340 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
foliage. The fruit is about an inch in length, oblong, of 
a brownish color, and having a flesh or pulp of the con- 
sistency and flavor of the dried dates of commerce, or a 
pleasantly sub-acid baked apple. The seed is also, similar 
to that of the Date — by which name the Jujube {Zisiphus 
Sativa) has sometimes been erroneously called. It grows 
freely from suckers, or pieces of roots ; is very ornamental, 
and would make a defensive hedge of the most formidable 
description The Olive has been successfully, though not 
extensively, cultivated on the sea coast of South Carolina, 
Georgia and Florida, for many years; and fine samples of 
the pure oil have been exhibited at our Agricultural Fairs, 
by Robert Chisolm, Esq., of South Carolina; Col. P, M. 
Nightingale, of Georgia, and, perhaps, others. 
POMEGRANATE. 
The Pomegranate is a very beautiful and certain fruit 
v/ith us, but the shrub itself is a little tender nprth of 32°. 
The fruit is never killed, as it does not come into bloom 
until all possibility of late spring frost is over. Like the 
Orange and other tropical plants, it is a continuoes bloom- 
er during its season — though not an evergreen— often dis- 
playing ripe fruit and expanding blossoms at the same 
time. The fruit has hitherto been of no commercial im- 
portance, and is scarcely known in the market ; but its 
gratefully acid and cooling juice has been found most 
useful and refreshing in fevers; and the beautiful and in- 
viting appearance of the fruit, renders it an attractive and 
desirable object for the dessert. The rind or skin of the 
fruit is very bitter; and, possessing tonic properties some- 
what analagous to Peruvian Bark, has sometimes been 
used as a substitute for that article by druggists. The 
Pomegranate grows readily from cuttings planted in the 
winter; and, in addittion to its other uses, is capable 
of making a very neat and delensive hedge. We have 
several fruit-bearing and ornamental sorts, though but 
three varieties— the sweet, sub acid and sour— are in com- 
mon cultivation 
THE FIG. 
Of all fruits cultivated in the South, the Fig requires 
the least care, and is one cf the most productive and use- 
ful. We have in common culiure, only four or five varie- 
ties, though the lists of Nurserymen and amateurs em- 
brace five or six times that number. South of 32°, the fig 
tree produces three crops a year, commencing in May, 
and bearing until November, but in Central Georgia, we 
generally gather but two crops per year, unless the sea- 
son is peculiarly favorable — the first, or.early crops, be- 
ing often killed by spring frosts. Figs are m.ostly eaten 
directly from the tree, so soon as ripe, and may be found 
in abundance upon the breakfast tables of all lovers of 
fine fruit. When ripe, the Fig is mild, rich and luscious, 
without being at all cloying; and can be eaten to almost 
any extent, even by those of most delicate constitution. 
The fruit has little or no value for any oth°r than the 
home market, being very perishable, when fully ripe; but 
preserved in syrup, dried, after the foreign mode, or 
picJded, it might easily be made a crop of great commer- 
cial importance to the South. The Fig tree grows very 
freely from cuttings, planted early in the spring, and will 
sometimes bear the first year— generally the second. The 
trees are sometimes cut down entirely to the ground by 
severe frosts; but they seldom or never fail to sprout 
again from the roots, and some varieties (like the Ma- 
donna) ripen a crop of fruit on shoots of the same }ear. 
It has ever been a source of surprise to us that the Fig is 
not extensively cultivated, and turned to more profitable 
account; but this is not the only instance in which the 
prodigal and generous gifts of Nature are lavished upon 
man in vain. We hear of gentlemen near Mobile, upon 
the Gulf, who have planted the Fig largely, with the in- 
tention of using the fruit as Northern farmers use apples — 
for the purpose of fattening hogs ; and though, as pomolo- 
gists, we cannot but deprecate the bringing of this delici- 
ous fruit to such “base uses,” — still, if at all inclined for 
the “flesh pots,” we should prefer eating Fig-fattened 
pork, to that fed on the offal of distilleries, or the filth and 
garbage of city streets. The Fig tree grows and produces 
best on a moist, alluvial soil; but readily adapts itself to 
all varieties of land, altitude and exposure. It is much 
inclined to sucker, but should be trained to one clean, 
strong stem, with a low, branching head. 
QUINCE. 
The Quince is not cultivated among us to any consider- 
siderable extent, and can only be said to do moderately 
well — except on heavy and retentive soils, where it seems 
to succeed nearly as well as at the North. 
MULBERRY. 
The Mulberry grows wild, and the cultivated varieties 
succeed everywhere. One of these (Hicks,) produces 
continuous crops during three months in the year. 
ALMOND. 
The Almond grows thriftily, but the fruit is almost in- 
variably killed. North of 32°, by the late spring frosts. 
The Chestnut, Madeira, and Pecan Nuts are more certain ; 
but, as yet, have not received much attention. 
GRAPE. 
In reference to the Grape, v/e can only repeat the re- 
mark previously made in regard to the Peach, viz: that 
the South is its “true home;” and that here it grows with 
a luxuriance, and produces fruit in such an abundance as 
is seen in no other portion of the Union. We are just 
now getting into a “grape mania” at the South — planting 
vineyards largely on our hill-sides and in our old fields — 
forming Vine Growing Associations, and organizing Joint 
Stock Companies for the culture of the Vine and Wine 
making,* &c. And this is not to be wondered at, when 
we see old and (so called) “worn out” land (unfit for cot- 
ton or corn) producing plants, which, at 2 1-2 years from 
the cutting, average 30 or 40 clusters to the vine ; each 
cluster weighing nearly half a pound, and each acre of 
vines capable, at this rate, of producing from 800 to 
1000 gallons of wine! Quite a considerable quantity 
of this wine has already been made, and most ex- 
perienced connoisseurs do not hesitate to rank it at 
least equal to the very best product of the American wine 
press, and far superior, in all respects, to the adulterated 
and poisonous trash which we import at.a high price, from 
abroad. All the varieties cf Grapes, such as Ca- 
tawba, Isabella, Warren, Pauline, Lenoir, Scuppernong, 
&c., succeed admirably; and we have seen, the present 
season, the Black Hamburg, Golden Chasselas, Sweet- 
water, Black Chasselas and White Muscat, produce large 
clusters, and ripen perfectly in the open air, in August. 
Though only at the beginning, as it were, of this enter- 
prize, we hazard little in predicting that the time is not 
very far distant, when the culture of Grapes and Wine 
making will be second in importance only to the growth 
of cotton, at the South — and that the day is near at hand 
when every man among us may, literally, “sit under his 
own vine and fig tree,” and drink his own pure wine, to 
the utter exclusion of those maddening mixtures which 
are the prolific causes of so much social and moral mis- 
ery. 
Self -Search. — R-rad not books alone, but men, and 
among them chiefly thyself; if thou findest anything 
questionable there, use the commentary of a severe friend, 
rather than the gloss of a sweet-lipped flatterer: there is 
more profit in a distasteful truth, than deceitful sweet- 
ness. 
*As recently near Mobile, at Citronelle. 
