28 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



our race. It has always been esteemed for a variety of valuable 

 qualities. In Isaiah xxxviii. 21 we find it used by Heze- 

 kiah as a remedy for boils ; and even now^ 2400 years after 

 that time^ we find a roasted fig often used for that and si- 

 milar purposes. 



Many important trees are closely allied to the fig^ as^ for 

 instance^ the Bread-fruity the deadly Upas-tree^ our common 

 Mulberry^ and the India-rubber ; besides smaller plants, as 

 the hop, hemp, nettle, etc. The natural family has however 

 been divided, by Lindley and others, with great reason, into 

 four or five distinct and well-defined orders. 



The quantity of figs consumed in this country is im- 

 mense; nearly 700 tons were imported in 1851. Those 

 from Greece are usually in barrels or baskets, very much 

 dried, and threaded in strings upon a long rush. The figs 

 of Turkey are more carefully packed, in small cylindrical 

 boxes called drums, and occasionally in small square boxes. 

 A few bay-leaves are usually put upon the top of each box, 

 to keep the fruit from the ravages of a grub which is very 

 destructive to them. 



A kind of preparation called Jig-caJce is occasionally im- 

 ported; it consists of figs and almonds worked up into a 

 paste and pressed quite hard into cakes of a round form. 



