THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
271 
January 2. 
extensively planted in some parts of the Southern and 
i 1 ’,astern Mediterranean regions, and might he so in Tuscany, 
I where a few trees, scattered here and there, ripen their 
| fruits well. 
Notwithstanding tho above-quoted indications of the 
| eastern origin of the pistachio, it remains to be ascertained 
| where it is truly indigenous, and what is its real wild typical 
I form. Botanists give as its native habitat Syria, Persia, 
East India, Arabia, and Barbary, but in most of those 
j countries it is certainly only known in a cultivated state, 
j We have seen no wild specimens in our largest herbaria, and 
i find no reliable indications of any native stations in local 
I floras. Targioni mentions a variety marbonensis as having 
I become wild in great abundance in the neighbourhood of 
; Montpellier, but during several years herborisations in that 
I country wo never saw any species at all allied to it, except 
tho common small fruited l’istacia terebinthus. The au¬ 
thority of Gasparrini is also quoted for a hybrid between 
J’. vera and 1*. terebinthus, which according to Sestini and 
: Boccane, has multiplied itself in various parts of Sicily. If 
: that be the case, it would lead to a strong presumption that 
notwithstanding the great difference in the size and shape 
of the fruit, the P. vera and the P. terebinthus, and con¬ 
sequently also the P. mutica of the Crimea and Asia Minor, 
are mere varieties of one botanical species common in the 
Mediterranean region from Spain to the Black Sea and 
Asia Minor. 
The Walnut (Juglans regia) is a native of the mountains 
of Asja, from the Caucasus almost to China. It is supposed 
to be the Enoz of the Bible. The Greeks had it from Asia; 
and Nieander, Theophrastus, and others mention it under 
the names of carya, carya ptrsica, and carya basilike (or 
royal nut). Pliny informs us that it was introduced into 
Italy from Persia, which must have been of early date, for, 
although it be doubtful whether it is alluded to by Cato, it 
certainly is mentioned by Varro, who was born in the year 
I IOb.c. The Romans called it nax persica, mix regia, nux 
Eubtea, Jovis ylans, Djiuylans, Juglans, &c. They recognised 
several varieties, and amongst them the soft-shelled walnut 
still cultivated, which several commentators have confounded 
with the peach. In modern days the cultivation has much 
extended, and the number of varieties considerably increased. 
Jean Bauhin noticed six only. Micheli, under Cosmo III. 
of Medicis, describes thirty-seven, of which tho original 
] specimens are still preserved; some of these, however, aro 
' scarcely sufficiently distinct from each other. 
The Nut (Corylus avollena) is said by Pliny to derive the 
j name of AveUuna from Abelline in Asia, supposed to be tho 
valley of Damascus, its native, country. He adds that it had 
been brought into Asia and Greece from tho Pontus, whence 
; it was also called nux pout lea. Theophrastus calls these 
< nuts by the name of Heracleotic nuts, a name derived from 
Heraclea, now Ponderachi, on the Asiatic shores of the 
Black Sea. Hippocrates gives them the name of carya thusia. 
Diosoorides says they were also known by the name of lepto- 
carya, or small nuts. Other ancient writers confound the 
nut with the chesnut and the walnut. But all tho above 
indications of importation from the East relate only to 
particular varieties, for tho species, as is well known, is 
common enough in Italy as in the rest of Europe and a great 
part of Asia in a really wild indigenous state. 
The Chesnut (Castanea vesca), celebrated amongst Eu¬ 
ropean trees for the enormous size it will attain, is already 
mentioned in tho Bible. Theophrastus and Athenneus give 
it the name of the Euboean nut, from tho island of Eubeea 
now Negroponte, where it was peculiarly abundant. Pliny 
says that chesnuts first came from Sardi, the ancient capital 
of Lydia, and not far from the modern Smyrna. Galen, 
who was a Lydian, confirms that origin, and says that they 
were also called balang leuccni, from Leucene, situated on 
Mount Ida. Other writers, ancient and modern, give various 
Eastern countries as the nativo stations of the chesnut, and 
even Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, our author’s grandfather, 
believed them to be introduced only into Italy ; but not only 
have the extensive chesnut woods in tho Apuan Alps and 
other parts of the Apennines, mentioned by Bertoloni, every 
appearance of being really indigenous, but further evidence 
that woods of this tree existed in Tuscany from very remote 
times, may be found in the number of places which have 
derived their names from them, such as Castagna, Castagnaia, 
Castagneta, &c. We may, indeed, safely give as the native 
country of the wild chesnut, the south of Europe from Spain 
to the Caucasus. It does not extend to East India. 
The larger fruited varieties which we import for eating, 
and which are generally distinguished- in Franco and Italy 
under the name of marrons or marrone, were probably those 
which were first introduced from the East by the Romans. 
Pliny enumerates eight different varieties. Micheli has 
forty-nine, most of which, however, from his own specimens 
are, as in the case of tho other fruits mentioned in his 
manuscript, founded upon distinctions too slight to be really 
available for their separation. 
The Fig (Ficus carica) is a native of the south of Europe, 
including Greece and Italy, of Northern Africa and of 
Western Asia. The wild type known in Italy by tho name 
of Capnfico, has indeed been distinguished by Gasparrini 
not only as a species but as a separate genus, but we cannot 
but concur with Prof. Targioni in the opinion, confirmed by 
positive assertion on the part of practical pomologists, both 
ancient and modern, that our garden figs are of the same 
species and have repeatedly been raised from seeds of the 
wild caprifico. 
We find mention of tho cultivation of figs, and of the high 
estimation in which these fruits were held, in tho very 
earliest writings, in the Holy Scriptures, as in Homer’s Iliad. 
Those of Athens were celebrated for their excellent flavour. 
Xerxes was tempted by them to undertake the conquest of 
Attica, in the same way that Cato urged the Romans to that 
of Carthage, a fig in his hand. The number of varieties, 
however, produced in ancient Italy were not numerous. Six 
only were known in the time of Cato. Others were after¬ 
wards introduced, from Negropont and Scio, according to 
Pliny, who gives a catalogue of thirty sorts. Their names 
are mostly taken from the countries whence they had been 
brought, such as the African, the Rhodiote, the Alexandrine, 
the Saguntine, &c., or from some great personage who had 
introduced or patronised them, such as the Pompeian from 
the great Pompey, the Livian from Livia the wife of Au¬ 
gustus, &c. Macrobius, two centuries after Pliny, enumerates 
twenty five, but generally under different names from those 
of Pliny. Gallesio, in his Pomona Italiana, has referred a 
few of those ancient names to modern Italian varieties, as 
for instance:— 
The Albicerala to the white fig of the Italians. 
The Tiburlina to the gentile. 
The Africana to the brogiotto nero, which some believe 
to be also the Emonio of Athenians. 
The Liviana to the pissalutto. 
The Lydia to the Jlco trojano, very abundant at Naples. 
The Carica to the dottato, common in tho Levant, and 
originally from Cauni in Caria, from whence so many were 
sent to Greece, and called on that account cauni Jigs and 
Carica. 
{To be continued.) 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*#* We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “.To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London." 
Manuring Potatoes (YV. H.).—' The most comprehensive work on 
the growth of the Potato was written by the Editor of this paper, and 
may be had for a shilling of Mr. Bohn, publisher, London. 
Renovating a Garden (.4 Northumbrian). —Your second letter has 
been received, and you shall have a full answer next week. 
Names of Ferns (A Constant Subscriber). —Your New Zealand Ferns 
are 1. Lastnea liispida, better known as Polystichum hispidum. 2. 
Asplenium lucidum. 3. Cyathea dealbata. 4. Asplenium bulbiferum. 
5, Asplenium tiaccidum. They are all ornamental Ferns, and all in 
cultivation. No doubt they might l>e raised from the spores of such 
specimens as you sent. When you have duplicate plants to spare, we 
should be obliged by having growing specimens. 
Lonuon: Printed by Hugh Barclay, Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of Saint Mary Kaiendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, of Church Hill, Walthamstow, in the County of 
Essex, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of Christ¬ 
church, City of London.—January 2, 1865. 
