CHAP. X. 



CAPPAKIDA'cEiE. Ca'pPARIS. 



S15 



to effect the same object, tliey use sieves formed of copper wires, when sepa- 

 rating the large buds from the small ones, previously to placing them in fresh 

 vinegar; the consequence is, he says, that capers are always more or less poi- 

 sonous. (JV. Cours d'Agr., torn. iii. 413.) The substitutes for capers are, the 

 green fruits of the nasturtium (Tropse'^olum majus), and the unripe pods of the 

 -Euphorbia iathyris. 



Soil and Situation. A very dry soil, somewhat calcareous, and a situation 

 fully exposed to the mid-day sun, are essential. It should either be planted 

 against a wall, or on the south side of dry elevated rockworkj and, in either 

 case, it will require some protection during winter. In the Nouveau I)u Hamel 

 it is stated that it will not grow at all if placed in the shade. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Paris, it is grown in light soil, on a stratum of broken limestone, 

 and protected during winter with straw or leaves. There is a plant against 

 the wall in the London Horticultural Society's garden, which in 1835 had 

 stood there 8 years with very little protection. There is a large and vigorous 

 plant of it in the botanic garden at Cambridge, planted in the open air, "but in 

 front of a stove, and near the furnace, which produces strong shoots, and 

 flowers abundantly every year. 



Propagation and Culture. In France, where ripe seeds can be procured, it 

 is raised from them ; but they require to be sown immediately after they are 

 gathered. About Marseilles, where it is cultivated extensively in the fields, it 

 is multiplied chiefly by cuttings; but partly also by division of the root. (See 

 Statistics.) 



Statistics. The caper is cultivated for its fruits and buds on both shores of 

 the Mediterranean ; and in Greece, and even in Egypt, the buds are gathered 

 for sale from wild plants. In France, the only caper plantations are in the 

 neighboui'hood of Marseilles and Toulon, and" these have existed from the 

 time that Marseilles was founded by a colony fi'om Greece. The plants are 

 there grown in open fields, planted at 10 ft. apart in quincunx. They attain 

 the height of 4 ft. or 5 ft,, and the bush covers a space of about the same dia- 

 meter. Every autumn all the shoots are cut off" within 5 in. or 6 in. of the 

 root ; and, over the stools so formed, a little heap of earth is thrown up, of 

 from 6 in. to 8 in. in thickness. In spring this earth is spread out, and the 

 ground is hoed or ploughed ; and this is the whole culture which the plant 

 receives. As soon as the plants begin to flower, which, about Marseilles, is 

 early in May, women and children are employed to gather the buds, and they 

 continue doing so throughout the season, till the commencement of frost in 

 November. _ Every day's gathering is thrown into a cask in the evening, and 

 every addition of capers is followed by an addition of \'inegar, with a little 

 salt in it, so as to keep the buds always covered with liquor to the depth of 

 2 in. When a new plantation is to be made, the shoots cut off" in the autumn 

 are formed into cuttings of about a foot in length, which are immediately 

 planted in a nursery, and covered with straw, to protect them from frost. 

 They remain there two years, and afterwards are transplanted to their final 

 situation, where two, and sometimes three, plants are always placed together 

 to provide for deficiencies from deaths. Sometimes new plantations are formed 

 by dividing the roots of old plants, and this operation is always performed in 

 spring. The culture of the caper has been tried, with a view to commercial 

 objects, in the neighbourhood of Paris, but without much success ; not so 

 much on account of the severity of the frosts there, as owing to the humidity 

 both of the situation and of the climate. In Spain, on the shores of the Me- 

 diterranean, the caper is planted on the face of terrace walls on the sides of 

 hills. Bosc observes that the gathering of the caper buds by women and 

 children is a " cruel torment" to them, on account of the numerous spines 

 which cover the branches ; and he adds that he has heard of a varietj-, which, 

 however, he says, is not known in France, which is without spines, and which 

 it would be very desirable to substitute for the other in general cultivation. 

 In the south of France, every one who has a gai'den grows his own capers ; 

 and cottagers sometimes plant them in their garden walls, in order to sell the 



