THE POMEGRANATE. 



599 



high flavour ; leaves less divided than most other sorts ; ripe late in Sep- 

 tember. 



Yellow Ischia, syn. Cyprus. Fruit large ; skin yellow ; pulp purple and 

 well-flavoured; leaves large, and not much divided; ripe in September; 

 the tree grows luxuriantly, but does not produce much fruit in England. 



1322. Selections of the best figs for forcing are enumerated, p. 486 ; 

 those adapted for walls of different aspects, p. 422 ; the best for a cold, late 

 situation are, the brown Turkey, the small green, and black Ischia : the 

 first much the best. 



1323. Propagation, culture, S^c. — The fig roots readily from cuttings of 

 the ripened wood, and it may be also budded or grafted, and trained in the 

 nursery like any other fruit-tree. Young plants, however, of two or three 

 years' growth are preferable for removal, as the fig is then very abundantly 

 furnished with fibrous roots. It requires a south wall, and a light soil tho- 

 roughly drained, to which, however, water of the same temperature as the 

 soil must be abundantly supplied as soon as the first leaves are expanded, 

 when the fruit is setting ; for if the roots are too dry at that time, the fruit 

 will drop off". The fan mode of training is most suitable ; and as the fruit 

 in the open air is produced on the points of last year's shoots, a number of 

 such shoots should be preserved all over the tree. See on this subject what 

 has already been stated on the treatment of the fig under glass (1032). The 

 ripening of the fig might be accelerated by planting it against a flued wall, 

 and by protecting the wood by fern, spruce branches, or hay-rope netting, 

 (1320). In some parts of the south of England the fig is grown on espaliers, 

 and as a standard ; and when the winters are mild, it bears abundantly when 

 so treated. It succeeds remarkably well at Tarring and Lancing in a loamy 

 soil on chalk ; and in the gardens of Arundel Castle, in the same county, 

 the standard fig-trees are as large as full grown apple -trees. Care should be 

 taken in gathering the fruit not to destroy the bloom, nor to crush it by 

 laying one above another. They will keep good only for two or three 

 days. 



The culture of the fig under glass^ is given in p. 485. 



SuBSECT. VI. — The Pomegranate. 

 1824. The Pomegranate, Punica Granatum, L. (Grenadier, Fr.; Grana- 

 tenbaum, Ger. ; Granaatboom, Dutch ; Melagrano, Ital. ; and Granado, 

 Span. — Arb. Bi'it., vol. ii., p. 939, and Encyc. of Trees and Shrubs, p. 456) 

 is a low, deciduous tree, in its form and mode of growth not unlike the 

 common hawthorn. It is a native of the south of Europe and other warm 

 countries ; and has been long cultivated in the north of France as a green- 

 house tree, in the same manner as the orange, for the beauty of its fruit. 

 This also was formerly the case in England, but at present the pomegranate 

 is with us entirely neglected. As it is a most ornamental fruit both on the 

 tree and at table ; and as it can be brought to maturity against a south wall 

 in situations where the fig will ripen, we would recommend one plant to be 

 tried wherever there is room. Plants of the cultivated pomegranate will be 

 best obtained from Genoa, where it is propagated by layers and cuttings and 

 by grafting on the common sort. It may be trained in the fan manner, 

 taking care to leave a sufficient number of lateral spurs, on the points of the 

 shoots proceeding from which the blossom is produced. The ripening of the 

 fruit might be greatly accelerated by planting the tree against a flued wall, 



