stand should be made as rich 

 as possible. They have the singularity that some of their fruit is 

 hardly formed at a time when part of it is ripe, and that thus a 

 succession of bearing is kept up until the frost comes. As far as 

 my observation has gone, comparatively few people like figs, on 

 account of their mawkish taste ; but, in a very fine summer, the 

 fruit is good and rich, and the number of the fruit is generally 

 very great. 



270. FILBERT.— This is a fruit well known to us all. The 

 tree, or rather lofty shrub, is raised from suckers or layers : the 

 latter is best, because those raised from suckers infest the ground 

 with suckers. You cannot propagate a filbert from seed, it being one 

 of those plants, the seed of which does not, except by mere acci- 

 dent, produce fruit equal to that of the tree from which it comes. 

 The plants raised from layers, or the suckers, ought to be put into 

 a nursery in rows two feet apart, and at two feet distance in the 

 row. They will then become little trees by the end of two years, 

 and they should not stand there longer before they be finally 

 removed. A very good situation for filberts would be not far 

 from the hedge in the outer garden ; where they should never be 

 suffered to grow to too great a height ; never higher than to make 

 it a matter of no difficulty to gather the fruit with the hand. In 

 Kent, which county produces more filberts than all the rest of 

 the country put together, the trees are planted in rows at about 

 ten or twelve feet apart, and at about the same distance apart in 

 the row. Care is taken to have a clear stem or trunk about a 

 foot high, after which, limbs are suffered to come out in every 

 direction. Care is taken to prevent any limbs from going upright 

 above a certain height, and an annual pruning takes place in the 



