or by grafting one sort on another. It also rises freely from seeds, but these ought to be sown immediately 
on being removed from the fruit; because they very soon lose their vital powers. 
This shrub is considered the emblem of democracy ; probably from its fruit consisting of numerous 
seeds, which form its valuable part ; and a worthless crown. In allusion to the latter circumstances. Queen 
Ann of Austria had for a device a pomegranate, with the motto, “ My worth is not in my crown.” (Reid’s 
Hist. Bot.) And Philips says, that the French, in the Island of St. Vincent, had a riddle on the pome- 
granate, which was “ Quelle est la reine qui porte son royaume dans son sein ? ” alluding to the same pro- 
perties. 
In the Himalayas, Dr. Royle informs us, that the young pomegranate grows wild ; and, also, that it is 
planted near villages. It forms quite a wood in Mazenderan, whence the dried seeds are exported for me- 
dicinal use. The famous pomegranates without seeds are grown in the rich gardens, called Ballabagh, lying 
under the snowy hills near the Caubul river. They are described as delicious about Hadgiabad, and through- 
out Persia. “ Though grown in most parts of India, large quantities, of a superior quality, are yearly brought 
down by the northern merchants from Caubul, Cashmere, and Boodurwar.” At a very early period, the 
pomegranate appears to have attracted the attention of mankind. It is mentioned by Theophrastus under 
the name of Rhoa; the Phoenicians named it Sida, the Greeks Cytinos, and the Romans, according to Pliny 
Malus Punica. The Jews appear to have held the tree in great veneration. It is mentioned, in the Old 
Testament, as one of the fruits discovered in the land of Promise ; and while the Israelites sojourned in the 
wilderness it was selected as one of the ornaments, to the robe of the ephod. The two large pillars of brass, 
made by Hiram for the porch of Solomon’s Temple, were ornamented with carvings of the pomegranate ; 
and, from other passages in Holy Writ, a wine appears to have been made from it. Pliny speaks of getting a 
colour from the flowers for dying cloth a light red. He mentions nine varieties, including the sweet, the 
sour, the temperate, the austere and the wine-flavoured. The rind of the sour kind he says is the best for 
tanners and curriers to dress their leather with. The celebrated kingdom of Granada is supposed to have 
derived its name from the trees planted in it by the Moors, which is rendered highly probable by the arms 
of the city of Granada being a split pomegranate. The earliest mention of the pomegranate in England 
is in Turner’s Herbal, in 1548 ; but it was probably introduced long before that time by the monks, and 
planted in the gardens of the religious houses. For a long period, it was kept exclusively in houses, along 
with orange trees, and we find, accordingly that it fruited in the orangery of Charles the first, as Parkinson 
informs us, under the care of Tradescant, when he was that king’s gardener. It seems to have been first 
tried in the open air by Miller, at Chelsea ; and at the suggestion of Bradley, in the garden of Camden 
House, and in other gardens about Kensington, as the oldest specimens in the neighbourhood of London 
are of these places. At present, it is in most collections as an ornamental wall tree, and it ripens its fruit, 
or at least, produces'them of the full size, frequently, in the neighbourhood of London in fine seasons ; but 
the varieties most generally cultivated are those with double flowers. The largest double flowered pome- 
granate in England is supposed to be that trained against the walls of Fulham Palace, which is at least forty 
feet high, and fifty feet broad. 
The pomegranate is mentioned by the earliest poets, particularly by Homer in the Odyssey. Nicholas 
Rapin, in his poem entitled Les plaisirs du Gentilhomme Champdtre , published 1583, gives the following 
origin to the pomegranate. A young girl of Scythia having consulted the diviners to know her fortune, was 
told by them that she was destined one day to wear a crown. This rendered her so proud and vain, that she 
was easily seduced by Bacchus, on his promising to give her a crown. He soon grew tired, and abandoned 
her ; and when she afterwards died of grief, he metamorphosed her into a pomegranate tree ; on the fruit of 
which he affixed a crown (alluding to the shape of the calyx;) thus tardily and ambiguously redeeming his 
promise. 
