CHAPTER I. 



THE FIG. 



The Englisl fig" has both a Latin (ficus) and 

 a Hebrew (feg) origin. From the beginning of tra- 

 dition it was a household tree, being described in 

 the earliest writings of every religion, and the 

 first chapters of authentic chronicles. The fig finds 

 place in the oldest European literature, the Homeric 

 songs, and the ancient Greeks not only relied on 

 this fruit as a staple crop, but minutely described 

 the varieties then cultivated, writing volumes about 

 its tillage, and an epidemic among the trees was 

 considered a public calamity. They called a city 

 Sikyon, after the Greek word syke, meaning fig, and 

 attributed the origin of the trees to the thoughtf ul- 

 ness of the goddess Ceres, who, through affection for 

 the people, caused one to grow at Phykalos. Before 

 acquiring its present meaning, the word "syco- 

 phants" was applied to all Athenians, and meant 

 ' ' fig eaters. ' ■ 



The fig matures from a collection ' of flowers en- 

 closed by a protecting shell, and is placed in the 

 same family with the mulberry. The little flowers 

 open inside the shell, which at first is tough and 

 woody, and they swell with the gradual accumula- 

 tion of sap and starch, in time changing to juice and 

 sugar, ripening into palatable fruit. The gradual 



