m

IP

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

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FRUITS AND FRUIT-TREES.

>awn & E tolled bv Tb o. I. • < .

FRUITS ^ FRUIT-TREES,

HOME AND FOREIGN.

ta tlj£ liin&s Hahwib in Urttain,

WITH DESCRIPTIONS, HISTORIES, AND
OTHER PARTICULARS.

BY LEO. H. GRINDON,

Aiithor of " Country Rambles," "Manchester Banks and Bankers"

" The Shakspere Flora," " The Little Things of Nature,"

and other works.

" To know

That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime wisdom."

Paradise Lost.

MANCHESTER :

PALMER & HOWE, 73, 75, AND 77, PRINCESS-ST.

LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.

1885.

MANCHESTER :
PALMER AND HOWE, PRINTERS, 73, 75, AND 77, PRINCESS STREET.

PREFACE.

THIS volume claims to be no more than an
amateur's contribution to the literature of
the very large and varied subject of Fruits and
Fruiting-plants. To exhaust the subject would
require folios : the difficulty in dealing with even
a portion of it is not to find material, but to select
such as may be likely to prove most generally
useful and interesting. In the following chapters
those fruits only have been dealt with which are
either produced in Great Britain, or which are

vi. Preface.

imported from foreign countries as established
articles of commerce. So many novelties from
abroad now make their appearance in the shops,
that it is hoped that a book giving exact informa-
tion, at all events respecting these last, may meet
a want without question often felt.

No attempt has been made to deal with the arts
of Culture. They require special treatises, and
happily such works have already been published
by experienced practical gardeners. Neither has
endeavour been made, except briefly, to describe
the very numerous " varieties " of the garden fruits
commonly cultivated. Particulars respecting these
are given at length in the Catalogues issued every
year by the leading fruit-growers. Three of the
latter the author here begs to thank very sincerely
for supplying him with the names of the sorts they
consider supreme : — Messrs. Thos. Rivers & Sons,
Sawbridgeworth ; Messrs. R. Smith & Sons, Wor-
cester ; and Messrs. R. P. Ker & Sons, Liverpool.

Preface. vii.

The information brought together in these pages
has been gathered from very various sources, all
esteemed authentic. Everything that has needed
only a carefully observant life passed in the British
Islands is, so far as regards the author's own
responsibility, purely and wholly original.

LEO. H. GRINDON.

Manchester, October, 1885.

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY

Page.

i

CHAPTER II.

THE APPLE

CHAPTER III.
THE PEAR, THE QUINCE, THE MEDLAR, THE

LOQUAT, THE SERVICE, &C 35

x. Contents.

CHAPTER IV.

Page.

STONE-FRUITS : THE PLUM, CHERRY, PEACH,

APRICOT, ALMOND, &c 61

CHAPTER V.
GRAPES, RAISINS, &c 104

CHAPTER VI.

THE CURRANT, THE GOOSEBERRY, CRANBERRIES,

WHORTLE-BERRIES, &c 133

CHAPTER VII.
THE ORANGE AND ITS KINDRED 160

CHAPTER VIII.

THE RASPBERRY, THE BLACKBERRY, THE STRAW-
BERRY, FIG, MULBERRY, PINE- APPLE, &c. ... 197

Contents. xi.

CHAPTER IX.

Page.
NUTS OF ALL KINDS 248

CHAPTER X.

VARIORUM : THE POMEGRANATE, THE DATE, THE
BANANA, THE MELON, THE TOMATO, AND
OTHERS. APPENDIX 283

Xll.

Contents.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

AT THE GATE OF THE ORCHARD ... Frontispiece.
(Drawn and Etched by Thos. Letherbrow.)

PRUNING J6

CHILDREN GATHERING APPLES 34

PEAR BLOSSOM 6°

THE CHERRY-LAUREL 103

THE VINE X32

THE BLACKBERRY 247

THE HAZEL-NUT 2*2

fiJW

Chapter

INTRODUCTORY.

" My fruit is better than gold ; yea, than much fine gold."

Prov. viii. 19.

HERE are words which touch the imagination
with peculiar force, the very sound of which
is agreeable, and which in their compass and
immortal charm remind us of the "infinite
variety" of Cleopatra. Such are Home,
Spring, Truth, Friendship, Sunshine. To
this excellent list belongs that other simple but very
meaningful one, FRUIT. The mention of fruit never fails
to inspire thoughts of classic form, artistic hue, fragrance,
delight of palate, healthful service to the body. It invites
also, in the pleasantest manner, to contemplation of the

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

delightfulness of a well-kept promise, since fruit of every
kind begins with Flowers : not such as lilies, which come
and go, casting their brightness on the world for only an
hour; but flowers that are prophets as well, sending the
mind forward into generous autumn.

No one ever refuses fruit. Every man who has the
opportunity of eating fruit, makes the best use of his
chance. We are invited to fruit by the pleasant
consciousness that here is something upon which Nature,
in providing for our sustenance, has concentrated her
richest and most useful powers. Fruits give us all their
virtue at the first solicitation. We may bake if we please,
or boil, or stew, but very few indeed are the fruits which
are not eatable just as they come from the tree or the
plant, charged with wooing nectar, and that dissolve
almost upon the instant ; or if not juicy, then of the
capital substance of the filbert and the chestnut. Their
charm does not wait, like that of dinner-vegetables, for
bringing forth under the influence of fire. A little sugar
now and then, or a touch of salt, adds a certain chaste
felicity to the flavour. In the aggregate they are still
independent of any artifices we may call to our aid.
Matured in the sunshine, they are themselves like the
sunbeams of heaven, which ask nothing from mankind
but grateful reception and perennial enjoyment. Because
so useful to us — and this not simply as aliment, but
very generally as sustainers and restorers of health,
"good physicians" really and truly — Nature has endowed
fruits with all sorts of pretty wiles and persuasions to

The Fruit-Shop.

approach — "Come and eat." The things that are less
good for us, though still salutary, have to make their
claims heard in some indirect and merely suggestive
way. Fruit speaks a language that needs no teaching,
and no effort to learn and understand. The eye and the
heart interpret simultaneously, and every portion of our
fabric reaps the benefit.

"What beauty," says Leigh Hunt, "as well as other
agreeablenesses, in a well-disposed fruiterer's window !
Here are the round, piled-up oranges, deepening almost
into red, and heavy with juice ; the apple, with its brown
red cheek, as if it had slept in the sun ; the pear, swelling
downwards, and provocative of a huge bite in the side ;
thronging grapes, like so many tight little bags of wine ;
the peach, whose handsome leathern coat strips off so
finely ; the pearly or ruby-like currants, heaped in light,
long baskets; the red little mouthfuls of strawberries,
ditto ; the larger purple ones of plums ; cherries, whose
old comparison with lips is better than anything new;
mulberries, dark and rich with juice, fit to grow over
what Homer calls the deep black-watered fountains ; the
swelling pomp of melons ; the rough, inexorable-looking
coco-nut, milky at heart; the elaborate elegance of
walnuts ; the quaint cashew-nut ; almonds, figs, raisins —
in short,

' Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields,
Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell. ' "

How much more refined a service, he might have con-
tinued, the waiting upon a lady in a fruit-shop than in a

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

pastry-cook's ! A white hand looks better on a basket
of strawberries than on any sophisticated preparation
from the oven. Man or woman, whoever it may be,
that renders the comely meed of ripe fruit, takes us,
in that pleasant action, so much the nearer to nature,
thus to the pure, upon which we can always rest in
faith.

Surely, too, it is because so good for us that Nature
yields her fruits in abundance so vast. No niggard hand
is that which converts the orange-tree into an eldorado,
and hangs the crimson clusters upon the currant-bushes.
Happy the day when the munificent design of all this
shall be recognized by statesmen and every one in
power, and simple alimentary fruit, that costs little to
produce, be reckoned as one of the genuine " rights of
the people." Happy again when it is remembered that
God sends fruit, as He sends flowers, not for personal
pleasure only, but for employment in kindly charities,
very specially in the hospital. A sound and large-
hearted Christianity is better declared by the gift to a
poor creature who has lain for weeks, perhaps months,
on the couch of sickness, of a bunch of grapes, or a
basket of strawberries, the " fruit of refreshing," than by
any amount of aeriform benedictions. Here, indeed, it
is "blessed to give." For the same reasons, how vast
becomes the practical importance of seeing that our
gardens and orchards contain the best varieties, the
sweetest and the most prolific. Fruit-culture, fortunately,
is no longer hap-hazard, but now conducted upon scien-

Structure of Fruits.

tific principles. The best kinds of fruit can be got quite
as easily as the inferior. No man is constrained nowa-
days to put up with anything third or fourth rate. Not
that the procuring of good sorts from the nurseryman is
the all in all. Fruiting-plants require care, attention, and
watchfulness every bit as much as orchids. It is the
successful treatment of these which proves the gardener's
ability. That beautiful and far-reaching phrase, " By
their fruits ye shall know them," is not more true in
morals as a metaphor than in the literal sense when we
are looking to those who dig and prune.

The garden and market-place signification of the word
Fruit is, after all, only a part of that in which it is
employed by the botanist, and this it becomes important
to consider, so that we may perceive how very limited is
the ordinary sense. The fruit of a plant is the seed-case
when ripe — the portion of the flower which in its earliest
state was the " ovary," with anything, in special instances,
that may have become adjoined to it. Many actual
"fruits" are regarded as only "seeds," as corn of all
kinds, and the fruits of such plants as sage, parsley, and
the sunflower. But every one of these consists of a seed
within and a " pericarp," or enclosing case, though this
may be a simple shell or integument. Of this seed-like
class of fruits there are probably, taking the whole
world, quite twenty-five thousand. The beauty of very
many of them is delectable, as happens with the embossed
cypseles of the hawkweeds, and the polished grains of
the forget-me-not. Another twenty-five thousand of the

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

botanical "fruits" come to the front as finished examples
of the capsule, the cone, the legume, and of the natural
urns, vases, cups, and goblets which Art has in all ages
delighted to imitate in gold and silver, marble and glass.
A collection of the principal types of these compares
well with a cabinet of sea-shells. How beautiful the
sculptured produce of the pine-tree; the round head
of the poppy, with its ring of little apertures under the
eaves for escape of the seeds ; the acorn in its tesselated
cup ; the three-fold pod of the moringa ; the ribbed
hemisphere of the sand-box tree ! Another set, smaller
in measurement, includes those charmingly pretty play-
things of nature, the fruits of the common pimpernel,
the rose lychnis, the wood-sorrel, the birdsfoot, the
willow-herb. They are little, it is true. Are they,
then, insignificant? Little things belong to much more
elevated reaches of eyesight than big ones. Any one
can see big things. The perceiving of little ones
demands fine and assiduous culture of the best of the
human faculties, the inner eyes as well as the outer.
The minims of nature declare far more powerfully than
the immense things that nature is "a lute that lieth still,"
waiting only the skilful musician.

Yet another great company of the botanical " fruits "
presents itself in the form of Berries. The scope for
variation is here much more restricted, seeing that a berry
must needs be more or less oval or spherical, and totally
devoid of carving or filagree. Never mind. There is
always a resource. Here the lack of diversity in figure is

Poisonous Fruits.

compensated by inexhaustible variety of bright colours
and endless fashion of cluster. Recall the spectacle pre-
sented at Michaelmas by the opulus and the mountain-
ash, the innumerable shining scarlet of the hedgerow
brier, the crimson of the dulcamara, the festoons of the
curling bryony, the deep-toned purple of the elder, the
raven-wing thyrsi of the privet, and at Christmas the
bracelets of Old England's incomparable holly. As in
the field so in the garden, where the impearled snow-
berry is challenged by the scarlet aucuba, the berbery,
the Mahonia, the cotoneasters in their many kinds, the
thorns, no fewer, the arbutus, the pyracantha, and the
passion-flower, with golden pendants as large as plums.
Every good conservatory makes equal show in its plenty
of scarlet Rivina, ardisias, and cherry-solanums, in its
white leucobotrys, and azure-berried Billardiera and
elaeocarpus. Berried plants, in the hands of the skilful
decorator, stand abreast of the best examples of tinted
foliage, and often prove more valuable for enduring orna-
ment than even the longest-blooming flowers.

Before parting with them it is unwillingly that we are
constrained to remember that among fruits there are
many that are deleterious, malevolent, and even poisonous.
That a fruit should at any time prove false to its exalted
ideal is a disheartening discovery, and one rendered
more lamentable by the traitors being detected among
the Berries, since it is these which are most likely to
seduce the unwary. Happily, the number of really
poisonous berries is very small in comparison with the

8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

harmless ones, and it is seldom that the flavour of these
is sufficiently inviting for much danger to accrue. In
England we have the scarlet berries of the common
arum, or " lords-and-ladies," and the shining black ones,
not unlike cherries, of the belladonna, or "deadly-
nightshade." There is again a very capital set-off. The
infinite benevolence of nature has attached to every
poisonous plant some special mark or feature by which
it may be learned off-hand. It will be a good sign that
truly useful Botany is being taught in schools when the
pupils are less heavily charged with abstractions regard-
ing protoplasm and cell-formation, and are shown how to
distinguish noxious plants from the innocent.

No exact line can be drawn between fruits popularly
so called and those which are "fruits" only with the
botanist. The margins overlap, and not infrequently
the idea of a fruit changes with the latitude and the
people. Berries disdained in a wealthy country are
prized where there is nothing better to be got, as when
the Indians of North America resort to the Gaultheria.
In warm countries, again, many become palatable which
in cold ones are harsh and insipid, as cornels in the south
of Europe, the gay fruit of which Horace boasts when he
sends to his dear friend Quintius that beautiful little
sketch of his Sabine country-seat : " And did you but
see my hedges, rich with sloes and ruddy cornels ! " So,
again, as myrtle-berries in the Levantine countries. " Of
the perfumed berries of the myrtle," says Miss Beaufort
(now Lady Strangford) in one of the most lively and

Tropical Fruits. 9

picturesque books of Eastern travel ever printed, " while
staying at Damascus, I made my luncheon."* The
botanical fruits also include various esculents commonly
counted with the " vegetables," as kidney-beans, marrows,
cucumbers, tomatoes, aubergines; with certain spices and
condiments, as capsicums, pepper-corns, pimento, and
vanilla-pods.

Confining the term to fruits commonly so understood,
the total number in the whole world is small in propor-
tion to the entire number of different flowering-plants.
Probably the total is about five hundred. Many are
peculiar to tropical countries, as the mango, the mango-
steen, the durion, the papaw, the sour-sop, the sweet-sop,
the mammee, the anchovy-pear, the alligator-pear, the
cherimoyer, the rose-apple, the bread-fruit, the guava,
the carambola. Of these we never see examples in
England (though a few may now and then be ripened
in some choice hothouse), because too perishable to be
conveyed across the water. Others belonging to sub-
tropical and the warmer temperate countries, though
staples or favourites at home, are equally unknown in
England, for various reasons easily conjectured, such as
the water-chestnut of the south of Europe, the famous
nelumbo-seeds of Asia, the Moreton Bay chestnut, the
May-apple of North America, and the kei-apple of Natal.
In England, of indigenous fruits, growing wild and col-
lected for market, we have six or seven — the blackberry,
the cranberry, the whortle-berry, the elder-berry, the

* "Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines," 1861, p. 318.
C

i o Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

cloud-berry, and the hazel-nut. Of kinds more or less
probably indigenous, plus many introduced from foreign
countries in bygone ages, and assiduously cultivated, we
have over twenty — the apple, the pear, the quince, the
medlar, the peach, the nectarine, the apricot, the plum,
the cherry, the grape, the gooseberry, the currant, the
raspberry, the strawberry, the walnut, the melon, the pine-
apple, the fig, the mulberry, and others of less import-
ance. Some of these present themselves under forms so
different — the plum, for instance, when fashioned into a
greengage — that practically the number is perhaps nearer
thirty. Of imported fruits — few of them ever cultivated,
and then chiefly as curiosities or for ornament — the list
runs again to about a score, including the orange, the
lemon, the citron, the lime, the shaddock, almonds, chest-
nuts, coco-nuts, juvias, sapucajas, opuntias, bananas,
pomegranates, hickory-nuts, pecuan-nuts, souari-nuts,
etc., all in the fresh condition, or just as they come from
the tree, with various dried ones besides, as dates and
litchis. Figs in the dried state, " French plums," prunes,
raisins, and the currants of the grocers' shops may be
mentioned for completeness' sake, though belonging
botanically to the previous lists. Occasionally we may
see loquats, the custard-apple, granadillas, and a few
others, the aggregate of all sorts thus amounting to
about sixty. The number of the strangers will probably
increase year by year, owing to the more rapid ocean
communication now practicable, and to that laudable,
not to say noble, interest in the productions of foreign

History of Fruits. 1 1

countries which always marks a highly civilized com-
munity, and which has already filled our gardens and
conservatories with the loveliest flowers and the greenest
leaves played forth by nature.

Two very interesting questions here present them-
selves. Whence did England derive, in the first instance,
the fruits not indigenous we now cultivate? and from
what countries do we receive the imported ones ? The
history of all the very ancient fruits, such as the fig, the
grape, the walnut, and the citron, and of some even of
the comparatively modern ones, such as the orange,
presents in many of the particulars the complexion of a
romance, so curious is the blending of truth and fable.
Dating, like the history of the cereals, and of language,
from the earliest ages of which we have knowledge, over
some of the most interesting portions there hangs a veil
that will be lifted only when men behold the face of Isis.
It is practicable, nevertheless, to trace what may be
termed the middle history, or that which runs abreast of
the diffusion of Christianity. As regards our own island,
fruit-culture may be referred, for its beginning, to the
Romans, that wonderful people to whom primitive Britain
was indebted for its first lessons in the useful arts, as
road-making and architecture. The Roman governors
and other magnates, of whose handsome and well-
appointed villas vestiges still exist, brought into this
country the earliest practice of horticulture. It was the
Romans who introduced " greens " and the onion, and
among fruit-trees, the chestnut and the vine, probably

1 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

also the apple and pear, the plum, the cherry, the fig,
and the walnut. That some of these in their crude form
are natives of Britain is quite true. But the harsh crab
and austere wild cherry are not to be confounded with
improved descendants fit for the orchard. Introducing
the eatable kinds, the Romans have as clear a title to be
considered the founders of British apple and cherry
culture as of the cultivation in our island of the vine.
The six or seven indigenous British fruits, eatable just as
they occur in the wilderness, and never cultivated for
market, have been mentioned above. Two others only
are palatable without cultivation, the wood strawberry
and the raspberry, and these would be all the Romans
found on their arrival. Let us not forget, however, that
pleasant little fruit-substitute which Caractacus himself
may not have disdained to eat, and which in another
immortal island was for certain not unknown to darling
Miranda —

"And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts."

Though introduced by the Romans, the culture of several
of the fruits named above, after their departure, in all
likelihood, declined rapidly, and some of them may have
been lost. With the Normans, that other great people
to whom Britain owes so much, horticulture flourished
anew. In the gardens of the monasteries — those grand
old asylums of literature and religion when everything
around was dark and rude — along with medicinal plants
would certainly be cherished whatever good fruits were

Fruit-Culture in England. 13

procurable. The monks always sought to establish them-
selves in situations favourable to the cultivation of good
fruit, just as they always had an eye to good fishing.
Under ecclesiastical influence, during the old days of
monastic splendour, when Tintern, and Fountains, and
Rievaulx, and Furness, were the centres of the local
civilization, there can be no doubt that many excellent
introductions from the Continent took place. The period
of the revival of learning was also eminently favourable
to fruit-culture. With the period of the Reformation
may be associated, very definitely, the original culture of
the gooseberry and the currant; probably, also, of the
strawberry and the raspberry. Henry VIII., whatever
his short-comings in other respects, was a great patron of
fruit-growing. The troubles upon the Continent which
drove the Flemings, with their auriculas, into old
England, refuge always of the destitute and forlorn,
again proved serviceable to our gardens. Of substantial
importance even greater was the assiduity, with a view to
improvement of quality, which marked the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. Fruit-culture at length became
one of the fine arts, and to-day there is no country in the
world in which the value of science, in many of its
departments, is so well demonstrated as by the British
fruit-grower. The precise date of the introduction of any
particular kind of fruit is thus in most cases indeter-
minable. It can be conjectured, but no more.

The history of the importation of gathered fruit from
foreign countries forms quite as interesting a chapter in

1 4 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the annals of British commerce. Cherries and pears
were supplied from the Netherlands at a very early
period. When the cathedrals were building, when
Venice was in its glory, there came from the ports in the
Mediterranean dates, oranges, lemons, almonds, chest-
nuts, pomegranates. In the Elizabethan age, the banana
and the coco-nut made their appearance, only as curiosi-
ties —an item, nevertheless, of no little significance in the
record. The pine-apple was first seen in the reign of
Charles II. Which shall we put down as the latest intro-
duction ? The fruit, it would seem, of the " tree-tomato,"
Cyphomandra betacea, to be spoken of by-and-by.

The aggregate of the present imports, until the actual
figures are seen, is almost inconceivable. According to
the Government Blue-book "Annual Statement of the
Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries
and British Possessions," the quantities of the different
kinds of fruit landed upon the shores of England, and
the declared values, were in 1883 as follow : —

Value.
Almonds ........................ 61,654 cwts. ... ^232,260

Apples (raw) ..................... 2,251,925 bushels... 553,488

Nuts .............................. ... 455.124

Oranges and lemons ............ 4,477,043 ,, ... 1,704,826

Various fruits, not specified J 2j66o>475 . 1,380,952

(raw; ..................... )

Do. do. (dried) ... 299,866 cwts. ... 303,337

, ... ,47,6,3
37, 168 cwts. ... .,4,088
Currants ........................... 1,026,584 ,, ... 1,423,062

Import of Fruits. 1 5

Value.

Figs and fig-cakes 128,434 cwts. ••• ;£262>67I

French plums and prunelloes 13,937 » ••• 54>43°

Plums (dried or preserved) ... 1,841 ,, ... 6,651

Prunes 25,343 „ ... 35»226

Raisins 588,309 ,, ... 1,057,934

£7,741,672

In addition to this enormous quantity, all destined for
the British mouth, there was an import of 61,262 tons of
various "nuts and kernels used for expressing oil," value
^872,179. Apart from contemplation of the magnitude,
how vast the amount of diverse industry implied ! What
breadths of land to supply it all ! What diligence in the
gathering ! How many good ships to be freighted !
How much enterprise and activity in the buying and
selling ! No mean position in the world's economy
assuredly is held by flowers, since in flowers all fruit
begins. Who shall measure the annual fruit-commerce
of the world ? Jamaica alone sent to the United States,
in 1884, more than five millions of coco-nuts, and nearly
forty-two millions of oranges !

Now arises a third question. In what parts of the
world did our cultivated fruits originally grow? What
countries were their birthplaces? When and how — for
that some have travelled far is very plain — did they get
diffused ? In the beginning, the seeds of different sorts
would be carried, as at the present day, by birds. In all
ages, streams of water and the waves of the sea have lent
their aid in promoting dispersion, the sea very conspicu-

i6

Friiits and Fruit- Trees.

ously in the conveyance of the coco-nut to the islands of
the South Pacific. Others would be carried by man, in
the course of his wanderings and migrations. But who
shall write the minute history ? No problems are more
difficult ; few are more fascinating than are wrapped up
in the archaeology of the fruit-bearing plants. It is well
that we are thus beset, since half the enjoyment of life
consists in the sense of being embosomed in enigmas.

Chapter Second

THE APPLE (Pyrus Malus).

"For things we make no compt of, have in them
The seeds of life, use, beauty, like the cores
Of apples, that we fling away." — Festus.

OREMOST always among fruits interesting to
an Englishman is the Apple. The apple is
of more use and benefit to the people of
England in general than all the other fruits
put together. It remains longest in season,
and can be used in the greatest variety of
ways. No one ever objects to apples. Newly gathered
from the tree they are the most brisk and refreshing
of all the common fruits of temperate climates. For
culinary purposes they are unexcelled ; even when dried,
as in " Normandy pippins," their merit remains ; and we
must not forget that the most genuinely English beverage

1 8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

is cider. No one ever tires of the apple. It is to fruits
in general what good wheaten bread is to other accus-
tomed food. While it satisfies it never cloys. There is
no time of life, either, when the apple becomes a super-
fluity, or is no longer suitable as aliment. As for boys
and girls in fair health, for them the apple would almost
seem to have been primarily created. There is a period
in the life of children when they are hungry all over,
voracious at every pore. Eat they must and will, flying
to cakes and mischievous sweets, candies, and confec-
tions, unless judiciously supplied with what is really
wholesome. Bread is deficient in savour. Fruit, fully
ripened and of simple kinds, is the happy medium, and
in no shape is it better for them than that of the apple.
The tree itself is recommended by its hardiness — it
thrives wherever the oak will flourish ; by the ease with
which it accommodates itself to every diversity of soil
and situation our island affords — very good apples are
ripened in the Orkneys, and even in Shetland — and by
the comparatively late season of the bloom, so that a fair
crop can always be calculated upon. In Britain no fruit
can be brought to so high a degree of excellence with so
little trouble, though pains taken in apple-culture never
go without plentiful reward : the fruit is infinitely varied
in flavour, and in the comeliness that ensues upon change
of form and colour ; and to complete the pleasant list of
virtues and good qualities, there is the longevity, and,
increasing with age, the gracious fertility. The potential
life of an apple-tree is quite a hundred and fifty years.

The Apple of Mythology. 19

Many of the best apples shown at the great Congress
of 1883 came from trees a full century old, and com-
paratively few were from trees less than fifty years of
age.

No wonder that the apple appears so often in myth
and fable ; that it serves the poet so well as a symbol at
once intelligible and picturesque; and that if in past
times there were " apples of discord," to-day we have our
" love-apples." In literature, as these phrases show, the
word is not to be always taken in the strictly literal sense.
In fiction it is apt to appear after the same manner as
"rose" and "lily," the figurative image of something
delectable, even supreme, not a reality, but abundantly
significant to the imagination. Not apples to be eaten
were those in the mind of the donor of the famous fable
of Hippomenes and Atalanta, where the maiden loses
the race through stopping to gather up the too seductive
"poma aurea;" nor were they veritable apples in the
picture of the golden fruit of the Hesperides, in that
beautiful story of the three chaste young ladies, far away
in the West, who kept them safe from intrusion and
curiosity. The meaning of the fable is easy to discern.
Every particular has its purpose ; it would be difficult to
find anything in the whole range of story and myth more
delicately expressed, or more in harmony with the best
principles of nature and virtue. No wonder, again, that
painters of the Temptation of Eve, sustained by Paradise
Lost, should employ the apple to represent the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge; and that in the A.V. of the

2O Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Old Testament, whatever the Hebrews understood by
tappuach, we read upon six occasions of " apples " and
the "apple-tree." "Apples of gold in pictures of silver;"
"Stay ye me with raisins, comfort me with apples;" "As
the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my
beloved among the sons : I sat down under his shadow
with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."
Not one of the Scripture references carries allusion to the
apple of the English orchard. That the ancient Hebrews
ever saw or knew anything of apples of any kind is in the
highest degree improbable. The Hebrew word simply
denotes something fragrant. The quince, the citron, the
apricot, have all in turn been suggested as the fruit
meant. Conjectural the proper rendering must remain,
and seemingly for ever, since the " Revised " has allowed
"apple" and "apple-tree" to stand untouched. Their
idea of the words (apple and apple-tree) is very plainly
that they are to be understood as very elegant and intelli-
gible figures of speech.

The tree, as well known, is one of medium dimensions,
disposed to be round-headed, but never lofty. The leaves
are ovate, and fall in autumn. The flowers come at the
same time as the cowslips and the poets' narcissus, in
little umbels of three to six ; in figure, as in all the rest of
their family, they are rosaceous, the five petals quite free,
white, and delicately shaded outside with pale carmine.
Hence the enchanting spectacle of an apple-tree in full
bloom — a sight as lovely as the scarf of Iris* — not simple

* "Rich scarf to my proud earth." — Tempest, iv. I.

Structure of the Apple. 21

snow, like a cherry or a pear, but roseate. The upper-
most portion of the flower-stalk is deeply concave, the
sepals of the calyx springing from the margin, as do the
petals and the numerous stamens, while in the centre are
five slender pistils. The curious should note this care-
fully, since the apple, as regards structure, is one of the
most remarkable productions of nature. The rule in
plants is for the ripe fruit to consist only of the matured
ovary. In the apple the matured ovary is the smallest
portion of the fruit ! Soon after the petals drop, the
vase-like top of the peduncle becomes gradually dis-
tended with juicy tissue. By degrees it adjoins itself to
the pistils within. These at last become completely
embedded, and constitute the " core " — French c<xur> the
heart. A horizontal section of a ripe apple shows plainly
where the adhesion took place, this being indicated by
green fibres. A ripe apple is thus, in truth, imperium in
imperio, a fruit within a fruit. • Contemplated only in
maturity, it would seem to be one of the class technically
called " inferior," very numerous, and explained perhaps
on the same general principle— that of the adhesion of
outward parts to inner ones. The charm about the apple
is that we can watch day by day how all progresses. The
lesson it gives is quite as salutary as pretty, since it is
only by studying and watching development, beginning
with infancy and youth, that we can ever properly com-
prehend conclusions and the perfect. The five cells of
the core contain (unless some of them fail) two brown
seeds or " pips " apiece, so that every apple is designed

2 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

originally by nature to be the parent of ten more
apple-trees. This astounding fecundity in regard to
possible offspring, shown also in most other plants,
seems beyond the power of man to understand. When
seed is distinctly the food of any of the lower classes
of animal life, it speaks for itself as another disclosure
of the divine munificence. By-and-by perhaps we may
know: for the present the question goes with the
enigmas. "Pippins" are properly apples that have
been raised from these "pips" as distinguished from
grafts, though the name is now restricted to particular
sorts. " Grafts " are simply multiplications of an already
existing kind. The elder horticulturists thought that
a tree was improved by re-grafting, Le. grafting upon
itself. Hence the term rennet or reinette — a corruption
of re-natus*

The native countries of the apple cannot be said to be
certainly known. According to Decandolle it appears to
be most truly indigenous in the district lying between
Trebizond and Ghilan (North Persia). He believes it to
be a native also of the mountains of north-west India,
and of Europe in general, excepting the extreme north,
Britain included. Karl Koch, on the other hand, whose
views and opinions are never to be treated lightly, while
he allows the Asiatic claim, considers that the apple is
only naturalized in Europe, though the introduction may
have taken place in pre-historic times. That it existed

*" Grafted," the accustomed word, is a vulgarism, as bad as
"drownded." See the A.V. of Romans xi. 17, 19, 23.

Parentage of the Apple. 23

in Europe at that remote period is proved by the remains
of apples found in the Swiss Lake-dwellings. When we
talk of the native country of a cultivated plant or tree,
of course it means of the plant in its crude, original,
rudimentary condition. Garden apples are not spon-
taneous anywhere. All have come, in course of time,
from simple and primitive forms represented in our
English hedgerows by the Crab ; for this seems after all
to be only one of three or four different species of Pyrus,
each of which has played its own part in the origination.
It is convenient to call the English Crab and all our
cultivated apples by the collective Linnaean name of
Pyrus Mains. Still, however, we have to ask how much
of their nature and character they may have inherited from
the Pyrus pumila (or prcecox), the P. dasyphylla, and the
P. prunifolia; the " crab" of England, a tree found all over
Europe, receiving their various influence, just as ancient
families, though preserving their integrity, have been tinc-
tured by their marriages right and left. At what period
and in what country the austere crab began to disclose
its wonderful capacity for change to a better condition,
and by what circumstances the tendency to improve
was first aroused, there is no possibility of finding out.
Probably the change was contemporaneous with the
development of the social and constructive instincts of
man, pertaining to no particular spot and to no particular
period. Good apples no doubt arose in the earliest
times, as they constantly do at the present day, "by
accident." Nature has not two ways of working, nor did

24 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

the bees only begin to carry pollen from one flower to
another when men first observed them engaged upon
what Virgil so felicitously calls their " studies." That the
crab grew into a sweet and pleasant thing at a very early
period is shown by the ramification of the name, plainly
Aryan (making allowance for dialectic changes), through-
out the languages of the old Celtic and Northern nations,
in whose legends and mythology the fruit also appears
very generally. With our Saxon ancestors it was " aepl "
or "seppel." That the ancient Greeks possessed it is
shown by that charming picture in the Odyssey, so simple
and natural, where Ulysses reminds his aged father that
when a little boy he had given him, for his own garden,
"thirteen pear-trees, and ten apple-trees, and forty fig-
trees:" "I asked each of thee, being a child, following
thee through the garden, and thou didst name and tell
me each."* How tenderly the words recall to mind that
fragment of early paradise — our own first little plot, where,
in the golden days of " lang syne," we first learned how
to feel and see. Truly the great poets are for all the
ages : " the sun of Homer shines upon us still ! " In
Roman literature references to apples are frequent. Yet
even in Pliny's time good ones would seem to have been
scarce in Italy, for he knew of apple-trees in villages near
the imperial city which were more profitable to their
owners than small farms. The good wrought in England
by the Normans has already been mentioned. It was
during their time that apple-culture commenced in our

* xxiv. 336-344.

The Cider-Counties. . 25

island the noble course which has never slackened. Cider-
apples were introduced by the Normans, and though Kent
led the way, it was while the earliest cathedrals were rising
from the ground that the foundations were laid for the
future fame of the "cider-counties,"* those beautiful
lands, beginning with Devon upon the south, and ending
with Hereford in the north, which form a semi-circle
round the upper portion of the Bristol Channel, and
which, when the orchards are in bloom — often covering
many acres — are the loveliest in our country j becoming
so again when the fruit is ripe, excelling even the corn-
fields. For a short period in late autumn, the spectacle,
in some parts at all events, is unique, one that in England
only apple-trees can supply. This is when the leaves
have mostly dropped, but the fruit still clings to the
boughs, and, the sun shining on its loveliness, we are
reminded of Paris on the top of Ida, and the rival god-
desses who for a moment

"The veil divine
Cast unconfined, and gave him all their charms."

The names of various old towns and villages in England
which commemorate early apple-culture, as Applethwaite,
Applegarth, Appleby, Appledurcombe, date, according
to Isaac Taylor, from times anterior to the Conquest.

* Cider is said to have been first made in England about the year
1284. Coincidences are always curious : the preparations were
just then in hand for the building of the nave of York Minster ;
Caernarvon Castle, quite recently completed, was the scene, in this
identical year, of the birth of Edward II.
E

26 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

"Appleton," the family surname, began just after it.
In 1066, among the followers of William there was a
lady of the name of Mabilia. She fixed her residence
in Kent, at one of the many places where apples, it
would seem, were already plentiful, and, commending
herself to the people by her virtues, became known as
Mabilia d'Appletone, or Mabilia of the apple-orchards.
Her descendants, the Appletons of Kent and the
adjoining counties, like the Traffords of Lancashire,
still, after eight hundred years, cling faithfully to the
ancestral soil. The heraldic crest became an apple-
bough, with leaves and fruit, and continues such to the
present day.

This inestimable fruit-tree has been carried, during the
last three centuries, to every part of the world where it can
thrive. Hot countries are unfavourable to it : the fruit
is appreciated nevertheless, as in Alexandria, and even
Cairo, where imported European apples never wait long
for a purchaser. It does admirably well in New Zealand,
and in Australia, whence apples are now finding their
way to the English market, arriving, very opportunely,
in the spring. In the park -like prairies of Chili it has
become quite plentiful;* it has reached even to Patagonia;
and how grand has been its success in North America
needs no telling. What may be the dimensions of the
largest apple-tree in the Old World we do not know, but

* In Chili there is made a good deal of cider, in Spanish called
chicha, and corresponding, in its use and measure of popularity, to
the vin ordinaire of the French.

American Apples. 27

in Cheshire county, Connecticut, U.S., there is one certi-
fied by family tradition to be quite a hundred and forty
years old, the trunk of which at a foot from the ground,
above all the enlargements common to the base of trees,
has a girth of over thirteen feet. The uppermost limbs
of this wonderful tree reach to the height of sixty feet,
and the lateral spread of the whole is a hundred feet.
From five out of the eight branches there have been
gathered crops varying from eighty-five to one hundred
and ten bushels of perfectly good ripe fruit. The best of
the New World apples now come from Nova Scotia,
immensely to the credit of that little colony ; the next
best from Canada. This helps to prove that it is not
cold winters which are obnoxious to apple-trees. They
are content to endure frost if it be balanced by hot sum-
mers. American apples are now brought to England in
prodigious quantity. In 1881 the import amounted to
1,250,000 barrels. We receive plenty, also, from conti-
nental Europe, the total from all parts amounting in 1882
to 2,386,805 bushels. In our own island, according to
the Agricultural Returns for 1883, the number of acres
planted with fruit-trees is about 185,800. About 150,000
are devoted, probably, to the culture of the apple, and as
an acre will hold, on the average, about seventy, the total
number of orchard trees owned by old England will
exceed ten millions. How many more exist in private
gardens it is impossible to estimate. What comes of this
wonderful amount of apple-culture was illustrated at the
great Apple Congress mentioned above (p. 19), Chiswick,

28 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

October, 1883, when two hundred and thirty-six exhibi-
tors placed upon the tables no fewer than ten thousand
one hundred and fifty dishes, illustrating two thousand
and twenty different varieties, of which the judges allowed
one thousand five hundred and forty-five to be truly dis-
tinct. With a view to determining the best, a poll was
taken on the votes of a hundred and thirty of the exhibi-
tors, the result being that among dessert apples " King
of the Pippins" won the honours. "Cox's Orange" coming
next, and the " Ribston Pippin " third. Of the culinary
apples in cultivation "Lord Suffield" was considered the
best; then "Dumelow's Seedling;" and thirdly, "Keswick
Codling." A " codling," it may be remarked, is any apple
that requires cooking, as illustrated in Shakspere,* and in
the congenerate word "pease-cod," literally green or
unripe pease. In reference to the judgments at the
Congress, there was naturally considerable difference of
opinion, some apples being more popular simply because
better known in particular districts than others quite
equal in quality. Some kinds, moreover, excellent when
the crop can be secured, are disappointing because apt
to fall prematurely from the tree; or because, though
they ripen well, they are of inferior " keeping " power.
The apple perfect in all respects — the best " all-round "
sort — has yet to be certified. The cultivator must be
satisfied with a good percentage of merit, and any one
about to plant a garden or orchard must consult growers

* " Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy,
as a codling when 'tis almost an apple." — Twelfth Night, i. 5.

Best Varieties of Apples.

29

of local experience, and consider what he himself particu-
larly wishes to possess. By the kind permission of the
editor of the Gardeners' Chronicle, we here reprint a list
of the dozen varieties considered best in the six districts
of England marked out at the time of the Congress for
the sake of preliminary classification. The list was sup-
plied by Mr. P. Grieve, of Bury St. Edmunds,* the
names following in the order of merit ascribed to the
various kinds. Apple-names, like those of roses, do not
pretend to be scientific. They are bestowed simply for
convenience of identification.

GROUP I.

GROUP II.

GROUP III.

Southern Counties.

Eastern Counties.

South Midland
Counties.

Cox's Orange
King of the Pippins
Ribston Pippin
Blenheim Orange
Kerry Pippin

Cox's Orange
Blenheim Orange
Kerry Pippin
Irish Peach
Sturmer Pippin

Cox's Orange
King of the Pippins
Ribston Pippin
Kerry Pippin
Devonshire Quar-
renden

Devonshire Quar-
renden

Golden Harvey

Irish Peach

Court de Wick
Sturmer Pippin

Red Quarrenden
Golden Winter
Pearmain

Fearn's Pippin
Claygate Pearmain

Scarlet Nonpareil
Irish Peach
Yellow Ingestre
Fearn's Pippin

Lord Lennox
Russet Nonpareil
Scarlet Nonpareil
Ribston Pippin

Adam's Pearmain
Scarlet Nonpareil
Wyken Pippin
Court de Wick

* April 18, 1885, p. 503.

Fruits and Fridt- Trees.

GROUP IV.

GROUP V.

GROUP VI.

North Midland
Counties.

Western Counties.

Northern Counties.

Cox's Orange
Blenheim Orange
King of the Pippins
Ribston Pippin
Irish Peach
Court de Wick
Kerry Pippin

Cox's Orange
King of the Pippins
Ribston Pippin
Irish Peach
Margil
Court Pendu Plat
Devonshire Quar-
renden

Cox's Orange
King of the Pippins
Ribston Pippin
Blenheim Orange
Irish Peach
Kerry Pippin
Early Margaret

Stunner Pippin
Fearn's Pippin

Kerry Pippin
Blenheim Orange

Claygate Pearmain
Devonshire Quar-
renden

Maltster

Ashmead's Kernel

Red Astrachan

Mr. Gladstone

Nonpareil

Sturmer Pippin
Scarlet Nonpareil

Yellow Ingestre
Adam's Pearmain

" King of the Pippins," the victor over all, is an apple
renowned for its free and constant bearing qualities, and
the abundance of the crop even upon very young trees.
Scotland, however, claims for its best the "Ribston
Pippin," " King of the Pippins " standing only second,
and "Cox's Orange" considerably lower in the scale.
This may come of the last-named not succeeding so well
in the northern parts of the island as in the southern, or
it may not be so well known. In Ireland the two finest
varieties of dessert apple are considered, as shown by the
votes, to be "Irish Peach" and "Summer Strawberry."
To describe these various kinds is, in the present place,
quite impossible. Their manifold shapes, colours, and

Culinary Apples. 31

qualities are familiar, in truth, only to specialists and
great cultivators ; and to the uninitiated, without actual
sight of the fruit, words can seldom be much more than
words. It may be useful, however, to mention a few
more of the fifteen hundred sorts under cultivation as
particularly valuable, thus to be inquired for by the
intending planter. For culinary use it is allowed that
the old " Keswick Codling," though placed only third at
the time of the poll, still maintains an untouched repu-
tation. "Lord Suffield," despite its blue ribbon, is
acknowledged, per contra, to be one of the shortest-lived
as to tree, and one of the worst keepers as regards
produce. No such comment is made upon Grosvenor,
Yorkshire Beauty, Echlinville Seedling, Peasgood's Non-
such, all of them good early sorts. Capital kitchen
apples, to succeed the above, are said to be Lord Derby,
Mere de me'nage, Beauty of Kent, Warner's King, New
Hawthornden, Cox's Pomona, and Nelson's Glory.
Excellent late varieties, also for the kitchen, are Winter
Greening, Rosemary Russet, and Bringewood Pippin.
Really it is upon these culinary or kitchen apples that
the mind rests with the profoundest sense of thankfulness
and satisfaction. The germ of civilization is found in
the art and science of the kitchen. The apple, were it
valued and honoured as it deserves to be, would take its
place upon the table as regularly as the potato. We do
not use it half enough in our cooking. Happy the day
when the illustrious old roasted apple — not the unfortu-
nate victim of the modern stove, simply softened, but the

3 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

hot and foamy, bubbling, fragrant one, full of comeliness
and romance, fresh from the side or front of the fire,
ipsissima and bond fide — shall come back to the place it
always ornamented and honoured, and the heart be
moved to ejaculate once again, " Blessed be the man
who invented roasted apples."

Among dessert kinds of corresponding merit for general
purposes may be specially recommended the Claygate
Pearmain, Scarlet Pearmain, Worcester Pearmain, Adam's
Pearmain, Golden Reinette, Red Astrachan, Early Har-
vest, Duchess of Oldenburgh, Devonshire Quarrenden,
and Seek-no-further.

Much depends, as regards success in apple-culture,
upon the judicious care exercised in the original planting
of the trees ; remembering, at the outset, that apples like
a dry subsoil, and that to hope for good results upon
badly-drained land is out of the question. Apple-trees
have no love for the banks of streams, nor for any kind
of low-lying situation, since it is here that fogs and spring
frosts are likely to be most harmful. A south-west aspect,
with tendency to due south, is their delight as to point of
the compass. If the situation be somewhat exposed, and
anything of the nature of an orchard be intended, the
trees should be planted rather near together, say about
eighteen feet apart. In sheltered situations, and where
the soil is kindly, the distance should be about thirty feet
one from the other. In either case the lines of trees
should be planted not in such a way that every four
trees shall make a square, but after the manner called

Orchards. 33

by mathematicians "quincunx," familiar in all kinds of
spotted muslin and other art patterns. The individual
trees have then more room, although the reciprocal dis-
tances are no greater than when disposed rectangularly.
A very good plan supplementary to the apple-tree plant-
ing is to insert a plum-tree between every couple of apples,
the plum beginning to bear sooner, and thus furnishing
revenue while the orchard itself, because of its youth, is
not yet productive. But do not plant too many kinds.
A nicely graduated succession of sorts is far better than
a multitudinous variety, to say nothing of the uncertainty
of a great number of different sorts doing well in any one
specific locality. No collection, even of moderate extent,
can be depended upon for a certain crop every season
in a climate like that of England, where so many perils
are identified with the period called Spring. Plentiful as
apple-trees are already, there is room in England for an
indefinite annual increase of the number. Every small
farm ought to have its orchard, and its plot of bush-
fruits as well, since, excepting .during hay-time, the
owner generally has leisure enough to attend to all that
is wanted, and the return helps in no slight measure to
pay the rent.

Apple-culture in England will not have attained its
proper status until another great fact is recognized and
acted upon — namely, the inexpressible value of fruit-trees
in general as decorative or ornamental objects. Orchards
laid out with pleasant walks, provided with seats, and a
fair amount of flower-beds, so as to invite to quiet morn-
F

34

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

ing and evening stroll, would then indeed be charming.
They would double the enjoyment of May, and very
specially of ripe October. To sever the ideas of fruit
and flowers is to divorce things joined together in the
beginning by God who made them, and who intended
them to be in nature, as the year's evening approaches,

" Like perfect music set to noble words."

Chapter

THE PEAR, THE QUINCE, THE MEDLAR,
THE LOQUAT, AND OTHERS.

" O Spring, of hope, and love, and youth, and gladness,

Wind-winged emblem ! brightest, best, and fairest,

Whence comest thou, when, with dark winter's sadness,

The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest ? "

Shelley.

HE history of the Pear (Pyrus communis)
corresponds, in some degree, with that of the
apple. The original native countries would
seem to be the same, so far as regards the
typical or primitive form — the district, that is
to say, of the southern Caucasus and the
north of Persia, extending therefrom, westwards, over
all parts of temperate Europe, reaching even into the
southern portions of Sweden, and somewhat doubtfully
into our own island. To assert positively that it is

36 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

European as well as Asiatic would be somewhat bold.
Many of the seemingly wild examples in Europe are
probably no more than descendants of ancient cultiva-
tion; and not only so, for, as with the apple, it seems
quite likely that the pear, as we have it to-day, has come
of the intermarriage (in some of its varieties, at least) of
three or four different ancestors. The primitive parent,
the Adam of the race, may be correctly imagined, in all
likelihood, from the crude forms of the Pyrus communis
still to be found ; but there can be little doubt that were
the pedigree of the pear in its best existing form within
reach, it would show the names also of the Pyrus eleagri-
folia of north-eastern Asia Minor ; the Pyrus Sinaica of
Syria, whence this tree was conveyed to Italy contem-
poraneously with the Damascus (or damask) rose; and
specially the Pyrus Achras of southern Russia, the beauti-
ful species so much honoured in the country of the Don
Cossacks — the tree there resorted to on all occasions of
fete and festival, and beneath which the villagers keep up
their pretty annual custom of choosing a queen for the
year. It is not improbable, also, that crosses have taken
place between the crude Pyrus communis and certain
species of Mespilus, and likewise with the quince. Those
who care to explore the subject in all its complexity,
must consult the writings of Decandolle, Godron, Leroy,
Decaisne, and Karl Koch ; the last-named of whom con-
siders that Europe has no claim at all to the pear as an
indigenous plant, and refers it to China.

In any case the cultivation, though very early, did not

The Pear. 37

begin, it would seem, so soon as that of the apple. In
constitution the pear is less hardy than the apple; it can-
not accommodate itself so readily to varied soils; the
uses of the fruit are less multiform, and very few of
the sorts allow of being kept through the winter. Hence
in early times it was not suited for a staple ; and finally,
there is the certificate supplied by the names borne by
the tree in the northern languages, which point in every
instance to the Latin pints as their common ancestor.*
That the ancient Greeks were acquainted with it is shown
in the lines above quoted from the Odyssey (p. 24), and
in Theocritus, who introduces the pear in that beautiful
little elegy, the lament of Thyrsis (i. 134). Italy, in the
time of the Caesars, possessed, according to Pliny, thirty-
six distinct varieties. The mural paintings uncovered at
Pompeii frequently represent both the tree and the fruit.
Virgil speaks of the latter in his ninth Eclogue.

When well developed, a mature pear-tree is one of the
most pleasing objects in nature. The general figure is
much handsomer than that of the apple; it attains a very
markedly superior stature, this reaching to thirty, fifty,
even seventy feet ; the diameter of the branchy head is
often greater than the height ; Mr. Edwin Lees, in his
entertaining volume, u The Forest and Chase of Malvern,"
tells us that at Borland, in Worcestershire, there are pear-
trees "as big as oaks." The leaves resemble those of
the apple, but have longer stalks, and are usually quite

* Pirus, let it be noted, is the proper old Roman spelling of the
name. It became " pyrus" only by mediaeval corruption.

38 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

glabrous on both surfaces. The structure of the flowers
is similar, but the petals are always pure white ; the
structure of the fruit is also similar, but the tissue usually
contains some gritty matter ; the pips are black instead
of brown, and there is never a concavity at the base.
When ripe the clusters are prone to hang in a peculiar
mantling way, very beautiful, the pear being one of the
trees which always give an impression of easy grace of
carriage as well as of opulence. In the latter respect, let
the season be favourable, the pear emulates the orange.
The great pear-tree at Garmouth (near the mouth of the
Spey) — one of the variety called "Golden Knot," or
"Golden Ball," not a large fruit, but very sweet — has
borne, as a single crop, the incredible number of twenty-
eight thousand six hundred. A curious fact respecting
the fruit is that while twin apples, i.e. two united, side by
side, are very common, twin pears are almost, if not quite,
unknown. Per contra (a profoundly interesting occur-
rence for the botanist), pears are apt to present very
singular malformations, all going to prove that the origin
of the fruit is the same as that of the apple, as described
on p. 21, i.e. it comes of the adhesion of the distended
extremity of the flower-stalk with the five ovaries, and
gradual fusion therewith, though in the pear the green
spots are not distinguishable. It is further interesting
to observe that though the younger branches of pear-
trees are apt to be spinous while in the wilderness,
when cultivated thorns appear no more. Also that pear-
trees, like the laburnum and the woodbine, are apt to

The Pear. 39

blossom anew in the autumn, but then abnormally, the
flowers coming out, not according to pear-law, upon
" spurs," but at the extremity of long wood-shoots of the
current year.

Seedling pears take a much longer time to become
fruitful than seedling apples; they require, it is said,
fifteen to eighteen years. This may be connected, in
some degree, with the long lease of life, the duration of
the pear being equal to that of many timber-trees.
Maturity established, it enters, more remarkably than
most other trees, upon a kind of middle period, corres-
ponding to that beautiful table-land of human existence
which, by keeping up a cheerful heart, never descending
to " envy, hatred, and malice," may be extended almost
indefinitely, old age acquired without growing old. There
is another curious point of likeness. Every one knows
that the people best adapted to ornament " Society " are
precisely those who can most easily dispense with it, and
who find profound satisfaction amid the tranquillities of
home. So with the pear. Many plants, as heather and
the bluebells, call for companions : they are never seen
except as elements of huge assemblages of their own
kind. The peculiarity, on the other hand, of the pear,
like that of the wayside agrimony, is that solitude suits it
quite as well as the crowd, even more so. Yet under
cultivation, rejoicing always where the amenities are, how
it loves a sunny house-front ! — one of those sweet old-
fashioned country mansions with the ancient gables,
where the fruit may be reached through the lattice. In

4O Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the wild state the pear is noted also for dislike of the
hills, and preference for the plains and valleys and the
shadow of woods.

In England the celebrity of the pear probably began
with the uprise of the monasteries, and in all likelihood
in the county still famed for its perry. There is no
historic mention of the pear-orchards of Worcestershire
of earlier date than the time of Henry V. ; but as at
Agincourt the men of Worcestershire, according to Dray-
ton, had for the device upon their banner " a pear-tree
laden with its fruit," the culture must needs have been
long established. The number of varieties now in culti-
vation cannot be far from a thousand. Leroy alone
enumerates nine hundred and fifteen. Very many of
these have been raised in Belgium, the country where
fruit-trees, pears especially, were first raised from seed
on scientific principles, not hap-hazard, an art first prac-
tised about the time of William III. France and the
Channel Islands produce the best and the most astonish-
ing the world has knowledge of. It is from Jersey that
the marvellous pears arrive which in Covent Garden are
priced at fifteen guineas the dozen — these last obtained
in some degree by artificial means. Many kinds of fruit
acquire larger dimensions than ordinary if the plant is so
trained that the fruiting-branches are in close proximity
to the earth. When, moreover, the power of the plant is
concentrated upon a comparatively small number by
removing the bulk of the possible produce, those allowed
to remain for ripening almost certainly reach a much

The Pear. 41

more considerable size. In Jersey the trees destined to
produce the huge pears above mentioned are thinned
to a few fruits each, and the branches that are to bear
them are kept as low down as possible. What France
has done for the pear is plainly told by the names borne
by scores of the best descriptions, as Doyenne d'ete', the
best of the very early pears; Souvenir du Congres, weigh-
ing, on the average, a pound and a half; Doyenne du
Cornice," superb both in quality and appearance; Duron-
deau, rich and delicious ; Josephine de Malines, famed
for its aroma; not to mention those universal favourites,
the Jargonelle and the Marie Louise — the celebrated
pear raised by the Abbe Duquesne, and named in
compliment to Napoleon's empress. Among pears with
English names, none excel Clapp's Favourite, very early;
Lucy Grieve, that beautiful lemon-yellow one, with blush
on the sunward side, very tender and melting ; Knight's
Monarch, sugary and perfumed ; Rivers' Beacon, bright
and handsome ; and for stewing, turning red during
the process, that capital old sort, the Black Pear of
Worcester. This is the famous variety said by tradition
to be the pear represented in the City Arms, or rather in
the second or more modern of the two shields belonging
to Worcester — Argent, a fess between three pears, sable.
The date of this shield is uncertain, but in all likelihood
it coincides with that of the visit of Queen Elizabeth to
Worcester.

Returning to the subject of the best sorts for planting,
while every one, of course, follows his own predilections
G

42 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

in the matter, it must be remembered that the choice has
still to be regulated, in great measure, by the soil and
climate of the locality, and by the aspect, many of the
varieties being sensitive in regard to one or other of
these. Where the soil is clayey, wet, and cold, it is hope-
less, at any time, to expect pears of first-rate quality. To
know which to pick, when in want of just one or two for
private pleasure, watch the movements of those excellent
judges, the wasps.

THE QUINCE (Cydonia vulgaris)*

THE Quince, like the apple and pear, is a fruit of very
ancient fame, as sure to be the case with one so attrac-
tive to the eye — massive and golden, and that could not
fail to be observed in the very earliest historical times,
this because of its birthplace. The original seat, there is
no reason to doubt, was the North of Persia, where it
still grows spontaneously in the woods, extending to
the shores of the Caspian, the region to the south of the
Caucasus, and to Anatolia. That it moved westwards at

* Hooker and Bentham, whose unflinching disposition to consoli-
date is well known to botanists, include Cydonia in the genus Pyrus,
under which comprehensive name they also place Mespilus and
Sorbus. (Genera Plantarum, i. 626, 1862.) While quite prepared
to accept their judgment, I think it better, in the present volume,
to employ the names under which the trees are generally known
and spoken of.

The Quince. '43

an exceedingly early period may be considered certain.
There is good ground for belief that the ancient Hebrews
were acquainted with it, and with the ancient Greeks
and Romans it was very plainly a favourite. Cultivated
extensively near Cydon, one of the chief cities of ancient
Crete, it was natural that the Greeks, who first saw it in
that island, should call it the Cydonian melon — melon,
in the Greek language, denoting any large, round, succu-
lent fruit not produced in clusters like grapes. Homer,
indeed, applies the name to fruit in general. (Iliad, Ix.
538.) Used by itself, melon probably denoted the apple
ipsissima, but there can be no doubt that it was essen-
tially a generic or collective term for all fruits of the kind
indicated. The congenerate Latin malum possessed pre-
cisely the same broad significance.* Hence we find the
fruit before us bearing with the Romans the name of
Malum Cotoneum — Cotoneum being the same as " Cydo-
nian," the spelling varied in conformity with Latin usage.
This in itself is of no great moment, but the circumstance
acquires great interest from its showing the origin of the
modern English word. In Italian, when that language
was forming, the Latin name became codogno or cotogna.
Subsequently, in French this was shortened to coigne.
Chaucer spells it coine or coin, and at last we get quince,
which is in reality the plural of the word, mistaken for
the name in its singular form. That the quince should

* Melon is the word used in the Septuagint as the Greek represen-
tative of the Hebrew tappilach, Wiclif following suit in the English
version, as the Vulgate had done with their malum.

44 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

be identified with Cydonia was quite natural. In all ages
men have been prone to name things from the towns or
countries where they first saw them, or from which they
were first received. To this day we ourselves speak of
" French beans" and "Turkey rhubarb," though in each
case the epithet is altogether wrong and misleading.

The tree yielding this celebrated fruit grows to the
height of fifteen or twenty feet. The branches, always
numerous, are crooked and distorted; the leaves are
oval entire, downy upon the under-surface, dusky green
above, and deciduous ; the flowers, in figure resembling
apple-blossom, but larger and more open, are white, or
sometimes pale pink, and produced singly at the extremi-
ties of the twigs. The aspect of the tree when in bloom
thus becomes very pleasing. In due time the quince
itself arrives, in shape a sort of irregularly oval apple of
good size, when in perfection of a rich deep golden-yellow
colour, more or less downy, and exhaling a powerful
odour. When the entire crop is ripe, the display is one
again of rare beauty — familiar in the southern counties,
and recommending the tree for decorative use, even when
there is little care for the fruit. A horizontal section of
the fruit brings to view a core of five large cells, consti-
tuting an elegant pentagon. In every cell there are many
seeds, invested with a kind of mucilaginous pulp, so that
the quince may always be told off-hand from an apple or
pear by this one feature, the apple and pear, as said
above, never having more than two seeds in each cell.
Another distinction is supplied in the large and leafy

The Quince. 45

lobes of the calyx remaining permanently upon the
summit. In England the flavour of the quince, though
apple-like, is austere ; it cannot be eaten as a dessert
fruit. In warm countries, on the other hand, though still
delicately bitter, it is bland. A certain dainty roughness,
combined with aroma, constitutes, in fact, the grand
characteristic of the quince, wherever it may be ripened.
Because of this, and of the capital recommendation of its
great size, the quince has been esteemed for at least
two thousand years for the making of marmalade. The
Romans, for this purpose, boiled their quinces with
honey, calling the preparation melimelum, " mel " being
the Latin for honey. From this word, in course of time,
was made the Portuguese marmelada, and thus in English
we get " marmalade." The extension of the name to the
familiar conserve made of Seville oranges is quite modern,
metaphorical, and complimentary. Three or four centuries
ago marmalade was greatly esteemed in England — much
more so than to-day, as was natural to a period when
choice of good things was limited. Miss Wood, in her
" Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies," relates an
amusing anecdote as to the fondness for it of fickle and
never-satisfied Henry VIII. In 1539 the new queen,
Anne of Cleves, desired to engage a maid-of- honour.
Lady Lisle, seeking to propitiate his majesty in favour of
her daughter Katharine, made him a present of some
damson-cheese, and some of this identical quince-jam,
then called " cotiniac." Whether the object was attained
or not we are left in doubt. So acceptable, however, to

46 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the royal epicure were Lady Lisle's sweetmeats, that
Anne Bassett, by whose hand they had been conveyed,
writes off-hand : " The king doth so like the conserves
you sent him, that his grace commandeth me to send to
you for more, and that as soon as may be." To make
marmalade, the directions in the time of Elizabeth were
as follow : " Take faire Quinces, paire them, cut them in
pieces, and cast away the core, then put unto every
pound of Quinces, a pound of Sugar, and to every pound
of Sugar a pinte of water; these must be boiled together
over a stil fire till they be very soft, then let it be strained
or rubbed through a strainer or an hairy Sive, which is
better, and then set it over the fire to boile againe, untill
it be stiffe, and so box it up, and as it cooleth put thereto
a little Rose water, and a few graines of Muske mingled
together, which will give a goodly taste to the Cotiniat.
This is the way to make Marmalad."*

Marmalade is still largely manufactured in France,
particularly on the borders of the Garonne, and is
imported thence as a luxury for the table. To people
whose health is improved by resort to astringent diet,
it is considered very useful. The chief employment of
the quince in our own country is to enliven apple-pie and
"apple-pudding. When apples are flat, or of poor kinds,
a quince sliced and diffused in the pie has a wonderfully
quickening effect, superior even to that of lemon-peel.

In classical poetry, though melon and malum standing
alone, without epithet, probably denote, in most cases,

* Gerard's Herbal, p. 1452.

The Medlar. 47

the apple, — there are passages in which the words point,
very significantly, to the quince. Virgil speaks of the
mala " whitening" as they become ripe. Quinces, too, are
plainly referred to in a celebrated metaphor in Theocritus
(xxvii. 48) which no doubt well pleased Boccaccio, for
the apple, though smooth, is not downy, whereas the
quince, as said above, has a skin that in good examples
is quite velvety. This feature of the quince helps also
to the understanding of the metaphorical "golden apples"
of the Hesperides (p. 19).

THE MEDLAR ( Mespilus Germanica).

THE Medlar is a European fruit-tree, occurring wild in
woods and thickets in the southern portions of the con-
tinent, and extending here and there into the central
parts. It is met with also in the southern Caucasus. In
England it cannot be considered indigenous, though
usually inserted in the Floras. In size and general figure
the tree corresponds with an ordinary apple. Few trees,
however, present a more rustic, not to say uncouth
appearance, the branches making fantastic elbows in all
directions. In the wild state it is spinous. The leaves
are broadly lanceolate, four or five inches long, serrulate,
dark green, more or less pubescent, and deciduous. The
flowers, an inch across, are pure white, nearly sessile,

48 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

and produced singly at the extremities of the shoots.
The calyx-lobes are large and leafy, and remain until the
fruit is ripe. This, when fully formed, is very curious,
being almost globular, upwards of an inch in diameter,
flattened at the top, and of a fine greenish -brown colour.
Instead of a proper "core," there are five great stones or
bony "seeds," the upper extremities of which slightly
protrude. These " stones" correspond to the five cavities
of the apple, the pear, and the quince. The difference is
simply that the substance of the carpels is bony instead
of parchment-like. Similar ossification occurs in the
pyrenes of the Thorns, the Pyracantha, and the Cotone-
asters, which here again seem to be "seeds."

Newly ripe, the medlar is not eatable, being hard,
harsh, and astringent. The flesh is then greenish-white.
In a few weeks it begins to soften, the flesh turning
brown and pulpy, and acquiring a peculiar vinous flavour,
which to palates educated in medlar districts is always a
treat, though to many people distasteful. The softening
marks the first stage of decay, and hence it has come to
be charged upon the unfortunate medlar that it is not fit
for food until partially rotten. Partly, no doubt, because
of its uninviting appearance at this time; partly because
of the astringency, it has never held a high place among
the garden and orchard fruits; and the same circum-
stances may account for its never having kindly mention
in literature. But the charge of partial rottenness is not
quite fair. The very same may be said, and with equal
truth, of the peach, the apricot, and the strawberry. All

The Medlar. 49

of these are ripe, in the genuine sense of the word, as
soon as the seed is mature, capable of vegetating, how-
ever hard and solid the fleshy part may be. Softening,
in every one of them, is a stage beyond ripeness, and
the sign, rather, of incipient decay. A capital jelly may
be prepared from medlars, resembling that made of the
guava. To this end they should be bruised, then boiled
in a large stew-pan, with plenty of water, for half an hour.
The semi-fluid product must then be strained through a
flannel bag, and after adding a pound of lump sugar to
every pint of the clear escape, boiled again for twenty-
five minutes. The medlars may be thus employed while
still hard, but it is better to wait till they have begun to
soften.

The medlar remains attached to the branch until very
late in the autumn. It is by no means apt to fall, and is
best not gathered till the leaves begin to drop. There
are three distinct varieties, the Dutch, large but some-
what coarse, the Royal, and the Nottingham, the last
named the best and the fittest for dessert.

The etymology of the name is very curious. It occurs
first in the old Greek herbalists as mespile, then in Latin
as mespilus, which in Norman French became meslier.
After the same manner the Low-Latin misculare, to
mix, became in French mesler, whence the English
to "meddle," or interfere in other people's affairs, and
the substantive a "meddler." No wonder that before
orthography was fixed meslier followed suit, and became
medlar.
H

50 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

THE LOQUAT, OR "JAPANESE MEDLAR"
(Eriobotrya Japonica).

LOQUATS are the beautiful little yellow fruits, the size of
plums, and usually four or five together in a loose cluster,
which we occasionally see in the shops, as an import from
Malta. The golden and downy skin, tinged with red,
seems to promise something that shall vie with the
apricot. The fleshy portion, however, is but scanty, being
the envelope only of one or two large stones — five,
indeed, when all are perfected that it is possible for the
fruit to contain. The smallness of the quantity is com-
pensated by the flavour, which is agreeably sub-acid,
apple-like, and melting, and in good varieties, quite
luscious, while the odour is such as would tempt the
most delicate invalid. Besides being so good for dessert,
a very fine preserve may be made from this elegant fruit.
In the markets of Hyeres, Toulon, and other places in
the south of Europe, loquats are common. In England,
also, they might be raised as easily as indoor peaches.
Excellent little crops have often been obtained;* it needs
only that the cultivator shall combine for them, arti-
ficially, the climates of Malta and North China. There
are several varieties, some of them superior to the
ordinary Maltese, and these seem but to wait intro-
duction. The only real difficulty with any of the
kinds — and this has been surmounted by the gardeners

* As at Stawell House, Richmond, three or four years ago.

The Loquat. 5 1

who have secured a harvest — is that the flowering takes
place in mid-winter, long before even peaches begin to
blossom.

In its native countries, Japan and China, the tree
producing these desirable fruits is a handsome evergreen,
attaining very considerable dimensions, and living to a
great age. It was brought to Europe in 1784, and three
years afterwards direct from Canton to Kew, and in 1818
first ripened fruit in England. Being by no means
tender, it stands the open air in the southern counties, at
all events if placed against a wall, and in the north is
kept, not uncommonly, in "Winter Gardens." Under
cultivation, the leaves are nearly a foot in length, broadly
lanceolate, corrugated above, and curiously dressed with
fur underneath. The flowers come out in dense clusters
at the ends of the branchlets, individually resembling
those of the hawthorn, creamy-white and deliciously
fragrant. The peduncles and calyces are overlaid with
the same kind of fur as that upon the leaves, but paler.
Hence the scientific name, Eriobotrya. Fully developed
clusters of the fruit consist of as many as twelve or fifteen.
Being easily raised from seed, or by grafting upon a
quince-stock, the loquat is quite within reach as an orna-
mental plant. It rarely makes any superabundant growth,
needs no pruning, and is altogether a very interesting
inmate of our gardens. A coloured drawing of the
loquat, including foliage, flowers, and fruit, is given in
Edwards' Botanical Register, pi. 365 (1819), and another
in the Trans. Hort. Soc., vol. iii., p. 299 (1820).

5 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

THE ROWAN, OR MOUNTAIN-ASH

(Pyrus Attcuparia).

THE Rowan claims a place among the fruit-trees because
of the excellent jelly which, as in the case of the medlar,
may be prepared from the so-called "berries" when
mellowed by autumn. Popularly this well-known fruit
is supposed to be poisonous. But it is eaten by birds,
field-fares in particular, with avidity ; the scientific appel-
lation, Aucuparia, signifies the fowlers' or bird-catchers'
tree; if thrown within their reach, the berries are
speedily gathered up by poultry ; and it is needful only
to visit Arran, to say nothing of northern continental
Europe, to discover how they are esteemed for the use
first named — the preparation of jelly. That the jelly,
however sweetened, is somewhat bitter must be con-
fessed; nevertheless it is by far the nicest kind to eat
with venison. To make the jelly, boil the "berries" in
water (cold at first) till reduced to such a consistence that
the fluid can be strained through a canvas bag ; to every
quart of the fluid add two pounds of loaf sugar, then boil
again for ten minutes.

That in elegance of profile the mountain-ash is almost
unrivalled scarcely needs mention. Attaining the stature
of twenty or thirty feet,* it is one of the few trees which

* Mr. A. D. Webster, of Penrhyn, mentions one, a giant of its
kind, the girth of which, at a yard above the ground, is seven feet
eight inches, the spread of the branches covering a space of forty-two
feet in diameter. This is probably the very largest in the country.

The Mountain- Ash. 53

are graceful from first to last, never growing out of
shape, and to touch which with the pruning-knife would
only be to spoil. While young the growth is rapid.
Hence in plantations it becomes an admirable nurse-tree
for young oaks and other saplings of deliberate temper,
quietly submitting, when it has done its work, to be over-
topped, and even to be destroyed, by the shade and
drip of its foster-children. The mountain-ash specially
deserves to be planted also where the harbouring of
singing-birds is an object. It is one of the trees, again,
not many, which have two distinct festal seasons. In
May and June the light green of the beautiful foliage is
set off by cream-coloured bloom, more than exuberant.
Then for a time it is unattractive, and we almost forget
it. In September it again becomes conspicuous, but now
with glory of fruitage, first of a rich orange colour, when
ripe lucid vermilion, such as attracts the most indifferent

and incurious —

"The mountain-ash,

No eye can overlook, when, mid a grove
Of yet unfaded trees, she lifts her head
Deck'd with autumnal berries, that outshine
Spring's richest blossoms."

In the wild state the Rowan occurs throughout Europe
and Russian Asia, though unable in high latitudes to
become more than a shrub. The northern habitation at
once suggests the meaning of the latter name. Rowan
being connected etymologically with the Scandinavian
runa, a spell or charm. The fame of the tree in ancient
witchcraft is well known ; it is not dissipated, in truth,

54 Fruits and Fruit-Trees .

even yet. Its favourite haunts are woods and the banks
of streams and rivers, where it can lean over the water.
Very specially does it love the rocky sides of little
cascades. Still more congenial is the exposed mountain-
slope, where it may often be seen alone, " a silent spirit
of the solitude." Hence the common English name. In
Forfarshire it is found at a height of two thousand five
hundred feet above the level of the sea, yet it nourishes
equally well close to the shore. In England there are
few spectacles of the kind more striking than the Rowans
along the Trent Valley line of railway when the fruit is
ripe. In Scotland how charming, again, the slopes above
the Crinan Canal, where these beautiful trees have for
their handmaids the innumerable lady-fern.

THE SERVICE, OR "WITTEN PEAR-TREE"
(Pyrus domestica).

THE Service, though little known, is a tree, like the
mountain-ash, of singular interest. In many points it
closely resembles the mountain-ash : the leaves are simi-
lar, only that they have fewer and deeper serratures, and
are more flocculent while young ; the flowers, also, are
much the same. But the bulk and the stature it is
capable of attaining are considerably greater; it grows
more slowly while young ; it lives much longer, and the
fruit is altogether different. In shape it resembles a little
pear, or sometimes a little apple. The skin is reddish or

The Service. 55

greenish brown, usually with a sprinkling of small white
spots ; and (in England) only two or three of the cluster
usually remain to get ripe. They are mature about the
same time as the medlar, which they agree with also
in being excessively austere until decay begins, say in
December, and then they remind us, alike in substance
and flavour, of a brown Beurre pear. After eating,
they leave in the throat a peculiar sensation of warmth.

Being a native of the south of Europe (occurring also
in Algeria), the fruit was well known to the people of two
thousand years ago. Virgil, in his description of the cus-
toms of the Scythians, says that being unpossessed of the
vine, they "joyously imitated the juice of the grape, with
fermented cups of atidis sorbis" This rude beverage was
at a later period called cerevisia (the name, originally,
of a drink something like beer), and being one that seems
never to have gone out of fashion, cerevisia at last became
the name of the tree, the spelling changed to "service."
Evelyn, in the "Sylva," chap, xv., says that "ale and beer,
being brewed with these berries, being ripe, is an incom-
parable drink." The fruit is still a common article of
food in Italy and France, where it is "preserved" and
considered useful in cases of dysentery. It appears also
in the markets of Wiesbaden, and is sold in the streets
of Constantinople under the name of kizilzicks, literally
" little reds," the colour of the fruit while unripe, being
in Turkey, not far from ruddy. The warmer climate
does not mitigate the intense acerbity. So acid and
astringent is the Service even there, that a Turkish

56 Fruits and Fruit-Tree s.

mother will call her peevish, crying baby a kizilzick.
The Ottomans regard it as an infallible preventive of
diarrhoea.

The Service was introduced into Britain most probably
by the Romans, but it never became common. A
solitary individual, of great age (being mentioned in the
"Philosophical Transactions" for 1678), stood in Wyre
Forest, near Bewdley, up till 1862, when, through the
carelessness of some gipsies, it was destroyed by fire.
On the strength of this, the Service has been thought
indigenous, but the Wyre Forest tree was no doubt a
descendant of ancient cultivation. Though rare, it is
not difficult to find examples. One in the Oxford
Botanic Garden fruited abundantly in 1884, as did the
great Claremont tree, sixty feet high, and nearly eight
in circumference at two feet from the ground. Two or
three venerable Services may be seen also at Ribston
Hall, Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Unfortunately there is a good deal of misconception
over the Service. The name is often misapplied to the
common white-beam, Pyrus Aria. It is confounded
also with the Pyrus torminalis, a tree occurring in south
country hedges, but having leaves more like those of a
maple. The fruit of the torminalis, called the "wild
Service," is sometimes offered for sale, threaded upon
strings, to the length of a yard, but is next to worthless.
It is brought even to Covent Garden, and in some parts
of Northamptonshire, where the tree is abundant, is
carried in procession at village feasts.

The Siberian Crab. 57

THE SIBERIAN CRAB, OR CHERRY-APPLE
( Pyrus prunifolia).

A VERY pretty little fruit, inside, and in colour also, like an
apple, but in dimensions resembling a cherry, borne upon
stalks quite as long and slender as those of cherries, and
usually growing in clusters of three to six or seven. It
is one of those which occupy the border-land between
the uncivilized and the acknowledged garden fruits,
among which it will probably some day be reckoned,
when some pains have been taken with the culture. For
although called a "crab," in point of flavour it is already
far in advance of the wild apple; rather sharp, no doubt,
but palatable and inviting, and when prepared with
syrup, always a welcome sight upon the table. The tree
producing it is one of quite moderate dimensions. The
leaves remind one of the plum-tree. The white flowers
come out in profusion in early summer. As said above
(p. 23) it may perhaps be one of the parents of our
modern garden apples.

As implied in the name, the native country is Southern
Siberia; it extends, however, into Tartary and North
China. When introduced is not quite certain, but it
would be shortly before 1758. In 1784 came another
form of this interesting plant, which having smaller fruit,
usually of a much deeper red, received the name of
Pyrus baccata. Like the prunifolia, it is Siberian,
reaching through the eastern districts of Lake Baikal
I

5 8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

and Dahuria, past the Amoor and through northern
China, into Japan. Whether to be considered a variety
of the prunifolia, or a distinct species, is matter of
opinion. The technical differences consist in the calyx-
lobes being persistent in the prunifolia, while in the
baccata they are deciduous. In the former, moreover,
the styles are connate below the middle, instead of free,
as in the baccata. Coloured drawings of both may be
seen in the Botanical Magazine, the baccata, pi. 6,112
(1874), and the prunifolia, pi. 6,158 (1875).

All the fruits mentioned, so far, are produced by
trees belonging to the Natural Order Pomifere, that one
which furnishes everything of the apple kind. There are
several others, altogether subordinate in merit and never
brought to market, but which in course of time may, like
the Siberian crab, by cultivation perhaps be improved.
Such are the fruits of the different species of Pyrus above
spoken of as ancestors in part, of the garden pear ; such,
too, may be considered the possible future of that exceed-
ingly beautiful and well-known shrub, common against
the lower portions of the walls of dwelling-houses, often
also independent — the crimson-flowered Pyrus Japonica —
technically Cydonia Japonica. In favourable seasons, in
the southern English counties, this ripens abundance of
little pear-like fruits, said to serve well for preserving.

A near ally of the Japonica, introduced from the
same country about 1872, and called Pyrtts Maulei, a

Thorn- Fruits. 59

very showy plant, produces a really handsome and very
promising fruit, yellowish, with red streaks and blotches,
and sharply acid. Though not eatable in the raw state,
made into jam the flavour becomes very distinct, and is
thought superior to that of marmalade.

Then come various species of the grand genus Cra-
tcegus, familiarly represented in the common hawthorn of
the hedgerows. As a rule, the fruits of these are useless
to mankind, but the produce of many may be compared
to little red, or more usually yellow, apples. They can-
not be eaten fresh, but are serviceable for tarts, either
alone or in combination with genuine apple. Such are
the fruits of the Cratcegus Azarolus, the Cratcegus Aronia,
both from the south of Europe, and the North American
Cratcegus coccinea. The Cratcegus tanacetifolia, one of
the species with golden-yellow fruit, indigenous to the
mountains of Greece, appears to be the original mespile,
as described by Theophrastus.

Having so many excellent fruits ready made, as it
were, experiments in regard to the amelioration of these
half-dozen are perhaps hardly to be expected, except as
scientific pastime. They are very interesting, neverthe-
less, as illustrations, in all likelihood, of what all our best
fruits were in primaeval times, when their development
had scarcely begun ; as illustrations, also, of the abun-
dance of rude material there is around us, waiting only
for the enterprise and curiosity of man. They seem
to hold the same position in Europe as that which in
Australia is held by the indigenous fruits not yet culti-

60 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

vated by the colonists ; and among which, judging from
what is known of the history of the apple, etc., there
may be lying latent an immense amount of capacity for
becoming rich and precious, by-and-by to be disclosed.
Such may happen with yet another of the Pomiferae,
that beautiful small tree, the Amelanchier, in Canada
called the June-berry, the innumerable snowy flowers of
which are one of the delights of every good garden early
in May. The natives of the vast district extending from
Hudson's Bay southwards to Florida, and westwards to
Nebraska, collect the fruit when ripe, press it into square
cakes, and use it with their pemmican.

Chapter

STONE-FRUITS.

Wisest of all to welcome and make ours

Whate'er of good, though small, the Present brings,
Kind greetings, sunshine, song of birds, and flowers,
With a child's pure delight in little things,
Knowing that mercy ever will endure. "

R. C. Trench.

TONE-FRUITS " are those illustrated in the
plum and the cherry — the most remarkable
of all the forty classes into which fruits in
general are resolved. For it is among these
that we have at once the utmost simplicity
of fruit-structure and its beau-ideal. Theoreti-
cally, a " fruit " when perfect consists of three distinct and
easily separable layers — a skin, or " epicarp," under which
is pulp or flesh, called the " mesocarp ;" with under this
again a hard and bony one, called the " endocarp." In

62 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the great majority of fruits these three parts are not
developed, and all there is to represent them is an
envelope such as we find in the shell of the nut, the pod
of the pea, and the bag which holds the juice of the
grape. In the apricot, the cherry, the peach, and the
rest of the stone-fruits, on the other hand, all three layers
are present, and in the completest form. The fruit is
now called a " drupe," and the family — still only a small
one — which illustrates it so well naturally receives the
name of Drupiferse. Very interesting is it to observe
how Nature reserves her perfections for select companies
of things.

Theoretically, again, all fruits are referable to the idea
of a leaf in its simplest form, as found, for instance, in
the apple-tree — or of several such leaves — folded length-
ways, so that the edges meet, and, uniting, fabricate a
little box, inside of which the seeds are contained. This
is plainly the great principle which lies at the foundation :
there are a thousand proofs and illustrations of it, and all
that there is besides in fruits consists of some curious
kind of appendix. The leaves thus metamorphosed are
termed the "carpels," and it hardly needs adding that
a fruit consisting of only one carpel, as in the case of
the plum and cherry, is the simplest. The five seed-
chambers of the apple, constituting the core, come
of the combination of five such " carpels ;" pods like
those of the columbine and the larkspur, peas and
beans, consist, like "drupes," of only one carpel. The
groove or furrow down one side of most varieties of

The Drupiferce. 63

the drupe indicates the line of junction of the two edges
of the carpellary leaf: in the almond, when ripe, they
fall asunder.

The number of the Drupiferae altogether is about a
hundred. All are trees and shrubs, with leaves always
alternate, usually ovate or lanceolate; flowers formed of
five free petals, which are seated, with about twenty
stamens, upon the upper part of an urn-shaped and five-
lobed calyx, in the bosom of which is found the solitary
pistil. The flowers are usually pure white, sometimes of
a cheerful rosy colour, the shade occasionally so deepened
as to approximate magenta. They are prone to expand
very early in the year, scarcely preceded even by
the celandine, and are never later than the month of
May. Hence, more than any other trees of the fruit-
bearing class, the Drupiferae are subject when in bloom
to cruel storm-beating. The winds of March, however
"taken" by the loveliness of Perdita's daffodils, are merci-
less to the damson and the plum. The white petals are
wrenched away, and strew the ground as if with snow.

The kernels of the fruit, and sometimes the leaves as
well, are noted for containing the basis of that deadly
poison, prussic acid. The bark, in many instances, yields
a peculiar kind of gum, not soluble in cold water, dis-
tinguished, accordingly, from acacia-gum by the name of
"cerasin." Dr. Beijerinck, of Amsterdam, has shown
that the effusion of this curious substance, familiar in the
translucent tears of the garden cherry, which hang from
the boughs like amber icicles, even more so, perhaps,

64 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

in the oozings from plum-tree sores, is referable, pri-
marily, to the operation of a minute parasitic fungus,
a species of Coryneum, which may be transferred for
experiment sake from one tree to another. Gumming is
thus to be classed with the maladies that plants are
subject to. There are plenty of illustrations of it, but it
is here perhaps, in the stone-fruit trees, that the student
of vegetable pathology finds his best opportunities for
investigating the causes and the results.* Another very
curious and interesting occurrence for the student, seldom
observable except in the Drupiferae, is the superseding, at
times, of the solitary carpel, by two, three, four, and even
five carpels, all of the same kind, an effort towards con-
formity with the quinary perianth. Instances of this
occur in certain species of cherry, in the double-flowered
plum, and the double-flowered peach. These extra
carpels stand side by side, unconnected if only two,
partially united when more, and every one of them
usually ripens. The native countries of the Drupiferae
are found almost exclusively in the temperate parts of the
northern hemisphere. Carried into the tropics, these
priceless trees are apt to become evergreen, and cease to
bear fruit. Where the date and the banana flourish we
must never look for the cherry, though the apricot is quite
happy in the oases of the North African deserts.

It is important not to confound with the genuine stone-
fruits the somewhat similar olive, litchi, cornel, and
others, these belonging to quite different families, as will

* For particulars, see the Gardeners' Chronicle, Feb. 23rd, 1884.

The Plum. 65

be described by-and-by. The genuine stone-fruits are
the plum, including the greengage and the damson; the
cherry, the peach, the nectarine, the apricot, the almond,
and the produce of the cherry-laurel.

THE PLUM (Prunus domestica).

THE early history of the plum, like that of the apple and
pear, is remote and complicated. In the abstract, the
plum idea, so to speak, is represented by no fewer
than three fairly distinct typical forms, and these, for
convenience' sake, it is best to treat as " species," and
to call by distinct names. They are (i) the common
Sloe, sloe-thorn, or black-thorn, of every hedge and
thicket, well named Prunus spinosa; (2) the Bullace,
Prunus insititia; and (3) the form which, from its appear-
ing to be the more immediate source of the garden
plums, is called Prunus domestica. By some botanists all
three are run together under the single name of P.
domestica. Theoretically there is no objection to this ;
in any case we know what Latin name to give the garden
plums, (i) The P. spinosa is a shrub, usually not many
feet high, though capable of becoming a tree of fifteen
or twenty feet. It is densely branched, the branches
spreading almost at right angles, terminating in stout
thorns, and so intricately interwoven as to be absolutely
impenetrable by man, and by all but the smaller quad-
rupeds and birds, the latter finding it a safe refuge and
K

66 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

asylum. The shoots while young are downy; in early
spring — long before the appearance of the leaves,
which, when mature, are ovate and sharply serrated —
there is a beautiful out-flow of immaculate white blossom,
the flowers growing singly, or two or three together, half
or three quarters of an inch across, and presenting a most
remarkable contrast to the dark-hued bark; the fruit,
when ripe, is the size of a large pea, spherical, dark
violet, and covered with glaucous "bloom;" the pedi-
cels are glabrous, and the fruits, individually, are erect.
Some individually are astonishingly productive, others
seem to be absolutely barren, owing probably to some
defect in the reproductive organs. In flavour these little
plums or "sloes," are intensely harsh. In France the
boys call them sibarelles, since to whistle after eating
them is impossible. Well is the name of " sloe " applied,
the signification being that which sets the teeth on edge.
The spinosa occurs all over Europe, Britain included, also
in Russian Asia. The second form, P. insititia, is a
tall shrub or small tree, less thorny than the spinosa,
sometimes thornless, and having larger leaves, which are
already expanding when the flowers appear. These also
are larger. The young shoots are covered with velvety
down; the pedicels are either downy or glabrous; the
fruit is pendulous, globular, or slightly elliptical, much
larger than the sloe, usually purple-black, occasionally
reddish or yellowish, and when ripe, moderately sweet.
This form grows wild in the south of Europe, in the
regions south of the Caucasus, and in European Turkey.

The Plum. 67

When met with north of the Alps, as in English hedges, it
is probably naturalized from cultivation. " Bullace," like
sloe, is an old northern word, the etymology uncertain.
The third, P. domestica, is again a tall shrub or small
tree, the branches glabrous while young, and without
thorns. The flowers, contemporaneous with the leaves,
have downy peduncles; the fruit is pendulous, ovoid,
blackish-purple, and sweet. This form of the plant,
admittedly the principal one, is very doubtfully indigenous
in Europe. It occurs in woods and hedges, but has all
the appearance of a plant naturalized only in part. The
genuine native countries seem to be Anatolia, the region
to the south of the Caucasus, and northern Persia.

Whether these three forms are to be regarded as
absolutely distinct or not, is an open question. The late
Mr. Bentham considered that the insititia and the
domestica may be only varieties of the spinosa, produced
by long cultivation. If so, the common sloe will have
been the original parent of everything of the plum kind.
The sloe, however, is not a plant that seems likely ever to
have invited cultivation. It is very different also from
the others in its root-habits. The probability is that all
our modern garden plums began with the insititia and the
domestica, and this either independently or by commix-
ture. The garden forms have, in every case, much larger
leaves and stronger shoots. They blossom later, the
flowers are larger, and the fruit, as well known in the
" eSS plum " and the " magnum bonum," attains a length
sometimes exceeding two inches.

68 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

When and where, as in the case of the crab-apple, the
improvement of the plum began, it is impossible to
determine. The ancient Greek writers speak of the
KOKKVfjrjXov* probably referring to the damson. They
also mention the /3pa/3vXov, but what the latter word
denoted is doubtful, seeing that Theocritus applies it
both to a palatable fruit — in that pretty passage in the
seventh Idyll when the people are enjoying the harvest-
festival in the island of Cos, " all things breathing the
incense of fruit-season . . . pears . . . and apples . . .
and boughs weighed to the ground with plums," — and
contrariwise, to one that would be quite the antithesis of
the apple — "as much as the apple is sweeter than the
/3pd/3v\o»/, so much have you gladdened me by your
return." In Roman literature the plum is frequently
referred to, now under the name of prunus, as in the
charming lines where Virgil describes the old Corycian
who, cultivating his little garden, " equalled, in his
contented mind, the wealth of kings,"! and when Ovid
narrates the story of Acis and Galatea. J The identifi-
cation of the name of the damson or damasin, properly
" damascene," with the famous Syrian city of Damascus,
we owe to Pliny.

The development of the plum in England has corres-
ponded with that of the apple, though the varieties are
less numerous. France also has distinguished itself in

* Literally the cuckoo-melon — another interesting illustration of
the broad sense, anciently, of melon,

tGeorgic iv. 125-146. J Met. xiii. 817.

The Plum. 69

plum-culture. The " Orleans plum " was brought from
the neighbourhood which witnessed the heroism and
death of Joan Dare, when the English were masters
there, temp. Henry V. To France we are indebted also
for the greengage, called in that country, in compliment
to the Queen of Francis I., La Reine Claude. It was
brought to England from the monastery of La Grand
Chartreuse about the middle of the eighteenth century,
by one " Rev. John Gage," brother of the owner of
Hengrave Hall, near Coldham, Suffolk, and thence
receiving his name it soon got diffused over England.
In Paris, in 1789, when all allusions to royalty were
forbidden, "La Reine Claude" had to go, and was
superseded pro tern, by " Prune Citoyenne !" Karl Koch
regards the greengage as representative of a distinct and
variable species of Prunus, native of the Caucasus.

The black and deeply corrugated dessert fruit imported
from France, to the extent of two hundred tons annually,
under the name of " French plums " represents two or
three different sorts. The inferior varieties are from the
Prune d'Ast; the better ones are the produce of the
Catherinea. They are gathered by hand, dried partly in
the sun, partly by fire-heat, the treatment changed day by
day until the fruit is fit for packing. " Brignolles," the
delightful little sweetmeats in fancy boxes edged with
lace, are prepared from some kind of yellow plum.
They are shaken from the trees, when quite ripe, upon
cloths spread to receive them; then carefully skinned, and
placed in the sunshine for a few days. When dry enough

70 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

they are impaled upon osier-sticks, and again exposed to
the sun. Then comes the removal of the stones, pressure
into a round form, and deposit in the boxes. The manu-
facture, of these dainty receptacles, the pretty coloured
frills and ornamental lace edgings, coloured pictures for
the lids almost always superadded, has become quite an
important branch of art-work, one welcome invention
almost always suggesting another, which latter, as in the
present instance, contributes immensely to the pleasing
appearance of the commodity dealt with.

Prunes are the fruit of a kind of plum called Juliana,
and by the French Prunier de St. Julien. These are
grown largely in the valley of the Loire, especially about
Bourgueil, a small town between Tours and Angers.
They are prepared by simple drying, chiefly in the sun-
shine, and are then packed for market. The import
into this country, including a few of inferior quality
received from Germany, is about four hundred tons
annually. The value of French plums, and of prunes,
the latter when stewed and sweetened, is well known.
They are much more wholesome than the fresh fruit,
nutritious and demulcent. They are also esteemed in
medicine, especially as furnishing an ingredient of laxa-
tive confections.

In England the most valuable of all the innumerable
varieties of the plum is unquestionably the damson.
Very hardy, easily cultivated, and usually yielding an
abundant crop, it well deserves its accustomed place
in cottage gardens and the hedges about farmhouses.

The Damson. 71

There are several varieties, some of them scarcely distin-
guishable from varieties of the Bullace, except by their
ripening about a month earlier. A very good one, with
large fruit, but not so sure to yield a full harvest as the
common English or round damson, is called the Shrop-
shire. A still larger fruit, and better flavoured, is given
freely by the " Frogmore " damson. The " Crittenden,"
raised near Maidstone by Mr. Crittenden, is another
excellent damson. The " Farleigh " is perhaps the most
productive fruit, and the most repaying, of any kind in
cultivation. The fruit is small, but produced in thick
clusters, and unsurpassed for preserving. A year or two
ago one Kentish grower alone sent to market three
thousand bushels, and received for his trouble fourteen
shillings per bushel, or ,£2,000. The yellowish variety
of the Bullace is the fruit sold in London as the " white
damson." In the neighbourhood of Colchester a variety
is largely grown which fruits so plentifully that the clusters
resemble bunches of black Hamburgh grapes. Most, if
not all, of the Bullaces are of good flavour, and excellent
for culinary purposes. Among the superior sorts may be
reckoned the "Essex" and the "Royal." Of select
dessert plums the best are considered to be Belgian
Purple, Coe's Golden Drop, Golden Esperen, Jefferson
(yellow, spotted with red), and Kirke's (purple). The
best greengages are Bryanston, Denniston, Superb, Reine
Claude de Bavay, Reine Claude du Comte Hathem,
Transparent, Guthrie's Late, and Oullins' Golden.

7 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

THE CHERRY (Prunus Cerasus).

To the cherry — that sweet and simple, old-fashioned, but
ever-welcome summer fruit, so grateful at dessert, so
capital for pies, and other useful and elegant addenda to
the dinner-table — pertains, as to the apple, the pear, and
the plum, the old uncertainty as to beginning. Though
we are accustomed to hear and speak of the "wild
cherry " as if the cultivated one were the same, directly
descended from it, changed only in quality, in reality
there are two wild cherries ; two forms, at all events, are
recognized by authors in general. Each of these may
have truly lineal descendants, but the whole question is
for the present an open one.

The most conspicuous of the two forms is the queenly
tree well named by Ray, Cerasus sylvestris* — tall, rising
to the height of thirty or forty feet, destitute of branches
for a considerable distance above the ground, especially
fond of the brows of steep, over-hanging banks, where it
can tower in its snowy pride, no production of nature
being more exquisitely white with bloom in the earliest
days of summer; and in August loaded with its innu-
merable little globose, red or black, and sweetish fruits —
not, however, for long, if there are birds anywhere near.

* Usually called, in recent books, Cerasus Avium; a name leading
to confusion with the Bird-cherry — Prunus Padus, a plant quite
different.

The Cherry. 73

The leaves are ovate-lanceolate, two to four inches in
length, serrate, and somewhat pendent. The flowers issue
from leafless buds, in umbellate clusters of two or three,
on peduncles usually exceeding an inch in length, the
petals arising from the edge of a very prettily urn-shaped
calyx j and, a very important feature, no suckers arise
from the root. Another important character is that the
flesh of the fruit clings to the stone. Favourably circum-
stanced, the sylvestris will attain the stature of nearly
eighty feet. Near Wragley, in Lincolnshire, there is one
seventy-six feet high, the trunk, at four feet from the
ground, eight and a half feet in circumference. Several
of equal dimensions exist in Hampshire. At Stedalt,
Balbriggan, twenty-two miles N.N.E. of Dublin, there is
one over eleven feet in circumference, four feet from the
ground ; and even this is surpassed by the renowned tree
upon Old Conna Hill, the girth of which is nineteen
feet! The huge proportions of these marvellous Irish
cherries are well matched in their aspect, which is at
once patriarchal and picturesque, as indeed is always
the case with trees where the former epithet falls well.
The identification of our native British trees by means
of their leaves, independently of the flowers and fruit, is
one of the most pleasing occupations of the young field
botanist. The cherry (among trees with ovate and
serrate leaves) is at once told by the presence of two
or three little red glands, often bright as holly-berries,
at the upper part of the petiole, just where the blade
begins. They occur also in the peach and some other
L

74 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

garden stone-fruits, and are probably to be regarded as
rudimentary indications of the pinnate leaf of rosaceous
plants.

To what degree the sylvestris may be accounted a
genuine native of the British Islands is, after all,
uncertain. Essentially it belongs to the northern parts
of Persia, the Russian provinces to the south of the
Caucasus, and to Armenia, extending thence to the
mountainous parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain, and over
continental Europe in general, as far as the south of
Sweden. It occurs also in Algeria. The stones being
carried to long distances by the birds, it has become
naturalized in north-west India, and, at the other ex-
treme, sparingly, in Madeira. To the same circumstance
is probably owing also the wide diffusion of the tree in
continental Europe, a diffusion beginning in prehistoric
time, when the birds, we may be sure, were in many
ways providing for the future welfare of mankind. If
mighty geological changes took place in the primitive
ages, all planned prospectively for the benefit of the
coming occupants of the earth's surface — not forgetting
those which have helped to fill the world with glorious
scenery — one of the inestimable aliments — why should
not the birds also have rendered there own little innocent
service? In contemplating the outcome of the divine
institutes for the happiness and welfare of man, we deny
ourselves half the enjoyment which arises thereon, if
the eyes are not let rest quite as often upon the "trifles"
as upon the majestic. One of the natural varieties of

The Cherry. 75

the sylvestris is that which the French call m'erisier*
The same occurs in England, producing " merries," fruits
larger than those of the normal form, sweet, and deep
black instead of red, sometimes very pale, so that in
Cheshire the last-named is called the '-'white merry."
In Hampshire the merries are collected for sale. They
are the earliest of the fruits that ripen in England to
make their appearance in the markets. The blossom of
the merry is finer and larger, and rather later than that of
the typical sylvestris. The leaves are shorter and the
clusters are not so large, and the peduncles, also, are
shorter. The "geans" of the northern counties appear
to be much the same. This name, also, is French,
representing the Norman gutgne, a word which seems to
have been originally gutsne.

The second form, named by Miller Cerasus vulgaris^
the ceVisier of the French, is a plant of very different
habit, often a mere shrub of six or eight feet in height,
fond of the sunny borders of woods and glades, and
especially attached to grassy slopes, which it some-
times covers with dense thicket. This comes of the
abundance of the suckers thrown up from the spreading
roots or rhizomes — the sylvestris, it will be remembered,
has no suckers. Another great distinction is that the
flesh of the fruit, which is sour or bitter, separates readily
from the stone. The original habitations appear to have
been much the same, the most ancient extending from

* The etymology of this word is obscure. Dr. Prior says it is
"from mericea, adjective of merica, a berry mentioned by Pliny."

76 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the borders of the Caspian to those of the Bosphorus,
whence it became diffused over Europe, but not so widely
as the sylvestris, and more slowly, being of weaker con-
stitution. In Europe it always presents the aspect of a
foreign plant, settling, but not completely naturalized.
When Theophrastus, the old Greek writer on plants,
speaks of the cherry-tree he plainly refers to the sylvestris,
the height being one of the features he mentions. Virgil,
on the other hand, as plainly speaks of the vulgaris : —

" Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima silva
Ut cerasis ulmisque."

The differences above indicated may still be no greater
than would be consistent with original singleness of
" species." Many botanists consider that they are essen-
tially the same thing. The question holds some practical
importance from the bearing it has upon the work
of cultivators, who have always to think of the inherited
constitution of plants as well as of their merits and
utility. Whatever the measure of relationship, they are
the parents of all the cultivated cherries, and these, it is
interesting to observe, foretell the variety of their fruit
in the beautiful and curious diversity of the flowers, as
regards both the petals and the form of the calyx.

When the cherry was first made an object of culture
there is no evidence to show. Cherry-stones occur in the
Lake-dwellings of western Switzerland. The Romans,
Pliny tells us, had eight varieties. That it was first
brought to Italy by Lucullus, from Cerasus, a town of
Cappadocia, the story a thousand times recited, is not

The Cherry. 77

true. The voluptuous consul simply introduced a fine
variety, unknown to the imperial city before his time.
The interesting fact remains that while the old town
in Pontus got its name from the cherry-trees round
about, in "cerasus" we have the parent, first, of the
French ceVisier and ce'rise, and eventually of the English
" cherry," which, by the way, ought by rights to be spelt
cherris or cheris. The established spelling came of our
forefathers confounding the s with the sign usually
employed in English to mark plurals. The very same
mistake was made over the name of the vegetable in
Latin called pisum, French pois, properly in English a
" peas," plural " peasen " —

" He talked of turnips and of peasen,
And set good seed in proper season. "

England probably owed its earliest garden cherries
to the Romans. When the Romans quitted the country,
the culture would be continued by the Anglo-Saxons,
and subsequently it would be in favour with the Nor-
mans. History is silent, nevertheless, in regard to this
pleasant fruit up to the time of Henry V., when cherries,
as shown by some old verses in Warton, were cried
for sale in the streets of London. The famous cherry-
orchards of Kent appear to date, historically, from the
time of Henry VIII., but, had we the record, they would
probably be found to have had a very much earlier
beginning; and the same would probably prove to be true
in regard to the celebrated cherry-orchards of Bucking-
hamshire, where the beech-woods also abound with the

78 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

wild form of the tree. In the Elizabethan age the fruit
was so common that the boys had a game they called
" cherry-pit," played with the stones. Shakspere gives it
a worthier place than is allowed to any other. The allu-
sions to fruits are almost always found in lines written
not from his own rich heart — these we always know on
the instant by their wisdom and grace — but in such as
stage necessities demanded, — the lines required by that
mean section of mankind which cares only to be made
laugh. Not so when we come to the cherry. Here he is
jocular no longer, but in every instance delicate if not
poetical. How lovely the picture painted by Helena, in
the Midsummer Night's Dream, when delineating the
mutual love between herself and Hermia in the days of
their girlhood, now so sadly discomposed. If one senti-
ment more than another was specially dear to Shakspere
it was the sanctity of friendship : —

"O, and is all forgot ?

All schooldays' friendship, childhood innocence ?
We, Hermia, like two artificial* gods,
Have with our neelds created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds
Had been incorporate. So we grew, together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet a union in partition ;
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem ;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart,

*" Artificial," here curiously employed in the sense of skilful,
ingenious.

The Cherry. 79

Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,

Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.

And will you rend our ancient love asunder

To join with men, in scorning your poor friend ?

It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly ;

Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,

Though I alone do feel the injury."

The simple but pretty song "Cherry Ripe" is very slightly
altered from one written by Herrick, the clergyman poet,
temp. Charles I., to whom we owe " Fair Daffodils."

Numerous varieties of this pleasant fruit are now
cultivated in England, many of them understood to
have come originally from Holland and Belgium. The
best are considered to be the common Bigarreau, the
Bigarreau Napoleon, the late black Bigarreau, the Bedford
Prolific, the Royal Duke, the Early Rivers, the Early Red
Guigne, the Elton, the Black Tartarian, the Early Lyons
(or Rose de Lyons) ; and, specially adapted to the
northern counties, Florence, Governor Wood, Knight's
Early Black, and the good old well-known May-duke*
and Morello, the last-named doing well against a north
wall. When the plantation is a large one, the trees
should be so disposed as to form a square, not put in
lines, since the birds, never slow to discover cherry-trees,
can then be more readily challenged ; whereas when in
lines, the never-failing blackbirds in particular, on being
disturbed, simply chuckle and go to the other end. Any
kind of soil will do for cherry-trees, except the very wet
and clayey, thought they thrive best in sandy loam.

* Corrupted from Medoc, the name of part of the Gironde.

8o Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Cherry-trees should be planted also as ornaments. To
relegate fruit-trees to the kitchen-garden and orchard is
not far from a mistake. If apple and pear-trees had
varieties like the double-blossomed cherry, they, too,
would be allowed a place, perhaps, near the roses and
lilies. In some parts of the continent, cherry-culture as
in Kent is one of the principal sources of wealth. This
is specially the case with the villages at the foot of the
hills which fringe the valley of the Rhine. When the
cherry-crop is ripe, the schools are all closed for a fort-
night ; young and old, master and servant, all set to work
to get in this luscious harvest of the trees. Italy and the
islands of the Greek Archipelago export some of their
cherries to Egypt. They are carried to Alexandria, where
the pleasant tartness always secures for them an imme-
diate and profitable market.

THE PEACH (Amygdalus Persica)*

ONE of the poets has a passage beginning —

4 ' Whether or not the blushing peach
Was Eden's once forbidden fruit,
I cannot tell "

The question may be unhesitatingly answered for him,

* Hooker and Bentham, in the "Genera Plantarum," i. 610,
adopt the same course with the stone-fruit trees as that which they
have followed in respect of the apple and pear, the quince, etc., as
mentioned on page 42 ; they place the whole, that is to say, in the
single comprehensive genus Prunus.

The Peach. 81

and in the negative, though the epicure may be forgiven
should his fancy rest for a moment, while scanning the
possibilities, upon this queen of the stone-fruits — a gift of
nature at all events more pleasant to associate with the
garden of the four rivers, than the great, pale yellow, and
not very shapely cousin of the orange and lemon com-
monly called the " forbidden fruit." The peach is one
of the fruits which, like many flowers, imitating the sun
at noonday, have their meridian. There is just an hour,
not much more, when the odour and the taste of this
regal fruit are at the highest pitch. Fortunate is he who
then secures it ! That hour is like the day — it must be
one of brightness overhead — when the horse-chestnut
keeps festival, dressed to the topmost pinnacle with
bouquets fit for princesses. The meridian passed, the
fruit is still delicious, the tree imposing, but now it is
the afternoon. Accustomed, as most people are, to see
peach-trees nailed to a garden wall, or trained and tied,
limb by limb, finger by finger, to a trellis under glass,
their singular beauty, when living a life of freedom, is in
general unknown. A standard peach-tree in full bearing
is a spectacle, once beheld, never to be forgotten. In
our own country it cannot often be hoped for, and then
it will be found only in the southernmost counties. At
Strood, on the Medway, some years ago, there were trees
quite ten feet high, and eight feet through, bearing three
to five hundred really good fruit apiece. Still, for the
perfect realization of the standard peach, it is needful to
visit the Continent, Italy in particular. Peaches do not

M

82 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

prefer to grow against walls ; it is that the exigencies of
our climate enforce resort to them. The peach never
acquires any great bulk or stature, nor does it live to be
very old. In these respects it corresponds with the
queen of flowering-plants, the rose. The blossom, very
abundant, appears in early spring, before the leaves,
seated closely upon the branches, the petals usually deep
carmine, occasionally white. The leaves, when mature,
are lanceolate, three or four inches in length, acute and
glabrous; the peculiarities of the fruit are its almost
globular form, a groove down one side, and composition
so exquisitely sub-liquid, that while enjoying a peach we
hardly know whether we are eating or drinking. The
stone inside is curiously wrinkled and furrowed, and
contains a very large kernel. The skin is either downy,
and then soft as velvet, as in peaches emphatically so
called, or it is destitute of velvet, but still soft, and then
we have the variety called the Nectarine. The specific
identity of the two fruits is well established. Darwin, in
the "Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestica-
tion," adduces plenty of proof, including that supplied by
peaches and nectarines growing side by side upon the
same tree. The nectarine is not found even apparently
wild. There can be no doubt that it is a variety of
purely garden origin, and that it differs from the peach
only in the way that the smooth-skinned gooseberry
differs from the hairy one. When the stone lies quite
loose, except at the point of basal attachment, in either
case the fruit is called a " free-stone " or Pavie. When

The Peach. 83

the flesh adheres to it, we have a " cling-stone " or
Brugnon. The difference seems to have existed ever
since peaches were cultivated, being mentioned by the
oldest horticultural writers. The " free-stone " condition
arises simply from the natural decay of the fibrous cords
which connect the pulp with the surface of the endocarp.
Why it should occur is not yet explained : that the differ-
ence consists in no more than this natural decay is shown
by the existence of intermediate forms, by the French
called semi-cling-stones. The ordinary complexion is well
known, yellowish green on the side that has been rather
less exposed to the sun, lively red upon the other, very
much the same as in many kinds of apple, the colour
chastely softened, in the peach, by the silky velvet pile
which covers the entire surface. " Peach-colour," said of
ribbons, etc., it may be useful to remark, does not mean
the colour of the fruit, but of the flowers; just as when
" almond " is spoken of, in similar connection, the refer-
ence is to the roseate hue of the tree when in bloom.
Many varieties in the colour of the ripened peach have
arisen under cultivation. In one of them the skin is
of a uniformly soft pale greenish white. Another may
be described as pink. A third, called the St. Helena
peach, is of a bright golden colour. The flesh also pre-
sents beautiful tints. The radiation of crimson lines and
veins is a very familiar enrichment : in the variety called
the Sanguinole (an excellent kind for preserving) the
entire substance is of a richly tempered blood-colour.
An extremely singular variety, in respect of shape, is

84 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

known as the "flat peach ;" this on account of its seem-
ing as if compressed vertically, so as to be converted into
a ring of flesh, the stone in the middle, like the boss of
an ancient round shield. Common with the Celestials,
it constantly appears in Chinese drawings : in England it
is grown as a curiosity.

The peach has, until quite recently, always been
considered indigenous to Persia. That in some inferior
form this fruit was conveyed from south-western Asia
to Rome during the reign of the emperor Claudius,
say some time during the first half-century of the
Christian era, as stated by Pliny, making at that period
its first appearance in Europe, there is no reason to
doubt. It was in consequence of this transit that the
name of malum Persicum was bestowed upon it, or
perhaps Persicum arbor, whence, by slow degrees, and
after many vicissitudes, represented in pesca, pesche,
peshe, peche, etc, our own word "peach." That the
peach-tree grows apparently wild, and in great profu-
sion, in and about northern Persia is also undeniable.
The researches of Decandolle go to prove, however,
that the veritable native country is China, where the tree
has been cultivated from the remotest antiquity, and
from which it would, in process of time, move west-
wards. Had it existed originally in Persia and Armenia,
Greece and Rome would assuredly have known of it
sooner, and references to it would have occurred in the
literature of the last-named nations, whereas they are
perfectly silent.

The Peach. 85

When first made an object of culture in western
Europe is unknown, though very certainly it was in France
that this fruit, at a very early period, found not only a
congenial climate, but admiration such as led to France
becoming the most famous scene of high-class peach-
growing in the world. North America may claim the
ascendancy perhaps, in regard to the quantity produced,
but France is still unrivalled in respect of quality. The
special scene of French peach-culture is Montreuil, near
Paris, which place annually supplies about twelve millions
of the fruit, the earliest and latest selling at two and three
francs apiece. It is to this celebrated locality that almost
everything of importance connected with peach-culture is
ultimately referred, and from this it would seem that the
best of modern varieties have been received.

In England peach-growing is believed to have begun,
under French example, as early as the eleventh century ;
but no great move was made till the period so noted
in connection with several other fruits — the time of
Henry VIII. It was then, also, that the nectarine was
taken into English favour. Numerous varieties of both
descriptions of fruit are named in the catalogues issued
by the nurserymen; and as new ones always appear when
peaches are raised from the kernel, though many of the
sorts thus procured are worthless, there would seem to be
in this fruit, as in the apple, an indefinite latent capacity
for change. Where outdoor ripening cannot be looked for,
the climate being unfavourable, no department of indoor
fruit-culture is more interesting as well as profitable than

86 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

that which covers the peach and the nectarine, especially
as no two varieties attain maturity at the same time ; nor
is any spectacle, except that of ripe grapes, more ravishing
than the well-managed peach, when the house is charged
with its delightful perfume. All the resources of art are
well devoted to it, and aid is sometimes sought from the
little wizards of the honeycomb. Cultivators whose
temperament is of the anxious type are accustomed to
place a hive of bees in the peach-house, with a view to
their assisting the fertilization of the flowers. That bees
thus introduced render some service is likely enough.
But the confining of them within limits so narrow seems
to involve an amount of cruelty which the humane would
be unwilling to inflict, When bees are brought into the
peach-house, their well-known habit of soaring upwards
in a spiral manner, as soon as they find themselves in
new quarters, to take their bearings before flying away
in quest of honey and pollen, results in the death of
many through exhaustion. They beat against the glass,
fall, and die. Fertilization is quite as successfully pro-
moted by sweeping over the flowers a plume of pampas-
grass, or a bunch of soft, downy feathers tied to a rod ;
and even this seems called for only in the case of certain
shy-setting varieties, such as Noblesse and Crawford's
Early. The varieties generally held in highest esteem
are Bellegarde, Grosse Mignonne, Hale's Early (the
finest early peach), Late Admirable, Princess of Wales,
Royal George, Walburton Admirable, Alexander, Stirling
Castle (very hardy), Galande, Early Beatrice, and Sea

The Peach. 87

Eagle, the finest of the late sorts. The best nectarines
are Violet Hative, Byron, Humboldt, Lord Napier (very
early), Newton, Spenser, and Elruge.

The peach is now established in all parts of the world
favourable to its existence. Captain Head told us long
ago of the beauty and productiveness of the peach-trees
in the neighbourhood of Mendoza, on the eastern side of
the Andes : the extent of the culture in North America,
incredible without, is declared by the figures published
under authority. Between the Delaware and the Chesa-
peake, and the Brandywine and Cape Charles, it is esti-
mated that there are growing at this moment no fewer
than five millions of trees, young and old, covering about
fifty thousand acres of land. In New Jersey orchards con-
taining ten to twenty thousand trees are not uncommon.
In the season special trains are chartered to carry the
produce to the great cities. In California, also, the annual
yield is becoming enormous. The tinned peaches, now
so well known in England, are received chiefly from
Cincinnati. Not that the whole of this vast yield corres-
ponds in quality with the English peach. Much of it
is useful only as the basis of "peach-brandy," and no
small proportion is thrown to the hogs. The beginning
of this great industry dates only from 1680, before which
year the peach had not crossed the North Atlantic. The
kernels, it should be added, with those of some of the
other stone-fruits, contribute to the flavour of ratafia,
maraschino, and other liqueurs, and pre-eminently to the
most pernicious of all, the too-famous noyau.

88 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

THE ALMOND ( ' Amygdalus communis)*

THE almond, like the apple, is one of the very ancient
fruits. The history of it is bound up with that of events
recorded in connection with the nations of over three
thousand years ago, as in the touching old story narrated
in Genesis xliii., when Jacob directs his sons to " carry
down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey,
spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds," articles, all of
them, at that period no doubt greatly esteemed in the
land of the Pharaohs. The tree producing this fruit is so
very nearly allied to the peach, the general figure and
the foliage corresponding almost exactly, that by some
botanists the last-named is thought to be no more than
an immensely improved descendant of the almond.
Plenty of support may be found for this conjecture if we
set out predisposed in its favour. There seems, however,
no necessity to assume the identity. A very marked dis-
tinction is found in the circumstance already mentioned
in regard to the bursting open of the husk when ripe.
The native countries of the two trees are also geographi-
cally so far asunder as to imply, it would seem, a specific
difference from the very beginning. The primitive home
of the peach appears to have been China : the almond
seems to belong to those parts of Europe, warm and dry,
which are bathed by the Levantine Mediterranean, reach-
ing thence into western temperate Asia. Upon Hermon

* In the Hooker and Bentham classification, Prunus Amygdalus.

The Almond. 89

and the Lebanon it ascends to the height above the sea
level of five thousand feet : it occurs also in Gilead and
in Moab. Whether truly wild in the north of Africa, and
even in Sicily, is uncertain. The nuts from cultivated
trees germinate, like those of the peach, with so much
readiness, that the last-named places may hold it only as
an ancient colonist. That it was known to the Greeks
is shown by the references in Theophrastus, in whose
writings we first meet with the name amygdalus ; and
that it was familiar in Italy in the time of the Romans is
proved by the frescoes found at Pompeii. Pliny speaks
of it with the delight at once of a naturalist and a poet
at heart, dwelling upon the spectacle of the early bloom
as one of the loveliest that trees afford. It was this same
circumstance — the early bloom, decking every branch
with the most delicate pale rose-colour long before
the leaves expand — that recommended the almond for
employment not only in the figurative language of Scrip-
ture, but in the classical myths and fables, as in the oft-
told tale of unhappy Phyllis. Phyllis, queen of Thrace,
gives welcome to Demophoon while on his way home
from the Trojan war. He remains at her court awhile ;
it is not difficult to guess what happens : when he goes, it
is with many promises to come back, sincerely spoken,
but not easy to keep : word is brought to her, in a
little while, untruly, that Demophoon is unfaithful : she
dies of grief; the gods, in pity, change her body into an
almond-tree : the prince returns, now for the first time to
learn what has happened j he embraces the tree, the

N

9O Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

spirit of Phyllis is still alive in it, and, conscious of the
clasp, comes forth in the shape of a thousand flowers. Is
this to be relegated to the domain of the absurd ? Never
pronounce a thing to be meaningless because on the
instant you do not perceive the secret of its significance.
Phyllis has lived and died a thousand times, in every age
and country; the wanderer, on his return, has never
failed to find the poet's almond-tree, woman's faithful
love, awaiting him.*

When the almond-tree was first brought to England is.
not known. Probably in the Plantagenet times; possibly
much earlier, since, in an Anglo-Saxon Catalogue of the
eleventh century, it has the name of "eastern nutte-
beam." Chaucer alludes to it in the Canterbury Tales —

«. " And almandres gret plente ; "

but this does not imply that he had seen the tree in
England, though very possibly he had met with it upon
the continent, since the poets are allowed to employ such
names not only as metaphors, but for the sake of pictu-
resque effect in their descriptions. In any case the tree
had become common in the gardens in and around
London by the time of Elizabeth. The interest of the
Chaucerian line consists in the light it throws upon the
history of the spelling of the name, which is no other
than a curious modification of the original Greek amyg-

* In the " Epistles of the Heroines " Ovid has bequeathed us one
supposed to be written by Phyllis when in her deepest grief —
without question the most tender and beautiful composition of its
kind extant in any language.

The Almond. 91

dalus. Wiclif (1388), in Genesis xliii. u, has almmindis,
and in Eccles. xii. v., almaunder. The current English
spelling, almond, appears first in the 1 6 1 1 version of the
Old Testament.

The cultivation of the tree in England may be said to
be purely for the simple purpose insisted upon by Bacon,
"the royal ordering of gardens" so that there may be
beauty in them at all seasons. The blossom comes
immediately after that of the mezereon and the golden
Forsythia, captivating, in its far-visible roseate, the most
incurious — all three plants delicious in their bringing to
mind those sweet little souls who, like Mary Wortley
Montagu, pet and plaything of a whole circle of wits
and scholars, come into bloom, smiling and sparkling,
while barely twelve years old. The stature attained, when
full grown, is about twenty feet, but flowers come in
profusion while the tree is not yet more than a third of
that height. Fruit, and even then not worth gathering
for table, is ripened only in exceptionally fine, hot
summers, preceded by mild and uninterrupted springs.
A singular merit of the tree, as regards decorative value,
is that, like the lilac and laburnum, it consents to live in
the suburbs of cities. For the highest decorative pur-
poses, the variety called macrocarpa should, if possible,
be procured, the flowers being twice as large as those of
the accustomed one, often pure white, and remaining
longer in perfection. The fruit of this, as expressed in
the name, is also larger. In either form of the plant it
provides a very curious object for examination, the

92 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

mesocarp, or portion of the fruit which in the peach is
juicy, being in the almond dry and leathery. The almond
is subject to a singular malady, which at midsummer,
when the tree is viewed from some little distance, gives the
spectator an idea of large bright red flowers or fruits, very
odd and perplexing, till examined. Then it is found that
certain of the leaves have been attacked by a parasitic
fungus, called Ascomyces deformans. The fungus lives
inside the leaf, and bursts through the skin, the entire
leaf being at the same time most curiously bulged and
curled. Peach-trees are subject to attack by the same
enemy. The only cure for it, or method of preventing
recurrence, is to pick off the infected leaves and burn
them.

The almonds of the shops are brought chiefly from the
south of France and Spain. Great quantities are ripened,
in particular, in Provence, the blossoms being there
seldom injured by frost. A few are received also from
Italy and from Barbary. Those used for culinary pur-
poses, the dingy-brown, flattish, and somewhat dusty
ones — the poorer sort — called "Valencias," came origi-
nally from the province of that name. The more
elongated, rounder, and clear-skinned variety used for the
table, are "Jordan" almonds. Not that they have
anything to do with the renowned river of Palestine, all
being received from Malaga. The epithet came into
existence through a mistaken understanding of the name
by which this fruit is called in the Promptorium Parvu-
lorum, the celebrated old English -Latin Dictionary

The Almond. 93

compiled in 1440 by " Geoffrey the Grammarian," viz.,
"Jardyne almaunde, amigdalum jardinum," literally a
cultivated or garden almond.* How much older than
1440 " Jardyne " may be, there is at present no evidence
to show. In tracing the history of words it is important
to remember that all words were spoken before they were
written, and that the occurrence of a given word in litera-
ture simply proves, at all events as a rule, that the word
was already established, and known to people in general.
How many words in our own colloquial have yet to be
recognized by authors ! The corruption took place
before the Elizabethan age, Gerard saying of this variety,
that it is " vulgarly called a Jordan almond," " vulgarly"
meaning colloquially, as when Scripture is ordered to be
read in the "vulgar tongue." The most delicate of all
the known varieties is that one called in France La
Princesse, the shell of which is so thin that it yields to the
weakest fingers. None of these come to England, unless
as curiosities. When almonds are shelled before exporta-
tion, the trouble and cost of the process is covered by the
value of the refuse, which serves excellently for domestic
fuel.

Bitter almonds are the produce of a variety called,
because of their flavour, amara. In figure, leaf, and
blossom, it does not differ from the sweet, or " dulcis."
These are charged with amygdalin, the base of prussic
or hydrocyanic acid. Great care has to be exercised
in dealing with them, no vegetable poison being more

* Camden Society's Edit, 1843, ?• 2S7-

94 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

energetic. The oil is especially dangerous. Sweet-
almond oil is a very different substance — quite harmless,
and hence put to varied uses, among which is the manu-
facture from it of Kalydor, and the famous "Rowland's
Macassar." The abundance of the oil renders almonds
rather difficult of digestion, at all events with people
whose digestive powers are weak. Eaten in moderation
they are nutritious and demulcent. When placed upon
the table ready shelled, as when mingled with raisins for
dessert, they should always be previously blanched, the
brown skin being possessed of irritant properties.

In 1880 the total quantity of almonds of all descrip-
tions brought into this country, was 86,763 cwts.,
valued at .£334,713. The bitter ones were chiefly
from Mogador.

THE APRICOT (Armeniaca vulgaris)*

THE Apricot is that beautiful yellow stone-fruit, nearly
globular, fully an inch and a half in diameter, and furrowed
on one side, the complexion of which moved Mr. Ruskin
to describe it as " shining in sweet brightness of golden
velvet." Excepting in the southernmost counties, in
England it does not ripen successfully unless the tree be
trained, like the peach, against a wall facing the sun.
The gloriousness of the spectacle presented by the tree

* Prunus Armeniaca of Linnaeus and " Genera Plantarum,"
see p. 80.

The Apricot. 95

when in its natural condition, and in full bearing, com-
pares well with that even of the peach. Not far inferior,
after all, is the sight of a first-class apricot, even in
captivity, when in full harvest. So few fruits raised in
England are literally of "golden" hue, that the tree is
then little less precious as an ornamental one. The
stature attained, when growing in the open, is twenty or
thirty feet. After infancy it never loses time, soon reach-
ing maturity, but the lease of existence is short. In
spring and summer it is told at once from all other fruit-
trees by the shape of the leaves, these being roundish
cordate. They are glabrous, also, on both surfaces. The
flowers precede the leaves, coming in March and April,
and presenting the accustomed rosaceous symmetry of
form pertaining to the Drupiferae in general; the petals
are white, or lightly touched with pink. The apricot can
stand a good deal of cold, provided the tree be kept dry.
While the fruit is in its early stages, a capital protection
for it is supplied by a shield of pine-tree branches.

As expressed in the Latin generic name, this admirable
tree is believed to be a native of Armenia, though Koch,
who spent so long a time in exploring that country,
and the regions adjacent, says that he never met with it
thereabouts truly wild. Upon the Caucasus, it ascends
the mountain sides, almost to the summit; it occurs also
in Thibet, Afghanistan, China, and Japan. The move-
ment westwards would seem to have been slow and
rather late. No mention, either of the fruit or of the
tree, is made in classical literature before the time of

96 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Dioscorides. The Romans themselves seem to have
been imperfectly acquainted with it, though it is to their
language that the name is finally traceable. What may
have been the repute during the middle ages is altogether
unknown. In England it appears to have been first seen
about A.D. 1524, temp. Henry VIII., whose chief gardener,
one Wolfe, a catholic priest, is said to have procured or
brought it from Italy. Rather too tender for northern
Europe, in Egypt and in Syria all disasters encountered
elsewhere are fully compensated. No place in the world
is more famous for its apricots than the neighbourhood of
Cairo. The gardens thereabouts contain, it is estimated,
not fewer than sixty thousand trees, standards, like the
apples in English orchards. The price of the fruit in the
markets is what in English coin would be represented
by a penny or three-halfpence per pound. Such of it
as does not get consumed while fresh is made into a
luscious paste, by slightly drying, then rolling the mass
till quite flat, incorporating almond kernels, and then
drying again. Damascus is almost as well provided as
Cairo. Here, also, a large portion of the produce is dried
for winter use, but chiefly after the manner of figs. The
stones are collected for exportation, the kernels to be
used in the manufacture of noyau. Bokhara seems to
be in no degree behind. In Dr. Lansdell's very interest-
ing new work upon Russian Central Asia, in which some
thirty-five pages are devoted to the Flora of this little-
known region, "the first thing that struck me," says the
author, "was the enormous size of the apricot-trees,

The Apricot. 97

standing like avenues of old English pears, from thirty
to forty feet high, with a circumference of trunk, near
the base, of four to five feet."

The best kinds of apricot for cultivation in England
are those called Large Early, Blenheim, Royal, and
Moor Park. Hitherto this fruit has not succeeded well
in the forcing-house, but the prospects, under Mr. Rivers'
modes of treatment, are decidedly encouraging, and in
this we may rejoice, the flavour of the fruit, when ripened
under glass, being immensely superior to such as it
acquires in the open air. Being very perishable, yet
fairly solid, the apricot recommends itself excellently
for preserving, and no less so for the method of drying
practised in Italy, where the fruit is cut in half, the
stone removed, and then spread out awhile in a spent
oven. These dried halves are the " Italian apricots " of
the shops.

In the names borne by fruits, as already illustrated,
we have many curious examples of the vicissitudes of
words. The derivation of " quince " from Cydon has
been cited as one of the oddest. That of " apricot " is
still more remarkable. According to Professor Skeat, it
begins in the old Roman epithet applied to this fruit —
prcecox, " early," meaning the fruit which precedes others
of its class. Another form of the word was pracoquus,
having for its old neuter plural prcecoqua. Travelling
into Greece, prtzcoqua became TrpaiKOKtov, plural irpaiKOKia,
and this being adopted by the Arabs, with whom the
tree was now beginning to be planted extensively in
o

98 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

northern Africa, and who prefixed their well-known defi-
nite article a/, the result — making allowance for the
usual alphabetical changes — was al-barquq. The last-
named then got into the Portuguese language, and the
spelling changed again. From the Portuguese it moved
into French, and so, at last, into our own, taking the
shape, at first of "apricock," as found in Shakspere, and
eventually, though not till 1782, of "apricot." The most
curious circumstance is that the initial #, now indissolubly
attached, should be the Arabic al abbreviated, certifying
the ancient journey of the word eastwards and then back
again, like a tourist-ticket.

THE CHERRY-LAUREL ( Prunus Lauro-cerasus ).

THE Cherry-laurel, to call the plant by its proper name,
is the well-known glossy evergreen ordinarily called the
laurel. Strictly speaking, it is not a laurel at all, this very
ancient appellation belonging, legitimately, to the trees
and shrubs which constitute the genus Laurus. Foremost
among the latter is the common Bay, Laurus nobilis, the
tree always intended by "laurel" in mediaeval literature,
and in the poets, until quite recently. Chaucer's " fresh
green laurel" is the Bay, the scent corresponding with
"the eglantere full well." So is the laurel which in
another place he associates with the wild honeysuckle —

" Some of laurel, and some full pleasantly,
Had chapelets of woodbine."

The Cherry-Laurel. 99

The "laurel" always identified in story with honour and
triumph, and used as the emblem of victory, as when
chaplets are placed upon the brows of princes and con-
querors, is also the Bay. The confusion or carelessness
which led, in the sixteenth century, to the extension of the
name to the Prunus is much to be regretted. To restore
it to the Laurus nobilis, the rightful owner, is now for
ever impracticable, considering all the circumstances ; the
least that could be done would be to call the usurper
always, as we do here, the C/^rry-laurel.

To describe so common a plant is scarcely needful,
except for completeness' sake. Every one knows the
large ovate-lanceolate yellowish green leaves, and the
fine contrast they present to the foliage of other garden
shrubs. When old enough to bloom, every one who has
the opportunity of contemplating the tree in April and
May, knows too, full well, how it covers itself with
long and erect racemes of white honey-scented flowers ;
followed, in propitious seasons, by clusters of rich black-
purple fruit resembling damsons. A " tree," by the way,
though we speak of it as one, the cherry-laurel does not
deserve to be called. At the best, it is only a huge
rambling shrub, disposed to be semi-prostrate. This
comes of the shoots elongating fast, but not increasing
proportionately in thickness, so that they cannot help
reclining. When in full fruit, the appearance is very
striking, the bunches bearing no distant likeness to small
clusters of the variety of grape called " Lady Downes."
Though the leaves are charged with poisonous matter,

i oo Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

corresponding with the amygdaline of the peach-tree,
in which the kernels go shares, the pulpy portion of
the fruit is perfectly innocuous, and not only so, but
fairly palatable and nice. When large, plump, and well-
ripened, it makes an interesting addition to the October
dessert. It supplies material, also, for a capital tart, a
good jelly, and an excellent jam; but in making these,
because of the poisonous matter, the stones should first
be removed, a process quite easy, as they readily part
from the flesh.

The Cherry-laurel is a native of Asia Minor, the
Crimea, and the northern parts of Persia, coming into
Europe barely three hundred years ago. From the
account given by Clusius, the famous botanist of Vienna,
in the sixteenth century, it would seem to have been first
cultivated in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. It
was from that place that the original plant was sent
to Clusius, in 1576, as one of many curious novelties,
all of which, excepting the cherry-laurel and the horse-
chestnut, perished on the way from the severity of the cold.
The particulars related by Clusius as to the difficulty he
experienced in establishing his little protegee, have all the
charm of a romance of human life. It was six feet high,
and bore the name on arrival of Trebison Cumani, " the
date of Trebisond." The Italians, to this day, call it
Lauro di Trabesonda. It was by Clusius, the original
recipient, that it was named Lauro-cerasus. Parkinson
says that in England it was first cultivated at Highgate,
by a Mr. Cole, a London merchant, who used to cover it

The Cherry -Laurel. 101

in winter with a blanket. The susceptibility to damage
by severe frost which in England, every ten or twenty
years, brings so much sorrow to the cherry-laurel, would
seem to have been detected, or at all events foreboded,
on its first arrival.

By 1688, according to Ray, the cherry-laurel had
become quite common in English gardens ; and now we
have many beautiful varieties, the handsomest of which,
and most distinct, for ornamental shrubbery purposes, is
the Colchican, introduced from Belgium in 1841.

A very curious parallel exists between this plant and
the yew-tree, though they are in no degree related. In
both, the kernels and the leaves are poisonous; in both,
at the same time, the succulent portion of the fruit is free
from anything deleterious, so strange is the association
sometimes indulged in by nature, of good and evil in the
same production, life and death walking arm in arm. The
fruit of the yew is never gathered, like that of the cherry-
laurel, for table ; it is left to the thrushes, by which all is
soon cleared away : boys are apt to eat it, but then a boy
is an animal that will eat anything at any time.

As with the Pomiferse, so in the plum-family there
appear to be several species which only await skill and
enterprise to be lifted to the rank of acknowledged fruit-
trees. First may be mentioned the Prunus cerasifera,
the "cherry-plum" or "Myrobalan plum," the cerisette of
the French, well so named, a dish of them more nearly

i o 2 Fruits and Fru it- Trees.

resembling one of pale red cherries than of plums. The
flesh is yellowish, sweet, with a slight acidity, and juicy.
Though pleasant to eat just as it comes from the tree,
the fruit is better adapted for tarts, and for preserving
like ordinary plums and cherries. The production of it
in England is rare and scanty, owing to the exceeding
earliness of the bloom, and consequent exposure of the
still tender produce to the frosts only too frequent in
March and April. The tree attains the height of thirty
or forty feet, and when in flower, especially when placed
near dark evergreens, is for beauty unexcelled. The
native country is unknown. Whether or not it is to be
considered a true "species" is also doubtful. Dr. Hooker
thinks it may be referable to the Prunus insititia — Koch
considers it a form of the P. divaricata of the Caucasian
provinces. A coloured drawing is given in the Botanical
Magazine, pi. 5,934 (1871).

Then comes the Prunus Pissardt, which itself may be
only a variety of the cerasifera, though received from
Tauris, a town about two hundred and thirty miles from
Teheran. The specific name was bestowed in compli-
ment to M. Pissard, gardener to the Shah of Persia.
The foliage is remarkable for its deep claret-red colour;
the ovoid fruits, produced in abundance, almost exactly
match it, and, though small, have a fairly good flavour.

The "Mume" of Japan, Prunus Mume, and the Prunus
tomentosa, from the same country, seem also to contain
elements of merit, waiting to be developed, though, in
truth, the trees themselves are as yet very uncommon.

The Mume.

103

The fruit of the Mume is half-way between an apricot
and a plum. The fruit of the tomentosa, figured in
Siebold and Zuccarini's Flora Japonica, pi. 22, is of a
brilliant red or scarlet colour, and in shape somewhat
resembles a small apple. Lastly, there is the pretty
pink-flowered Chinese shrub called Prunus (or Amyg-
dalopsis) triloba, the little round fruits, when mature,
reddish-orange colour. Great botanical interest attaches
to this plant, on account of there being several, usually
five or six, drupes to every flower.

BERRIES.

" In her days, every man shall eat in safety
Under his own vine, what he plants, and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours ;
God shall be truly known, and those about her,
From her shall read the ways of perfect honour,
And by those claim their greatness, not by blood. "

King Henry the Eighth, v. 4.

TRICTLY speaking, or in the precise and
technical sense of the term, as understood by
botanists, a "berry" is a fruit of the kind illus-
trated in grapes and currants — a thin-skinned
bag of juice, or of very soft pulp, containing
several seeds, or at times only a single seed.
The word is of very ancient extraction, belonging to the
northern nations, and coming proximately from the Anglo-
Saxon berige or berga, with the primitive sense, it would

The Grape. 105

seem, of "edible fruit." Hence, no doubt, the broad use
of it in the names strawberry, raspberry, blackberry,
mulberry, all of which designate fruits quite different in
structure from true, or botanical berries, as will appear
by-and-by. Genuine berries are very common, though
the number of eatable kinds is comparatively small. They
belong almost exclusively to the plants of temperate
countries, tropical sunshine being too powerful for them,
and are very generally of bright and attractive colours.
The grape, the currant, the gooseberry, the berbery, the
whortle-berry, the cranberry, the elder-berry, are in Britain
the chief representatives.

THE GRAPE (Vitis vinifera).

OTHER fruits, it may be conceded, are more generally or
more variously useful, but it remains true that the most
illustrious is the Grape. The grape is a kind of "Good
Samaritan;" it is the source of that which "maketh glad
the heart of man;" the plant producing it holds the
highest place in scriptural metaphor allowed to any indi-
vidual member of the vegetable kingdom. The history
can hardly be said to have a beginning ; it is lost upon
the horizon of the remotest past. The oldest literature in
the world, and the oldest monuments in the world, alike
deal with the vine as with something long since familiar,
an inheritance from days yet older. The fig-tree was the
first to be made useful by mankind — the leaves supplying

1 06 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

apparel, the first factor in human uprise ; and the first to
come into view after the subsidence of the waters was the
olive; but the first of the fruit-trees planted with a view
to consuming the produce was the vine. Noah seems to
have come direct, as it were, from the sublime covenant
of the Rainbow, when "he began to be a husbandman,
and planted a vineyard." Among the drawings upon the
walls of the tombs in ancient Egypt are representations
of every circumstance connected with the culture of the
vine; the treading of the grapes for wine-making is also
pictured, and the storing of the wine in earthen jars.
Homer, when he bestows epithets upon cities of renown,
and wishes to make them appear enviable and joyous,
employs the epithets a//7reXoete and TroXvora^vXoe, literally
"rich in vines," and "possessed of many clusters of
grapes." The same poet introduces the vine upon the
shield of Achilles. In every other classical author we
find some allusion that similarly declares the primaeval
fame, Virgil again referring to the imitation of it in
works of Art. How beautiful the description of the
beechen cups carved by Alcimedon, "round which a
curling vine, superadded by the easy-moving graver,
mantles the bunches diffused from the pale ivy." Ivy-
trails, he means, surrounded the upper portion, while
vine-trails rose under each handle, the leaves blending in
such a way as to leave lateral spaces for the figures which
he then proceeds to mention. It is nothing less than
consistent with its noble nature that this incomparable
plant, the Vitis vim/era, should always be foremost in

The Grape. 107

design. All miniatures and dainty little pictures were
originally encircled with representations of the foliage.
Hence, the French word being vigne, we still call such
miniatures vignettes.

The native country of the grape-vine was long a matter
of uncertainty and dispute. It is now tolerably well
determined that the original locality was the tract which
stretches from the hills on the southern border of the
Caspian, in latitude 37°, to the shores of the Persian Gulf
and the Indian Ocean, and eastwards, through Khorassan
and Cabul, to the base of the Himala3Tas. At the present
day, in the Caucasus of Cashmere, it climbs to the tops of
the tallest trees, disporting itself with all the luxuriant
carelessness of a tropical passion-flower, and producing
fruit in abundance, especially when near streams of water.
That these seemingly wild vines are the absolute descend-
ants or posterity of the primaeval plants must not be too
hastily or certainly concluded. They may possibly be
no more than mementoes of ancient cultivation in those
particular spots, just as in England at the present day
we often find memorials of gardens and orchards long
since extinguished. The pathetic lines,

" Near yonder copse, where once a garden smiled,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild,"

supply a text, we may be sure, illustrated in every country
where man has tilled the soil. Birds, too, would carry the
seeds far and wide. The vines apparently wild in some
parts of southern Europe, as in Greece and Italy, are
almost certainly by derivation from the primitive vine-

1 08 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

yards. Doubts exist, indeed, as to whether the vine, as
we have it to-day, may not be, after all, like the cultivated
pear, the outcome of the intermarrying, in the first
ages, of two or more ruder species. These, it is thought
possible, may be the Indian forms of Vitis named by
Roxburgh lattfolta, parvifolia, and lanata.

The phrase "wild vine," it is important here to indi-
cate, has in the A.V. of the Old Testament a very
different signification. Nothing could be more natural
during the up -growth of language than that the word
" vine " should pass on from the grape-producing plant to
any other of similar habit — constituted, that is, of long,
limp, and pliant shoots, and prone to mount into trees
and tall shrubs, either by spiral twining, after the manner
of the hop and the wild honeysuckle, or by means of the
" little strong embrace " of tendrils, as shown in passion-
flowers, the bryony, the melon, and the cucumber, which
last are by nature arboreal plants, and when cultivated in
frames, and prostrate upon the ground, are like the birds
of the woodland when imprisoned in cages. It is in
reference to a plant of the same family as the cucumber —
namely, the colocynth — that the phrase "wild vine" occurs
in the A.V., being applied to it in the famous narrative
of the gathering of the bitter fruit in 2 Kings iv.

Apart altogether from its value as a source of fruit, the
vine is a singularly elegant plant. The height to which
the slim shoots can ascend has an image in the tree-
mantling ivy of old England. One of the branches of
the celebrated vine at Hampton Court reaches to the

The Grape. 109

distance, from the root, of a hundred and fourteen feet.
Many shoots always run in company, as imaged again in
the wild clematis, or " Traveller's joy." When trained, as
it easily may be, so as to climb into a Lombardy poplar,
or even into a laburnum, assisted a little at first, then
allowed to do as it pleases, it soon presents a wonderfully
charming appearance. After a few years' growth, the
great arms swing themselves in the most fantastic manner
from bough to bough, throwing out graceful pendants and
festoons, such as are within the power of no other
ligneous plant of temperate latitudes. Throughout the
summer it is dressed with the large, broad leaves, five to
ten inches across, so loved and admired by Art, and
which, though substantial, are yet sufficiently thin, and
though plentiful, sufficiently far apart, to allow easy and
pleasant passage to the sunlight. Their long slim stalks,
and the great angular spaces in the blade, again give
help, so that a use for the vine even more delightful yet
may be secured, and that is for the summer-roofing of an
arbour. Looked at from below, the idea they give then
of lucid green has its counterpart only in the translucent
verdure of a grove of young beeches in the month of
May. In autumn, before they drop, they turn deep
yellow, clouded or veined with crimson, and in some
varieties become purely and wholly crimson, rivals then
of the sugar-maple, more brilliant in death than in the
full vigour of existence. The climbing is accomplished
by means, as said above, of the "tendrils," those inno-
cent green fingers which in their general history, many

1 1 o Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

other plants producing similar ones, are so wonderful as
to provide a distinct subject of botanical study. They
are not new organs. Every one of the tendrils represents
what might have been a bunch of grapes. They are
a kind of supernumerary foundations or beginnings of
bunches, developed in the form we find them, to compen-
sate the weakness of the shoots, and to enable them to
take their well-deserved place aloft. That such is the
true nature of the tendrils of the vine is quite evident
from their arising from the leaf-axils, and being often
tuberculated with rudimentary flower-buds. The flowers
make no show. Like those of the oak, they can afford
to be unpretentious. But how curiously formed ! The
five petals cohere at the tips, but are free at the base.
The opening takes place by their detaching themselves
from the receptacle ; they are then carried upwards by
the elongation of the stamens, and finally they drop off
in the shape of a pretty little five-rayed star. The
flowers have the merit, also, of being honey-scented — the
attribute alluded to in the delicious picture in the Song
of Solomon : " The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away ! "* As for

* The Hebrew word employed in this passage, semadhar, is quite
different from the term which denotes ripened grapes. It occurs
also in ii. 15, and in vii. 12, but nowhere else in Scripture. The
amended version in the " Revised " is : —

"The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their fragrance."

The Grape. 1 1 1

the fruit, the variety it affords, under cultivation, alike in
form, colour, and flavour, is inexhaustible. The latter we
can always depend upon as sure to be elevated, generous,
dulcet, unalloyed. By rights, every berry should contain
five seeds. It is seldom, however, that more than three
come to maturity.

The potential longevity of the vine is unquestionably
very great; some think it can live for centuries. So is the
attainable bulk of the principal stem, feeble and attenu-
ated as the branches are. History furnishes examples of
bulk even prodigious. The statue of Jupiter, made for
the ancient Etrurian city of Populonia, so Pliny tells us,
was of vine-wood. So were the architectural ornaments
of the temple of Juno, at Metapontum in Lucania. In
a later age the doors of the cathedral of Ravenna were
constructed of vine-wood, the planks twelve feet long and
fifteen inches wide. These statements, taken in connec-
tion with the well-known hardness and compactness of
the wood when old, are rendered perfectly credible by
what is certain in regard to the great Californian vine,
unfortunately now no longer in existence, having been cut
down because of ill health in 1875. It stood at Monte-
cito, near the sea, in Santa Barbara county, with a
romantic incident for the very beginning. A young
Spanish lady was presented by her lover with a riding-
whip, the handle of which was made of a vine-cane. She
planted it, by his request; it is to be hoped that the
current of their own happiness moved part passu : in any
case, it grew so wonderfully, that when cut down the

1 1 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

diameter of the trunk at the base was eighteen inches,
and at a yard above the ground fourteen inches. The
branches, which by training spread themselves in all
directions to the number of about twenty, covered over
four thousand square yards of ground. The yearly
produce varied from seven thousand five hundred to ten
thousand bunches, the aggregate weight running from
five to six tons. The entire plant, sawn into pieces,
and reconstructed, complete in everything save life, was
sent to the great Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876.
On the close of this, the trunk was returned to San
Francisco and deposited in the museum at Woodward's
(a sort of miniature "Crystal Palace"), where it will
probably be preserved after the manner of an ancient
Greek statue. The largest and most celebrated vine
in England is the famous old Black Hamburgh at
Hampton Court, planted in 1768, a slip from one at
Valentines, Ilford, Essex. Originally it was intended
simply to cover a piece of bare wall. The protecting
with glass was an afterthought, by no means immediate.
In ordinary years the produce has been from twelve or
thirteen hundred up to eighteen hundred bunches. In
very favourable ones it has ripened no fewer than two
thousand two hundred, every bunch well coloured, and fit
for table. This grand old plant is now somewhat on the
wane. When all is over, it will be said truthfully that
more human beings, from first to last, have stood under
its shadow than under any other vine in the world.
Possessed of features and qualities so glorious, it seems

The Grape. 1 1 3

curious that the vine is not more used as a purely decora-
tive plant. Poor as the fruit may be, compared with that
of the hothouse, how beautiful the spectacle, common in
the southern counties, occasional in the north, of the vine
covering the cottage-front. Remembering what the vine
stands for, metaphorically, in Scripture, one of the good
signs of the growth in our country of pure taste in matters
of church-ornament, which, when dealt with lovingly, as
by the Plantagenet architects, is shown outside as well as
inside, will be planting a vine beside the porch, and
training it so as to form an archway to the House of
God.

Any attempt to trace the history of the original diffu-
sion of the vine must needs be hopeless. Nothing,
probably, will ever be ascertained of earlier date than the
time of Julius Caesar, who, after his subjugation of ancient
Gaul, B.C. 55, took possession of the Valley of the Rhine,
and soon introduced many kinds of fruit from Italy.
From Ausonius we learn that the banks of the Moselle
possessed this plant by the middle of the fourth century,
at which period, also, grapes were grown in the neigh-
bourhood of primitive Paris, but it was not for quite a
couple of centuries afterwards that the cultivation became
general either in Germany or France. Charlemagne, that
admirable patron of the useful arts, horticulture in parti-
cular, gave grape-growing his warmest encouragement.
The introduction into England took place under the later
Roman governors. Vineyards would seem to have been
first planted in our island about A.D. 280. They are
Q

ii4 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

mentioned in the earliest Saxon charters, and plainly as
having been found in the country by the Saxons, not
made by them. The religious fraternities of the dark
ages, spreading out of Italy in all directions, helped to
disseminate useful vegetables and fruits. Vineyards,
under their influence, as well as gardens and orchards,
became customary adjuncts to the monasteries. They
are mentioned in Domesday Book as existing in Kent,
Middlesex, Hampshire, Wilts, Dorset, Hertfordshire, Nor-
folk, and Suffolk, and continued to be common for many
centuries after the Conquest. During the wars of the
Roses all the best of them seem to have been utterly
ruined, excepting such as pertained to the ecclesiastical
institutions, and these likewise perished at the time of
the Reformation. Since then, the culture of the vine in
England has been carried on with regard chiefly to the
fruit as an elegant addition to the table. There is no
reason, however, why the ancient cultivation out-of-doors
for the sake of wine-manufacture should not in some
measure be restored. There are plenty of sunny slopes
where the plant would thrive just as it did of old. It
is certain that there has been no deterioration in the
local climate such as would hinder : if any change, it has
been one of improvement, such as is promoted by the
drainage of moor and fen. What is wanting to ensure
success is not another climate, but care and pains in the
cultivation.

The beginning of the now universal system of forcing,
or accelerating the production of grapes, by means of

The Grape. 1 1 5

artificial heat, dates from in or about 1705. Lawrence,
in his "Fruit-Gardener," 1718, informs us that the first
to attempt it was the Duke of Rutland, who, at Belvoir
Castle, "kept fires constantly burning behind slope walls,"
whereby he was rewarded "even with the best Frontig-
nacs, in July." These "slope walls" were at first open
to the weather. The protection of the vines with glass
was a later idea. How grand the achievements of the
modern grape-grower needs no telling. The finest grapes
in the world are those now produced in English hot-
houses. A more interesting sight is nowhere presented
than where there are several houses in succession, the
grapes in all stages, from bloom to approaching maturity.
Very interesting, too, is the fact that while England im-
ports grapes from continental Europe in quantities so vast
that they are sold in the streets like apples, England also
raises grapes for export. It is not generally known, but
none the less one of the curiosities of modern commerce,
that Copenhagen and St. Petersburg are largely supplied
with grapes from Yorkshire, grapes grown in the great
vineries at Corwick Hall, near Goole. For safe transit
to those cities, the bunches are wrapped separately in
tissue-paper, then placed endways in boxes about sixteen
inches square, with a good layer of cork-dust underneath.
Nothing could more curiously illustrate the broad prin-
ciple that England manufactures some of everything, and
more or less, for all the world. The imported grapes
commonly sold in the markets, as well known, are
chiefly of the so-called "white" description, the berries

1 1 6 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

large and oval. These are brought principally from
Almeria, in Spain, Portugal, and Sicily. The round-
berried "black" ones, not so common, but very good,
are mostly from Hamburg.

The magnitude of the bunches often produced in
English hot-houses is sometimes prodigious. At the
International Fruit Exhibition, held in the Manchester
Botanical Gardens, at the close of August, 1881, there
was shown a cluster of "Black Hamburgh" from Lambton
Castle, Durham, the weight of which was 13 Ib. 4 oz. It
recalled to mind the famous bunch brought from Eshcol
by the spies, with their other samples of the products
of the Promised Land, and which was borne "on a staff
between two." From these words we must be careful
not to infer more than is really meant. There is no
need to exaggerate in the way that has often been
done in pictures. The two men slung it, in all likeli-
hood, not because the weight taxed their strength, but
to prevent damage and bruising, simply anticipating
the precautions adopted by all modern gardeners and
fruit-dealers. Huge bunches, after all, are objects more
for wonder than desire. They are not so satisfactory
as good medium clusters. The grape-grower's triumph
consists in a nice evenly-finished and well-ripened crop,
free from anything sensational. A bunch of inordinate
size cannot have a portion removed without the appear-
ance, if the whole be not just then wanted, being
spoiled; two or three comparatively small bunches,
side by side — we speak of dessert — give a far pleasanter

The Grape. 1 1 7

impression of beauty ; and if all three, or even half, are
not required for immediate consumption, no harm is
done to the symmetry of what is left.

The choice of the varieties to be selected for cultiva-
tion in the vinery is, of necessity, like that of the choice
of apples and pears for the garden, a matter that must
be very much ruled by circumstances and personal con-
siderations. Early grapes are wanted, intermediate ones,
and late. Black grapes also, and white; with all that
pleasant change of sort which is supplied in the varied
detail of taste and substance, some kinds being more
remarkable for juiciness, others for lusciousness, aroma,
or superb colour. Potential size of cluster and of indi-
vidual berry, and time of endurance in nice condition,
are also features of different sorts which give them claims
to preference in regard to the special objects with
which the fruit is cultivated. Among the most generally
esteemed, the varieties over the merits of which there is
little or no difference of opinion are the sorts called by
the following names : —

BLACK GRAPES.

Black Hamburgh. — Universally known, and deservedly
the highest in repute for general cultivation.

Black Alicante. — That excellent grape which, if left on the
vine, goes on steadily improving, even up to Christ-
mas, by which time it becomes almost a sweetmeat.

Gros Maroc. — The berries of this are very large, and
distinguished for their fine "bloom."

1 1 8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Gros Colman. — The berries of this one also are very large.

It is one of the varieties noted for keeping well.
Madresfield Court. — For the development of its best

qualities this one should have a house to itself.

The bunches then hang for many months without

shrivelling.
Lady Downed Seedling. — The clusters of this may be

kept on the vines until Easter.

WHITE GRAPES.

White Muscat of Alexandria. — Of all grapes at present
known, this one is unquestionably the queen. The
vines are unsurpassed in good constitution and
fecundity. When perfectly ripe, the size of the
bunch, the complexion, and the taste leave nothing
to be desired.

Early Muscat. — Excellent in being the earliest of the
class.

Tokay Frontignan. — Also very early, and, like the first-
named, very prolific.

Buckland Sweet-water. — Another of the very generously
productive sorts, and well adapted for a cool vinery.

Chasselas de Fontainebleau. — Very juicy, and remarkable
for its aroma.

Ferdinand de Lesseps. — The colour a charming amber;
the flavour peculiar, a mixture of muscat and straw-
berry.

The last-named is one of the sorts obtained by "crossing,"
the vine being one of the plants which submit themselves

The Grape. 119

readily to the practice of artificial fertilization, or the
transfer by hand of the pollen of the flowers of one
variety to the blossoms of another and different kind, the
practice to which we owe the greater portion of our fancy
roses and rhododendrons, modern in the carrying out,
but foretold in the immortal dialogue in the Winter's

Tale:— "This is an art,

Which does mend nature — change it rather, but
The art itself is nature."

What stores of unexpected wealth have yet to be brought
to the front by means of human skill and enterprise it is
impossible even to conjecture. The undiscovered secrets
of nature, we may be sure, are not less wonderful and
delectable than the disclosures already before us. Mean-
while there is enough to do in making the best of the
matchless sorts we are possessed of, and in working out
new and elegant devices in regard to the use of the vine
as an ornament even for our dwellings. How classic and
refreshing when grown, for instance, in a pot, as a little
standard, and trained to dimensions such as adapt it for
the centre of the table, the seven or eight bunches of
fruit, then quite easily at command, depending from
beneath the broad green leafy crown. The appearance
of a little vine thus trained is so exceedingly rich as to
elicit warmer admiration than even the loveliest epergne
of flowers. The best sort to employ for this purpose is
the common Black Hamburgh.

A different set of varieties should be resorted to for
cultivation in the open air. There are several sorts which

1 20 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

yield capital crops of fruit in seasons at all complacent,
at all events in the southern counties, and if care be
taken to plant these, there is, on the average, a very
plentiful reward. Not that to attempt grape-growing on
a large scale out-of-doors, except for the manufacture of
wine, is worth while, perhaps, as a commercial under-
taking, the seasons being so uncertain, and the supply of
table-fruit from abroad being so large and so cheaply
obtained. But there is so much beauty and interest in
connection with the fruiting of a vine in one's own
garden as a source of enjoyment that not to secure it is
a pity. The best kinds for outdoor culture are, taking
first the purple-fruited, Esperione, Muscat Lierval, and
Black Cluster; and among the amber-tinted, or "white,"
Muscat St. Laurent, Chasselas Vibert, Chasselas de Fon-
tainebleau, and Tokay Frontignan. The above-mentioned
Ferdinand de Lesseps also seems to do well.

Once again like the apple, the vine has found its way
to all countries where the climate allows of the ripening
of the fruit. In very cold regions it refuses to grow, and
within twenty-five or even thirty degrees of the equator
it seldom flourishes, too much solar heat being no less
unwelcome than the reverse. The special interest of the
circumstance consists in the prelude this wide diffusion
forms to the manufacture by the various countries of their
own wines. Wine has long been made at the Cape of
Good Hope. Australia is rapidly developing this new
industry. One of the most promising of the wines of
the future is that which is made in large quantities at

Raisins. 121

Cincinnati and St. Louis, and sold under the name of
" Sparkling Catawba." Florida and California are in no
degree behind. It was only in 1860 that wine-making
became an occupation in Algeria, yet in three years the
quantity produced was no less than one million five
hundred thousand imperial gallons, and by 1884 it had
risen, to over nineteen million seven hundred thousand
gallons. Renowned as Egypt was in the days of the
Pharaohs and the Ptolemys for its wine, none at all is
now made there, the use of it being forbidden by the
Koran. There are plenty of vines. The number is esti-
mated at two hundred and twenty-five thousand, of which
there are near Alexandria fifty-five thousand, and near
Cairo fifty thousand, but the yield of these is employed
simply for repast. It is melancholy to reflect that a plant
of utility so vast, and capable of cultivation so extended,
should have enemies so dire as the oidium and the
phylloxera. In this respect, after all, it is by no means
exceptional, the apple, the cereals, the potato, being, as
well known, assailed, all in their turn, by some kind of
destructive malady.

In countries where the processes which begin with
drying the fruit can be put into successful practice,
certain kinds of grapes are converted into Raisins, the
pleasant form of the sweet gift of the vine which in
England is always bound up so specially with thoughts
of Christmas. The manufacture is exceedingly ancient,
several references to raisins occurring in the historical
books of the Old Testament, as in the celebrated story
R

122 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

of David and the pretty and discreet Abigail, i Sam. xxv.
1 8, also in i Sam. xxx. 12, 2 Sam. xvi. i, and i Chron.
xii. 40. In all these passages the phrase employed in
the A. V. is either " bunches of raisins " or " clusters of
raisins," the Revised reducing all to the uniformity of
"clusters." There is reason to believe that, although
"clusters" is the term approved by the Revisers, the
original Hebrew word, tsimmuqim, denotes, rather, com-
pressed masses or cakes of the dried fruit, such as are
still prepared for winter consumption. The etymology
allows of either view, the sense of tsimmuqim being
simply that which has been desiccated. These cakes are
also spoken of in the Old Testament under the name of
'ashishah, this latter term involving, perhaps, the added
idea of dried figs. It occurs in 2 Sam. vi. 19, in i Chron.
xvi. 3, in Hosea iii. i, where the article in question is
mentioned as one of the offerings made to idols; and very
curiously, in the Song of Solomon, when the Bride, feeling
faint, cries out, "Stay me with 'ashishah; comfort me
with apples." The early translators thought that 'ashishah
meant "flagons of wine" — the phrase employed in the
A. V. The genuine sense, " raisin cakes," or " cakes of
raisins," has long been familiar to scholars. Happily the
Revised has now placed it distinctly before the world,
giving us, in place of " Stay me with flagons " —

" Stay ye me with raisins,
Comfort me with apples."

All the other passages in which 'ashishah occurs have
been similarly corrected.

Raisins. 123

The classical authors likewise allude to raisins, as when
the nymph in Theocritus, who prefers maidenhood to
an ill-assorted marriage, and who knows that age has its
blessedness as well as youth, uses the happy metaphor —
that grapes, though dried into raisins, are still delicious,
(xxvii. 9.) Just as at the present day, so is it plain
that there were loveable "old maids" long before two
thousand years ago. Many an " old maid " among those
laughed at by the pert, the ignorant, and the vulgar, is
what we find her because too high-minded, too recherche
in her gentle and educated tastes to have been satisfied
with any one of the opportunities of marriage she had in
the bygones. She has never, in a word, condescended to
marry. Happiness does not consist in being married,
but in a contented frame of mind. Whatever their social
position, men and women are capable only of a certain
amount of happiness, and to imagine that marriage is the
sovereign cure for all disquietudes is to imagine that it
can change one's nature. Theocritus was quite right in
his doctrine, though the nymph is made to deal with it
sportively : grapes — they must be grapes — " dried into
raisins are still delicious." Virgil recommends raisins as
proper for the bees, when suffering from the casualties
which at times befall their useful little lives. It is in his
language that we find the origin of the name, which is a
curious derivation from the Latin racemus, "a bunch
of grapes," the meaning it held as late as the time of

Chaucer : —

" For no man at the firste stroke,

Ne may not fel adoune an oke ;

1 24 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Nor of the reisins have the wine
Till grapes be ripe and well afine."*

Widely dispersed over the world as the vine is in itself,
there are very few localities where the preparation of
raisins can be accomplished successfully. Particular kinds
of soil are necessary for the vines, and the conditions of
climate where the fruit can be cured are rare and limited.
For perfect results, the grapes must be dried in the
open air, in contact with a dry and heated soil, in an
atmosphere void of all dampness, secure from rain and
dew, and saturated, for the time being, with the hottest
sunshine. These conditions are combined in certain
parts of Spain ; at their best, it would seem, exclusively
near Malaga. Round about that celebrated city the
country is very rugged. Beyond about six miles from
the town, every spot where it is possible to insert a vine
is utilized. Every hill is covered, especially near the sea,
and every bunch is converted into the admirable sort we
import under the name of " muscatels." Muscatels are
often called " Raisins of the Sun," because originally, it
would seem, after the stalks of the bunches had been
partially severed, so as to interrupt the natural flow of
the sap, they were left upon the tree to dry in the sun-
shine before gathering. In Spain, at the present day,
the more usual practice is to cut the bunches when
properly ripened, then to dry them in the sun, upon hard
earthen floors, specially prepared, and which can be
covered in case of rain. Two or three other parts of the

* " Arine," i.e. in perfection. (" Romaunt of the Rose," 3690.)

Raisins. 125

world have latterly become important as producers of
raisins similar to muscatels. Very good ones are pre-
pared in Fresno county, California, by cutting and
laying the bunches to dry in the sun, in shallow trays,
for about a fortnight. Near Huasco, in Chili, there is a
little valley where many tons of first-rate raisins are
annually prepared, the seeds so small as to be hardly
noticeable. Excellent raisins are prepared also in some
parts of northern Persia and Bokhara.

Valentia or pudding raisins are imported, like the
muscatels, from Spain. But while the latter attain perfec-
tion only near the sea, the Valentias are raised in the
interior of the country, and from an inferior description
of grape, with a thicker skin. The bunches when cut are
either hung upon lines or laid out upon the ground
separately, turned over once, any of the berries that
have spoiled being then picked out, and in fifteen days
gathered up again. A lye of wood-ashes and barilla,
medicated with salt and oil, is then prepared, and into
this the bunches are dipped. The action of the lye
causes the saccharine element of the fruit to exude in part
to the surface; hence the peculiar brown and varnished
appearance of the pudding raisin, as well as the stickiness
which distinguishes it from the aristocratic muscatel.
The Spaniards are well recompensed for the pains and
trouble they bestow, since their fruit-trade with England
alone, all sorts included, is worth annually no less a sum
than ;£i, 500,000 sterling.

The very sweet and nice little raisins called Sultanas,

126 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

light in colour, and destitute of stones or seeds, are
received from Smyrna, in the vicinity of which town they
appear to have been cultivated for between two and
three hundred years. There is no essential difference
between the vine which yields them and many other
varieties producing small and seedless grapes. The
special character of seedlessness seems to be correlative
with the diminished size of the berry, and may have been
originally induced by special circumstances of soil and
climate, leading to partially abortive flowers. The vines
are planted in rows six or seven feet apart, and at
intervals of three or four feet, and so trained as to form
irregularly branching little bushes, which seldom attain
the height of a yard. They are grown almost exclusively
upon the hippurite limestone of the neighbourhood, up
to an elevation of about four hundred feet above the sea.
The harvest commences about the middle of July, and
occupies nearly a month in the gathering. The bunches
are dipped, like those of the Valentia raisins in Spain,
into a lye made of wood-ashes, to which has been added
a small quantity of oil. They are then dried upon the
ground, a process occupying nearly a week, after which
the berries are stripped or shaken from the stalks, and
packed in the drums in which they arrive for the shops.
The quantity brought to England is about ten thousand
tons annually.

Another variety of the vine furnishes the inestimable
fruit so familiar, in the dried state, under the name of
Grocers' Currants, or, when we are speaking of their uses

Currants. 127

for cakes and puddings, simply as Currants. Little or
nothing is known of its earliest history, though the plant
was certainly in cultivation before the time of Queen
Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh being said to have had
some sort of monopoly of the importation into this
country. These are the genuine and original " currants,"
the word being a corruption of the epithet in uvcz Corin-
thtactz, " Corinthian grapes," by which name they were
called when first brought from Greece, the native country.
The geographical range of the successful culture, like
that of the muscatel raisin, is very limited, and from
similar causes. The metropolis of the district in which
the plant flourishes is Patras, whence the fruit has some-
times the appellation of the Patras currant. Of the
eighty-six thousand five hundred tons exported from
Greece in the thrice-famous currant-year, 1876, when all
the vegetable products of Greece were exceptionally
abundant, seventy-one thousand were the produce of the
Morea, including a few grown in the neighbourhood of
Missolonghi. The balance of fifteen thousand five hun-
dred was despatched from the southern Ionian islands,
including Zante and Cephalonia. Corinth, singular to
say, produces none at all, though the grape is successfully
cultivated there for wine-making. The actual localities
of the cultivation are confined to a narrow belt of country
near the coast. The vineyards are mostly within a hun-
dred and fifty feet of the sea-level j they rarely exceed
four hundred feet ; the elevation is thus markedly lower
than that to which ordinary grape-culture may be carried.

128 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

The vineyards best cared for present a quite unusual air
of neatness and finish. The vines are planted in rows
six feet apart. A single shoot is trained to a stake a
yard in height. As soon as it is strong enough to stand
alone, the stake is removed; the training of the branches
is then so conducted as to give six or seven beautiful
radiations of leafy shoot, which collectively produce, in
due season, from fifty to ninety bunches. If an occa-
sional prop should be needed, owing to the weight of the
fruit, this is supplied, but nothing more.

Towards the end of July the fruit is ripe. The gathering
extends over three or four weeks, the bunches upon the
secondary shoots being somewhat later than those on the
primaries. In six or seven days after being laid to dry,
the berries begin to loosen themselves from the stalks,
and in ten or twelve days all are free. Originally the
bunches were laid out upon the bare ground, a piece
being specially smoothened and cleaned for the purpose.
Now the bunches are laid in wooden trays, six feet long
by a yard wide, and just deep enough, say three inches,
to hold a single layer. When the stalks have been
winnowed out, the fruit is trodden into barrels ready for
shipment.

The botanical origin of this most interesting little fruit
would seem to have corresponded with that of the Sul-
tana. The diminution in the size of the berry ensued,
we must suppose, upon some special local conditions,
which led in the first instance to partially abortive flowers,
accompanied by failure of perfect seeds. The seedless

Currants. 129

character of the great mass of the annual produce is,
after all, by no means without exception. Individual
berries often contain one or two seeds that will grow.
In some localities there is a decided tendency to the pro-
duction of perfect seeds. When, a few years ago, currant-
culture was attempted at Leghorn, it failed through
the plants, after three or four seasons, producing berries
as well charged with seeds as the typical grape. Simi-
lar disappointment has been experienced in Sicily and
in Malta. In any district at all exposed to storms and
heavy night-dews — troubles from which the localities of
the best Greek cultivation are quite free — the currant-vine
can never be expected to flourish. We have it in Eng-
land, as a curiosity, in the southern counties, and fruiting
abundantly out-of-doors if placed against a sunny wall.
The delicate little purple-black thyrsi then remind one of
those of the privet, only that they are pendulous instead
of erect.

To quit the subject of currants, taken in connection
with the country producing them, without a thought of
the condition of modern compared with ancient Greece,
is impossible. The land of old Homer, of Plato, of
Phidias, of Aristides,

" Clime of the unforgotten brave,
Whose land from plain to mountain-cave
Was freedom's home, or glory's grave, "

looks now, for its reputation, to what it may achieve, year
by year, in the production of a little berry. The foreign
commerce of Greece depends almost entirely upon the

s

1 30 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

success of the annual currant-harvest. Its people do not
ask what is our opinion of the literature that first lived
upon their classic soil ; they are content to know that we
look wistfully at their little vineyards. A recent traveller
in Greece, who tarried awhile at one of the convents, tells
us that even the monks, in the currant districts, can talk
of nothing but their staple fruit. " How many inmates are
there in this monastery?" we asked. "Three hundred,"
they replied ; " and how much do you think the grapes
will fetch this year in England?" England, it should
be here interposed, consumes just about one half of the
entire produce. "Is your library in good order?" "No;
but our grapes are of excellent quality." " May we see
your church?" " Certainly; but we hope you will recom-
mend us to your merchants at Patras." And so on.
Quite right. Anything that shows that the dry bones
have begun to live again is to be contemplated with satis-
faction. If their pursuits do not call forth the more
brilliant faculties of the mind, the modern Greeks, in
their pleasant contribution of currants to the wealth of
the world, do a good work which must needs, little by
little, initiate a well-deserved prosperity.

The total imports of raisins and currants, taken
together, into England, in 1880, amounted to 1,215,436
cwts., of the value of ;£i, 801,860.

The interest pertaining to the botanical family named
after its chief member, the vine ipsissima, by no means
ends with that illustrious plant. There are many other
species belonging to various countries, some of which,

Cissus and Ampelopsis. 1 3 1

specially those of North America and of Portuguese
Guinea, seem to promise well as sources by-and-by of
good fruit. But most of them are valuable only as orna-
mental plants ; sometimes for the gorgeous hues of their
autumnal foliage, well illustrated in the common Virginian
creeper, and in that incomparable house-front plant, the
Japanese Vitis tricuspidata, commonly called Ampelopsis
Veitchii; now and then for the inexpressible beauty of
their berries. A more lovely fruiting shrub for a garden-
wall than the Vitis humulifolia, again Japanese, it is
impossible for the world to supply; only that for per-
fection it needs a good old-fashioned hot summer. Then
its pretty foliage — that of the grape-vine in miniature —
becomes a foil to crowds of clusters of little berries of
the most exquisite Italian sky-blue, a spectacle unimagi-
nable till the eye has feasted upon it. To the Vitacese
belong, also, the various ornamental climbers which go
by the generic name of Cissus. This latter, except for
garden convenience, is not wanted, since, according to
the " Genera Plantarum," between Cissus and Vitis there
is not even sectional difference. Hooker and Bentham
also discard Ampelopsis ; they use it, rather, merely as a
sub-generic name. Profound interest pertains to all these
last-named plants in regard to the hold-fasts by which
they attach themselves to whatever they cling to. Their
strong little thousand hands branch into irregular fingers,
every one of which has at the tip a peculiar gland. This,
in due course, secretes a sticky substance of extraordinary
adhesive powers. So tenacious is it that the hand will

132

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

break off at the wrist rather than the finger-tips let go.
Furthermore, instead of turning towards the light, after
the manner of most other aerial parts of plants, they turn
away from it, thus affording a conspicuous and very
well-marked example of "negative heliotropism." Under
glass there are found, also, of this family, various species
of Leea, differing in their pinnate leaves, and in being
destitute of tendrils.

Chapter Sixtfy*

BERRIES — CONTINUED.

GARDEN CURRANTS (Ribes rubrum and Ribes nigrum).

"To know

That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime wisdom." — Paradise Lost.

HE Currants of the English garden received
this name because of their resemblance to
the UVCR Corinthiacce, the little Corinthian
grapes, or " Corinths " described at the close
of the preceding chapter. , The fame of these
pleasant fruits, the red currant, the white, and
the black, is comparatively modern, attention having
been first given to them only in the Tudor period. No
mention of any of the various sorts occurs in ancient
Greek and Roman literature ; nor does there seem to be
any record of currants having been cared for by the

134 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Anglo-Saxons or the Normans. The common Red
Currant, Ribes rubrum, grows spontaneously in rocky
woods, throughout central and northern Europe and
Russian Asia, extending to the arctic circle. It is found
wild also in Kamschatka and in North America, reaching
from Canada and Vermont to the mouth of the River
Mackenzie. The Black Currant, Ribes nigrum, is more
restricted in distribution, being rarer in western Europe,
though plentiful in the northern, the central, and the
eastern parts of the continent, and in Russian and Central
Asia. In many of the localities where both the red and
the black now seem to be aboriginal, they certainly exist
but as waifs of cultivation. In both species the leaves
are alternate, petiolate, broad, with large angular lobes —
vine-leaves in miniature j in both, the little greenish or
reddish flowers are borne in small pendulous racemes.
The general habit of the plant is that of a deciduous
bush or little shrub. The longevity appears to be con-
siderable.

In the wild state the Ribes rubrum presents itself
under several different forms, regarded by the analytical
school of botanists as so many distinct " species," and
named Ribes spicatum, Ribes petrceum, etc. The little
berries, even when quite ripe, are then intensely acid.
In gardens it varies still further, but now chiefly in the
colour of the fruit, as shown in the varieties called the
"Normandy pink;" the common "white," that beautiful
lucid berry, the very perfection of the piano-spherical,
with ten vertically curving lines, like the meridians of

Red and White Currants. 135

a globe, and less acid than the common red; and the
very pretty " Austrian currant," the fruit of which is pale,
with red stripes. How rich and beautiful the language
to the eye of the common red and the common white,
when in full fertility, needs no telling. The common
red, when trained against a cottage wall, where the foliage
offers no impediment to full view of the brilliant clusters,
hanging in companies often of half a dozen, presents a
picture little inferior in charm to that supplied by the
vines of Italy. Neither is it needful, except for pleasure
of remembrance, to speak of its value for tart and pie,
preserve, and jelly, and wine. Red-currant jelly, dissolved
in water, furnishes one of the most agreeable and most
salutary of all cooling drinks for the parched palates of
invalids laid low by fever. Though the ancient Romans
seem to have been unacquainted with this useful little
fruit, it is interesting to note that in the markets of
modern Italy there may be seen baskets of it, gathered
wild in the woods of the Apennines and the Alps. The
best varieties for cultivation in our own country are,
among reds, those called Fay's Prolific, Red Dutch,
Knight's Early Red, Houghton Castle, and Raby Castle,
an excellent late kind, and very prolific. The largest
fruits are produced by Cherry, but the bunches are short,
and the quality is inferior. Among the whites, White
Grape, large and sweet, is unquestionably the best;
White Dutch, if distinct, is also very good, but the
berries are comparatively small. Blanc de Versailles is
excellent.

136 Fruits and Fru it- Trees.

A great merit with the Red Currant is that for the
bushes to over-crop themselves is nearly impossible.
Apple-trees, pear-trees, plum-trees, may, in favourable
seasons, bear so profusely that the following year they
are almost powerless. No such failure ever interrupts the
even serenity of Red-currant life. Diffusing its roots near
the surface of the ground, and a capital forager, the Red
Currant soon regains all that it gives. Like a liberal
heart, which always fills as fast as it empties, let the crop
be ever so heavy, twelve months afterwards it is ready,
like the lilies, to begin anew. The only particular need
is judicious pruning. The young shoots should always be
thinned out during the summer; the best and largest fruit
being always borne upon the shoots or "spurs" of the
current year, which, if they are to do their work well, must
be vigorous and well ripened, a condition secured for them
only by clearing away the superfluity of young green twig.
All kinds of ligneous fruit-plants are the better for having
the summer-shoots well thinned out as soon as formed.
The removal of them is useful to the crop in hand, which
is better reached by the sunshine, and the wood for the
year to follow is knit more strongly. In order to secure
very large and handsome currants, either red or white, the
young shoots, at the time of the usual winter-pruning,
should be shortened to a length of about two inches, the
appearance thus given being somewhat that of the stumps
in an osier-bed; not pretty, it must be confessed, but
eminently conducive to the end in view. If beautiful
effect is specially wished for, it is obtained by training the

The Black Currant. 137

bushes into the form of pyramids, after the manner some-
times practised with fuchsias. Sad havoc is often made of
the buds in early spring by the birds. The best preserva-
tive is a mixture of fresh lime, soot, and a small quantity
of soft soap. Let this be run through a fine sieve, and
apply with a syringe before the buds begin to swell.
Birds desist, and grubs do not appear.

The Black Currant is differentiated not alone by the
colour of the fruit, and its peculiar smell and taste,
especially when baked, stewed, or "preserved;" the
berries are individually much larger than those of the
Red, the bunches contain fewer, and lastly there is the
powerful and characteristic odour of the leaves, though in
this last particular one or two other species of Ribes go
shares. There is a very perceptible difference, also, in the
complexion of the plant. Like the Red Currant, it never
over-crops itself, every season giving the old accustomed
revenue. Another great comfort in the cultivation is that
the currant-worm does not touch it. As a fruit suited for
dessert, and for culinary purposes, it is inferior to the red.
For preserving, especially with a view to eventual medi-
cinal use, it stands deservedly high in esteem, being tonic,
stimulant, and soothing. " Black-currant tea " is one of
the oldest, as well as one of the most valued, of domestic
remedial drinks. These good qualities recommend it,
also, for the manufacture of a simple kind of wine.

Many varieties are in cultivation. Those particularly
well adapted for the northern parts of our island are the
old "Black Naples" and "Carter's Black Champion," an

T

138 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

excellent feature of which last is that the fruit hangs per-
fect upon the branches until with old age it must needs
drop. " Lee's Prolific," large and very sweet, is a capital
sort. A curious variety is met with occasionally in which
the berries are of a golden-amber colour, interesting to
the botanist, but of no economic value.

No other currants yet discovered compare in value
with the above-named. That inestimable spring-flowering
shrub, the scarlet-flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum,
introduced from the coasts of north-west North America,
in 1826 — raised from seeds, rather, sent home by the
ill-fated David Douglas — produces abundance of berries,
covered with greyish " bloom," but they are insipid and
worthless. The fruit of the Ribes mebrians, also North
American, is said to possess narcotic properties; and
several others may perhaps, by culture, be rendered valu-
able to mankind. So far, reputation lies with the two
far-famed European species.

THE GOOSEBERRY (Ribes Grossularia).

THE Gooseberry is a native of central and southern
Europe, also of western Asia, occurring in the Caucasus,
and under different forms, in the Himalayas. As a rule,
when wild, it dwells in thickets, especially where the
ground is rocky. In England, though often met with in
the recesses of sylvan dells, it is but doubtfully indigenous.
All the seemingly wild examples are descendants probably

The Gooseberry. 139

of ancient cultivation. Like the sweet violet, and many
other flowers, it often wanders out of gardens. Way-
farers, eating the fruit as they go along, cast the seeds
right and left, and these germinating readily, the plant is
soon arm-in-arm with the aborigines. The ancient Greeks
and Romans would seem to have had no knowledge of it.
If known, it was disregarded, this doubtless because in
southern and south-eastern Europe the berries are small
and tasteless, which circumstance explains the neglect
of the gooseberry, not only in the past, but at present, in
the south-west. Even in France it is little cared for.
The climate which suits it is precisely that which is best
loved by the scented rose, the humid one of Britain ; and
in this last-named happy land the perfection attained by
the one is reached in corresponding degree by the other.
No country in the world excels Britain in regard to its
gooseberries. They ripen delightfully in every part, and
for the poor man as well as the rich. To say where the
best are produced is not easy. The district pre-eminently
favourable is reputed to be that one distinguished as the
Lothians.

When first noticed, when first named, there is no
evidence to show, unless indicated, in some measure, by
the etymology, which seems to be traceable to certain old
Gothic words denoting crisp, curled, or frizzled, thus to
indicate, at the same time, that the original gooseberry
was the hairy one, the Uva crispa of renowned old
Fuchsius, who gives a drawing of it on page 187 of his
Historia, published in 1537, temp. Henry VIII. Primi-

1 40 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

tive forms of the word are found in groise-berry and
grose-berry, with which may be compared the French
groseille and the Scotch grozet or grosart The synonym
found in the eastern counties, " fea-berry," also written
"feap-berry" and "fay-berry," though not yet satisfac-
torily explained, is of much more recent date. Which-
ever was the earliest form, the hairy or the hairless, the
plants are essentially the same. Both conditions occur
among the progeny obtained by sowing the seed of
either, and this quite independently of soil or climate.
The culture of the gooseberry appears to have been first
attended to at the period of the Reformation. It was
then taken up both in England and upon the continent,
say in Holland and in Germany; but the progress was
slow until within the last hundred years, during which
the strides have been rapid. Whether our ancestors ever
saw it in any other form than the little round bush, some
three or four feet in diameter, to which we are accustomed
in modern gardens, no historian has put upon record.
Perhaps it may be only within our own age that the
gooseberry has shown itself able to rise, when trained
against a house-front, to the height of several yards,
bearing plentifully to the very top, and presenting a beau-
tiful spectacle when led abreast of jessamine and clematis.
In one particular it never changes. The gooseberry
never forgets its prickles, which, by the way, compared
with the thorns and spines of prickly plants in general,
are very curiously exceptional, coming of a remarkable
development of the pulvinus. Fond, in the wild state,

The Gooseberry. 141

of woods and sylvan dells, the gooseberry, under cultiva-
tion, is always the better for a moderate amount of shade,
though it suffers from too much. Hence it does well
even when planted against a north garden wall, and when
so placed, if covered up at the proper time with matting,
fruit remains at command till the time even of damsons.
The best way to grow gooseberries is unquestionably
upon trellises. The plants then occupy comparatively
little space. Being more easily pruned, and the summer
growth cleared out of the way of the sunshine, the wood
gets better matured, and heavier crops are the result;
they can be netted with greater facility for protection
against the birds, and the fruit can be gathered with
greater speed and comfort than from bushes in their
natural touch-me-not state.

The sportiveness of the gooseberry is comparable with
that of the apple and the pear. Hence the distinction,
not only of smooth and hairy sorts — by some distin-
guished as the " Esau " varieties — but the four-fold classi-
fication of red, yellow, white, and green. Tastes and
preferences vary as usual, but upon the whole it is
acknowledged that the yellows are the richest and most
vinous in flavour, and that the least meritorious, especially
when large, are the green sorts. The best for preserving
are found among the hairy kinds. Smooth sorts, or
nearly smooth, are preferred for vinegar, and for that
capital old English domestic beverage, gooseberry wine,
which, when skilfully manufactured, possesses the colour
and the flavour of champagne, and mantles like the best

1 42 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Clicquot. The smooth sorts are the best adapted, also,
for that admirable service — one in which the gooseberry is
very nearly unique, and certainly unexcelled — employment,
while still green, for the tart, the pie, and the pudding ;
and to which end, for refreshment even in winter, it may
be stored up in jars and bottles.* In this relation —
the pie and pudding one, while the fruit is still unripe —
the value of the gooseberry can hardly be over-rated.
To those classes in particular, of the working community,
whose occupations keep them much indoors, in shops
and manufactories, nature, in early summer, supplies few
things more healthful. Indoor workers require a larger
amount of the description of acid such as fruits contain,
than is needed by people who get plenty of fresh air,
and for them the green gooseberry comes in abundantly
and cheaply. Let us not forget that other delightful
invention, " gooseberry fool," literally foule, i.e. beaten,
pressed, or trodden, as when grapes are " trodden " for
wine.

The ease and success with which gooseberry culture
may be practised by the cottager has led, in different
parts of England, to the institution of annual Gooseberry
shows. Foremost among these are the celebrated exhibi-
tions yearly held in Lancashire, and at Harborne, near
Birmingham, the "Society" at which latter place was

* The only other fruit, growing in England, which can be eaten
while unripe, is the red currant, sometimes brought to market as a
poor substitute for the gooseberry. Cucumbers, marrows, peas,
and beans, eaten while unripe, though fruits in the botanical sense,
count popularly with the "vegetables."

The Gooseberry. 143

founded as far back as the year of Waterloo. The
growers, the arts of growing, and the shows themselves
furnish illustrations of character alike original and enter-
taining. The men who devote their energies to the
work are almost exclusively of the same race as those
who, towards the middle of the eighteenth century, began
to render South Lancashire so noted for its " naturalists
in humble life," and who, while occupied as hand-loom
weavers, earned so much fame as cultivators of various
kinds of choice flowers. Their number has diminished
under the influence of the Steam-engine, the introduction
of which induced a change no less great in the social
condition of the Lancashire operatives than in the
complexion of their manufactures. There are plenty
living, nevertheless, who inherit the taste and the
enthusiasm of the patriarchs, and as far as the scope
permits, the old spirit is keen as ever. In the bygones
the pursuit before us carried with it no slight dignity.
Southey, in the " Doctor," quotes an obituary notice in
an old Manchester newspaper, of some one who "bore
a severe illness with Christian fortitude and resignation,
and was much esteemed among the class of Gooseberry-
growers^ (p. 348, ed. 1849). The prime object with
these cottage-cultivators is not refined flavour, nor yet a
plentiful crop. The prizes go to the biggest and heaviest
individual berries. To secure triumph it is enough that
a single fruit outweighs all rivals. Upon this one great
end the grower sets his whole heart; to the attainment
of this he devotes all his thoughts and energies; he

1 44 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

foregoes no labour, and cheerfully sacrifices personal
comforts. The treatment of the bushes is very similar
to that above-mentioned as the practice of the Jersey
pear-growers. Those designed to produce the show-fruit
are kept quite small, and the branches, not more than
ten or twelve, are trained so as to be almost horizontal,
and not more than nine or ten inches above the surface
of the ground, the entire plant being often under a
couple of feet in diameter. Immense pains are taken
with the manuring; and in order to maintain congenial
coolness of the atmosphere immediately around the
fruit, a luxuriant growth of chickweed is encouraged, the
green sprouts almost touching the pendent berries. The
nearer they approach maturity, the more anxious becomes
the time, especially if there is prospect of heavy or con-
tinuous rain, of all dangers to ripening gooseberries the
most to be dreaded, since, if wetted over much, they are
certain to burst. To avert this misfortune, fatal to prize-
winning, the show-fruit bushes are protected with little
tents, admitting of easy removal. Every hour is now
momentous. Men intent upon victory not uncommonly
sit up all night in case of accident. The story is well
authenticated of a Middleton silk-weaver who, a thunder-
storm impending, lay awake as if for his life, and with
the first patter against the window-panes, rushed to the
rescue with his bed- quilt. The show is generally held in
the club-room of some country inn. A chairman is
appointed. He takes his place at the head of the table,
and, scales in hand, calls for the heaviest red, or the

The Gooseberry. 145

heaviest yellow, as required per programme. A berry
is then produced, weighed with an accuracy of minuteness
that would have been rapture to old Shylock, and the
weight carefully noted in writing by a secretary. This
process is repeated until everything brought for competi-
tion has been tested, the berry which lies quietly in the
scale until defeated by a heavier one, taking the honours
when all is over. At one of the recent Harborne shows
four hundred and fifty berries were weighed, and of these
ninety-five took prizes, then suffering the usual decapi-
tation, " topping and tailing," so as to be disqualified for
competition anywhere else. The entire performance
occupies three to four hours.

The weights attained by the mode of culture described
are often astonishing. Among the largest gooseberries
shown at the Old Trafford Exhibition, August 4th, 1884,
were many which exceeded 25 dwts. In the " Goose-
berry-growers' Register" (for these enthusiasts have an
Annual of their own), examples are recorded of 30 dwts.,
and of weights up even to 37, beyond which, it would
seem, no grower has yet succeeded in going. This last-
named prodigious weight was attained by one of the
celebrated red variety called " London." Every atom of
the kindly regard due to honest industry, indefatigable
perseverance, and honourable emulation, is well deserved
by these simple-hearted gooseberry-growers. Far better
that their leisure and their powers should be devoted to
the production of big gooseberries than to pursuits which,
if not actually demoralizing, can never be in any degree
u

1 46 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

elevating. Still one cannot but wish that crude aim should
be superseded by aspiration, and quality be esteemed
better than mere bulk — always a very doubtful kind of
excellence, and not infrequently, without any reference to
gooseberries, the only one that can be claimed as a merit
by the vulgar, the coarse, and the unenviable. The big
prize gooseberries have their redeeming feature. Though
unsuited for dessert, they are capital for tarts, and to the
people by whom they are raised, this last is a substantial
recommendation.

The best varieties of gooseberry for gardens in general,
the fruit in every instance large, are the following: —

Red. — Crown Bob, Hopley's Companion, Merry Mon-
arch, Rifleman, Roaring Lion, Whinham's Industry,
Guido, Ironsides, Prince Albert, Young Wonderful.

Yellow. — Broom-girl, Gipsy-queen, Marigold, Whitaker's
Two-to-one, Leader, Pilot, Surety Yellow.

Green. — Conquering Hero, Favourite, Green Walnut,
Profit, Angler, Telegraph, Independent.

White. — Freedom, Smiling Beauty, Snowdrift, Snow-
ball, Wellington's Glory, Whitesmith, Eagle, Lady
Delamere, Nailer, Mayor of Oldham.

Among the capital old varieties with small berries, but
of high flavour, may be named, Red Champagne, a fruit
of unequalled richness, White Champagne, Champagne
Yellow, Golden Drop or Early Sulphur, Greengage, War-
rington Red, and Old Rough Red, an excellent one for
preserving.

The Whor tie- Berry. 147

THE WHORTLE-BERRY (Vaccinium Myrtillus).

IN most parts of Great Britain and Ireland, the eastern
English counties excepted, there is found upon hills and
moorlands such as sportsmen resort to for grouse, also in
dry and rocky woods, a hardy little shrub from which in
August may be gathered purple berries the size of peas.
They go by several different names, whortle-berries,
whinberries, bilberries, blaeberries, hurtle-berries, and in
districts where the plant abounds, are brought to market
in considerable quantities. In the raw state they are
scarcely palatable, but made into tart or pudding, they
supply a very agreeable change after currants and other
cultivated fruits, though with the drawback of astringency,
and the objection that the juice stains the lips. But the
stain is soon effaced by the use of a lemon. Usually
growing in large patches, and often occupying immense
areas of moor and mountain surface, for, like the heather
and some among ourselves, it rejoices in great solitudes
that have never felt the plough, the bright green of the
foliage never fails to give pleasure. The flowers are
pretty, being bead-like, almost globular, waxy in texture,
and of a peculiar reddish green. The berries grow singly
and somewhat sparingly, and present upon the summit
a curious little crater, the floor of which is flat, the
persistent style standing like a pillar in the centre, and
the margin representing the remains of the calyx. When
newly ripe, they are covered, like plums and grapes, with

1 48 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

a beautiful glaucous " bloom," and are filled with juice
resembling port-wine. The height of the plant seldom
exceeds thirty inches, and is usually much less; the
branches are wiry, angular, and very tough. Not only in
Britain is this interesting plant produced. It occurs, in
similar habitats, throughout central and northern Europe
and Russian Asia; also, but sparingly, in southern
Europe, and then only upon lofty mountains, where, as
occasionally in Britain, it shelters itself in pine-woods.
Under how many more names it is known in those
various countries we cannot tell; the etymologist has
work enough before him with the appellations employed
at home, for over none of those applied to common fruits
is there still so much to be determined in the shape of
history. Vaccinium dates from the time of the Virgilian
Pastorals, though then applied, very evidently, not to a
fruit of any kind, least of all to the whortle-berry, to
which it was transferred only in the sixteenth century,
but to some kind of purple or other dark-hued flower.
"Ah, comely one," cries Corydon, "trust not too much to
charm of complexion ! See how the white bells of the
bindweed fade away; how quickly depart the purple
vaccinia !"* So in Claudian —

" Sanguineo splendore rosas vaccinia nigro
Induit, et dulci violas ferrugine pingit."f

What particular flower was before the mind of either poet,
if either really intended anything definite, is indeter-

* Eel. ii. 17, 18. Compare ii. 50 and x. 39.
t Raptus Proserp. xxxv. 92, 93.

The Whortle-Berry. 149

minable. Probably the word was introduced after the
same manner as in a later age "asphodel," "iris," and
" amaranth " were used by Milton. Virgil was indebted,
perhaps, to Theocritus for his imagery, for he loved to
tread in the wake of the Sicilian, and in that case was
thinking of the beautiful figure of the " inscribed hyacinth
(x. 28). " Whortle " is said by Dr. Prior to be a mediaeval
corruption of myrtillus, which itself is supposed to refer
to the somewhat myrtle-like character of the foliage.
" Hurtle" he considers to be another spelling of the same
word. Another explanation is found in the Anglo-Saxon
wyrtil, a small shrub, diminutive of wyrt, the old Northern
name for a plant of any kind, and preserved to this day
in fifty such appellations in the vernacular, as milk-wort,
salt-wort, star-wort, blush-wort, rib-wort. " Hurts," Prof.
Skeat reminds us, are in Heraldry blue or purple roundels,
imitating and named from the berries, just as green
roundels are called pomes, or apples.* Bilberry is thought
to be the Danish bollebaer, meaning round or ball berry.
Blaeberry, or bleaberry, is equivalent to blue-berry, the
epithet here carrying the original Scandinavian sense
retained in the phrase to ube beaten black and blue."
" Whinberry" would seem to mean the berry produced in
waste places, where whins and heather grow, just as the
Campanula rotundifolia, the "bluebell of Scotland," is
the " heath-bell," literally the wilderness-bell.

Berries of a dark-red colour, acid and austere, not fit
for eating, though available for the preparation of jelly,

* Notes and Queries, Dec. 20, 1879, p. 495.

150 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

are yielded by another species of Vaccinium, called, from
some doubtful association with the immortal mountain-
ridge near ancient Troy, "Vitis Idaea" — the vine of
Mount Ida. In the vernacular they are "cow-berries."
Growing abundantly on rocky moors, and on wild and
airy slopes of sub-alpine hills, especially in the north of
England and in Scotland, the pretty little clusters, first
of light pink flowers, then of smooth-cheeked and shining
fruit, never escape the observant. These berries are said
to be sold in the markets of Aberdeen. Yet another
species, also common in the Highlands, the Vaccinium
uliginosum, produces fruit very similar to that of the
Myrtillus, but not so juicy, and having the very ill repute
of being decidedly narcotic and injurious.

THE CRANBERRY (Oxycoccos palustris).

WHILE the true Vaccinia diffuse themselves over the
elevated moorlands, where the soil is seldom saturated, in
the wet peat-bogs their place is taken by the cranberry,
a very near ally, and differentiated in little beyond the
shape of the flower, which is deeply four-lobed, the lobes
bending back so as to disclose the stamens. These
form a central cone of golden yellow that sets off the
delicate rose hue of the petals. As a flowering-plant
the cranberry justly claims a front place among Nature's
bijouterie. So far as known, it is the smallest of fruiting-

The Cranberry. 151

plants, and, unless a better claim be preferred by the
wild thyme, the smallest of flowering-shrubs, for the stems
and branches, though ligneous, are as fine as thread.
They love to creep and trail among sphagnum and other
little bog -plants, and to be near the glistening sun-
dews. Then, running to the length of about twenty
inches, at last they form densely entangled mats, close
upon the surface of the ground. When ripe, the red
berries, mottled with yellow or purple, are collected by
means of a kind of coarse wooden comb or small rake,
and sent to market for tarts, though if put away in closely
corked bottles they will keep good for a considerable
length of time.

This innocent little plant grows all over the British
Islands, where the conditions are favourable, but is now
much less plentiful than formerly, and must needs still
further diminish in quantity, owing to the drainage and
cultivation of the sodden moors and bogs upon which
alone it can exist. It extends also over every part of
northern Europe, Asia, and America. In the last-named
country it has a powerful rival in another and much
larger and stronger species, more ascending in habit, and
producing berries more oval in figure, larger, and of a
brighter colour, approaching even crimson. This one,
the Oxycoccos macrocarpus, supplies the greater portion
of the cranberries ordinarily offered for sale in the shops.
Packed in small kegs, with a sufficiency of spring-water,
the annual import is now very considerable, amounting to
thousands of tons yearly. We might have it, if we cared,

152 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

as a home fruiting-plant. Much swampy land still exists
that might be utilized for the culture. So easily is it culti-
vated, and so pretty withal, in flower, that wherever a little
peat-bog can be formed in a garden, resting on a bed of
porous material, and with free circulation of air above,
success is certain, and the produce of blossom and fruit
great and delightful. The cranberries imported from
North America and Newfoundland contain at times a
slight admixture of the fruit of yet another species, the
Oxycoccos erythrocarpus. The derivation and meaning of
the name cranberry are unknown. Gerard does not use
it. With him it is the fen-berry.

THE ELDER-BERRY (Sambucus nigra). .

FEW trees are better known to people in general than
the old-fashioned and homely Elder of every country
hedge, and of back-gardens and dull corners where
nothing else will grow, in the suburbs of probably every
town in England. Though in such localities as these,
usually lumpish and ungraceful, under favourable condi-
tions it can become really handsome. An elder that till
recently grew near Perth was thirty feet high, bearing a
finely-balanced round head, upon the summit of a sub-
stantial trunk twice as tall as a man ; and when covered,
as the elder always is at midsummer, with its countless
broad clusters of cream -white bloom, and again in

The Elder- Berry. 153

October with its heavy harvest of glossy purple, pre-
sented one of the most striking examples of tree-beauty
to be found anywhere thereabouts. One even taller and
more majestic, and for the species singularly arboreal,
stands at this moment in the grounds of Thorpe Perrow,
Yorkshire. The universality of its occurrence comes of
the ease with which the elder accommodates itself to
every diversity of situation and soil. By means of it
an air of cheerfulness may be given to the darkest and
gloomiest recesses ; it endures exposure on the bleakest
hillside ; it grows well near the sea ; it thrives under the
shade and drip of other trees; it will establish itself
even upon old walls and crumbling ruins — then usually
springing from casually scattered seeds, as indeed is very
commonly the case elsewhere. After all, whether in
England truly wild or not is uncertain. Possibly it was
introduced in the time of the monasteries as a medicinal
plant, the fame of the elder in the hands of the herb-
doctor being immemorial ; the frequent existence of very
old elders near the relics of ancient ecclesiastical build-
ings gives encouragement to this opinion. On the other
hand, it is scarcely possible to imagine an aspect of more
genuine spontaneity than is presented by the grey and
tattered representatives of past ages at Holdwick Scars,
Upper Teesdale. Like the patriarchs of their kind upon
the eastern declivity of the Malvern Hills (the Hereford-
shire Beacon), they seem to be part of the primitive
vegetation, not a day younger than the parsley-fern and
the mosses at their feet. Wherever seen in Scotland,
x

154 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the elder has certainly been introduced.. Geographically,
it extends over all parts of continental Europe, excepting
the north-eastern. It reaches also into southern Siberia,
the region of the Caucasus, and northern Africa. No
tree is more remarkable for rapidity of growth while
young, or for preserving a more stationary character after
attaining full development. No tree, when green, is more
easily identified, the odour of the bruised leaves (usually
considered nauseous) being peculiar to it. When in
flower it can be told from all others having similar
bloom, by the leaves being pinnate and opposite. In
autumn all is confirmed by the massive, almost sump-
tuous bunches of deep-hued fruit, the only ones of their
kind. In winter, in case of need, we may discover it by
the abundance of light and spongy pith in every shoot
more than a year old, and which is exceeded only in
the sunflower. Several varieties, as to foliage, occur in
gardens, as the variegated, the golden, the ternate-leaved,
and the parsley-leaved. Besides these, there are the
white-berried and the green-berried, the flavour of which
is much milder than that of the purple. The colour,
in this last, resides purely in the skin, the pulp being
translucent.

The elder is embedded in folk-lore and superstitions,
some of them very ancient. The vernacular name is the
Anglo-Saxon ellen or ellern, a word of indeterminable
signification, with the same kind of accidental or careless
insertion of a d that we have in " tender," Latin tener.
" Sambucus " is the name of the tree in Pliny ; yet, in

The Elder- Berry. 155

reality, a word far older than the time even of the Caesars.
In the first instance it denoted a kind of small harp or
lyre, invented, it would seem, by the ancient Chaldeans,
since in Dan. iii. 5, et seq., this instrument is mentioned
as the sabbekha', in the A.V. rendered dulcimer. The
Greeks gave it the shape of sambuke ; the Romans that
of sambuca, as in Persius v. 95. Then it was extended
to the tree, apparently because the Roman sambuca was
made of the wood, which, when old and sound, is no
poor substitute for box.

The bark, the buds, the leaves, the flowers, the fruit,
of the elder, have all had their reputation in pharmacy,
and the latter in some degree maintain it. Many tons
of the flowers are brought every year to Covent Garden
for sale by the herbalists. Elder-berry wine, spiced, and
drunk warm, continues to this day a rustic winter cordial.
A "rob" made from the berries is considered a safe
and excellent domestic remedy in cases of catarrh and
similar maladies.

A very beautiful decorative species of elder, the Sam-
bucus racemosa, may here be mentioned as deserving a
place in every shrubbery. It does not grow to quite the
dimensions of the nigra, and the greenish flowers make
little show, but the splendour of the tree when the fruit
is ripe almost compares with that of the mountain-ash.
The clusters are of the brightest scarlet ; in figure they
resemble small bunches of grapes ; no wonder that they
are soon visited, destructively, by the birds. This
admirable plant forms in September one of the most

156 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

conspicuous vegetable features of the Bernese Alps.
That it will flourish in every part of England is plainly
declared by the luxuriance it attains in South Lancashire
and in Staffordshire.

THE BERBERY, OR BARBERRY
(Herberts vulgaris).

THE Berbery counts with the currant, the gooseberry, and
the raspberry, completing with these, in its produce, the
quartette of what gardeners call " bush-fruits." Not that
it corresponds in value, or is even made an object of
cultivation for the sake alone of the fruit. The berbery
serves merely as an elegant addition to the list ; it can
easily be dispensed with ; when absent, it is not missed,
but whoever commands a good crop of the ripe fruit is
certainly fortunate. As usually seen, though not so tall
when wild, it is a bushy shrub, three to six feet in height,
with abundance of slender pale brown twigs that nearly
conceal the principal stem. Every part is studded with
very sharp prickles, from the axils of which rise the obo-
vate and serrated leaves, some of them singly, others in
clusters. In May come the flowers, individually no larger
than peas, but disposed in pretty racemes that hang from
the arching twigs like jets of gold. The odour of these
is powerful, and to many persons unpleasing. In due
time they are followed by long pendulous strings of
scarlet berries, shaped like grains of rye, but thrice as

The Berbery. 1 5 7

large, rounded at the extremities, slightly curved, and
intensely but agreeably acid. Many curious botanical
particulars pertain to the berbery. The growth, while
young, is rapid. After a few years there comes a sudden
pause. Shoots and suckers from the base of the plant
still make their appearance, but no particular increase
takes place in the general dimensions of the plant, and
in this condition it remains indefinitely — when undis-
turbed, it is thought for a possible two or three centuries.
At Castle Howard, there is a berbery shaped like a little
tree, with a trunk twelve to fifteen inches in diameter !
The flowers are, for an exogen, remarkably exceptional,
consisting of six sepals and six concave petals, each in
two sets, an inner and an outer ; the filaments of the six
stamens follow the curve of the petals, reclining against
them languidly, but the instant they are touched at the
base, in front, they rise up as if animated ; finally, the
anthers open by lateral valves, like those of the bay-tree.
The spines themselves are of very curious nature, repre-
senting what might have been leaves, as proved by many
of them, upon vigorous shoots, having the spaces more
or less filled up with a web of green tissue.

In the wild state this very interesting plant occurs in
thickets and open woods, ranging over the greater portion
of Europe and temperate Asia, and occurring upon the
Himalayas. It is from Asia that the name seems to
have been originally received. In Britain it is but doubt-
fully indigenous, though Gerard, temp. Queen Elizabeth,
speaks of a village called Iver, " two miles from Cole-

158 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

brooke," "where most of the hedges are nothing else
but barberry bushes." The present infrequency in even
the semi-wild condition appears referable to the value,
real or imaginary, of the bark, in the eyes of the herbal-
ists, and to suspicions entertained by watchful farmers,
who consider it prejudicial to neighbouring cornfields.
In gardens it occurs under several different forms, one
with yellow fruit, another with white, and a third viola-
ceous. There is also a variety called dulcis, the berries
of which are larger and less acid, said to be of Austrian
origin; and a very handsome one with foliage of the
colour of the copper beech, called purpurea. Upon old
plants the berries are apt to be stoneless. These indi-
viduals constitute the form called asperma; and though
in all the varieties well worth collecting, it is the fruit of
these which should always be sought for the preparation
of jelly and preserving in general. Boiled with sugar, it
is excellently palatable. It is from the asperma that the
delicious confitures tfepine vinette, for which Rouen is so
celebrated, are most usually prepared. The same are
sometimes employed in England for the cores of a very
nice description of sugar-plum. Birds seldom touch the
berbery, apparently because too acid for them.

Several other species of Berberis, several, also, of the
sub-genus Mahonia, distinguished by its pinnate leaves,
produce fruit in great abundance, but it is rarely eat-
able. The Mahonia Aquifolium loads itself with bunches
resembling little grapes, and in the highest degree orna-
mental. The Berberis Darwinii is not more distinguished

The Berbery.

159

for the profusion of its golden bloom in early summer
than for the vast quantity of purple berries, the size of
peas, which follow in August — unfortunately useless to
man, the seeds being so hard, and the flavour so poor,
that even jam made from them is worthless. To some
extent there is a set-off in the pleasant taste of the fruit
of the JB. dulds, also round and black, an elegant little
evergreen from Magellan and Valdivia, where it is used,
both green and ripe, just as in England we use goose-
berries.

Chapter Ser>entfy.

THE ORANGE AND ITS KINDRED.

" Thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view :
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm ;
Others whose fruit, burnish'd with golden rind
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
If true, here only, and of delicious taste. "

Paradise Lost.

NE of the most pleasing emotions possible
to the human heart is that one called
gratitude. When and where most fittingly
rendered every man must judge for himself —
every man has plenty of opportunities; but
assuredly among our benefactors none are
better entitled to kindly thought than the unknown ones
to whom we are indebted for the inestimable Orange. To
the thirsty and appreciative west, India, in the orange,

The Orange Family. 161

sent indeed "a golden gift." Of all the fruits received
from latitudes distinctly warmer than our own, the orange
is the most refreshing and the most healthful. It is
invaluable, among the exotic fruits, in the circumstance
of being as cheap as the commonest of the home-grown,
so that the poorest labourer can without difficulty go
shares with the patrician, to whom, despite the cheapness,
it is equally welcome. It is fitted, before all others, to
be the universal fruit of commerce. No description of
juicy fruit allows, in the same degree, of being packed
in boxes, and then subjected to the close confinement
of the hold of a ship for two or three weeks. The
aromatic oil in the leathery rind preserves it from the
effects both of heat and cold, and the acridity of the
former renders it proof against the attacks of insects.
Apples get worm-eaten ; Queen Mab knew what happens
to hazel-nuts ; the plum may harbour a grub ; the orange
never. In course of time, like all other juicy fruits, it
must needs decay, but no juicy fruit retains its goodness
so long or so well. People can have the orange as
sound and fresh as when newly gathered, in any part of
the world, at almost every season of the year, and in
almost any quantity. For let the orange-tree only have
the warm and delicately moistened climate to which
by nature it is co-ordinated, with plenty of sunshine, air,
and light; protect it from frost and the asperity of
stormy winds, which always try it sorely, and no plant
in nature is more bountiful. A good orange-orchard
literally grows gold for its possessor. It presents, also,

Y

1 6 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

one of the most charming of botanical spectacles. The
refreshing verdure of the orange-tree, persistent all the
year round, places it in the front rank of decorative
foliage -plants. When in full bloom, the enveloping
atmosphere is charged with odour; when the fruit is
ripe the golden spheres hang "like lamps in a night
of green." Both flowers and fruit have their highest
tide of plenty and loveliness, yet both may usually be
found side by side at all seasons, and in all stages
between the white-tipped opening bud and golden
maturity. This is the reason why orange-blossom is
employed for the bridal chaplet. In the wreath of
orange-blossom, a fair proportion of green leaf being
introduced, the ideas are presented, emblematically, of
delightful intrinsic qualities in the wearer, of perennial
or evergreen happiness to come, and of a home or fire-
side circle, by-and-by to arise, all in good time; the
graceful grown daughter, before long to be a bride
herself, fulfilling the tender promise of the early spring,
which itself has never departed, but is sweetly renewed
again and again, in the successive darlings that are
fondled upon the rejoicing knee. The dedication seems
to date from the time of the Crusades, and to have
originated with the Saracens. By these it was introduced
into Spain. Thence it travelled into France, and so into
England. None of our old poets refer to the wreath of
orange-blossom, so that as regards our own country the
use of it would seem to be comparatively modern —
another proof that chaste and elegant poetic truths, like

The Orange Family. 163

discoveries in art and science, are unlimited in their
number, every age and generation awakening to new
and exhilarating insights.

The orange is one of the group of fruits in which we
find also the lemon, the citron, the lime, and the less
important, but still valuable, shaddock and kumquat.
They belong to the botanical order Aurantiaceae, an
assemblage of about sixty species of small but very
comely trees and shrubs, laurel-like, evergreen, natives
almost exclusively of the warmer parts of Asia, and
recommended by rich variety of good qualities. About
half a dozen of the sixty species constitute the genus
Citrus, and it is among these that we find the famous
fruit-bearers of the order ; though not the only ones that
are able to please the palate, several producing nice little
berries which perhaps would improve under cultivation.
Nor, though pre-eminent as the fruit-bearing genus, must
we take Citrus as the type of the order, or its best
representative. It differs from most of the other genera
in several important particulars, and very notably in the
leaves, the stamens, and the ovary, not to mention the
fruit itself, which in all the other genera is fleshy instead
of juicy. The specialty in the leaves is that while the
rule in the Aurantiaceae is that these organs shall be
compound, here in the genus Citrus there is but a single
leaflet, so large, however, that it looks like a fully
developed simple leaf. That it is really the terminal
leaflet of what might have been a trifoliolate or a pinnate
leaf, is shown by the articulation of the blade to the

1 64 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

petiole — a very curious condition, and well worthy of
observation by the student. The petiole itself is often
remarkably dilated. In all the species the leaves are
densely charged with oil-cysts. In all, the flowers, about
an inch and a half across, consist of four or five free petals,
either of a pure cream-white, or white flushed externally
with purple or violet, and more or less conspicuously
dotted with oil-cysts. The stamens, also free, vary in
number from ten to sixty, and are irregularly polyadel-
phous; the ovary within supports a thick green style,
crowned by a thick yellow stigma. The peculiarity of
the fruit consists not alone in its being juicy, as opposed
to fleshy. The juice is lodged in innumerable little bags,
irregular in shape, and which must be regarded as peculiar
cellular extensions of the faces of the carpels. The latter
vary in number from seven to about fifteen. The rind,
except in the tropics, where it is often grass-green, is
always some shade of yellow, internally spongy, almost
destitute of juice or sap of any kind, but covered on
the outside with a layer of different substance, which
again is charged with cysts of volatile, fragrant, and very
inflammable oil.

Technically, this very curious type of fruit, occurring
in no other family, is called the " hesperidium," the name
referring to the mistaken fancy that oranges were the
famous aurea mala of the Hesperides. An additionally
curious feature consists in the presence, not infrequently,
in the larger forms, of a secondary series of carpels, much
smaller than the principal ones, but still in a distinct

The Orange Family. 165

whorl, and constituting a perfect little inner fruit of the
same form, an orange within an orange, or a lemon within
a lemon, reminding one of a famous comparison in
Aretaeus, only that here there is nothing on the exterior
of the fruit to indicate the curious state of things within.
Yet another singular occurrence, specially observable in
the citron, is spontaneous separation and protrusion of
the carpels, so that they look almost as when pulled
asunder for eating. Oranges in this odd condition are
said to be "horned." Extraordinary specimens of "finger-
citrons," with twelve to fifteen projecting carpels, each
seven or eight inches long, may be seen in the Museum
of the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. It may be added
that the little trees constituting the genus Citrus are
always glabrous in every part, and usually, in the wild
and seedling state, spinous, the long green spines pro-
ceeding from the leaf-axils. The lease of life is not
known, but there can be no doubt that, at all events
in the case of the orange, it extends, in individuals
favourably circumstanced, to centuries. The origin of
the name is still a puzzle to etymologists. By some it
has been referred to the Hebrew qetoreth, "incense,"
or "perfume."* Most probably, it is referable to
kedros, the cedar, the rind of the citron having been
anciently held in great esteem as a preservative against
insects, which the odour of cedar-wood was also sup-
posed to drive away. " Citrus," the Latin word, occurs

* As in Prov. xxvii. 9 : " Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart :
so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel."

1 66 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

for the first time in Pliny. In Greek it took the shape
of kitros and kitrea, but not until after the classical
period.*

The great value to mankind of these admirable fruits
consists in the abundance of citric acid which they
contain. Vegetable acids are invaluable, not to say indis-
pensable, adjuncts to human food. Nearly every fruit
eaten by man, and most of the parts of vegetables which
are eaten whole, contain more or less of some vegetable
acid. When such acids do not exist in food, recourse is
instinctively made to vinegar, acetic acid, produced by the
decomposition of various vegetable substances, and which
supplies the needful quantity. Of all the vegetable acids
known, the citric appears to be the most valuable and
efficacious. It exists in a considerable variety of fruits
and vegetables, but nowhere so remarkably as in the
fruits before us, the lemon and the lime in particular.
The exact mode of action of this acid is one of the
problems. So far as understood, it would seem to check
those unhealthy conditions of the system which culminate
in the disorder called scurvy, in bygone days so terrible
a scourge to sailors. Not that citric acid is the only anti-
scorbutic, either as a preservative or a curative. Large
and striking experience has proved, nevertheless, that

* The Romans gave the name of citrus also to an extremely
celebrated kind of aromatic wood, furnished by the Callitris
quadrivalvis of Barbary, the same as the " thyine-wood" of the
Apocalypse, xviii. 12. Allusions to this wood are frequent in their
literature, and of course must be carefully distinguished from those
made to the fruit.

The Citron. 167

lemon-juice and lime-juice, both heavily charged with it,
are the most trustworthy prophylactics yet discovered
in regard to scurvy ; and as such, lime-juice is now con-
stantly carried in stock by the ships both of the Royal
Navy and of the merchant service. A very curious
fact, not yet explained, is that the acid, which is easily
separated from the juice by chemical process, is not
nearly so efficacious as the juice itself. Ye that are wise,
eat oranges, drink lemonade.

THE CITRON (Citrus Medica).

THE first of the fruits produced by a Citrus to become
known in Europe was the citron. When first brought
westwards from India is indeterminable, but the period
was early, since it is spoken of by Theophrastus, three
centuries B.C., under the name of the Median melon.
The birthplace was then thought to be Media, the ancient
kingdom of Cyrus the Great, and which commemorates,
in its name, the sevenfold famous sorceress : —

"In such a night,

Medea gathered the enchanted herbs
Which did renew old JEson."

Some think that the citron had reached Babylon before
the return of the Jews from the great captivity, B.C. 536,
and that it is intended by the Hebrew tappuach, in the
A.V. translated '"apple." The Jews themselves believe

1 68 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

it to be the 'ets hadhar of Leviticus xxiii. 40, where the
command is given as to keeping the Feast of Tabernacles :
" Ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly
trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees,
and willows of the brook, and rejoice seven days." For
this reason they still employ it when celebrating the annual
Feast, which falls some time in August. "A citron," says
Canon Tristram, "is handed round, and smelt by the
worshippers as they go out, when they thank God for all
good things and sweet odours given by Him."* That
there shall be no lack of the fruit when the time arrives,
the citron is cultivated for this particular use at a place
called Assats or Assat, about a day's journey from Taru-
dant, in Morocco, on the bank of the river Loos, near
which there are very ancient citron-orchards, known by
the names of Aaron, David, and others of the patri-
archs. The shipment, which takes place from Mogador,
amounted in 1883 to a hundred and ten boxes, containing
over nine thousand of the fruit, the poorest of which
are worth four shillings each, while specially fine ones,
without blemish, fetch as much as twenty shillings. But
alas for the pious belief ! Scripture supplies no ground
for it. The Hebrew phrase means nothing more than
"goodly trees," as in the A.V., and as acknowledged in
the Revised ; the rest is simple tradition, and must be
put down to the ancient commentators. " Targums," as
they are called, Chaldee paraphrases upon various Old
Testament books, existed in an oral form among the Jews

* Natural History of the Bible, p. 348.

The Citron. 169

for several centuries B.C. and A.D. Towards the end of
the second century A.D., the most famous and valuable
of them all, the so-called Targum of Onkelos upon the
Pentateuch, appears to have been committed to writing.
In this one the Leviticus words are explained by others
which make them signify the citron, and here the vindica-
tion of it ends. The Septuagint had rendered 'ets hadhar
by " goodly fruit of trees." The Vulgate has " fruit of a
very lovely tree." Luther "fruit of beautiful trees;"
Kalisch "fruit of a beautiful tree."

Whatever the history prior to the time of Virgil, say 40
B.C., citrons had then reached Rome, as proved by the
celebrated lines in the second Georgic : —

"Media fert tristes succos, tardumque saporem
Felicis mali,"

tristis, or sad, denoting the flavour of the fresh rind,
while the " delayed taste " neatly implies its long con-
tinuance upon the palate, and felix, or "happy," the
consummate virtues of the fruit. These were considered
to be almost miraculously restorative, a circumstance not
forgotten by those who think that the citron was the
tappuach — " Comfort me with apples." To this very day
the ladies of the Orient are accustomed to carry a piece
of the rind for use as a vinaigrette. Even when quite
ripe, the citron is scarcely eatable as it comes from the
tree. The supreme value of this famous fruit consists in
the suitableness of the thick and spongy rind for change
into the candied sweetmeat so familiar in the shops
towards Christmas-time, the indispensable ingredient of
z

1 70 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the national " Christmas-pudding." Mingled with fruits
that have undergone no such conversion, the citron, when
candied and in perfection, adds also to the dessert a
feature almost princely. The cultivation appears to have
begun in Europe towards the close of the third century,
when the tree was established in Italy, a country which at
the present day sends to England an annual average of
three thousand seven hundred and fifty tons of the rind,
value ;£6o,ooo. The principal seats of the culture are
the districts round about Florence and Genoa, after which
come Sicily, Corsica, Madeira, and the Azores. The
citron is a favourite fruit-tree also in Egypt, India, China,
Jamaica, and the Brazils. Usually, the rind is candied
in the country of its production. When sent to England
in the raw state it is pickled in brine. The tree is a
frequent ornament of English conservatories, and with
good management ripens its fruit, as yearly at Cherkley
Court, Leatherhead, Surrey.* The fruit was well known
as far back as the time of Elizabeth, being minutely and
accurately described by Gerard, who calls it the pome-
citron.

The natural height of the citron-tree is about ten feet
It has no distinct trunk, but many short, thick, irregular,
and straggling branches. The leaves are large, five or
six inches long, and almost always rounded at the

* The seat of Abraham Dixon, Esq. , celebrated not only for
the richness of the collection of tropical fruit-plants in which the
enthusiasm of the owner takes so much delight, but for the beauty,
rarely equalled, of the exotic water-lily house, the Victoria regia
leading the way.

The Orange. 171

extremity — a very characteristic feature. The petioles are
scarcely dilated. The flowers, produced in clusters of
three to ten, are pale purple. The fruit seems an
immense lemon, but without a nipple, often reaching
eight or nine inches in length, and weighing several
pounds ; the rind is rugged and wrinkled, highly aromatic,
and internally very thick and hard ; the pulp is scanty
and pale; the juice is neither very abundant nor very
acid. Though undoubtedly Indian by birthright, singular
to say, truly wild examples do not appear to have been
observed.

THE ORANGE.

THE orange-tree is usually distinguished with ease and
precision. The leaves are pointed, and their stalks are
so broadly winged, that in form they resemble little kites ;
the flowers are pure cream-colour, the most delicate of
all the many shades of white ; the fruit is globular, or
with only a tendency to the oval, never elongated, and
destitute of a nipple ; the rind is comparatively free from
cavities and wrinkles, and usually adheres so lightly to
the pulp, that it can readily be torn away. Like the
apple and the grape, this delectable plant shows a
wonderful tendency to sport, sometimes in the foliage,
more particularly in the figure and flavour of the fruit, the
rind included. Some of the varieties are very strongly
marked, and hence it has been customary to regard

172 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

them as " species." Whatever they may be in respect of
origin, it is convenient to adopt the threefold nomen-
clature which refers the whole to — (i) Citrus vulgar is
or Bigaradia, the Bitter or Seville orange; (2) Citrus
Aurantium, the Sweet or " China " orange ; and (3)
Citrus Bergamia, the Bergamot orange. Most of the
varieties fall under the head of No. 2, the C. Aurantium,
these including, among other well-known kinds, the
Lisbon, the St. Michael's, the Red Maltese, and the
Tangerine. The original or primitive form, that which
all the varieties may claim as their common ancestor,
the founder of the family, appears to be preserved in
the Bitter or Seville orange. Everything that can be
adduced in the shape of evidence points to a later
beginning of the Sweet, even in India; and to a still
later beginning, comparatively recent, of the Bergamot.
The tendency of seedling oranges of all kinds to revert
to a ruder condition than that of their immediate parents,
is very decided. Seedlings may thus be regarded as
giving a trustworthy intimation of what the primitive form
may have been. For the same reason, although often
raised in parlours and greenhouses as pretty and engaging
curiosities, seedling oranges can never be depended upon
as likely to yield fruit exactly resembling that from which
the seeds were taken. To be sure of getting a particular
sort, it is indispensable either to graft or to propagate by
means of layers. It must be remembered also, in home-
culture, that seedling fruit-trees do not flower and fruit,
unless grafted, until they have attained a certain degree,

The Orange. 173

as it were, of manhood. Left to themselves, they have,
like animals, to attain maturity before it is possible to
generate.

The origin of the name, as with so many others applied
to fruits, is found in the earliest languages of which we
have knowledge. According to Max Miiller, it must be
sought in some primitive Aryan word, preserved in the
Sanscrit nagarunga or nagrunga, and which in Arabic
became naranj or narenge. Passing through the medium
of the Moors when settled in Spain into mediaeval Latin,
in the latter it became anarantium, arantium, and aran-
gium. This was afterwards changed, apparently because
of the golden hue of the fruit, so remarkable and so
brilliant, into aurantium, and from aurantium the tran-
sition in France into orenge was easy and natural.
Restorations of ancient spellings are never desirable.
" Orange " is now fixed for ever. How curiously inter-
esting, nevertheless, is it to note this intensely vulnerable
character of words, and the mutilations that in the
course of ages scores of thousands have undergone.
The loss of the ancient initial n has a curious counter-
part in the history of the name of the adder, which
should properly, by derivation, though upon perfectly
different grounds, be "a nadder," Anglo-Saxon n&ddre,
Latin natrix.

No very peculiar characters pertain to the Bitter orange
in respect of the foliage and the flowers, excepting that
both are more distinctly aromatic than the corresponding
parts of the Sweet, though not so when placed beside the

174 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Bergamot. The tree is perhaps usually somewhat smaller.
The grand feature is the fruit, which is large, dark in
colour, and rugged, the rind very thick, aromatic, and
extremely bitter. The pulp, also, has bitterness super-
added to the acidity. Whether or not justly considered
to be the best representative of the primitive orange, it is
certain that the western world became acquainted with it
very much earlier than the era of the Sweet. That the
ancient Greeks and Romans had no knowledge of the
orange, in any of its varieties, is hardly necessary to say.
Alexander himself does not seem to have penetrated so
far into India as to have met with it, or it may not then
have been carried into the portions of territory watered
by the Indus, no reference to it being made by Alex-
ander's historian, Nearchus. The first conveyance of it
towards Europe stands to the credit of the Arabs, who,
towards the close of the ninth century, striving on the
one hand to diffuse their religious faith, and with the
other to promote the useful arts, carried it back with
them into their own country, thence into Palestine, north-
eastern Africa, Morocco, and Spain. Those mighty
caliphs who from- the heart of southern Asia extended
their conquests to the foot of the Pyrenees, leaving traces
everywhere, as the Romans did, of their power and
knowledge, made, during their occupation of old Granada,
great plantations of the tree, especially around the famous
city of Seville, where relics of these plantations survive
to the present day, and from which place the fruit has
its duplicate name of Seville orange. The Crusaders

The Orange. 175

probably helped to give it further extension on the
northern side of the Mediterranean. Their enterprises,
though in some respects so futile and unprofitable,
contributed greatly to the new birth of civilization in
Europe, to the diffusion of the love of art, and of zest on
behalf of the beautiful in all its forms. With the history
of the Crusades is indissolubly bound up the entire idea
of Heraldry in its best intent and significance. Abreast
of it runs the history of the uprise of Gothic Architecture,
the purest and most romantic it is possible for the mind
of man to conceive. Abreast of it, also, assuredly would
be found, were they written, the earliest records of the
introduction from the east of some of our most lovely
flowers and precious fruits, the Seville orange leading the
way. The Seville orange is now extensively cultivated in
the warmer parts of the Mediterranean region, more par-
ticularly, as of old, in Spain. The flavour of the rind
recommends it for " marmalade " so called. It is also in
great request for the preparation of essential oil or otto
of orange, for flavouring extracts, various medicines, and
liqueurs. Curagoa owes its enticement very largely to
the rind of the Bitter orange. This famous liqueur is
prepared, not, as often supposed, in the island after
which it is named, but in Holland. It is simply that
Curagoa supplies the very finest description of peel. In
Amsterdam there is a regular orange-peel mart, where
saucers containing samples from various countries are set
out upon long tables. Hither come the manufacturers of
the liqueur, who can tell at once from the taste of the

1 76 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

peel from what part of the world it has arrived, and are
always glad to pay a higher price for that received from
CuraQoa.

Orange-dulcamara, as it would be better called, seeing
that " marmalade " it is not* is at once the pleasantest
and most healthful conserve put on the table. That
found in the shops is manufactured principally in Scot-
land. In a single establishment in Dundee, the quantity
made every day during the season of greatest activity,
say the close of winter and the spring, is not less than
two thousand five hundred pounds weight. After meet-
ing the home demand, vast quantities are shipped to
America, Australia, and the East and West Indies.
Much goes also to continental Europe, for even Spain,
Portugal, and Italy are glad to get their Seville oranges
back from England in the charmingly transformation
state of " marmalade."

The Sweet orange is thought to have originated in
countries farther to the east than those from which the
Bitter was received — China, probably, and Cochin China,
whence it would seem to have travelled into India about
the beginning of the Christian era. When first seen in
Europe is uncertain ; probably it was some time about
the middle of the thirteenth century, five hundred years
after the appearance of the Bitter, and much more than
a thousand after the coming of the citron. Opinions
differ as to the route by which it came. Some incline to
Persia and Syria : perhaps it was introduced direct from

* Marmalade proper is made from quinces. See p. 45.

The Orange. 177

eastern Asia by the Portuguese. The latter conjecture is
supported by the fact of the orange being called in Nice
and Italy Portogalie and Portogalli. When first conveyed
to England is also unknown. The earliest mention of
it, as regards this country, appears to be in Queen
Eleanor's household expense book for A.D. 1290, where
it is said that she purchased from a Spanish ship which
came to Portsmouth, "vii. poma de orenge." By the
time of Elizabeth it had become common, since Gerard
says that "every circumstance belonging to the forme
is very well known to all." So in Coriolanus, ii. i, for
although the scene is laid in Rome, the allusion in the
case of the litigant " orange wife " is to London ways.
It was in the Shaksperean age that the fashion of carry-
ing "pomanders" was introduced. These were oranges
from which the whole of the pulp had been scooped out,
a circular hole being made at the top, then — after the
peel had been thoroughly dried — filled with spices, so as
to constitute a sort of scent-box. The pomander was
suspended from the neck, or carried in the hand, accord-
ing to the fancy of the owner. It is this, and not a
veritable orange, which may often be seen in old portraits,
though the painters seem not always to have understood
what they were doing. It was in the Shaksperean age,
also, that the orange-/r^ was first grown in England, the
earliest having been cultivated by Sir Francis Carew,
half-nephew, by marriage, of the unfortunate Sir Walter
Raleigh, in his garden at Beddington, Surrey. Sir Francis
brought his young plants from Portugal, in or about 1595.

2A

178 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

They grew to be eighteen feet high, and being protected
during the winter by means of moveable sheds, lived to
be nearly a hundred and fifty years old, or till killed by
the terrible frost of 1739-40. So greatly esteemed thence-
forwards were orange-trees, that the desire to possess
them seems to have led the way to that capital invention,
the Greenhouse. No plants were more cherished in the
conservatories, such as they were, of the time of William
and Mary, and Queen Anne. When decorative ever-
green shrubs of any kind were but few, and tender
exotic plants of any description were scarcely known, it
was natural that orange-trees should be prized immensely,
kept even in the banqueting-rooms of halls and palaces.
They were imported from Genoa, when four or five feet
high, and placed in large tubs of earth, so as to be
removable during summer into the open air. The taste
continued till the middle of the eighteenth century, or
till the beginning of that wonderful adornment of our
gardens with the best and loveliest vegetable productions
of foreign countries, some of the earliest to arrive being
the camellia and the rhododendron, soon to be followed
by the chrysanthemum and the fuchsia — which has never
slackened : the orange had then to take its place with the
crowd, and now it is less often conspicuous than half
concealed. Yet the orange remains what it always was,
the paragon of indoor leaf, flower, and fruit-trees all in
one ; and charming is still the spectacle, occasionally met
with, of an orangery. The importation of oranges being
cheap and easy, there is no need to attempt to grow

The Orange. 179

them in England for market. That is no reason why the
wealthy amateur gardener should not add to his other
refined pleasures the very elegant one of orange-culture.
To perceive what may be accomplished, no more is want-
ing than a visit to Mr. Rivers' orange-house at Sawbridge-
worth, where a spectacle is presented that would serve
well to illustrate a tale from fairy-land or the Arabian
Nights. The house is a hundred feet long and twenty-
four feet wide. The path down the middle is an avenue
of green and gold, the fruit upon a level with one's lips,
and almost vocal with that irresistible Come, eat me ! the
silent utterance of which, in one sweet way or another,
is the sign, ever and always, of what is best for us, and
most glorious. Many different varieties are grown at
Sawbridgeworth : the trees yield, upon the average, half
a bushel of fruit apiece. Trained against a south wall,
and protected in winter with matting, the orange-tree has
been known to fruit even out-of-doors, in South Devon.
In the Channel Islands it does so frequently.

When we are cultivating a precious plant, just as in
dealing with our fellow-creatures, the question is not what
can they endure, but what treatment will tend to develop
their best and most loveable qualities. In horticulture,
nevertheless, the former must needs always be a con-
sideration. So far as regards the orange-tree, the simple
fact is that it can bear in winter, without injury, and has
to bear, for several months, in many places on the
northern side of the Mediterranean, as at Mentone, a
night temperature of 40°, and a day temperature of 50° or

1 80 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

55°. But then it has at the same time the heavenly privi-
lege of a clear blue sky, with plenty of radiant sunshine.
The amount of sun-heat required to ripen the fruit is
much less than is demanded by peaches and grapes.
The orange wants no more, at all events in the south of
Europe, in Spring, when the fruit is maturing, than is
required to ripen the strawberry and to bring out the
earliest roses.

So thoroughly naturalized has the orange-tree now
become in the south of Europe, that in Italy, Spain, and
Portugal it constitutes a very large element of the vegeta-
tion. In France the orange country is chiefly Provence,
or that part of the south which lies to the eastward of the
Rhone. Groves of orange-trees are especially abundant
and beautiful in the environs of Nice. More to the west-
ward, where the myrtle, the cactus, and the eucalyptus
grow as if natives, they cast an air of enchantment over
the scene which the pen only of a poet can describe —
verdure, fragrance, innumerable bright gold, uniting to
give the luxury of the tropics without their troubles.
The fruit takes from twelve to eighteen months to get
perfectly ripe. Hence the overwhelming beauty of the
orange-groves in winter, which seem converted by its
golden presence into summer. The trees are in full
bloom again while still laden with the previous year's
produce. Hence the yet more captivating spectacle
presented when this summer-like winter is followed by
spring. It is from these countries, definitely Spain and
Portugal, from Malta, Sicily, and the Azores, that we

The Orange. 181

derive our chief supplies of the fruit. The best are the
Valentias, so agreeably acidulous, from Spain; and the
St. Michael's, from the Azores, pale yellow, and rather
small. About a hundred millions come annually from
the former localities, and about double that number from
the Azores; Fayal, Terceira, and St. Mary's contributing
their shares, though St. Michael's gives name to the whole.
It has been computed that about twenty-five millions out
of these three hundred are annually sold in the streets and
places of public resort in the metropolis. In the Azores
the plantations vary in extent from an acre to upwards
of sixty acres. The winds being vehement, and a saline
atmosphere injurious to the very young buds in early
spring, they are surrounded by tall hedges of camellia,
loquat, Cryptomeria Japonica, and Cunonia Capensis.
On account of the weight of the fruit, the branches are
supported by props, and underneath them are patches of
lupines, which, after decay, are dug into the ground to
serve as manure. The annual average yield of the trees
is fifteen hundred fruit fit for export, not including
damaged ones and failures. They are capable of far
greater individual fecundity ; the productiveness increases
with age ; when at the tip-top of strength an orange-tree
will produce the marvellous number of twelve to sixteen
thousand. The gathering for the British market is made
before the fruit is quite ripe, beginning in October and
extending to the new year. To become perfectly ripe
it would have to be left upon the trees till spring. The
very best are those which, like Sir Isaac's apple, drop

1 8 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

quietly, in their own time, from the bough. Gathered
thus early, they " keep " better. The early plucking also
ensures a plentiful crop every year, trees which are
allowed to retain the fruit till mature yielding good crops
only in alternate years. So needful is shelter from the
sea-breezes that in the Balearic Islands the orange-groves
are all found in the crater-like hollows among the rocks.
In Valentia they are defended by belts of olive and
carob. Not only does the fecundity augment with age.
The fruit of the older trees has a thinner rind, and more
juice, and fewer seeds than that of young ones. We must
not forget the commercial value of orsuigeflowers. The
orange-tree is a mine of odours as well as of fruit-wealth.
The perfumers draw from it no fewer than four distinct
scents, one from the leaves, two kinds from the flowers,
another from the peel. At Nice there is a regular
market for the flowers, lasting for a month, during which
time fifteen to eighteen tons weight are sold every day,
the flowers of the Sweet orange fetching twopence per
pound, and those of the Bitter threepence. A ton of
the flowers yields by distillation about forty ounces of
Neroli, worth twenty guineas, and besides this there is
five guineas' worth of orange-flower water.

From Europe, chiefly, the orange-tree has been carried
to every part of the world where the climate allows of the
ripening of the fruit. Good oranges, of large size, some-
what oval in figure, are now received every winter from
Jaffa. What poetry in the very name ! What charm in
the associations ! To the rocky and foam-beaten harbour

The Orange. 183

belongs the immortal fable of Andromeda and Perseus ;
it was in Jaffa, literally The Beautiful,* that the maiden
Tabitha was restored to life by St. Peter. To-day the
adjacent orange-orchards are as lovely and as prolific
as those of Spain. We do not receive more from them
for want of direct steam communication. All consign-
ments from Jaffa to England have at present to be
trans-shipped either at Smyrna or Alexandria, with results
detrimental alike to the fruit and to the interests of the
merchants. Jamaica has already been mentioned (p. 15)
as exporting oranges to the United States on a scale
of great magnitude. The United States, by the way,
annually import about three hundred and fifty millions of
this fruit from the Mediterranean. Trinidad, after the
same manner as Jamaica, is bidding fair to become a
scene of immense and most lucrative orange-culture, the
annual crop of West Indian fruit being ready for gathering
at least two months before the crops in Europe are ready,
a fact that should tell in regard to the English demand.
Colonial oranges would be welcome indeed, especially as
the arrival would be so early. One of the very best fields
for the cultivation of this fruit is Brazil. Planted, in the
first instance, on the River Plate, the orange soon multi-
plied a thousand-fold, chiefly through the aid of the
parrots, and now, in certain localities, it grows as if wild,
sometimes forming veritable forests. The banks of the
lower Parana, and the islands which form its delta, are

* Yapheh. The word employed in the Song of Solomon, v. 4 :
"Thou art beautiful, O my love."

184 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

absolutely covered with self-sown orange-trees. Here-
abouts the fruit is somewhat bitter, but further north it
becomes deliciously sweet, as verified by samples which
have reached Covent Garden, and which have been no
less remarkable for their firmness and large dimensions.
So vast is the Brazilian production that the river-steamers
which ply between Buenos Ayres and the inland towns
carry, in the season, huge piles of the fruit upon their
hurricane-decks, free during the voyage to all who choose
to partake. The Brazilian oranges are usually of a fine
ruddy yellow, somewhat oval, like the Jaffas, and in one
variety, preferred to all others, remarkably umbilicated on
the summit, whence the provincial name. Oranges are
likewise grown extensively in South Florida, where there
are orchards of a hundred to a hundred and fifty acres,
twelve-year-old trees bearing fifteen hundred apiece. The
fruit from these has found its way to London, but until
there are steamers direct to England, little, as from Jaffa,
can be anticipated. Florida is the Italy of North
America, and before long will become one of the most
productive fruit-countries in the world, emulating even
southern California, that wonderful region in which a
single acre of ground can be made to yield as large a
clear profit to the owner, by semi-tropical nut and fruit-
culture, as twenty to fifty acres in the Eastern States
devoted to common farming. Australia is not behind-
hand. In 1883 the orange-gardens of New South Wales
produced nearly a hundred millions of oranges, most of
which were equal to the finest fruit of southern Europe.

The Orange. 185

Foremost among the remarkable varieties of the orange
occasionally met with in the markets, are the Tangerine
and the Maltese Blood-orange. Of the former there are
two sub-varieties : the " large," about half the size of an
ordinary Valentia orange; and the "small," an elegant
little fruit, scarcely exceeding the dimensions of a walnut.
The pulp in both is very agreeable; the rind is sweet
and perfumed. The Maltese Blood or Red orange has
the pulp irregularly mottled with crimson. Uninformed
people believe it to have originated through grafting an
orange upon a pomegranate. Were the story true — were
it possible — the Maltese would graft all their oranges
upon pomegranates, since these blood-stained fruits fetch
a higher price than the plain yellow. In the flavour of
the juice there is a trace of bitterness. The celebrated
Clove or Mandarin orange of China seems to have sprung
from the Bitter. This one is so flattened as to be much
broader than long ; in colour it is almost red ; in flavour
it is rich and sweet ; the rind is so loosely attached that
it separates spontaneously. A picture of the Mandarin,
under the name of Citrus nobilis, is given in that fine old
gallery]of rare-plant portraits, Andrews' Botanists' Reposi-
tory, pi. 608. A variety of the Bitter, called " myrtifolia,"
resembles the Tangerine in respect of its diminutive fruit,
but the taste is displeasing. Greenhouses often retain it
as a curiosity. It is figured in Edwards' Botanical
Register for 1819, vol. iv., pi. 346.

The Bergamot orange, a result probably of cultivation,
but of unknown history, is distinguished from the Bitter

2B

1 86 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

and the Sweet, by the smaller flowers, their peculiar and
ambrosial odour, and the pear-like figure of the fruit,
which resembles that of the Bergamotte pear ; say, rather,
of one of the several varieties of the pear so called.
The pear takes its name from Bergamo, a city about
thirty miles north-east of Milan. Some consider that the
Bergamot is more nearly allied to the Lime than to the
oranges, and conjectures are not wanting as to its possibly
having a double parentage. In colour the fruit is pale ;
the pulp is greenish, sub-acid, firm, and fragrant. The
value of the Bergamot consists in the oil contained in the
rind, from which it is extracted either by distillation or
by heavy pressure. A hundred oranges yield about three
ounces of the oil. Perfumers use it extensively, as do the
manufacturers of eau-de-cologne. It is also employed by
apothecaries to give an agreeable smell to ointments.
The quantity imported into 'England is about 40,000 Ibs.
weight yearly. But much of this, Mr. Piesse tells us, is
adulterated with lemon otto. The principal scene of the
cultivation of the Bergamot in Europe is southern
Calabria, near Reggio.

THE LEMON (Citrus Limonum).

PLACED in its rightful botanical position the lemon would
follow the citron. Linnaeus, whose grasp of true affini-
ties was usually sound, considered these two fruits to be
essentially the same. So, at the present moment, do
Sir J. D. Hooker and Dr. Brandis, authorities next to

The Lemon. 187

absolute, Dr. Brandis in the Forest Flora of Central and
North-western India. The last-named is the district to
which this fruit seems indigenous, wild lemon-trees, in
many varieties, occurring upon the mountains to the
height above the sea-level of four thousand feet. The
stature rather exceeds that of the citron, but the habit of
growth is similar, the branches springing from near the
ground, and spreading irregularly. The leaves are ovate
and pointed ; the petioles are wingless j the violet-tinged
white flowers are produced singly, or occasionally in twos
or threes ; the fragrance they evolve is similar to that of
the orange, but more delicate and not so clinging ; the
fruit is specially characterized by the large nipple.

When brought from India to Europe is not known.
Not the slightest allusion to the lemon occurs in the
literature of antiquity, nor is there any certain mention
of it till towards the close of the fifteenth century.
Being sour it may reasonably be conjectured that this
fruit would receive less attention than the citron and
orange, though some think that the conveyance westwards
was contemporaneous with that of the C. vulgaris. If so,
the commerce of the time of Antonio's " argosies " would
probably be the means of introducing it into Italy, some
time during the early middle ages. When first seen in
England cannot be told. Gerard, temp. Elizabeth, speaks
of the fruit as something quite familiar, saying "in the
shops, limones."

As a cultivated plant the lemon is now met with
throughout the countries bordering on the Mediter-

1 88 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

ranean, also in the Canaries, the Azores, and most sub-
tropical countries both of the Old world and the New,
and in numerous varieties. The lemons brought to
England come chiefly from Sicily, being shipped from
Messina and Palermo. Malaga and Lisbon also fur-
nish large supplies. During the twelve months ending
August 3ist, 1884, there were imported into Liverpool
alone a hundred and twenty-one thousand packages, of
the declared value of ,£73,000.

In constitution the lemon-tree is somewhat tender,
decidedly more so than the orange, though upon the
Riviera it better endures the sea-breezes. The excep-
tional warmth of the winter climate of Mentone, even
for the Riviera, is proved by the one simple fact of the
presence in that favoured spot of many groves of large
and healthy lemon-trees. They occupy every sheltered
ravine and warm hillside, provided there be a good
supply of water; constant irrigation, both winter and
summer, being to the lemon peculiarly indispensable.
The anxiety of the owners, in winters of unusual severity,
compares with that of the Lancashire gooseberry-growers
when there is threat of a thunderstorm. They sit up
all night, watching the thermometer; for a few degrees
further fall, when already low, means certain destruction.
Warm and sheltered nooks are the special delight of the
lemon : then it can live to a great age, and occasionally
attain dimensions truly surprising. A lemon-tree at the
bottom of the quarry of Dionysius, at Syracuse, Sicily — an
excavation sixty feet deep — growing where not a breath

The Lime. 189

of wind can reach it, is (if not destroyed) as large as an
oak a century old. Flowers may be found upon the
lemon-tree all the year round : the fruit is developed and
ripened in much less time than that of the orange : as a
rule there are four distinct annual crops.

The value and economic uses of the lemon need no
comment. The juice ; the rind, both fresh and dried \
the oil, or essence, obtained from the latter ; all in turn
subserve excellent purposes in connection with food,
medicine, and perfumery. Lemonade, the most familiar,
is often, perhaps usually, prepared by pouring boiling
water upon sliced lemons. This is wrong. By so doing,
a strong infusion is made of the peel, and this, being
mingled with the juice, diminishes its refreshing properties
and influence. The proper way is to squeeze the lemons
into cold water, adding the cut-up rind of one, refined
sugar to the amount needed, and, when procurable, a few
crushed strawberries. The name is traceable to the
Arabic limun or limu, and this, like the Arabic word for
the orange, represents, in all likelihood, an earlier Aryan
term. Seeing that both names are of oriental origin, it
is curious that the Indian appellation of the citron never
moved westwards.

THE LIME (Citrus Medica, var. adda).

THERE can be little hesitation as to the proper botanical
place of the Lime, all the characters indicating very near
affinity with the citron. The obtuse leaves, with wingless

1 90 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

petioles, the small flowers, and the irregular and straggling
mode of growth all point this way : the essential differ-
ences are found only in the fruit, which is small and thin-
rinded, and though variable in shape, often spherical.
Attaining the height, in general, of not more than seven
or eight feet, though capable of rising to fifteen or twenty
feet, and the branches being crooked and spinous, it
serves admirably for hedges, and is extensively so used
in the West Indies. We in England, who by the wayside
gather only blackberries, have little idea of the golden
opulence and shining splendour of a hedge of limes.
The application of the term is somewhat broad. The
limes emphatically so called are intensely acid. These
go also by the botanical names of Citrus Lumta, C.
Lima, and C. Lintonellus. There are other varieties
called "sweet limes," not that they are really sweet,
being simply insipid. These have for their Latin name
Citrus Limetta.

The immense value of the lime, as said at the begin-
ning of this chapter, consists in the abundance of citric
acid in the juice. The fruit is now seldom brought to
England in the fresh state, or just as gathered, though
in bygone days it had great repute with those who
enjoyed the punch-bowl, the flavour communicated being
superior to that given by lemons. We see it, however, in
the preserved state, usually in syrup, when it contributes
delightfully to the witchcraft of the dessert. To this
end the fruit is gathered while still green, so that the
exquisite aroma of the rind shall in no degree be lost;

The Lime. 191

then packed in small kegs of about seven pounds weight.
The import is perhaps exclusively from Brazil. Another
very elegant mode of preserving the lime is to remove
the pulp, then dry the rind, and encrust it with sugar,
thus creating a sweetmeat that the gods might envy.

The Lime-tree gardens, par excellence, of the world are
contained in the little island of Montserrat, one of the
most charming and salubrious of the British West Indian
colonies. The area is but forty-seven square miles, or
considerably less than that of London, yet from this
circumstance alone — the seat upon it of the lime — it may
be regarded as almost priceless. The plantations, ten
years ago, covered over six hundred acres of land, the
trees numbering about a hundred and twenty thousand.
To what degree the cultivation has been extended there
is yet no report, but doubtless it has been steadily
progressive, and there seems no reason why the entire
island should not be devoted to this most important and
rewarding industry. No sight more beautiful can be
imagined, so we are told by visitors to Montserrat, than
these lime-tree orchards when laden with their bright
fruit, the glow being, if possible, even more brilliant than
that of the orange-groves of southern Europe. The
atmosphere, at the same time, is loaded with the luscious
fragrance of the bloom. Even the leaves of the lime are
so aromatic that they are commonly used throughout the
West Indies to perfume the water in the finger-glasses of
the dinner-table, and for toilet purposes of similar kind.
The production of fruit is very large. When ripe, the

192 Fruits and Fru it- Trees.

best and finest are selected and cut into slices by
machinery moved by water-power. The mass is then
heavily pressed, and the juice at once placed in casks
ready for shipment. The inferior fruit, and the refuse
from the pressing, is made to yield, by other treatment,
citric acid, almost as valuable in the arts as the juice is
in medicine. Crops are gathered at intervals nearly all
the year round ; the heaviest harvest occupies all hands
for three months from September onwards. The lime
exists in English conservatories, and has often borne
fruit, as at Tortworth, Gloucestershire, the seat of Earl
Ducie, the tree there cultivated supplying the specimen
figured in the Botanical Magazine for 1884, pi. 6,745.

It is to be regretted that through indifference or
something worse, the English name of the celebrated
timber-tree, the Tilia Europaa, became corrupted about
the year 1700 from "line" into "lime." "Line" itself
is not the original, being a shortened form of the Anglo-
Saxon lind, which is connected, in turn, with lentus,
pliant, and refers to the usefulness of the inner bark as a
material for string and cordage. All the old herbals
have "line;" it occurs also in early verse, where it
rhymes to "thine":—

" Now tell me thy name, good fellow, said he,
Under the leaves of lyne."

The corruption, intrinsically, is a matter of no great
moment. But unfortunately it sometimes leads to con-
fusion of the lime-tree of the park and the Citrus which
supplies lime-juice.

The Shaddock. 193

THE SHADDOCK (Citrus decumana).

DECUMANA signifies plump, massive, buxom, portly ;
hence is well applied to the huge fruit in the vernacular
called the Shaddock, the largest of the globular ones
produced by any species of Citrus, as the citron is the
largest of the elongated. The name is understood to
commemorate a certain sea-captain who conveyed it from
China to the West Indies, a doubt resting at the same
time over the orthography, since at Bishops Lydiard,
Somerset, with which village the family seems to have
been connected, the spelling over the doors is Shattock.
The tree producing it is thought to be a native of Java
and Polynesia, carried thence to India, and from India
dispersed to other countries near the tropics. The
stature is about eighteen feet ; the very large leaves are
rounded, and have winged petioles, like those of the
orange; the flowers are white; the rind is pale yellow
and very bitter ; the pulp is either white or red, and the
juice sub-acid and sweet. A good mark of the growing
tree is found in the pubescence of the young branchlets,
and upon the undersides of the young leaves, all other
species of Citrus being perfectly glabrous. Of the fruit,
which is ordinarily about four times as large as an
orange, sometimes almost the size of a man's head, there
are many varieties, differing in flavour, and yet more
markedly in substance, some being hard, others abound-
ing in juice. The best kind seems to be that one called

2C

1 94 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the "pomolo,"* a fruit of less magnitude than the coarser
ones, and which, unless cut open very carefully when
serving at table, will quite flood any ordinary fruit-dish.
The pomolo is a rather favourite fruit in the East Indies.
The flavour reminds one of the muscatel grape: the
thickness of the rind allows of its being preserved in
good condition for a considerable length of time ; hence
it is that pomolos are brought to England even from
China. The shaddocks imported from the Azores and
the West Indies are decidedly inferior. The somewhat
pear-shaped "Forbidden fruit," sometimes distinguished
as a species under the name of Citrus Paradisi, appears
to be scarcely distinguishable from the pomolo. The
rind is less bitter ; the flavour of the pulp is uncertain ;
the value seems to reside chiefly in its ornamental char-
acter. The so-called "Adam's apple," when certainly
identified, may perhaps resolve into the same. Both
names, foolish at any time, have been applied vaguely
and inconsistently, and not uncommonly in the direction
of some of the varieties of the citron, f Under one or
another of the forms the decumana is occasionally met
with in English conservatories, and fruiting well, as, for
example, the Duke of Devonshire's at Chatsworth.

* Also written pomeloe, pummelow, pompelmousse, and pompel-
mouse, but these names are also given to the large varieties.

t The fruit of the Citrus Limetta has also received these names.
One of the bananas, the produce of the Musa Paradisi, is another
"Adam's apple." A third "Forbidden fruit" is produced by the
Tabermzmontana dichotoma of Ceylon, the side seeming to have
been bitten.

The Kumquat. 195

THE KUMQUAT ( Citrus Japonica).

THE Kumquat is one of the prettiest and most graceful
of its genus. It was originally introduced from China by
the late celebrated Mr. Robert Fortune, in or about 1842.
Mr. Fortune found that it was cultivated over a consider-
able extent of country, especially in the temperate parts.
In winter it will bear ten to fifteen degrees of frost, so
that irrespective of its flowers and attractive little fruits,
about the size of a large cherry, and gold-coloured, it
recommends itself as a most desirable glossy evergreen
for the Winter Garden. The rind is sweet and delicately
flavoured, but the pulp is rather bitter. It has many
times ripened fruit in this country, as at Syon and
Knypersley. Preserved in syrup, kumquats make their
appearance now and then in " West-end " shops.

Amongst the minor species of the Aurantiacese which
furnish pleasant and palatable fruits may be mentioned
the Glycosmis citrifolia (also called Limonia parviflora)
and the Triphasia aurantiola, also called Limonia tri-
foliata. The Glycosmis, a native of China, produces
abundantly in greenhouses a very nice, sweet, and juicy
kind of berry, the size of a large black-currant, but of a
reddish-yellow colour. All parts of this desirable plant,
leaves, flowers, and fruit, diffuse an agreeable perfume.
The Triphasia, also Chinese, covers itself in the same

196

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

way, with nice little orange-coloured fruits. Here, also,
may be mentioned the little-known fruit supplied by the
Casimiroa edulis, a Mexican tree belonging to the same
great tribe as the Aurantiaceae, though technically in a
different section. In figure and colour it resembles a St.
Michael's orange, but is described as, when in perfection,
in appearance more like a quince, whence the provisional
name of "Mexican apple." This most interesting
addition to our indoor dessert -fruits seems only to want
attention in order to become a general favourite. It has
ripened successfully at Kylemore Castle, Galway.*

* See, for further particulars, the Gardeners' Chronicle, October
1 3th, 1877.

Chapter

ET^RIOS; MULTIPLE, AGGREGATE, AND
COLLECTIVE FRUITS.

" 'Tis a long lane that has no blackberries in it."

Old Proverb.

" is the word, slightly altered in the
spelling, and omitting the initial h, which
the ancient Greeks used to denote com-
munities, partners, colleagues, comrades,
clansmen, etc. In Botany it has been in-
geniously adopted as the technical name for
some very curious forms of fruit, which, although simple
in appearance, are constituted, in reality, of a multitude
of little separate and independent fruits, every one of
them perfect in itself, a pericarp containing a seed.
Fruits of this description — etaerios — are produced by
buttercups, anemones, potentillas, and other members

198 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

of the Ranunculaceae and the Rosaceae, then resembling
little heaps of dry seeds. Sometimes, instead of being
dry and seed-like, the constituent elements of the etaerio
are juicy: they then resemble tiny plums, and receive
the name of drupeolae or drupels, literally "little drupes."
Etaerios formed of drupels are seen in the ranunculaceous
genus Hydrastis, and in the raspberry and the blackberry
among the Rosaceae. Etaerios are produced by simple
and solitary flowers, or such as occur in the two orders
that have been named, and only by such.

In other families it happens very frequently that scores
and even hundreds of minute flowers are closely packed
together, side by side, upon the surface of a broad round
cushion, or upon the outside of some kind of column or
conical pillar. The fruits which ensue from these are
again either dry and seed-like, as in the sunflower and
the scabious; or they may be juicy, as in the scarlet
cluster of the wild arum, the " lords-and-ladies " of the
country children.

Another curious condition is induced by the mem-
bers of these little confederacies, when fleshy or juicy,
coalescing so completely as to form a solid mass, tessel-
lated upon the exterior. This occurs in the pine-apple
and the Benthamia. In the hip of the rose (a solitary and
independent flower) there is found yet another curious
condition. The part which in the raspberry is white and
conical, the drupels resting upon the outer surface, is
inverted, becoming a sort of urn, within which the
numerous little hard and stone-like fruits are completely

The Rubi. 199

concealed. Illustrations of the same general idea, that
of Community or Association, variously modified, are
supplied by the strawberry, the fig, and the mulberry. It
is further set forth, very elegantly, in maize or Indian
corn. Association of many little fruits must be care-
fully distinguished from the idea of the Compound fruit.
"Compound" fruits come of the lateral adhesion of a
small fixed number of carpels, as shown in the orange
and the apple. There is no common bond of botanical
affinity among the plants producing these various kinds
of aggregated fruits. The eatable ones are brought
together in the present chapter purely for the sake of
convenience in classification.

THE RUBI.

THE etaerio has for its most interesting examples the
fruits of the various species of Rubus, the genus of
Rosaceae which leads off in point of excellence with the
raspberry. The number of species is considerable. They
are diffused, more or less, over the whole world, North
America claiming twenty-seven; Central America and
the West Indian islands, twenty-one; South America,
twenty-three; Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia,
nine others. Asia has its share, and so has Europe.
How many there are in Britain is undecided, or depends,
rather, upon the mental proclivities of the man who

2OO Prints and Fruit- Trees.

counts them. He who loves unity, and to list the one
sweet melody played in many keys, and with variations
such as musicians delight in, finds, with the late Mr.
Bentham, only five, really and substantially distinct.
He who prefers to isolate, and likes a Latin name for
every new expression, finds, with Professor Babington,
forty-frve. The large, rude, and very thorny ones are the
Brambles of their respective countries, and in Britain
are the donors of the Blackberry. " Bramble," in the
bygones, had a wider signification than it holds to-day,
denoting any kind of prickly shrub of the wilderness.
In the A.V. of the Old Testament, in the famous
apologue of the trees going forth to choose a king, it
represents the Hebrew 'atadh, which probably denotes
the Christ's thorn, Paliurus Spina-ChristL In the A.V.
of the New Testament it represents the Greek /3droe,
which, in addition to certain Rubi, certainly included the
dog-rose, for Theocritus says that the flowers of the /Baroe
are not to be compared with those of the genuine rose
(v. 92, 93). This last is the sense in which the English
word is employed by Chaucer : —

" And swete as is the bramble-flower
That bereth the red hepe."

All the brambles are ligneous, the shoots limp and pliant,
often many feet in length, the leaves usually ternate
or quinate, the flowers white or pink, with many stamens
and many pistils, the ripened ovaries of the latter
becoming the drupels. A considerable number of the
species appear to produce edible and palatable fruit,

The Raspberry. 201

which under cultivation allows of improvement. The
student of vegetable homology will find it well worth his
while to compare the cone of the etaerio of the Rubi
(called the torus or thalamus) with the long shaft in the
middle of the geranium fruit, and with the spadix of the
arum and the acorus.

THE RASPBERRY (Rubus Idans).

THE Raspberry, universally relished, alike as served with
dessert, in combination with other fruits in pie and
pudding, when converted into jam, and in the summer
beverage called Raspberry Vinegar, is remarkable not
only for the peculiar and delicate flavour and fragrance
which recommend it for these uses, but for the exceed-
ingly fleeting character both of the taste and the odour.
These in a few hours very perceptibly diminish ; in three
days they are almost gone ; they endure scarcely longer
while the fruit is still hanging upon the bush. To be
enjoyed in perfection, gathering and eating should go
together ; and assuredly, on a sunny afternoon, no garden
recreation is more delightful than plucking and eating
raspberries, with kindly chat for the accompaniment.

In the wild state the raspberry occurs throughout
Europe, from Norway and Sweden to Spain and Greece.
It is found in Russian Asia ; also, it is said, upon the
Himalayas and in the north of Africa. The natural
habitats are woods and thickets, bushy and uncultivated

2D

2O2 Fruits and Print- Trees.

recesses, rough-edged country lanes, where damp and
somewhat shady, but not such as are exposed to the
drip of rain. Exposure to the meridian sun is distasteful
to it; of all known fruits the raspberry, in tastes and
preferences, is the most violet-like. The leaves suffice
to distinguish it, these being chiefly pinnate, though
plenty are trifoliate, and white underneath. The white
flowers are insignificant, the least conspicuous perhaps of
any found in its genus ; the incomparable crimson of the
ripe fruit is sometimes exchanged for the delicate shade
of amber so well known in gardens. An excellent
feature of the raspberry is, that although earlier to come
in bloom than most Rubi, it is still so much later than
fruiting-plants in general, that the crop is rarely or never
spoiled by unfortunate weather. The mode of develop-
ment of the stems is somewhat peculiar. The rootstock
is perennial, but the stems are biennial; that is to say, a
new set of young ones is thrown up every year, these to
bear the flowers and fruit the following year. When their
work is finished, they die away, and give place to their
successors. Careful raspberry-culture in the garden
includes the cutting out of all the old and spent stems
as soon as the fruiting is over, thus giving every advan-
tage to the new ones. Certain varieties of raspberry can
be so manipulated as to secure abundance of good ripe
fruit as late even as November, when a dish placed
upon table with dessert gives challenge even to the
grapes, and in the shooting season becomes, for one's
guests, a very special treat. To obtain the late autumn

The Raspberry. 203

crop, remove, in spring, the stems that would fruit if they
remained. The energy of the plant in these varieties
then goes into the young shoots, and they blossom and
fruit at the tips. Sometimes this happens spontaneously.
Under cultivation, it must be remembered, that being
fond of moisture, the raspberry revels in a heavily
mulched border and an evening shower. It does not
care to be much wetted, but loves an atmosphere that
spares it from perspiring. The nature of the under-
ground growth, which is always diffusive, prohibits the
use of spade and fork ; all environing weeds should be
removed by hand and not by hoe.

The origin of the name has not been satisfactorily
determined. The early form, raspis-berry or raspise-berry,
seems to carry an allusion to the rough appearance of the
fruit, at all events when wild, the drupels retaining the
bristle-like styles for a considerable time. When the
exact culture began is not known. In all likelihood it
would be about the same time as that of the currant
and gooseberry. No fruit, probably, has so little taxed
the ingenuity of the gardener, since no other so nearly
approaches, while in the wild state, the condition desired
for the table. All the fine varieties now in gardens have
been derived from the wild raspberry of the woods.
The best are Baumforth's Seedling, Carter's Prolific,
Fill-basket, Red Antwerp, Fastolf, Hornet, Yellow Globe,
and White Antwerp. A very elegant mode of training
raspberries is to attach them to a wire trellis.

2O4 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

THE BLACKBERRY (Rubus fruticosus).

OF all our wild eatable fruits the Blackberry, though
it may be somewhat plebeian, is unquestionably the most
interesting to people in general. It holds the singular
pre-eminence of being the only good fruit that is vexatious
in the gathering, every tenth berry costing a prick or a
scratch, joy and grief going hand in hand : still it is the
fruit of all others bound up with the golden days of lang
syne, the time when, despite the crimson sap upon the
torn fingers, it was pleasantest of all, for was it not the
fruit of travail and the holiday? Not only does it live
in our ancient and most comfortable proverb — "Tis a
long lane that has no blackberries in it" — picturesque
paraphrase of the immortal truth that to the patient and
the hopeful all things worth having come some day; it
re-appears in the pathetic old nursery ballad : —

"Their pretty lips with blackberries

Were all besmeared and dy'd,
And when they saw the darksome night,
They sat them down and cry'd."

The Children in the Wood.
Roxburghe Ballads, ii. 220.

Falstaff, in Henry the Fourth, says, " Give you a reason
on compulsion? If reasons were as plenty as black-
berries, I would give no man a reason on compulsion."
Further on, in the same scene, while joking with Prince
Henry, the old knight exclaims, "Shall the blessed son

The Blackberry. 205

of heaven prove a micher, and eat blackberries ? " To
" mich " signifies to lurk out of sight, to hide one's self.
Boys, playing truant from school, afraid to go home, and
who wander up and down the lanes to escape observation,
are still, in the south-western counties, said to "mooch."
If we care to ask was any note taken of the blackberry
in the classical ages, there is the picture in Ovid of the
" golden world," when men were apt to " fleet the time
carelessly."* Apart from the context, that morum, the
word used in this fine passage, denoted with the ancient
Romans the blackberry as well as the mulberry is shown
by Pliny (xv. 27). The apothecaries of the middle ages
called blackberries mora rubi. The common French
name for them is mdres de hate or mtires sauvages. In
Suffolk, to this day, they are " mulberries."

The blackberry occurs in woods, thickets, and hedges,
in tangled wildernesses and waste places, over nearly the
whole of Europe, and in Russian and Central Asia. But
it does not ascend to alpine heights, nor in regard to
latitude is it an arctic plant. Describing the productions
of the Riviera, "There is a friend of our childhood,"
says Dr. Bennet, " the common Blackberry, which we are
glad to welcome even at Mentone. In the warmest,
wildest, and rockiest regions it grows as vigorously, as
joyously, as in any quiet lane in England or Scotland ;
only, in such situations, it becomes an evergreen — in this
sense, that it does not lose one set of leaves until it has
got another. It is, in truth, a singularly hardy plant, with

* Met. i. 105. Compare Fasti, iv. 509.

206 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

a most singular power of adapting itself to circumstances.
All climates seem to agree equally well with it — hot or
cold, rainy or dry, maritime or inland, plain or mountain.
I have never been to a spot in Europe where I have not
found it, from Sutherlandshire to Mentone. I must,
however, confess to a certain degree of surprise when I
saw this favourite of our English shady lanes growing at
Mentone with wild and determined luxuriance, filling up
the beds of dry torrents, climbing up trees to a height of
twenty or thirty feet, and choking passages between
lemon-trees on the mountain-side; and that in regions
where it often does not rain in summer for six months
together, and under the glare of the fierce Mediterranean
sun. Certainly it must have a mission to fulfil. Its sight
is always welcome, as is all that reminds the sojourner
in foreign lands of his native country, and of the haunts
and pleasures of his early days." * The Blackberry is
reported even from northern Africa.

The abundance of this plant in English hedges seems
to have come very much of the pains taken in the six-
teenth century to multiply it for the express purpose of
use in fences. Old Tusser emphatically urges the farmer
to mingle brambles with hawthorn when laying down
" quicksets " — hedges, that is, of living as distinguished
from dead material. Once introduced brambles generally
hold their own, perhaps somewhat to the detriment of
the hawthorns, which are liable to be overwhelmed, but
the advantage of their presence quite compensates the

* "Mentone and the Riviera as a Winter Climate," 1861, p. 23.

The Blackberry. 207

hurt they may do : in any case were they now to be
destroyed, the loss would be heavy. They propagate not
only by seeds, but in a way very similar to that observ-
able in the strawberry and the silver-weed. Most of the
brambles may be regarded as a kind of gigantic straw-
berry, so far as regards power of self-extension. In
autumn, in any shaded wood where brambles and decay-
ing leaves abound, the process becomes quite plain to
one's observation. The long shoots of the year bury
their extreme ends among the litter, and there form semi-
bulbous knobs. These during the winter months throw
out roots in all directions, and in the spring develop
strong shoots, capable, if removed, of an independent
existence. We may learn from this how to propagate
with ease those beautiful garden varieties of the black-
berry which have large double white and double rose-
coloured flowers ; also that very interesting albino variety
which has fruit of the colour of "white" raspberries,
originally mentioned by Ray as growing near Oxford,
and which has been noticed quite recently at Dundry,
near Bristol, near Chelmsford, and near Penzance. " I
met with it to-day," says a lady friend of the author,
"when, after rambling over Pradannack Downs, dream-
ing delightfully among the waxen heath-bells, and musing
over the ancient, time-worn cross, I neared the coast, by
a tamarisk-fringed lake, and perplexed over a botanical
darling, dear to me, came upon more treasure-trove in
the shape of WHITE BLACKBERRIES ! — white in the sense
one speaks of white grapes, the ripe ones exactly resemb-

2o8 Fruits and Fruit-Trees*

ling white raspberries. They were sweeter and richer in
flavour than any of their ethiop brethren."* Wherever,
in a large garden, the conditions and circumstances will
permit, especially in districts where the wild fruit is not
plentiful, the blackberry should be allowed a place. It
has the peculiar value of going on ripening till the advent
of serious frost. The first crop of fruit is usually accom-
panied, during " St. Martin's little summer," by a second
flow of bloom, so that there is a succession of the shining
jet all through that peaceful time when the gossamer, "le
fil de la tres-sainte Vierge," as the French prettily call it,
flings its mimic barriers across our path. When no other
small bush-fruit is to be had, the blackberry can still be
held in reserve. There is no occasion to let it wander
untidily. A row of blackberries fixed to stakes, with a
slight rail or wire upon each side to restrain would-be
stragglers, is a pleasing rather than a distasteful object.
Better still when the plants are so trained as to form a
little arcade. In a dry and sunny autumn the black-
berry is a really excellent fruit. Those who would enjoy
it in perfection should go to the hedgerows or the
wilderness at mid-day, when the sun has been full upon
them for some hours, select the " kings," and eat them
hot. Not only is the fruit capital for pie and pudding,
especially with admixture of sliced apple : it makes an
excellent jam, and a very delicate jelly ; the last-named,
dissolved in warm water, gives a really delightful drink ;
and blackberry wine, all those who know how to make it
* Authoress of " Rostherne Mere and other Poems."

The Blackberry. 209

aright pronounce the most desirable after grape-wine.
In sickness it is invaluable as a tonic, and nothing is
found more trustworthy in complaints of the diarrhoea
class. The art of manufacture is simple enough : —
Measure your berries and bruise them, and to every
gallon of the fruit add a quart of boiling water. Let the
mixture stand for twenty-four hours, occasionally stirring;
then strain off the liquid, adding to every gallon a couple
of pounds of refined sugar, and keep it in a cask, tightly
corked, till the following October, when it will be ripe
and rich. " Blackberry cordial," another preparation of
singular merit, is made by expressing the juice, adding
half a pound of white sugar to every quart, with half an
ounce each of nutmeg and cloves, then boiling for a
short time, and when cold adding a little brandy. With
so many substantial recommendations, how regretful it
becomes to see the blackberry left to decay, as it often is,
to the extent of thousands of tons. Nowhere in the three
kingdoms is it more plentiful or of finer quality than
in the southern parts of Ireland. Yet there, this natural
gift of the soil, untaxed, uncharged for, " without money
and without price," while it might be made a source of
immense and permanent wealth to the poorer inhabitants,
is left wholly untouched ; and this when we are sending
millions of money every year to foreign countries for
fruits that have not half the intrinsic worth of the ill-
requited Rubus fruticosus. In Hampshire the people are
wiser. Owing to the great extent of Crown lands in that
county, allowed as they are to remain in a semi-wild con-

2E

2 1 o Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

dition, and partly to the hedgerows being allowed more
freedom of growth than in most agricultural counties,
brambles abound and produce very copiously. Many
of the poorer inhabitants of the towns, as soon as the
fruit is ripe, gain their livelihood for weeks together by
collecting it for sale.

THE CLOUDBERRY (Rubus Chamcemortis ).

AN inviting little fruit indeed is the Cloudberry, though
known to few except the inhabitants of high northern
districts. It is met with, in the wild state, upon the lofty
moors between Stalybridge and Huddersfield, whence it
is occasionally brought to Manchester for sale ; also upon
Ingleborough and in North Wales, rapidly increasing in
quantity as we penetrate into Scotland, and becoming,
in Scandinavia, one of the conspicuous elements of the
Flora. It extends also into northern Asia and North
America. In order to thrive it requires plenty of moisture,
but not in excess, and prefers a peaty soil, though quite
able to grow upon the face of a crag, in moist crevices, as
upon the Breadalbane mountains. The epithet " Cloud "
is generally supposed to refer to its elevated places of
growth, as if among the clouds. Perhaps it may be an
application of the geographical term preserved in "Thorpe
Cloud," one of the two great mountain-sentinels at the
entrance to Dovedale; and in "Cloud-end," the celebrated
inland promontory in North Staffordshire —

The Cloudberry. 2 1 1

" A green and gentle hill, the last
As 'twere the cape of a long ridge of such,
Save that there is no sea to lave its base,
But a most living landscape."

In this case it would simply mean " mountain-berry."

A Rubus to all intents and purposes in flowers and
fruit, this very interesting little plant has nothing about
it in figure of the bramble, the ligneous portions being
chiefly underground, and the flowering-branches rising
above the soil to a height never greater than six or eight
inches, and usually less. The leaves are roundish or
kidney-shaped, though often five, seven, or nine-lobed.
The large white flowers are solitary and terminal, and
usually of only one sex, the staminate and the pistillate
occurring in distinct patches, after the manner of the
rose-lychnis and the white evening lychnis. Occasionally
the two kinds are intermingled, the stems being united
underground, which shows that the plant is monoecious
as well as dioecious. It often covers expanses of many
acres in extent, growing without any intermixture of other
plants, a very pretty spectacle when in full bloom at the
end of June. In the arctic regions it flowers imme-
diately after the snows have passed away ; and scarcely
are the berries ripened, six weeks afterwards, before snow
begins to fall again. Covering only midsummer, these
" short and simple annals " render the life-history of the
little cloudberry the briefest of any among the fruit-
bearing plants useful to man. When ripe, the appearance
of the great beds is again exceedingly pretty. The

2 1 2 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

drupels are large, green at first, then reddish and opaque,
finally of a very delicate pink amber-yellow, and trans-
lucent. Though large they are not so numerous as those
of the raspberry and the blackberry; the etaerio is thus
a very handsome one.

In flavour the cloudberry is both sweet and moderately
acid, with something of the taste of tamarinds. It is nice
to eat just as gathered, but better when made into jam.
The Laplanders bruise and eat it with the milk of the
reindeer. Travellers in Norway, where the cloudberry
grows even by the roadsides, are regaled with molta,
moltebser, or myrebaer, a very pleasant preparation of
it in cream. As an anti-scorbutic, it has proved to be
scarcely inferior to the lime. In the "Voyage of the
Vega," the two noble volumes in which Prof. Nordens-
kiold has recorded his observations during a voyage
round Asia and Europe by way of the north-east passage,
a work of very different order from ephemeral books of
travel, the author testifies to its value in terms of the
highest praise. The entire ship's company was preserved
from that great scourge of arctic sailors, the scurvy, by
the sole use of it, or at most with the addition of a small
quantity of rum, which appeared to increase the efficacy.
Prof. Nordenskiold expresses his belief that future polar
expeditions, should they avail themselves of the cloud-
berry, will find it conduce more than anything else to
health and comfort. A very interesting fact in botanical
geography is that down in the antarctic regions, in the
Falkland Islands and Terra del Fuego, there grows a

The Dewberry. 2 1 3

plant scarcely distinguishable from our northern cloud-
berry, called, because of the likeness of the foliage,
Rubus geoides.

THE DEWBERRY (Rubus catsius).

THE Dewberry, a common inhabitant of quiet waysides
and the borders of lanes, especially where the ground is
dry and somewhat stony ; frequent also upon the seaside
sandhills ; is in some respects so like the blackberry as
ordinarily to be confounded with it. But the dewberry
prefers to trail and keep below, rather than to mount
into hedges, and woods and forests it seems afraid of.
The flowers are few, and never properly paniculate :
the drupels are large but very few; often only two or
three are perfectly developed, or but a single one, then
immense ; in any case they never present the beau-ideal
of the etaerio ; and lastly, so far from being jetty and
lucid, they are covered, like some varieties of the plum
and damson, with "bloom" — "shining dim .... pow-
dered with downy blue." The branches, instead of
being so terribly resentful to the touch of naked fingers,
are but thinly clothed with prickles, and these are but
weak. All parts of continental Europe, as well as of our
own country, are possessed of the dewberry. It extends
also into Russian Asia, though not crossing the Arctic
circle. The flavour of the fruit is estimated very differ-
ently. Some call it insipid ; others think it very good.

2 1 4 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Shakspere would seem to have held the latter opinion,
if the fruit of the c&sius be really intended, since he
possibly used the name as more euphonious than
" blackberry," or equivalent to it, as done by Lyte, in
his old Herbal, a work which Shakspere would have
access to. Titania is giving her gracious behest to the
four fairies : —

" Be kind and courteous to this gentleman,
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes :
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries."

Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. I .

The derivation of the name "dewberry" is uncertain.
Certainly the first part is not referable in any degree to
" dew," the morning moisture upon the grass. Nor does
it appear, as conjectured by some, to be from the Anglo-
Saxon name of the dove, an idea founded upon the
colour of the ripened fruit. Dr. Prior's researches point
rather to its being a sort of descendant of " theve-thorn,"
literally a low or inferior sort of bramble, the word
employed by Wiclif in the apologue, Judges ix. 14. Over
casius there is no difficulty. Csesius is the Latin repre-
sentative of the famous old Greek word yXavicoe, so rich
in association, and which is so happily preserved in one
of Kingsley's most delightful legacies to people who have
learned that first and finest of the fine arts, the art of
thankfulness to men of genius ; and in the appellation of
that charming shore-plant, the Glaucium luteum, or "sea-
side yellow poppy." The primary or fundamental sense

The Dewberry. 215

of the word would seem to have been a gleaming, as if
with soft and silvery light. Then it became an epithet
of the sea, as in Iliad xvi. 34. Then it moved on to the
olive-tree ; then to living creatures, as to the Nereids, the
" sea-green sisters of the deep," who had bright pearls
mingled with their beautiful hair, and whose sweet pro-
vince it was to calm the waters when turbulent ; then it
moved on to eyes — eyes of the lovely and inexpressible
hue which some poet has fittingly described as the
" colour of gladness " — that rare and subtle combination
of azure and grey which rejoiced men in Aphrodite's,
which helped to gain for the Muses that most picturesque
of descriptions, " Jove's nine azure-eyed flower-producing
daughters," and which, thank God, has never been lost
to the world. So delicious is the upgrowth in the signifi-
cation of words that were cradled in poetic thought.
And sweet is it to note how in the end they can fall
back upon some simple object of wild nature, a term
which transports the mind to the time of the bright
fables of antiquity, settling down upon a little wayside
fruit, our Rubus casius.

The fruit of the one other distinct species of British
Rubus, the R. saxatilis, or Rock Bramble, corresponds
with that of the dewberry in respect of the flowers and
the various sizes of the drupels, but in this one they
are scarlet, and in flavour agreeably acid. The habit of
growth is peculiar, a few prostrate branches running to
the length of a yard from the centre of growth, and a
few others growing erect, to the height of ten or twelve

2 1 6 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

inches. In the axils of the upper leaves, mostly ternate,
of the vertical branches, come insignificant greenish-white
flowers, the aggregate forming little racemose clusters.
The Rock Bramble grows in woods and stony ravines,
also upon the stony banks of streams. It begins with
South Wales, extends up the margin of the western
counties to the northern ones, where it becomes common,
and occurs also in Ireland and in Scotland.

THE ARCTIC RASPBERRY (Rubus arcticus).

LINNAEUS, in his fascinating first venture, the Flora Lap-
ponica, in which he narrates all particulars connected
with his celebrated northern tour, 1732, tells us that when
sinking with hunger and fatigue his strength was recruited
by the nectareous juice of the berries of the arctic rasp-
berry. The cranberry may rival this plant in delicacy
of leaf and blossom, but the fruit is, without compare,
the very choicest produced in Scandinavia. Not that it
actually needs an arctic latitude. It thrives at Kew and
in Warwickshire — supplying yet another illustration of the
wonderful constitutional elasticity which kind Nature has
bestowed upon the majority of her children — and now
and then has even ripened fruit in the Botanical Garden
at Hull. There would seem to be no difficulty in the
cultivation : upon a rockery the pretty flowers come out
freely, and give the idea of a miniature sweet-brier. It

American and Asiatic Rubi. 2 1 7

was one of the earliest plants figured in the Botanical
Magazine, the picture appearing as far back as September
1790, vol. iv., pi. 132.

Jam made of the fruit of the arctic raspberry is, without
question, the most delightfully aromatic that can be con-
ceived, the odour being that of strawberry and raspberry
combined. In England we know of it only as a singular
dainty, sent by loving hands as a loving gift. Even
where the plant most abounds, in Norway, Sweden, and
Finland, it is a luxury by no means at public command.
The difficulty and labour involved in the collecting of
the fruit will always prevent its becoming an article of
commerce. The drupels, like those of the dewberry,
never all reach maturity. Very often only one or two get
ripe, and as the plant grows only about three inches
high, the collecting is like that of the scattered shells
upon the sand. The arctic raspberry grows also in the
most northerly parts of North America.

AMERICAN AND ASIATIC RUBI.

SOME of the native Blackberries of North America and
of the far East bid fair to count with the " fruits of the
future." America has set an example with regard to the
culture of her own that in itself proves their independent
value; and though little has yet been attempted in
England, there is reason to believe that varieties superior

2F

2 1 8 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

to any yet possessed on either side of the Atlantic may
in course of time be brought into existence by skilful
crossing of the best that grow wild in their respective
countries. In New Jersey the native Blackberry has for
many years been grown for market on a very extensive
scale. In 1878 the crop yielded by the single township
of Vineland, near Delaware Bay, was not much short
of sixteen thousand bushels, with the market value of
;£6,2oo. In Burlington county an acre of ground has
yielded a hundred and fifty bushels, the fruit selling for
£120. Indifferent as we are in England to the black-
berry, these figures may to many people be incredible,
but the facts remain, and the returns appear to augment
every season. One of the finest sorts is the Kittatinny, so
named from its native region, the Kittatinny mountains
in New Jersey. Unfortunately it would seem not to
have quite enough of the ironclad about it to stand the
severest winters. But in reference to this we have only
to remember what has resulted from the crossing of the
comparatively tender Indian Rhododendron arboreum with
the almost impregnable Ponticum of Asia Minor. The
Rubus laciniatus, or American cut-leaved Bramble, a very
ornamental plant, is now common in gardens, fruiting
with freedom every year.

For cultivation as a fruit-plant, especially in the man-
ner recommended on p. 208, there is no blackberry, after
all, equal, so far, to the "Wilson Junior," figured in
Garden Work for March 7, 1885, an American variety
brought out by Messrs. Viccars, Collyer, & Co., of

American and Asiatic Rubi. 219

Leicester. It is stated to be a seedling from " Wilson's
Early," already in high repute. In 1884 the crop in Eng-
land was in the ratio of over a hundred and ten bushels
per acre, and this year (1885) it is plainly going to be a
hundred and fifty bushels. The robustness, the marvel-
lous fecundity, and the ease with which plantations of the
"Wilson Junior" may be established, leave nothing to
wish for. The fruits are as large as mulberries, of the
best of colours, and the best of blackberry flavours.

Some of the American Rubi lead off with distinguished
beauty of blossom. Conspicuous among these is the
odoratus, introduced about the year 1700, under the name
of the Virginian Raspberry, a good town-plant, thorn-
less, or nearly so, with great palmate leaves, and rosy-
purple flowers the size of a florin. The red fruit, though
not often seen, ripens in Cheshire. The white-flowered
Nutkanus, from Nootka Sound in 1826, is another very
desirable species, the fruit yellow or reddish, and excel-
lent for tarts. One of the very handsomest is the Rubus
deliciosus of the Rocky Mountains, the snow-white flowers
two inches across, and resembling single roses. The name,
unfortunately, is misleading, for the fruit, in reality, is poor
and mawkish. The plant was originally discovered during
the celebrated expedition of 1821. The stories related
by explorers of inhospitable regions with regard to the
fruits they have met with must always be received
cautiously. Everything tastes good to the hungry man,
and it is very plain that the description given to Torrey,
who bestowed the name, told of the relish rather than

2 2O Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

the actual value. The fruit of the leucodermis, from
India, in 1818, that curious plant which seems to have
had its stems whitewashed, is really good : so is that
of the pk&nicolasius, recently from Japan. Trained to
a stake, this noble Rubus rises to the height of twelve or
fifteen feet : the young shoots are covered with bright
red setae; the under-surfaces of the leaves are white as
snow; the fruit, when ripe, is of many shades, from bright
orange up to coral, and so abundant that the weight of
the clusters gracefully bends down the shoots in a way
almost fountainrlike.

Whether in cultivation or not we do not know. If
not, it may be worth while to look after the Rubus
nubigenus, var. macrocarpus, from Bogota, described in
L' Illustration Horticole, 312, as having red fruits two
inches long, and of nearly the same width. The single-
flowered form of the common double white roscefolius of
the Moluccas produces red fruits resembling raspberries.

THE STRAWBERRY.

THOUGH it has powerful rivals, still among the fruits
of latitudes which will ripen anywhere without the aid of
artificial heat, in respect of beauty, delicate flavour, and
healthful service to the body, the Strawberry, were the
matter put to election, would probably win. It has
the rare merit of consisting almost wholly of matter
which is soluble in the stomach, and does not undergo

The Strawberry. 221

acetous fermentation. Under cultivation it requires but
little shelter ; even in bleak and elevated places it is still
a success. The odour is like the dappled pink of the
tip-top sky at sunset ; it comes, we must be quick, or it
has faded away : a slight shower is often enough to spoil
the promise of days. Like the raspberry, to be enjoyed
in perfection, the strawberry should be the accompani-
ment of lingering and chatty stroll about the garden,
eaten where it grows. In one form or another, it is dif-
fused over many lands, growing wild throughout Europe
and Russian and Central Asia, and northern America,
and extending, both in the old world and the new, to the
arctic circle. One of the varieties occurs as far away as
Chili. It is found also in the island of Madeira. So
calmly does the plant accommodate itself to varied sur-
roundings, that near Malaga strawberries grow beside
oranges and citrons, and there they are ripe by the end
of April. Open woods, where dry, and especially upon
mountains; green banks, weedy and turf-topped walls,
are its delight. So fond is it of craggy slopes, that it
might almost be called a rockery plant : the wood, never-
theless, is the chief scene of association : —

" One day as they all three together went
Into the wood to gather strawberries."

Faery Queene, vii. 34.

The ancient Greeks seem not to have noticed either
the plant or the fruit : the ancient Roman writers speak
only of the fruit, not of the plant, and of the former only
in the plural, fraga, as when the Cyclop woos Galatea,

222 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

piling up imagery in a way scarcely paralleled before or
since, every word a picture, every simile a petition : —

"Ipsa tuis manibus silvestri nata sub umbra
Mollia fraga leges."*

When first established as an English garden fruit is
not known. The name is the Anglo-Saxon streowberige,
the first part referring to the resemblance of the runners
to straws, or anything "strewed." "Straberry ripe" was
one of the cries of London in the time of the Tudors,
but all the fruit then offered for sale was doubtless
collected, after the manner of blackberries, from wilder-
ness plants.

Botanically regarded, this fruit is one of the most
curious known to science. It corresponds to the white
cone of the raspberry, being the " receptacle " immensely
enlarged, cells upon cells innumerable. The seed-like
specks upon the surface are the genuine pericarps; every
one of them contains a seed, and began life as a distinct
and independent ovary. The strawberry is in a certain
sense a raspberry reversed. In the raspberry the torus is
dry, and the ovaries become drupels; in the strawberry it
is the torus which becomes the soft and semi-juicy part,
while the ovaries remain as they were. The name of
" etserio " applies equally to both conditions. An honest
and painstaking effort in the same direction is made by

* Met. xiii. 815. For other classical allusions to the strawberry,
vide Met. i. 104, and Virgil, Eel. iii. 92. All the allusions are to
the wild fruit. There is no reason to suppose that the strawberry
was ever cultivated by the Romans.

The Strawberry. 223

that very interesting pond-side plant, the water septfoil,
Comartim palustre, sometimes called the water-strawberry.
But in this the great torus never advances beyond the
spongy and insipid stage, and the seed-like pericarps are
packed so closely upon the surface as to form a perfect
coat to it. Another very interesting and more successful
aspiration towards the idea of the strawberry is seen in
that lively little rockery plant, so well adapted for a
hanging basket in the greenhouse, the yellow-flowered
Indian strawberry, Duchesnea Indica, round crimson fruits
abounding upon the pendulous branches almost always.
The fruit of the so-called Strawberry-tree, Arbutus Unedo,
is quite a different thing, as will be described by-and-by.
The pretty little crimson beads of the strawberry-blite,
Blitum virgatum, are strawberries yet more remotely, the
juicy portion consisting simply of the perianth, which
becomes succulent as the minute black seed-like fruits
approach maturity.

In no genus of plants are the so-called "species" more
like one another, thus more doubtfully genuine. "The
great facility," says Mr. Bentham, "with which fertile
cross-breds are produced gives reason to suspect that the
whole genus, including even the Chilian Pine-strawberry,
may prove to consist but of one species." To refer any
particular garden form to its proper "species" is now
very difficult, and often impossible. Nearly all of the
best cultivated strawberries are of double or hybrid
parentage, and the utmost that can be done is to group
them somewhat conventionally. M. Jacques Gay, who

224 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

has made the genus an object of long-continued and
very minute study, classes all the known forms under the
eight following specific names : —

THREE EUROPEAN :

1. Fragaria vesca. — The common English wood-straw-

berry. The most widely diffused of all, extending
from Iceland to Spain, Sicily, and Greece. On the
Alps bearing fruit at an elevation of over five
thousand feet, and in Scandinavia beyond 70° N.
Occurs also in Asia, in the north-east of the United
States, upon the north-western coast of North
America, and upon the highlands of Mexico.
Many varieties exist, the sempervirens including the
"alpines," so valuable as supplying an autumnal
crop of fruit.

2. F. elatior. — The old "Hautboy" of continental

Europe. Generally more or less staminate only,
or pistillate, and even dioecious, so that individuals
are often sterile.

3. F. collina. — The Green Pine. Widely distributed

over Europe, and extending into Asia.

THREE AMERICAN :

4. F. Chiloensis. — The Chili Strawberry, native of

Chili, Valdivia, and elsewhere on the Pacific shores
of South America. Said to have been originally
brought to France and cultivated in the Royal
Gardens at Paris, in 1715, whence it would be
conveyed to England.

The Strawberry. 225

5. F. Virginiana.—^te " Old Scarlet." Introduced

from North America about 1620. The best of all
the primitive forms of strawberry.

6. F. Gay ana. — Nearly allied to the Virginiana. A

variety with shining leaves is called F. lucida.

Two ASIATIC OR NORTH INDIAN :

7. The F. Daltoniana, and

8. The F. Nilgherensis, neither of them in cultivation.

Another classification, by Franz Goschke, in a much
esteemed German work upon the Strawberry, Das Btich
der Erdbeeren, etc. (Berlin, 1875), places the garden forms
under the names of —

1. The Forest Strawberry, Fragaria vesca.

2. The Monthly, F. semperflorens.

3. The Hautboy, F. elatior.

4. The Scarlet, F. Virginiana.

5. The Chili, F. Chiloemis.

6. The Pine-apple or Large-fruited, F. grandiflora.

All of these have contributed more or less to the
production of the inestimable modern strawberry of
English, French, Belgian, and American gardens. The
history of the various developments is not now within
reach : we may be thankful that whatever calamities may
befall other fruits, it must be something sad indeed that
hinders the strawberry from deserving every year the
matchless appellation of a fail-me-never, and, practically,
our wisdom is to inquire which of the hundred sorts will

2G

226 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

please best and be most prolific. The following are the
most generally approved, and the most suitable for simple
home-gardens : —

Early Varieties. — Amy Robsart, Keen's Seedling, Sir
Joseph Paxton, Vicomtesse He'ricart de Thury
(also called Garibaldi and Duchesse de Trevise).
Very good early sorts are found also in Early
Prolific, La Grosse Sucre'e, Pauline, Black Prince,
and Laxton's King of the Earlies.

Mid-Season Varieties. — British Queen, Dr. Hogg, Mar-
shal MacMahon, Pioneer, President, Sir Charles
Napier. To these may be added, when large assort-
ments are desirable, Duke of Edinburgh, James
Veitch, Lucas, Sir Harry, and The Countess.

Late Varieties. — Frogmore Late Pine, Enchantress,
Souvenir de Kieff, Elton Pine, Rifleman, Oxonian.
The very best is Aberdeen Favourite, distinguished
as giving good crops as late as the middle of
August, by which time, in the South, strawberries
are generally "over." It was brought out in 1883
by Messrs. Connon & Reid, nurserymen, of the
northern granite city.

Which of all these sorts are the best for forcing, gardeners
are not agreed, so many of them answer well. Opinions
seem to run chiefly in favour of President, Black Prince,
La Grosse Sucre'e, and Vicomtesse He'ricart de Thury.
The best kind of fruit for preserving is the Elton Pine,
and after this comes Eleanor. The cost of forcing, and

The Dog-Rose. 227

the profits, are kept secret. They may be imagined,
perhaps, from the fact that in Covent Garden, in March,
baskets of twelve berries apiece fetch four shillings, or at
the rate of fourpence per berry.

The largest strawberry-gardens in the world are in the
Cray Valley, Kent, where the Messrs. Vinson, of Swanley,
devote to this fruit about five hundred acres of land, and
gather in the season about a thousand tons. The value
of the crop varies from £20 to ;£6o per ton for the best
fruit, and from ^15 to ^"20 for the inferior, used for
preserving.

THE DOG-ROSE (Rosa canina).

LIKE the berbery and the mountain-ash, the Dog-rose
claims a place among the fruiting-plants, not because of
the eatableness of the produce as it comes from the
bough, but for its value when in some way preserved.
Every one knows the tremulous sprays and arching
wreaths of this beautiful hedgerow plant, covered at
midsummer with little pink calathi, their young hearts
golden, and so fragrant withal ; — so charming again, in
late autumn, when the scarlet hips cast those magical
points of bright colour amid the frosted browns and the
overworn and fading green, keeping company in their
lustre with the deep-hued Tamus, and made even brighter
by the contrast of the feathered silver-grey of the wild
clematis. When fully ripe, mellowed and softened by the
touch of early frost, the hips of the dog-rose, after removal

228 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

of the hard seeds within, plenty of sugar being added,
make a very nice conserve or confection. The Swiss and
the Germans place it on table as an article of dessert.
It makes also an agreeable substitute for tomato-sauce.
In the time of Elizabeth, when certainly, good obtainable
fruits were fewer in kind, the prepared pulp of these wild
hips was held in no slight esteem. " It maketh," says
Gerard, " most pleasant meats and banqueting dishes, as
tarts and such-like." At the present day it is valued in
England by the apothecaries, who employ it as a pill-basis,
and in the making of electuaries.

The hip of the rose, like the strawberry, in its curious
botanical nature, is almost without parallel. Here we
have the thalamus, or receptacle upon which the ovaries
are seated, shaped like an urn. The veritable fruits
are the hard and hairy stones discovered in the interior
of the hip upon tearing it open. Strange, yet perhaps
not so strange, that the queen of flowers should thus
modestly conceal from public gaze the little atoms that
are to carry her loveliness abreast of Time.

THE FIG (Ficus Carica).

THE fig-tree, in all likelihood, supplied the fruit with
which mankind has been longest acquainted ; of which,
at all events, mention is made very early in the oldest
literature the world possesses. As an article of food it
was probably resorted to at quite as early a period as the

The Fig. 229

date, and perhaps as the banana. Requiring scarcely any
cultivation, it would certainly take precedence of any of
the aliments obtained by tillage of the soil : the associa-
tions carry us back to the very dawn of civilized human
experience upon our planet, to the days that preceded
even the myths and the oldest traditions ; it is the fruit of
all others that deserves to be called the archaeological.
Antiquity so profound would seem to have ensured for
the fig some kind of consecration. But of all fruits, with
the inconsiderable modern exception of the medlar, it
is the one which is referred to least frequently in litera-
ture. It is scarcely ever employed in symbolic art; it
rarely appears in classical poetry; the place it holds is
indifferent at the best; the traditions associated with it
are uninviting. Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf
under the shadow of a fig-tree; the conveyance of the asp
to Cleopatra in a basket of figs ; the carrying of the fig
in procession at the feasts of Bacchus ; the employment
of the wood for the manufacture of impure idols, are
incidents, true and false, which have nothing in them to
excite pleasing emotions. It is left for Scripture to deal
pleasantly with the fig. Taking the Old and the New
Testament together, this fruit is mentioned in more than
thirty different places. The possession of the tree is a
mark of joyful opulence ; the appearance of the young
fruit is in " the time of the singing of birds ;" in parable
and emblematically, the fig is cited again and again.
"Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof;
so he that waiteth on his Master shall be honoured."

2 3O Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

The native countries of the fig reach from the steppes
of the eastern Aral, along the southern and south-western
coasts of the Caspian, through Kurdistan to Asia Minor.
At the present day it grows apparently wild over the vast
region of which Syria is the centre — that is to say, from
the east of Persia, or even from Afghanistan, across the
whole of the Mediterranean region, as far as the Canaries,
though not ascending far up the mountains. As a rule,
in Asia it stops at the foot of the Caucasus; and in
Europe, at the foot of the rising grounds which limit the
basin of the Mediterranean. But it has long since been
conveyed to numerous distant parts of the world. In the
southern United States — eastern Florida in particular —
there are trees that yield twenty to thirty bushels of fruit
every year. In Alabama the fig is considered to be the
most prolific of fruit-trees. It holds the same reputation
in Texas and in California. Plantations have already
been made in some parts of Australia. The Atlas
Mountains, in North Africa, are still noted for figs such
as those praised by the elder Cato, when he threw them
down in the Senate, saying, " The country where this
fine fruit grows is only three days' voyage from Rome,"
uttering in these, the famous words which were the begin-
ning of the downfall of once-glorious Carthage.

When first brought to England is not known, but in all
probability, the original introduction took place under the
Roman governors. Cardinal Pole, temp. Henry VIII. , is
accredited with the gift; what is related of him refers most
likely to some new or superior kind. Almost as common,

The Fig. 231

at the present day, as the cherry-tree, in gardens in the
south of England, usually under the shelter of a wall;
still it is upon the extreme margin of the island, where
bathed by the English Channel, that the fig is seen, as
regards our own country, in its highest perfection. It
flourishes where the salt-laden atmosphere renders the
culture of other fruits precarious, and where, because of
the constant wind-beating, many other kinds of tree are
short-lived. This helps to explain the vast abundance of
the fig in the Greek Archipelago, and upon the shores
of the adjacent mainlands. Near Gosport there are figs
with trunks a foot in diameter, and that are probably the
oldest ligneous plants in the parish. In the neighbour-
hood of Worthing, Sussex, there are orchards of fig-trees,
grown as standards, all of large dimensions and great
age. In an orchard at Tarring, there are not fewer than
a hundred and twenty of these noble standards, the
produce of which, in good seasons, amounts to upwards
of two thousand dozen of fruit. A goodly sight, in sooth,
is that of the luscious, blue-black harvest hanging aloft
and around as one walks, as through a bower, below the
green roof made by the interlacing boughs. The trees at
Tarring are more than a century old ; they represent, in
their generation, orchards of much earlier date, and the
origin of which, according to tradition, was illustrious, the
primitive one dating from the time of Thomas a Becket.
Figs ripen well and plentifully also at Shoreham, Hastings,
Arundel, Margate, etc. In good seasons they lie upon
the ground, dropped from the tree, as thick as the apples

232 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

in a cider-orchard. No circumstance connected with the
beautiful Tarring orchards is more interesting than that
they are annually visited by the little fig-bird of the
Roman Campagna. This pretty migrant arrives from
Italy at the beginning of every September, enjoys itself,
to the prejudice of the owner, and when satisfied, say,
shortly before the first frost gives notice of winter, spreads
its wings and goes home. The sorts grown in Sussex
and Hampshire appear to be chiefly the capital old ones
known as Brown Turkey, White Marseilles, and Green
Ischia. In the northern counties, when good fruit is the
object, the fig is grown under glass, though it ripens out-
of-doors even in Fifeshire. At Balmuto, three miles from
the sea, and three hundred and fifty feet above the sea-
level, it yields a fairly good crop every year without any
protection save that of a south wall. The fig is a hardier
plant, indeed, than is generally imagined. To dwellers
in towns it has the great recommendation also of being
able to endure smoke and confinement among houses.
Like the elder, it will grow in the hard-trodden soil of a
back-yard ; the growth under such conditions cannot be
expected to be very luxuriant; still, like the Virginian
Creeper, it can make itself quite happy. Wise plants are
those which after the manner of the wise among mankind,
if they cannot always have what they would like, adjust
themselves to the liking of what they have. No town-
gardener should ever forget to plant his fig-tree.

The dried figs of the grocers' shops are imported
chiefly from Smyrna, whence their commercial name of

The Fig. 233

"Turkey figs." The better qualities are distinguished as
Eleme figs. Inferior sorts arrive under the name of
"Greek figs." Smaller quantities are sent from Spain,
Portugal, and other countries ; with, in addition, abun-
dance of " fig-cake," manufactured from the very poor
descriptions of fruit, sometimes with intermixture of
almonds, and wrought into the shape of small cheeses.
The drying is accomplished either by exposure to the
sun, or in ovens constructed for the special purpose.
The average yearly import, of all descriptions, fig-cake
included, is about 150,000 cwts. In 1883 it was 128,434
cwts., valued at ^"262,671. The Customs received, in
the shape of duty upon figs, during the year ending
March 3ist, 1884, the sum of ^33,990.

The botanical features of the fig are, as regards fruit-
bearing plants, unique. The stature of the tree is fifteen
to twenty feet, branches proceeding almost from the
base, somewhat distorted, and exuding, when wounded, a
milky juice. The leaves are petiolate, as a rule coarsely
palmate, the lobes obtuse, about a span in length and
breadth, and rough upon the upper surface. The pear-
shaped body which, when ripe, becomes the fig, is a
leathery receptacular bag, in some degree resembling the
hip of the rose, but the latter is part of a single flower,
whereas the fig is a hollow cushion, the inner surface
lined with innumerable flowers. These flowers are so
minute as to seem a mossy carpet; but every one of
them has a little perianth of its own, and in the ordinary
eatable fig, every one of them, except near the summit, is

2H

234 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

possessed of an ovary, with style and stigma. The ovaries
become the yellow grains found so plentifully in the fig
when mature. Ripening consists in the conversion of
this leathery green bag, milky at first, into one that is soft,
succulent, pulpy inside, usually purple or bronze-green
upon the outside, and of delicious flavour. The soft
portion contains grape-sugar, to the amount of 60 or 70
per cent., and this, when the fruit is dried, partially
effloresces upon the surface. So far, good. But where
are the staminate flowers? The fig is very evidently
dioecious; probably to some extent monoecious also.
The staminate flowers appear to be contained in the figs
which drop off while still small, green, and milky ; and
which (or the trees producing them) are in continental
countries called " caprifigs." The history of the process
of "caprification," the fertilizing of the pistillate flowers,
insect-agency having its place, and the general nature
of the sexual apparatus of the fig, is far too large a
subject to be dealt with in the present chapter. Here it
must suffice to say that " caprification " is not necessary,
much less indispensable, to the ripening of the fig, and
that all figs which grow to be large and eatable are
emphatically those containing female flowers wholly or
chiefly.*

The variety in the complexion of the ripe fig is very
considerable. So is the flavour, when properly matured.
The dried fig of the shops gives no idea of it, especially

* Vide, for the particulars, the Gardeners' Chronicle for April 28,
1883, and subsequent communications from correspondents.

The Mulberry. 235

as enjoyed at breakfast-time in Italy, where the fig seems
indeed a fruit of Paradise. The spicy odour of ripening
figs, as perceived in the English orchard-house or vinery,
is in its way no less delightful.

The best kinds for forcing are Negro Largo (the finest
in cultivation), Brown Turkey, Black Marseilles, White
Marseilles, White Ischia, and Early Violet.

THE MULBERRY ( Morus nigra).

THE Mulberry supplies another example of the aggregate
or collective fruit, every one of the purple bags of juice
representing what was once a distinct and independent
flower. The perianth consists of four pieces ; these, as
the ovary within progresses to maturity, become greatly
enlarged, juicy, and finally confluent Though so similar
in appearance to the blackberry, there is thus no actual
likeness, the grains of the blackberry being drupels ; those
of the mulberry, flowers transformed. It is produced by
a tree which seldom exceeds thirty feet in height, the
branches thick and rude, the general figure close and
rounded. The rough, coarsely serrated, and dark green
leaves, though usually cordate, are prone to curious
changes, often becoming irregularly three or five-lobed.
The staminate flowers are produced in separate clusters,
yellowish green in colour, and, like the globular green
heads of female flowers, contemporaneous with the young
foliage. The tree is of great durability, and seems to be

236 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

wonderfully tenacious of life. It is tolerably hardy,
deciduous, and one of the last to come into leaf.
Afterwards it is remarkable for the density of the shade.
Capable of enduring the smoke of towns, it is a capital
tree for suburban gardens, and will thrive even in little
corners among warehouses.

The fruit, quite familiar in the southern English
counties, more sparingly produced in the northern, is
distinguished for its sweet sub-acid taste, with a very
agreeable aroma superadded. It is excellent for dessert;
makes a very nice, though rather cloying preserve, and
supplies material for a pleasant light wine. The quantity
produced is often prodigious. Being apt to drop as soon
as ripe, and very tender in skin, the tree should always be
planted upon a lawn or other grassy surface, where the
damage received will be of the slightest.

The native country of the mulberry is uncertain. But
that the original seat was south-western Asia is eminently
probable. At the present day it is found apparently wild
in the Caucasus, also in Persia and Asia Minor. Thence
it would be conveyed westwards at a very early period,
but there is no exact knowledge of the time or by what
means. No reference to it occurs in the Old Testament,
though mentioned in the New, under the Greek name of
" sycamine." (Luke xvii. 6.) The ancient secular Greek
writers speak of it both as the sycamine and the moron,
as Dioscorides, B.C. 25. With the Romans the latter
word became morus, the tree having reached Italy some
time prior to, though not very long before, the Christian

The Mulberry. 237

era. Horace praises mulberries as immensely conducive
to health if gathered before the heat of the day, and
eaten as dessert after dinner. In Virgil, ^gle, the
playful shepherdess of the sixth Eclogue, paints the
eyelids of the sleeping poet with the purple juice.

When originally brought into England is also unknown.
Seeing that the Anglo-Saxons had a name for it — mor-
beam, literally morus-tree, it may have been introduced
by the Romans, whose appellation would have in the
Saxon a lingering echo. Or as Charlemagne, that great
patron of the useful, ordered it to be grown upon all the
imperial farms, it may have been during his reign, say
about A.D. 812, that this tree was first carried across the
English Channel by Saxon visitors to the Continent.
"Mor" got changed into "mul" by a process of permu-
tation of sounds exceedingly common in the annals of
language ; and " beam " would very naturally, in the case
of a fruit-tree, give place to "berry," though the Saxon is
retained to this day in horn-beam and in white-beam.

The object with Charlemagne in planting his mulberries
was to establish the home-production of silk, by providing
plenty of food for the worm. The effort was imitated by
Henry IV. (of France), and then, immediately, by English
James I., who imported ship-loads of young mulberry-
trees from the Continent, and caused them to be diffused
all over the country. The scheme, like many other plans
laid by the unfortunate first of the Stuarts, died in its
infancy. Praiseworthy, and for a time promising, in the
end it proved utterly unsuccessful. A certain pathetic

238 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

interest clings to the record of it, since of the hundred
thousand young trees said to have been planted in
England, under the royal patronage, it is believed that
some few are still in existence, though decrepit, at Syon,
to wit, and at Oxford. Compared with other edible fruits,
the mulberry is remarkable for the large quantity of its
sugar, being excelled in this respect only by the fig, the
grape, and the cherry. The yield of the fig has just been
mentioned as 60 to 70 per cent The grape contains
10 "6 to 19, and the cherry 1079. Then comes the
mulberry with 9-19, followed by the currant, 6'i, the
strawberry 57, and the raspberry with no more than 4
per cent.

THE PINE-APPLE (Ananas sativa).

THE Pine-apple, like the mulberry, comes of the very
curious coalescence and amalgamation of a large number
of separate and independent fruits, understanding by this
term the ripened ovary, with its adjuncts, of a perfect
and independent flower. As many different flowers go to
the foundation of it as there are "pips" or projections
upon the surface of the mass when mature. The flowers
are three-parted, lavender-blue in colour, and lodged in
the axils of great scales or " bracts," so disposed upon
a fleshy axis as to form a kind of spiral girdle. When
they wither, the ovaries, the bracts, and all other parts
gradually acquire a condition of extreme succulence, and
at last the entire mass becomes consolidated into the great

The Pine- Apple. 239

juicy so-called "apple." In the wild state, seeds are pro-
duced, but under cultivation, owing, it would appear, to
the yet intenser degree of succulence then induced, none
of the ovules ripen. The spiral arrangement of the bracts,
with their flowers, is almost exactly similar to that of the
scales of a fir-cone; spiral flower-girdles, not unlike, occur
also in various Australian Myrtacese, but in the latter
everything remains permanently dry, and there is no
consolidation. The vegetative part of the plant consists
of a great tuft of radical leaves, in substance thick and
leathery, two or three feet long, and two or three inches
broad, edged with short close prickles, sharply pointed,
and in colour somewhat glaucous. The flower-stem
proceeds from the centre of the tuft, and after developing
its spiral girdle of flowers, goes on growing vertically, so
as to produce the elegant tuft or crown of smaller leaves
upon the summit of the fruit. The crown when wrenched
off, and planted in the ground, takes root like the leafy
extremities of shoots called "cuttings." Propagation
may be effected, and very generally is, by means of it,
though more extensively by means of the suckers which
emerge from near the base of the plant, these correspond-
ing, in a certain degree, with the little round progeny that
creep out from the rosette of the houseleek. It happens
sometimes that two crowns are produced j also that the
suckers produce fruit while still attached to the parent ;
and far more curiously that instead of flowers, followed by
" pips," there is an out-growth of a crowd of miniature
suckers. A very beautiful variety with variegated leaves

2 40 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

is grown for decorative use. The name of the fruit was
most naturally suggested by the resemblance it bears in
figure, dimensions, and sculpture, to the cone of the
Pinus Pinea, before the scales have begun to fall asunder.
It had already been given to different kinds of pine and
fir-cones, as in the old verse : —

" Stormes rifest rende
The sturdy, stout pine-apple tre."

The first instance of the current application seems to
be in Parkinson's Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, p. 1626.
Previously it was known as the " ananas," a Portuguese
modification of the Brazilian or Peruvian " nana." It was
from Brazil that the fruit was first brought to Europe, the
native countries being tropical South America, Mexico,
and the West Indies. Oviedo was the first to describe
it, in 1535. After him, we find it mentioned in every
successive writer upon the vegetable productions of South
America. Holland possessed it long before England,
apparently about the middle of the seventeenth century.
Accounts differ as to the time of the exact appearance
in our own country, but it was probably some fifty or
sixty years afterwards. In 1716 Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, dining at a great house in Hanover, saw, she
tells us, what she had never even heard of before, a
pine-apple for the first time.

Long since carried to Asia, in some parts of India the
pine-apple has become widely naturalized, and presents
all the appearance of an indigenous plant. Happy only
where the temperature is very high, almost equatorial,

The Pine- Apple. 241

and requiring a good deal of moisture, the area of the
successful outdoor culture is still somewhat limited.
Hence we hear little or nothing of it from countries
which, although they may be warm enough for it, are
comparatively dry, such as Spain. It does not care,
either, to live above the level of the sea, and mountains
it will have nothing to do with. In the Malayan Archi-
pelago, where all the conditions are favourable, the fruit
attains a prodigious size; the pine-apples of Java and
Sumatra are reputed the best in the world. The cultiva-
tion in the western tropics is now something enormous.
In San Salvador there are fields of pine-apples extend-
ing from twenty-five to sixty acres, every acre yielding,
in good seasons, about eight hundred dozen. In the
Bahamas there are spots where as many as twelve
hundred thousand growing plants can be seen at a single
glance, the ground being covered with them just as in
English farms often with turnips. Great pains are now
taken with the cultivation, because so lucrative an article
for export, and the same in the Azores. The produce of
the islands named has realized very considerable profits
in the English markets, and henceforwards it would seem
that this grand fruit will be placed within the reach of
the poorest of the people. " Pine-apple a penny a slice"
is a cry that carries more than a simple statement of fact
for the time being. The enormous importation has even
now profoundly affected the home-culture. The wealthy
amateur will no doubt continue to grow his own pine-
apples for private pleasure, especially as the imported
21

242 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

fruit, having to be cut before it is quite ripe, so as to
sustain the voyage, can never become a successful rival
of the hothouse product in respect of richness. But
those who raise pine-apples for sale, the dealers and the
fruiterers, find the competition press very heavily. First-
class home-grown pine-apple is still worth five shillings
per pound, but nothing like as many pounds of it are
wanted as in days gone by. Slicing is all well enough for
the streets, but it spoils the fruit when before us on the
table. The legitimate way to eat a pine-apple is to grasp
the stem in the left hand, remove the crown, then, with a
silver fork, to dig out the constituent fruits, as severally
indicated by the sculpture outside, and enjoy them, like
strawberries, without losing a single drop of the juice.
The most approved varieties for English culture are
Queen, Enville, Charlotte Rothschild, and Montserrat.

THE MONSTERA ( Monstera delidosa).

MINGLING, nowadays, with the special favourites of the
warm conservatory, are constantly seen examples of
plants remarkable less for their flowers than for the
grandeur or the rich colouring of their leaves. In the
leaf-beauty of nature as a whole we have a feature
consummately charming, and in variety exhaustless. Still
there are leaves which in artistic qualities eclipse all
others. These, of late years, have come distinctly into
fashion, for there is fashion in gardening as well as in

The Monster a. 243

dress, and the complexion they give at all seasons is,
without question, one of the highest finish, as well as
intensely suggestive to the philosophic mind. One very
marked set of these " foliage-plants " comprises different
species of Anthurium, Pothos, Alocasia, Caladium,
Dieffenbachia, etc., the huge leaves often reminding
one of the shields of the time of the tournaments;
or they are arrow-shaped, and dappled with bright
colours. They represent the great family called the
Aracese, illustrated in England by the little "lords-
and-ladies" of the hedge-bank and shady wood, but
having its chief development in tropical countries. The
flowers, individually, are insignificant, but being aggre-
gated in great numbers into a finger-shaped body called
a " spadix," the latter becomes, usually, conspicuous,
especially if coloured. While young, the spadix is
enclosed in a huge leaf-like cover called the "spathe,"
green, scarlet, purple, or white, and which gradually rolls
back, so as to disclose the "spadix." The fruits are
berry-like and densely crowded; they are often acrid and
poisonous, and must always be regarded with distrust.

Many of the Aracese, denizens of tropical forests, live
a kind of aerial life, scrambling up the trees, and sending
out from their cord-like stems, snaky roots, the thickness
of telegraph wires, and that run to the length of many
yards in search of food and drink. One of them, singular
to say, belongs to the company of the fruiting-plants — an
extraordinary Mexican, common in hothouses, and often
introduced into large ferneries. The older catalogues

244 Fruits and Print-Trees.

call it Philodendron pertusum and Scindapsus pertusus ;
the newer ones, Tornelia fragrans and Monstera delidosa.
The leaves, a yard in length and two feet across, are full
of great holes, quite natural and proper to them, but with
the appearance of having been designedly cut out with
knife or scissors. The spathe is simply astounding, being
quite a foot in length, a beautiful oval cradle, copied,
one might suppose, from some glorious Indian shell,
cream-white, and externally as smooth and soft as satin.
The spadix inside, corresponding in colour, is composed
of several hundred little flowers, spirally disposed, and
that when in perfection become viscid. Coalescing as
they approach maturity, the ovaries form the "fruit,"
which when ripe is twelve or fourteen inches in length, a
couple of inches thick, slightly curved, deep sage-green,
changing to creamy yellow, and giving the idea of a cob
of Indian corn, only that instead of grains there are
hexagonal meshes. The time taken to swell and ripen is
about twelve months. When ready to eat, it diffuses
odour far and wide, not very different from that of
pine-apple; and when placed upon table, behaves like an
enchantress. The meshes, which are the heads of the
ovaries, are easily removed, and then, underneath, there
is a delightful, soft, vinous, aromatic pulp, supported
by the somewhat woody axis of the original "spadix."
Unfortunately the pulp abounds with raphides, little
acicular crystals which cause a pricking sensation in the
mouth and throat; at first not worth mention, but that
does not pass away for several hours. These little

The C^t,stard- Apple. 245

needles would seem to be lodged chiefly just under the
meshes, and to be less troublesome the riper the fruit,
so that by careful removal of the meshes, and not eating
too soon, the annoyance is much lessened. Barring this
drawback, the Monstera makes a very interesting addition
to our list of hothouse fruits. The plant presents, at any
time, a very curious spectacle, alike in the foliage and in
the long-extended searching of its roots for water. It
will grow almost anywhere, but the true place for its
prosperity is over or near a tank, to which the roots
dart as if gifted with instinct. Once in the water, they
produce great circular radiating brushes of rootlets, after
the manner of many true aquatics, then recalling the
beautiful old picture of the thirsty hart.

THE CUSTARD-APPLE (Anona squamosa).

IN the winter there is found in the shops, imported from
Madeira, a curious green fruit resembling an artichoke,
only that the scales are as closely compacted as those of
a young pine-cone. It is about three inches long, and
the same in diameter. Every scale, as in the pine-apple,
represents a distinct ovary. Internally it is a mass of
rather solid pulp, with many rather large black seeds :
the taste is like that of raspberries and cream.

This is the celebrated " Custard-apple," " Sugar-apple,"
or " Sweet-sop " of the tropics. It is produced by a tree
growing about fifteen feet high, with laurel-like foliage,

246 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

and greenish flowers an inch across. A very old inhabi-
tant of our hothouses, with careful management there is
no difficulty in getting it to ripen, if kept in a small pot,
and in a constantly high temperature, with exposure to
all the sunshine that may be possible.

THE BENTHAMIA (Benthamia fragifera ).

THE Benthamia is an evergreen tree of the order Cor-
naceae, introduced in 1825 from Nepal; in Cornwall and
the south of Ireland attaining the stature of twenty to
forty feet, and both when in bloom, at midsummer, and
when the fruit is ripe, in October, presenting one of the
loveliest sights the garden affords. The leaves are oppo-
site, narrow-elliptical, entire, and of a peculiar silvery-grey
colour. The flowers grow in dense round heads, and in
themselves make no show. But, as in many species of
Cornus, they have an involucre of about five cream-white
bracts, strikingly ornamental, not only from the width,
over two inches, but the profusion. The fruits, when
ripe, coalesce into a nearly spherical succulent mass, an
inch and a half or two inches in diameter, of a delicate
yellowish strawberry colour, and elegantly tessellated.
Inside there are as many rather large stones as there
were flowers. The taste is insipid, and not such a.s to
recommend the fruit for table. But it may be susceptible
of improvement. In the presence of objects so beautiful
as a Benthamia in full bearing, one cannot but reflect

The Benthamite. 247

with admiration on that excellent feature of vegetable
life — its willingness to submit to the authority of man.
There is often a sweet and pretty make-believe of delay
and resistance. But seeing what has been accomplished
in converting the crab into the apple, there may be
reason to hope that here too, by-and-by, there will be
translation into graceful and loyal compliance, and the
Benthamia become as good to eat as it is charming in
countenance. At St. Austell the boughs seem as if they
would break down under the weight — the tree thirty-
six feet in height and as much in diameter, the lower
branches resting on the turf.

Chapter Htntlj.

NUTS.

" So rich a shade, so green a sod,
Our English fairies never trod ;
Yet who in Indian bower has stood,
But thought on England's ' good green wood ' ?
And bless'd, beneath the palmy shade,
Her hazel and her hawthorn glade ;
And breathed a prayer (how oft in vain !)
To gaze upon her oaks again ! "

Bishop Heber.

F all the terms applied to parts of plants having
their proximate origin in the flower, the most
comprehensive is NUT. Fruits, in the full
and perfect sense of the word, portions of
fruits, seeds, kernels, all take it in turn to be
called Nuts; and when the esculent kinds
have been counted, there are many more which are
"nuts " only with the botanist. Strictly speaking, nuts

Nuts. 249

are only such fruits as the filbert and the chestnut.
They are always seated in some kind of "cupule" or
cup-like husk; the beau-ideal of the former presenting
itself in the fruit of the oak-tree. Walnuts and coco-
nuts, as placed upon the table, may be compared to plum
and cherry-stones ; juvias and sapucajas are only seeds,
with intensely hard integuments. Charged with carbon
and with oil, nuts are highly nutritious, though with some
persons, on account of the abundance of the oil, not
easily digestible. In addition to their suitableness for
food, and their agreeable flavours, being insusceptible of
bruise or wound, and usually keeping good for a con-
siderable length of time, they have the great advantage
over most of the juicy fruits in allowing of easy transfer
from place to place. In England we are apt to think
of nuts only as pleasant additions to the established bill-
of-fare : many people would never miss them were they
cast out of sight. Very different is it in foreign countries.
No further away than in southern Europe, a staple is
found in the chestnut.

The etymology of the word "nut" is not precisely
determined. It seems to have come from the same
source as "knot," meaning a hard round lump, Latin
nodus. Some botanists extend the name of nut to the
seed-like fruits of the Labiatae, the Boraginaceae, the
Cyperaceae, and the Polygonacese. Popularly, it is
applied also, after the manner of the French pomme to
the potato, to various tuber-like parts of plants, as when
we speak of pig-nuts, the tubers of the Bunium flexuosum.

2K

250 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

In North America the Apios tuberosa is called the earth-
nut. The absurdly so-named " Zulu-nuts" of the shops
are the tubers of the Cyperus esculentus.

THE HAZEL-NUT (Cory Ins Avellana).

THE simple mention of this pretty name brings with it an
odour of bygone romance. It goes shares, in association,
with that of the blackberry, carrying one back to days
long since left in the rear, those shining ones when life
seemed to offer no greater blessedness than the filling
one's satchel with the brown gold ; the holidays, sweet
September afternoons, which, after all, it is quite possible,
though forty years have sped away, to renew to one's self
in other fashion. For holidays are not made by statute
or the time-table, but come from within — tranquil realiza-
tions to one's spirit of the much-contenting fact that joy
and repose are found not in places, but in persons, the
nuts now transmuted, perchance, into bryony, the black-
berries into lotus or " listening wheat." No pleasures are
so sincere and so enduring as those which come late in
life through renewal of one's youth under the agency of
a happy direction of heart, nor are any so thankfully
enjoyed.

A moment's pause, and then, like Disraeli, with the
mention of the hazel, we are back among our first-known
poets, the inestimable friends from whom we learned how
to feel and to see : —

The Hazel-Nitt. 251

"Kate, like the hazel- twig,
Is straight and slender ; and as brown in hue,
As hazel-nuts, and sweeter than the kernels."

Are we to think of Baptista's shrewish daughter as gipsy-
faced ? Was she another " Nut-brown mayde," that faith-
ful creature to whom good fortune and evil were alike
indifferent, so that she could share the fate of the man
she loved, even in the wilderness ? Never mind. We
should gain nothing if we knew. To Petruchio it was
enough that she was Kate. To the man who loves,
whatever the colours, they are the right ones.

The hazel-nut is diffused, as a wild and indigenous
plant, all over Europe and Central and Russian Asia,
growing spontaneously in woods and thickets, and fond,
specially, of dingles and tree-clad ravines. Able to
become a small tree, still it is seldom anything more than
a great bush, many long and flexible stems arising from
the base. The leaves are roundish ovate, deeply serrate,
and usually provided with a point, developed not as
usually in leaves, but suddenly and abruptly. The centre
of the blade often bears an irregular purplish spot ; in
autumn, before falling, the foliage changes to a fine light
yellow.

None of our native fruit-trees are more interesting in
regard to their flowers, these being monoecious, and
developed long before the leaves. The stamens are
contained in catkins, put forth as far back as September,
while the nuts of the current year are scarcely ripe. By
Christmas they become conspicuous, and in February

252 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

they attain their full length, two or three inches, and then
hang from the bare brown branches in the most beautiful
manner, heralds of the coltsfoot and the crocus. On a
fine sunny forenoon,

" While yet the wheaten blade
Scarce shoots above the new-fall'n shower of snow,"

a hazel-nut in a youthful wood presents one of the
loveliest spectacles then afforded by awakening nature.
Every catkin is ready with its pollen, and a slight shake
brings down a mist of glittering particles. The female
flowers, contained in minute lateral buds, are indicated
by their tufts of protruding crimson stigmas. Shortly
after fertilization there is a very curious change. The
bud grows out into a shoot, carrying the rudiments of the
nut at the apex. The nuts are thus projected to a
distance of several inches from the point where they were
generated. While they are forming, the minute scales
which enclosed the pistils, enlarge, and at length we have
the husk or "involucre" of the nut. Another curious
fact in the history of the development of the nut is that
it seems to come impromptu. The infants never show
themselves.

Under cultivation there have arisen many varieties.
Foremost among these is the Filbert, Corylus Avellana,
var. tubulosa, distinguished by the great elongation of the
nut, with corresponding enlargement of the involucre.
In one of the sub-varieties, called the Red filbert, the
pellicle which covers the kernel is crimson-red; in another,
called the Cosford, the shell is remarkably thin, and

The Filbert. 253

elegantly striated. The next best, the Cob-nut, Corylus
Avellana, var. grandis, is marked by its short and ovoid
figure and very thick shell. To get good crops the trees
must not be left to themselves. An excellent mode of
culture, practised in Kent, is to rear the plant, in the first
instance, from a sucker, allow it to grow without restraint
for three years, then to cut it down to within a few inches
of the ground. New and vigorous shoots are soon pro-
duced; these are shortened to a third of their length, and
a hoop is placed inside, to which the shoots are made fast,
the result being the formation of a goblet, seldom more
than six feet high, of the same diameter, and very fruitful.
The cultivated varieties are apt to be deficient in catkins.
Hence, when the bushes are in bloom, it is useful to cut
branches loaded with catkins from the wild hazel, and to
suspend them in such a way that the pollen may fall
upon the awaiting stigmas. Both in the wild and the
cultivated plant the catkins of the Avellana are prone
to be ready to discharge their pollen before the pistils
make their appearance. This would seem to indicate
that a degree of temperature lower than is needed by the
female flowers suffices for the staminate ones. When
the spring becomes suddenly warm, it is very interesting
to observe how much less time intervenes between the
full development of the two forms of flower, the staminate
and the female, and how much heavier is the subsequent
crop of fruit.

Besides the Avellana, we have in cultivation in Eng-
land, as a curiosity, the Byzantine or Constantinople hazel,

254 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Corylus Colurna^ a plant very different, since in the
Levant it often grows sixty feet high. The leaves are
softer and more angular ; the catkins are longer and very
handsome; the involucres are deeply laciniated and
fringed, and the points are recurved. Fine old speci-
mens of the Colurna, the source of the " Smyrna nuts "
of commerce, may be seen at Kew, at Syon, and in the
Oxford Botanic Garden. Another species, the Algerian
hazel, Corylus Algertensis, from the Atlas mountains,
produces a singularly large, full, and well-flavoured nut,
and well deserves to be made an object of culture.

The best of the imported hazel-nuts are the " Black
Spanish." The "Barcelonas" have been submitted to
the operation of kiln-drying, and are thus much spoiled
in flavour, though allowing of being kept longer. The
latter come chiefly from Catalonia, a province of eastern
Spain. So prolific are the trees in that country, that a
nut-wood has been known to afford sixty thousand bushels
in a single season. Hazel-nuts are received also from
Italian and other Mediterranean ports, the total quantity,
it is estimated, approaching three hundred thousand
bushels annually.

Over the derivation of the various names there hangs
considerable uncertainty. "Corylus" occurs in Ovid,
and the adjective derived from it, columns, in Virgil.
"Avellana" is from an ancient geographical name.
"Hazel" is Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian. "Filbert,"
in the face of various conjectures, still waits satisfactory
explanation.

The Chestnut. 255

THE SWEET OR SPANISH CHESTNUT

(Castanea vesca).

THE Sweet Chestnut, called also the "Spanish" because
the best of the imported fruit comes from Spain, counts
with the world's vegetable patricians ; it is noble in aspect,
generous in deed, long-lived as Hope. One of the very
oldest trees in Britain of any description now existing is
a chestnut — that famous one at Tortworth, Gloucester-
shire, which began to put forth its leaves in the Saxon
times, saw the Danes come and go, and the Normans
arrive, and which to all appearance intends to maintain,
for many years, the viridis senectus always so delightful to
contemplate alike in man and the forest monarchs. The
Tortworth chestnut is called by this name in a boundary
description of A.D. 1135. The trunk of the original tree
is hollow and much decayed, but around it have sprung up
so many stout suckers, that, like the phoenix of antiquity,
it may be said to have risen again out of its own ashes.
The circumference, at three feet from the ground, is about
fifty feet, or seventeen yards ; the spread of the branches,
either way, is eighty-six feet. Flowers still come out on
the upper branches. We never grow too old to partake
of noble enjoyments : after the same manner, it seems as
if not only the chestnut, but the old tree of any kind,
never becomes too weak to produce flowers bright as those
of its youth. The Tortworth chestnut is probably the first
tree that was ever planted in this country by man. There

256 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

may be yews of greater age, and perhaps oaks, but the
latter would be self-sown, or the acorn would be hidden
in the earth by some provident squirrel; and the old
yews arose in all likelihood from berries eaten by Saxon
thrushes : the Tortworth chestnut came in any case from
a human hand, no trees of its kind having existed in our
island before the time of its occupation by the Romans.
There are plenty of other grand chestnuts in England.
Throughout the whole of the charming tract of hill and
valley lying between Redhill and Guildford, chestnuts
are quite at home. In that portion of the domain at
Goodwood which once formed a separate park, attached
to Halnake House (now a ruin), there are chestnuts with
a girth of eighteen to twenty feet. Similar trees may be
seen at Dartington Hall, near Totnes : in Windsor Forest
there is one that at a yard from the ground measures
over thirty-four feet.

Asia Minor seems to have been the region from which,
in ancient times, this tree was originally conveyed to
Europe. Certainly it existed there in plenty in the time
of Xenophon, since chestnuts were the food of his entire
army during the retreat along the borders of the Euxine.
Possibly it may have grown spontaneously also in south-
eastern Europe. How far westwards it may have
extended, there is no evidence to show. For centuries
it has now constituted entire woods in many of the
mountainous parts of southern Europe, reaching through
Dalmatia, Italy, the south of France, and Spain, even
into Portugal. In Germany, also, there are extensive

The Chestnut. 257

chestnut forests. Some again of the finest in the world
are found in the island of Corsica, where the rich and
fertile central zone which reaches from the base of the
mountains to the coast, is known as La Castaginicia, or
the "chestnut-land." The highest elevation at which the
chestnut occurs is upon Mount Etna, where there are
some fine trees at a point not much short of four thou-
sand feet above the sea-level. It was from the ancient
Pontic city of Kastanea that the tree received its name.

Northern China and Japan are also possessed of the
chestnut, though in the last-named country the foliage is
so variable that Blume considered it a distinct species,
bestowing the name of C. Japonica. The markets of
Hong Kong and Canton, near which city the tree is
largely cultivated, are as well supplied with chestnuts as
those of London. Mr. Fortune tells us that there are
two different sorts, a large one, quite equal in quality to
the Spanish, and a small one, about the size of a hazel-
nut. Under a scarcely different form, the chestnut exists
also in North America, whence the fruit is sometimes
imported in small quantities.

No tree growing out-of-doors in England is more
easily distinguished than the chestnut. The leaves are
six to twelve inches long, symmetrically lanceolate,
glabrous on both surfaces, and provided with strong
veins that reach from the midrib to the margin, beyond
which they extend as prickles. The flowers come at
midsummer, and, as in the hazel, are of distinct sexes.
The staminate ones constitute those innumerable erect

2L

258 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

and slender clusters, six to eight inches in length, which,
when the tree is in full bloom, make it seem overlaid with
straw-coloured lacework or embroidery, visible across the
greensward, and delightful to look at, as far as the eye
can reach, lovelier still when seen beyond smooth water,
as at Crewe Hall. The female flowers are green and
sessile, and enveloped in filiform bracts, which, coalescing,
form the husk or involucre. In course of time, the woody
fibres partially disengage themselves, gradually enlarge,
and at last become those curious spiny tufts which
render the chestnut a veritable noli-me-tangere. Many
ovules are embedded in the ovary-cells while young,
and sometimes as many as six or seven will grow ripe,
but usually only two or three come to perfection, and
frequently there is only one, then of matronly fulness of
outline. When three ripen, the middle one is flattened
upon each side. The withered styles remain upon the
summit, proving every individual chestnut to be a genuine
" fruit," and not a mere " seed." A nut-like seed is at
any time distinguishable from a genuine fruit, by having
only one scar — this, at the base, where it was attached to
the lining of the ovary : a true fruit is always told by
having two scars, the basal, and another at the summit,
the relics of the style or stigma. Omit not to pass the
finger over the lining of the involucre when the chestnuts
have fallen out ; no satin was ever so soft : a very lovely
feature of all the works of God is that they are finished
as exquisitely upon the inside as well as the outside, often
more so.

The Chestmit. 259

The chestnut, when ripe, possesses a fine creamy
flavour. Roasted, it becomes almost aromatic. The scent
is then the key to another of the treasured recollections of
the lang syne, for now we have before us the Christmas of
the olden time, the home-circle round the ruddy fire, the
chestnuts, carefully crossed with the knife, so that they
shall not burst and tumble into the ashes, steaming in
their joyous rows upon the well-swept bars. Of all
known nuts, this one is the most farinaceous and the
least oily, hence more easy of digestion than any other.
To mountaineers it is invaluable, serving where the
cereals cannot be cultivated, as a capital substitute for
wheat. On the Apennines and the Pyrenees, the chest-
nut-harvest is the event of the year. Walk which way
you will during October in their lofty woods, companies
of women and girls are busy, bags made of sack-cloth
slung around their waists, and in their hands rough
wooden pincers, with which they open the thorny cases.
Now comes to their aid some strong and friendly man,
who mounts into the nearest tree, beating down the fruit,
which falls in showers. All day the whole party keep at
work, then at eve move homewards, unsubdued by their
loads, carried often upon the head, for these peasant
women of the mountain-forests have about them a rich
and almost Roman ease of strength, fascinating to con-
template, and are proud of their powers. The chestnut-
harvest lasts for about three weeks. When all has been
got indoors, the fruit is spread upon a frame of lattice-
work overhead, and a fire kept burning underneath.

260 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

When dry it is boiled, or steamed, or roasted, according
to taste and desire, or ground into a kind of flour, of
which puddings are made, and an excellent description
of bread. A portion of the stock is kiln-dried, so as to
be kept in reserve in case of scarcity. Analysis of the
Italian chestnut-cakes, called need, shows them to contain
no less than 40 per cent, of nutritious matters soluble
in cold water, a circumstance which seems to recom-
mend chestnut-flour, properly prepared, as a very eligible
children's food. A very nice way to dress chestnuts is
to boil them for twenty minutes, and then place them for
five minutes more in a Dutch-oven,

Our market supplies are drawn from Spain, Italy, and
France, this to the extent of many thousands of tons
annually. The earliest to appear are usually English,
but in England this fruit ripens well and plentifully only
when the summer is exceptionally warm.

Edible nuts are yielded also by the Castanea chryso-
phylla, from the Pacific coast of North America. Apart
from its value as a fruit-tree, no plant of recent introduc-
tion is more desirable for ornamental purposes, especially
for isolation upon the lawn. The leaves, four or five
inches long, are covered on the under-surface with golden-
yellow powder, reminding one of the " golden ferns " of
the hothouse-fernery, thus presenting a combination of
colours rarely seen in tree-foliage, and singularly effective
when the boughs are swayed by the wind. The chryso-
phylla has the great merit, also, of being evergreen. In
California it is often only a bush, but it can attain, as

The Walnut. 261

it does also in Oregon, the stature of thirty up to
a hundred feet, In England the great merits of this
beautiful tree are only beginning to be realized. Time
will show what it may become as regards chestnuts.

THE WALNUT (Juglans regia).

THE Walnut-tree, like the chestnut, is a forest-patrician,
supplying not only an admirable fruit, but presenting in
mien and figure the highest type of beauty, grandeur
without ostentation, simplicity without defect, grace and
truthfulness intermarried. In the landscape the walnut
is always a tree of mark. In substance and in crown it
is a fit associate of oaks and elms. While the foliage is
young it supplies, in the peculiar warmth of its hue, a
delightful foil to that of other trees. The great pinnate
leaves, formed of five to nine ovate leaflets, are so
smooth and glossy as to be washed clean by every shower.
They abound in an aromatic secretion which renders
them proof against the attacks of insects ; when slightly
rubbed they evolve a rich balsamic odour — the quality,
so excellent wherever found, which probably recom-
mended the walnut to King Solomon, so distinguished
alike for his magnificence, his enterprise as a horticulturist,
and his love of perfumes. " I made me," says the old
monarch, " gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in
them of all kinds of fruit" (Eccles. ii. 5). The "garden

262 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

of nuts," specialized elsewhere (Song, vi. 2), seems clearly
to have been one of walnuts, 'eghoz, the Hebrew word,
anticipating the subsequent use by the Greeks and
Romans, of mpvov and nux} which terms, when employed
without an adjective, always meant the walnut, the nut
par excellence. The walnut has the further recommenda-
tion of never giving a shade so dense as to do harm to
the grass below ; and of never being so thick in foliage
as to hinder the descent of the rain, so that there is no
tree under which grass will grow more freely. The tap-
root is usually strong, and gives the tree a powerful hold
upon the soil, so that it is less liable to be torn up by
tempests than any other. The preacher who takes for
his text Prov. xii. 3, " The root of the righteous shall not
be moved," could not do better than adduce the walnut
as nature's own illustration of perennial steadfastness.
Prudent and wary as to frost, it is one of the last trees to
come in leaf; sensitive when the cold returns, it is soon
dismantled again. So weighty is the produce that the
yield of fruit in good seasons is enough to pay the rent
of the land in which the tree is anchored ; and with trees
of four-score it would be possible to purchase the free-
hold. Unlike almost all other fruit-trees, the walnut has
the final merit of furnishing valuable timber.

The native countries of the walnut begin with Persia
and Armenia, and extend thence to the Himalayas. It
abounds especially in Cashmere ; in Asia Minor and in
Greece it looks like a native. When carried westwards
is not known. A tree in every way so worthy could not

The Walnut. 263

fail to attract the notice of the early cultivators of plants,
and in all likelihood it had reached Italy long before the
beginning of the Christian era. The Romans called it by
the name still allowed to this tree by science— faglans,
literally "Jupiter's Nut," under which appellation there
are allusions to the fruit in their literature^ though the
usual terms are nux and mtces. Ovid has left us a
charming little poem, " Nux Elegia," " the Plaint of the
Walnut-tree," in which he represents it as protesting
against men's unkindness, being pelted with stones and
beaten with sticks, in return for the munificence with
which it bestows its milk-white produce.

The introduction into Britain is almost certainly attri-
butable to the Romans, though the name it has always
borne in this country is Germanic, coming from the
Anglo-Saxon wealh-knut, literally " foreign-nut," i.e. the
exotic or beyond-seas nut, in comparison with the indige-
nous hazel. No exotic tree ever took more kindly to
British soil and the British climate. In the south it
occurs not only in pleasure-grounds and gardens, but by
the waysides, especially in retired villages. In the north
it is rather rare, and found chiefly near old halls. At
Mentmore, the palatial seat of the late Baron Mayer de
Rothschild, now of Lord Rosebery, there is a walnut
nearly seventy feet high, the girth, at four feet from the
ground, three yards, and the circumference of the spread
of the branches two hundred and seventy feet. One at
Downland House, Liphook, Hants, has a circumference
of spread exceeding three hundred feet. Very handsome

264 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

walnuts, of vast dimensions, may be seen also in Scot-
land, as at Edmonstone, near Edinburgh; Gordon Castle,
Banffshire; Blair Drummond, Perthshire; and Eccles,
Dumfriesshire. Seedlings begin to bear at ten years old,
and every year, as it approaches maturity, like the orange,
this tree increases in fecundity. How long it can live is
not known, but the potential longevity is certainly very
great. In the Baidar Valley, near Balaclava, in the
Crimea, there is, or was recently, a walnut believed to be
a thousand years old.

The flowers of the walnut-tree, like those of the hazel
and the chestnut, are of separate sexes. The staminate
ones form large, green, massive, very handsome, pendu-
lous catkins; the females, two or four together, are sessile
at the ends of young shoots, and have beautiful recurving
styles. They accompany the young foliage, and are in
perfection about the time of the blooming of the purple
rhododendron.

Who is there that has not noticed the singular love of
rooks for things that men like, and their neglect of things
that men neglect? The love of the nut-hatch for the
fruit of the hazel is well known ; so is that of the cross-
beak for the pine-cone; the rook has no less earnest
an affection for the walnut. As soon as there is a kernel
worth eating, the rook finds it out. While upon the tree
the bird is powerless, so brings it to the ground. It has
not the power, either, to break the shell when hardened ;
it goes to those nuts only which are sufficiently soft to be
penetrated.

The Hickory -Niit. 265

Many varieties of the walnut exist — one, very orna-
mental, with the leaflets finely laciniated ; another, called
from its weeping habit, pendula. In the fruit, also, there
is diversity. The variety macrocarpa, or " double French,"
ripening well near London, and fetching six shillings per
dozen in the markets, furnishes the handsome shells used
in France for making ladies' glove-cases, and by the jewel-
lers for jewel-caskets. The " Titmouse walnut " is that
pretty tender-shelled one so greatly appreciated by the
titmice. Having either more skill or a lighter task than
the rooks, they pierce the husks and shells while the fruit
is still seated upon the bough, eating the contents then
and there, and leaving the residue behind. The titmouse
walnut is the most delicate of all sorts ; it is more oily
and keeps longer, but the produce of the tree is less
abundant. The import of walnuts, which takes place
chiefly from France and Holland, is believed -to be about
eighty thousand bushels per annum.

THE HICKORY-NUT AND THE PECUAN-NUT.

IN the shops are commonly seen the nuts produced by
two other species of the Juglandaceae — Hickory-nuts,
furnished by the Gary a alba, and Pecuan-nuts, the fruit
of the Gary a olivctformis. The Caryas, ten in all, are
deciduous trees of the banks of the Ohio, the Mississippi,
and other great North American rivers, growing also

2M

266 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

throughout the Alleghanies, attaining the stature of sixty
to ninety feet j the trunks slender, though able to acquire
a girth of twelve feet ; the pinnate leaves never less than
twelve, and often twenty inches long. Being very orna-
mental, they may be met with now and then in parks
and arboretums in the south.

The Hickory-nut, as exposed for sale, is told at once
by its form and very light colour. It is smaller than
even a moderately sized walnut, imperfectly globular,
with three or four strong longitudinal ridges. The shell
is extremely hard ; when got at, the kernel is remarkably
sweet, the finest in flavour of any of its race.

The Pecuan-nut, also called the pecan, pacane, and
Illinois nut, and most inconsistently, in the shops, the
"Japanese walnut," is oblong, not unlike a common
English acorn, of a light reddish-brown colour, and
with a shell only just too hard and thick to be crushed
between the fingers. The kernel of this one is also very
good.

THE BUTTER-NUT.

OF the genus Juglans there are six or seven North
American species, in addition to the renowned regia of
the eastern world ; and some of these yield eatable but
inferior nuts. The only one of which we ever see the
produce exhibited in England is the Black Walnut,
Juglans nigra, the nuts being occasionally ripened in the

Palms. 267

southern counties, and sometimes, to a small extent,
imported. Externally, the Black walnut is double the
size of the genuine, but the kernel is much smaller in
proportion, and more oily, as expressed in the popular
name " Butter-nut." The nuts of the Juglans cmerea,
often sent to England as a curiosity, are oblong-ovoid,
very rough with prominent and irregular longitudinal
ridges, and acutely pointed at the upper extremity.

THE COCO-NUT (Cocos nucifera),

THE number of coco-nuts now annually imported amounts
to about three millions. They come chiefly from Jamaica,
British Guiana, and Honduras; some, also, from the west
coast of Africa. Nearly all are retained for home con-
sumption ; the confectioners use a few \ in the fresh state
no fruit brought from a foreign country is destined so
emphatically, not for grown people, but for the children.
The tree producing this famous nut is one of the
splendid order called the Palms, by Linnaeus styled the
Princes of the vegetable kingdom — plants in the aggre-
gate of their fine characters truly royal, and in the
aggregate of their varied usefulness unrivalled. Instead
of possessing boughs, twigs, and innumerable leaves,
usually small, the palm is a living pillar, slender, cylindri-
cal, and erect, and capable of attaining, in one species
or another, the stature of sixty, eighty, a hundred, even

268 Fruits and Fru it- Trees.

a hundred and ninety feet. Not a single sideways shoot
ever breaks the upward line till the summit is reached,
and then at last we have the leaves — leaves as large as
branches, and constituting a prodigious and evergreen
crown. Usually they are pinnate, sometimes fan-shaped ;
when pinnate, the exterior half-dozen are prone to arch
elegantly outwards and downwards. New leaves are con-
stantly rising from the centre of the crown. The older
ones die, though slowly, and the young ones take their
places, the column, under the hands of its green artificers,
steadily ascending with measured and majestic pace. To
a European visiting any tropical country where palm-
trees grow, the spectacle of a palm-grove, or even of a
single palm, is always one of supreme interest and attrac-
tiveness. The great radiating coronet of leaves and the
lofty pillar stand out so distinctly from all surrounding
vegetation as to catch the eye at once. The flowers of
the palm-trees are fashioned upon much the same plan
as those of lilies. Individually they are trifling and
unattractive, but the abundance is so vast that a cluster
contains, in many kinds, hundreds, and even thousands.
The bunches are developed from the very apex of the
stem, sometimes standing erect, and constituting an im-
mense thyrsus ; more usually hanging down from among
the bases of the leaf-stalks. In respect of their fruit the
palms vary more than in any other particular ; the pre-
vailing disposition is towards the hard and nut-like;
sometimes it is soft and succulent. In point of habita-
tion they are essentially tropical plants, though a few

Palms. 269

occur in temperate latitudes. In hot countries they take
the place in the landscape which in cold countries is
held by the Conifers. The frontiers of their respective
empires now and then overlap, but each race, in respect
of the other, stands proudly aloof. Hence these splendid
plants are in England seldom seen out of conservatories.
One or two of the minor kinds, Spanish and Japanese
species of Chamaerops, with fan-shaped leaves, are hardy
enough to endure the open air north of the Channel,
and many kinds do well in the temperature of the
dwelling-house, but most of them require summer warmth.
Even when sheltered by glass, as at Kew and Chats-
worth, palms under cultivation give but a faint idea
of the grandeur they acquire in the lands where it is
" always afternoon." The supreme comfort to the culti-
vator is that they are cheerful at all seasons, and that
being strongly knit, and having leaves of dry and rigid
texture, they can live and thrive where many less glorious
things would speedily perish. Not that all palms attain
the stature above-mentioned. In many species a stem is
scarcely developed. These suggest the idea rather of
certain kinds of ferns, and while young are consummately
beautiful objects for indoor decoration. So, indeed, are
the loftiest, while striplings : a young palm well chosen as
to kind, is an object never out of place, never incon-
sistent or superfluous. Of all plants known to Botany,
young palms compare the best with the white marble
goddesses that tell of the piety of twenty-five hundred
years ago.

2 7o Friiits and Fruit- Trees.

The Coco-nut palm attains the height of sixty to a
hundred feet ; the pinnate leaves are about twenty feet in
length, and sixteen to twenty in number. The flowering
branches are five or six feet long, enclosed while young
in a great sheath or " spathe." A bunch of nuts is pro-
duced every month, so that ten or twelve are generally to
be seen upon the tree at once, every bunch consisting of
eight or nine up to twenty. The production commences
when the tree is about eight years old, and continues
for seventy or eighty years. In its perfect state the fruit
is a brown three-cornered lump, larger than a man's head,
about half of it consisting of fibrous husk, in the heart of
which, nearer to the lower extremity, is lodged the nut.
In the rudimentary state the ovary is three-celled. A
memorandum of this is preserved in the corresponding
number of scar-like depressions at the extremity of the
shell ; one of them soft, and allowing of penetration with
the knife, so that we can draw off the milk without crack-
ing the shell; the other two hard and impervious. That
such is the real history becomes quite plain on comparing
the coco-nut with its near ally, the coquilla-nut (the fruit
of the Attalea funifera), this being either three-celled, or
two-celled, or only one-celled. In estimating the so-
called "uses" of natural productions, we should always
remember that the true idea of use is threefold. First
there is the animal use, in which the brutes go shares
with ourselves. Then the charming usefulness realized
only by the heart and the intellect, the use of beauty.
Lastly, there is the supreme usefulness subserved, as

The Coco- Nut. 271

in the present instance, by the coquilla-nut, i.e. that of
being an Interpreter, helping us to resolve problems
and enigmas.

The three scars suggested the name borne by the
coco-nut. This is often said to be "derived from the
Spanish name of the monkey, because of a fancied resem-
blance to the head and face of that animal." But coco
is not Spanish for " monkey." The primary sense of the
word is that of an ugly bugbear, of any kind, adapted to
frighten children, the meaning it still holds in Portuguese.
The application to the nut dates from the time of the
original visits to India by the Portuguese, as described
in the celebrated " History of the Conquests of Portugal
in Asia and Africa," by Joao de Barros, the first volume
of which was published in 1552.* The addition of a
final a, needless and improper, came of confusion of coco
with cacao, the native name of the beverage-plant, now
also corrupted into " cocoa."

The "milk," so called, is a portion of the natural
albumen of the nut, unconverted into white kernel.
During the germination of the embryo, which is lodged
in the soft scar, it becomes entirely absorbed, the cavity
of the nut then becoming almost filled with a curious
egg-shaped body, spongy and uneatable. It is well,
perhaps, sometimes not to know too much. Coco-nut
milk, as we have it in England, is little better than a weak
mockery of the delicious crystalline liquor it is in the
tropics. There it is called coco-nut water; it is resorted

*Dec. III., book 3, chap. vii.

272 Fruits and Friiit- Trees.

to as the most refreshing of forenoon beverages, and (at
all events in the West Indies) is employed by the ladies
as a cosmetic. They believe that bathing the cheeks in
this more than Castalian spring restores the freshness and
bloom of youth. Alas for Rejuvenescence, if it is to be
found only in the juice of a palm-nut !

The original seats of the growth of the coco-palm
appear to have been the south of Asia and the islands of
the Indian Archipelago. Thence it has made its way to
every part of the littoral of the tropics, conveyed, doubt-
less, in great measure, by the waves. The peculiar nature
of the fibrous envelope, and the thickness of the shell,
enable the nut to remain in salt water for considerable
periods without any injury accruing to the germ. The
triangular form, a keel always undermost, facilitates the
sailing. Once afloat it never rests, tossing about until
cast ashore ; then, if the landing-place be congenial, it at
once takes root, and a new province is soon added to the
broad dominions. Let us not forget that this throwing
ashore comes of the intense and everlasting love of
cleanliness on the part of the ocean. Emblem of the
Infinite, type of all that is supreme, it refuses to tolerate
the least atom of impurity ; the simplest relic of weed or
straw is cast far as it can reach ; even the coco-nut is
allowed only on sufferance, and must go. Like the sea-
convolvulus and the eryngo, the coco-palm is essentially
a sub-maritime plant. It will grow inland and even
thrive ; but never is it so happy as when near the sea. In
the Indian islands, the smaller and lower they are, thus

The Coco- Nut. 273

the more open to the sea-breeze, the more extensively
does it prevail, and the more powerfully attract the
attention of approaching voyagers. In some parts of
Trinidad, all along the shore, in the very sand of the
beach, it constitutes an almost continuous fringe or
border. Ceylon is perhaps the most distinguished of the
many abiding places of the coco-nut, in respect of the
immensity of the number of trees. Meyen tells us that
" in the south of Ceylon there is a forest of the coco-palm
which stretches along the sea-shore for twenty-six English
miles, is several leagues broad, and contains about eleven
millions of full-grown trees." * Here they grow so near
to the sea, as to be often washed by the surf. In this
loveliest of islands, the Isle of Wight of Hindostan, the
coco-palm is a domesticated tree. The natives have a
saying that to ensure its prosperity, you must walk under
it, and talk under it, the sense being that it needs guard-
ing, since, otherwise, in the wilder parts of the country,
it is sure to be thrown down by the elephants. In
Queensland, on the Pioneer river, upon a low-lying sandy
seaside deposit, there is a grove of planted coco-palms,
so verdant and so promising that the colonists look upon
it as if on the discovery of a new gold-mine.

Eminently nutritious, it may be worth mentioning that
coco-nut kernel, broken up small, makes not only very
palatable little biscuits and macaroons, but the kind of
tart that invites one to come again.

*" Outlines of the Geography of Plants," Ray Society, 1846,
P- 332-

2N

2 74 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

The coco-palm exists in English hothouses, but,
although easily raised from the nut, especially from one
that has begun to germinate while upon the voyage, it is
difficult to preserve beyond eight or ten years. Two fine
young plants at Kew give better promise than usual. At
Syon, in 1863, a ripe nut was obtained, this by means
of hand-fertilization.

JUVIAS (Bertholettia excelsa).

JUVIAS, in the shops commonly called "Brazil-nuts,"
sometimes " Para-nuts," and in their native country also
" Castanha-nuts," are the produce of one of the most
majestic trees of the South American tropical forests.
The stature attained is from a hundred to a hundred and
fifty feet ; the smooth and cylindrical trunk is two, three,
or four feet in diameter, and nearly bare till near the
top, where it distributes its magnificent crown of boughs.
The leaves, crowded at the extremities of the branches,
are about two feet long, and six inches in width, bright
green above, inclined to be silvery below. The cream-
coloured flowers, formed of six unequal petals, are
followed, not by the nuts, as exhibited for sale, but by
globular capsules, resembling cannon-balls, six to twelve
inches in diameter. Inside of these, the so-called " nuts,"
properly the seeds, are arranged after the manner of the
carpels of an orange, only that there are two distinct
tiers of them, an upper and a lower, the sharp extremities

Jiivias. 275

neatly dove-tailing, and the entire mass forming a sphere.
There are generally, in all, about eighteen to twenty-four.
When ripe, the capsules drop from the trees, and are
collected in heaps by the natives, who call themselves
castanheiros, and with whom the annual gathering is like
the harvest of corn-countries or the vintage of the wine-
lands. They often tell of the dangers they run of a
fractured skull through the unlooked-for descent of one
of these vegetable aerolites. Laet, in a geographical
work published in 1633, in which the first mention of this
fruit appears, says that when the falling is thick and fast,
the men protect their heads with a sort of wooden helmet.
The pericarps being intensely hard require to be broken
open with an axe; the seeds are then despatched by
canoe to Para" (the chief city or port of the Amazon,
seventy or eighty miles up the stream), and thence they
eventually get transmitted to Europe and the United
States. The entire cargo of vessels of considerable
burthen often consists wholly of juvias. The annual
import into our own country is about six hundred and fifty
tons. The kernel of the juvia is a very wholesome one.
When fresh, it is as good as the best Jordan almond, and
may be partaken of, in moderation, by the most delicate.
Nothing in nature gives a better idea of the energy of
vegetable life in the tropics than is supplied by these
wonderful capsules, often casually imported with the
nuts. In fifty or sixty days a shell is formed harder
than the hardest timber ever produced in temperate
countries in years.

276 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

SAPUCAJAS (Lecythis Zabucajo).

IN the fruit-shops are often seen baskets of nuts, about
two inches in length, three quarters of an inch wide in
the middle, slightly curved, irregularly grooved, pale
brown, and bluntly pointed. These are Sapucajas. The
shell is brittle, and easily broken, allowing of easy
extraction of the pale-brown kernel, the flavour of which
is mild, mellow, somewhat creamy, very pleasant, and by
many persons considered superior to that of the juvia.
The sapucaja is believed also to be more digestible ; it is
certainly a much worthier fruit for the table.

The tree producing the sapucaja is, like the Bertho-
lettia, one of the forest-ornaments of tropical South
America, growing especially in Venezuela, Guiana, and
Brazil. The trunk attains the height of eighty to ninety
feet, and is covered with hard rough bark, like that of
the oak; the flowers and the huge and glossy leaves in
figure resemble those of the Bertholettia ; the seed-pod
(for sapucajas, like juvias, are not "nuts," but only
seeds) is an extraordinary kind of urn, a foot in depth,
and in the middle six or seven inches in diameter • the
substance so hard as to be beyond the power of any
hammer to affect, When ripe, it opens naturally by
cracking all round near the summit, so that the upper
fourth or fifth portion of the urn drops off like a lid, and
the seeds, the sapucajas, tumble out. The idea is deli-
cately anticipated in the seed-pods of several of our little

The Cashew-Nut. 277

English wild-flowers, as the scarlet pimpernel and the
wayside plantains, so true is it that no marvel of the far-
away is without a presignifying miniature in Old England.
The sapucajas exposed for sale all come from Para".

The first mention of the Lecythis and its wonderful
urn appears in Piso's "Account of the Medicinal and
other Plants of Brazil," published at Leyden, in 1648.
After that it seems to have been left unnoticed by
travellers till the time of Aublet, who, in 1775, gives
some particulars in the " Histoire des Plantes de la
Guiane Fran£aise," and names the tree " Lecythis grandi-
flora." Another species, the Lecythis Ollaria, is in most
respects similar to the Zabucajo, but the kernels are not
so palatable, leaving in the mouth a sense of bitterness.
It was upon this one that Linnaeus would seem to have
founded the genus, ollarius being the Latin word for
anything made or kept in a " pot," the special feature of
the plant as made known to him by the writings of Piso.
Miers, in his monograph of the order to which these
trees belong, the Lecythidacese, distinguishes the Bertho-
lettia by the name of nobilis, and the sapucaja-tree as
Lecythis usitata.

THE CASHEW-NUT (Anacardium occidental).

THE Cashew-nut is produced by a tree usually about
sixteen feet in stature, in general appearance not unlike a
walnut, and growing spontaneously, in great abundance,

278 Fru its and Fru it- Trees.

in tropical South America, especially Guiana and Brazil,
where it occupies very large areas, preferring hot plains
in situations fully exposed to the blaze of the sun. Long
since conveyed to tropical Asia by the Portuguese, it is
now naturalized in the forests of British India. The name
is of Brazilian origin, as indicated by Piso and other
early travellers in South America. In Jamaica it is
pronounced kushoo.

The leaves of the Anacardium are alternate, several
inches long, oval, obtuse, and entire ; the flowers, borne
in panicles, are rose-coloured and fragrant, small, but very
pretty ; the pedicels of a portion of them, as soon as the
flowering is over, swell in a manner so remarkable that,
excepting in the somewhat analogous expansion of the
torus of the strawberry, they seem, in this respect, to have
no parallel in nature. They assume the figure and
dimensions of a small pear, the skin acquiring a fine
crimson or yellow colour ; the ovary, meanwhile, ripens
into a kidney-shaped " nut," an inch or more in length,
nearly as broad, somewhat compressed, ashy-grey, smooth
and polished, and which stands on end, as it were, upon
the summit of the pear. The shell is thin; below it there
is a layer of viscid oil, intensely caustic, and so highly
inflammable that when a cashew-nut is held by means of
a fork, in a candle-flame, it very soon ignites and burns
furiously, fire jutting out spasmodically in all directions.
The burning roasts the kernel, the flavour of which is
then very agreeable, though somewhat pungent, and
recommends it for use in the manufacture of chocolate,

The Pistachio- Nut. 279

and in the preparation of entremets such as epicures love.
Broken up, and put into wine, especially old Madeira,
roasted cashew-nuts impart to it a recherche and lingering
aroma ; the fumes produced by the roasting, it must be
remembered, are dense and acrid, painfully affecting the
nose and eyes, so that it must be managed by special
process and with due precautions. The pear-like pedicel,
never seen in England, is eaten, both fresh and when
stewed. Candied and preserved, it is better still.

THE PISTACHIO-NUT (Pis facia vera).

THE nut called the Pistachio is the first of which
mention occurs in history. When, after the detention
of Benjamin by Joseph at the court of the Egyptian
monarch, Jacob despatches his elder sons to beg that the
lad may be released, " Take," he says, " of the best fruit
in the land, .... and carry the man a present, a little
balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, botnlm, and
almonds" (Gen. xliii. 2). The A.V., as in the case of
'eghoz (the walnut), contents itself with "nuts." The
Revised allows the marginal alternative "pistachio-nuts,"
and in so doing is right. The tree producing them is of
the same genus as the terebinth and the lentisk. It
grows twenty feet high ; is well clothed with pinnate
leaves, two or three inches in length, the three or five
leaflets oval and entire ; and produces abundance of little
racemes of minute and brownish-green flowers. The fruit

280 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

is an ovoid drupe, about an inch in length, concave upon
one side, of a rather deep red, the pulp of the same
colour, the stone brown and rugged. The kernel is large,
fat, oleaginous, and yellowish green, the peculiar colour
giving to this nut the secondary commercial name of
"green almond." The flavour is sweetish, and greatly
improved by partial drying of the nuts.

In England we see but little of the pistachio, the
import, chiefly from Sicily and Aleppo, being on behalf
of the Greeks and Turks who reside in our country, and
who employ pistachios in their cookery. In southern, and
more particularly in south-eastern Europe, the consump-
tion is immense : in Constantinople the ground of the
numberless open-air cafes and public gardens is literally
strewed with the broken shells. The native countries
extend from Syria to Afghanistan and Bokhara. The
name is in origin either Arabic or Persian.

The pistachio-tree was introduced into this country in
1770. Being tender it is scarce, even in the south, and
though it blossoms it never sets fruit. In the autumn the
green of the leaves changes to a dark purplish red.

THE KARAKA-NUT ( Corynocarpus lavigatus).

BOTH the cashew and the pistachio belong to the order
Anacardiaceae. Another tree of this family, indigenous
to New Zealand, produces the rather celebrated Karaka-
nut, a fruit of no importance as regards our own country,

The Souari-Nut. 281

but interesting, at the present moment, in the circum-
stance of its having ripened in the open-air, in the Tresco
Abbey gardens. The height attained is thirty to fifty
feet ; the leaves are oval, about four inches long, entire,
and glossy; the small white flowers grow in terminal
clusters ; the fruit resembles a small yellow plum.

THE SOUARI OR SURAH-WA-NUT

(Caryocar nudferum).

THE Souari-nut is one of those very desirable additions
to the dessert which unfortunately reach this country in
quantities so small that to the public in general they
are unknown. It never remains in the shops for many
days, being at once taken up by purchasers acquainted
with the fine qualities. In dimensions the souari stands
next to the coco-nut, measuring about four inches by
three. The shape is peculiar, being somewhat that of a
wedge, rounded at the back, two flat sides, and a long
straight narrow base. The entire surface is covered with
close-set roundish protuberances; the colour is a deep
reddish brown. Souari-nuts are, after all, only seeds,
coming out of a pericarp the size of a child's head, and
which usually contains four, though often only two or
three. The kernel is pure white, soft and fleshy, the mild
flavour approaching that of almonds. The tree to which
we are indebted for it is a native of tropical South
America, abounding especially in Essequibo and Berbice.
20

282

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

The trunk rises like a column to the height of eighty feet
before it branches. The leaves are opposite and trifolio-
late, the leaflets six inches long ; the immense flowers are
of a deep purplish-brown colour. The vast altitude may
perhaps account for the infrequency of the appearance of
the souari in the shops, to clamber up for them being a
task even the natives do not care to undertake. The
souari is also called the Demerara-nut, and sometimes
the Butter-nut.

Chapter Certify*

VARIORUM.

" He that hath light within his own clear breast
May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day."

Milton.

THE POMEGRANATE (Punica Granatum).

r<- HE history of the Pomegranate reaches almost
as far back as that of the pistachio and the
almond. It comes to the front in Scripture
as one of those delightful orientals which at
all points touch the earliest recorded life of
civilized man. That it was a familiar and
valued fruit in the earliest of the historic times is shown
not only by the frequent references to it in the Old
Testament ; this is proved also by the frescoes of ancient
Egypt, and by the sculptures of Nineveh and Persepolis.

284 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

When growing, in its natural manner, the pomegranate
is usually of inconsiderable stature, more of a great bush
than a tree, not unlike an unmolested hawthorn, very
branchy and very twiggy, disposed to be spinous, and
seldom found with a clear and pillar-like stem, unless
the lower branches have been removed. The leaves are
lanceolate, usually about two inches in length, entire, and
of a fresh, bright green, which in autumn, before they fall,
gives place to pink and deep amber. The superb flowers
are produced at the extremities of the young and leafy
shoots. Individually they consist of a deep scarlet caly-
cine tube or ovary-case, an inch in length, with, at the
summit, usually five great fleshy lobes, between which
there are seated as many petals of the most brilliant
crimson rose-colour, a crowd of crimson stamens pro-
jecting from the centre. No wonder that the young
Hebrew ladies in the time of the patriarchs employed the
opening flower-buds as ear-drops. The snowdrop is the
beau-ideal of the chaste and maidenly as an ornament for
the feminine ears ; the pomegranate-bud is the beau-ideal
of the rich and massive, comporting peculiarly well with
raven tresses. The nearest approach to the colour of the
petals among plants better known in England is found in
the common corn-poppy, Papaver JRhceas, the specific
name of which brilliant wild-flower is based upon the
ancient Greek one of the pomegranate.

The ovary, when ripe, becomes somewhat globose,
ruddy and tawny, or deep golden tinged with red, three
to five inches in diameter. The calycine lobes are per-

The Pomegranate. 285

sistent, and form a crown to it, at first bent down and
almost flattened, but eventually erect. The tough and
leathery rind encloses an immense quantity of seeds
resembling wheat-grains, embedded each in a little trans-
parent bag of rose-coloured juice. The cells containing
the seeds are built together in a manner so remarkable
that, botanically considered, as a form of fruit, the pome-
granate stands alone. There are two rows of carpels, one
placed above the other, the lower series consisting of
three or four, the upper one of five to ten. Chiefly by
reason of this singularity, the place of the pomegranate
as to family was long unsettled. Some put it with the
myrtles, though unlike in essentials ; others made it the
type of an independent order, consisting of only its own
genus. Hooker and Bentham regard it as an anomalous
member of the Lythraceae.

Many varieties of flavour occur. Some pomegranates
are sweet, with soft and pleasant acidity, others are
decidedly sour, others are bitter and astringent. The
juice of the sweet ones, which alone are imported,
pressed out in quantity and sweetened, assuages thirst in
the most delightful manner. Scarcely anything is more
suitable to the feverish. Scented with rose-water, it is
the true and original " sherbet." In classical mythology,
when it was desired to express the utmost possible suffer-
ing produced in the nether world by thirst, the imagery
was a pomegranate just out of reach.

The places of the aboriginal growth of the pome-
granate appear to be north-west India and the countries

286 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

south and south-west of the Caspian, away to the borders
of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. It became
established in south-eastern Europe at a very early
period ; and was conveyed to the coasts of northern
Africa by the Phoenicians, eight or nine centuries before
the beginning of the Christian era. It was from Carthage,
probably, that the Romans received it, their name for
this fruit having been Malum Punicum. All sub-tropical
countries, in both hemispheres, are now possessed of it,
and wherever it occurs, when in flower and fruit, it is
one of the most striking ornaments of the soil. The
introduction to our own country took place about three
hundred years ago. Planted against a wall, in sheltered
corners, it endures the winter, but seldom blooms, except
in the south. When very fortunately circumstanced as to
artificial warmth from behind, it will ripen fruit every
season, as at Clevedon Court, Somerset, where, fifty or
sixty feet high, it leans against a broad old-fashioned
chimney. It fruits also when under glass.

The pomegranates so plentiful in the shops towards
Christmas, and during the winter, are imported chiefly
from Spain and Portugal.

THE BANANA (Musa Paradisiaca).

THE Banana is the produce of one of the most splendid
plants in the world. Underground there is a substantial
root-stock, of long duration, from which arise stems six

The Banana. 287

to nine inches in diameter, to the height even of yards,
branchless, like those of palms, and carrying upon the
summit half a dozen superb leaves, six to nine feet long
by two or two and a half in breadth, of a rich and lucid
green, and which arch away from it on their long petioles,
magnificently. The veining of the leaves is of that very
rare and elegant kind which has been fittingly called
feather-like, innumerable lateral veins flowing from the
midrib, in a curvilinear manner, towards the margin.
The stem is composed, in reality, of no more than the
sheathing and closely compacted bases of the older
petioles, in the heart of which, near the ground, the
flower-bud is generated. This, in due time, develops
itself from among the youngest leaves as a huge pendu-
lous raceme, constituted of crimson bracts, which protect
innumerable though rather trifling flowers, followed, again
in due time, by the well-known fruits — cylindrical, six or
eight inches long, an inch or more in diameter, slightly
curved, and when ripe, pale yellow. The clusters of fruit
are often four feet long, and weigh from twelve up to
sixty or eighty pounds, as may be learned even in the
shops, where they are frequently suspended to attract
attention. In the tropics it is said that two plants will
grow anywhere, the castor-oil plant and the banana.
This is not only true, but it may be added with equal
justice, that no plant furnishes man spontaneously with
supplies so vast of a pleasant and nourishing food. In
countries where the mean heat of the year is never lower
than seventy-five degrees, the banana is the bread of the

288 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

poor, and this all the year round. Literally "yielding
her fruit every month," no wonder that the plant got
its Latin appellation of Paradisiaca, the " City " of the
Apocalypse being the renewal of the Garden of Eden.
The garden and the city are everywhere the scene and
the emblems of human progress, which begins in the one,
is completed in the other. The people who find their
staple in the banana, are not to be congratulated, though
it comes in profusion so vast, and without labour. Civili-
zation demands the tilling of the ground, digging, sowing,
reaping, baking bread.

Tropical Asia was the original home of the banana.
Now it is in every country where the temperature will
allow. No Indian fruit ripens more readily in Britain,
enabling those who cultivate it with success to judge of
the natural flavour, imported bananas being only what
crabs are to golden pippins. There are many varieties.
The best for the English hothouse is the Chinese Musa
Cavendtshii, which grows only six feet high and will
thrive and fruit in a vinery. Another species, the Musa
sapientum, distinguished by having the stem striped and
spotted with purple, also bears excellent fruit, rounder
and more plump than that of the Paradisiaca, and this,
in truth, would seem to be the veritable banana, the
produce of the Paradisiaca being more properly the
" plantain." The Abyssinian Musa Ensete, the rosea, the
coccinea, and others of this splendid genus, are valuable
only as decorative plants.

The Date. 289

THE DATE ( ' Phcenix dactylifera).

WE are indebted for the Date to another of the palm-
trees, one of the same general character as the coco-nut,
the stem rising to the height of sixty or eighty feet, and
supporting a vast crown of pinnate leaves, but in figure,
though still imposing, less graceful. Anything it may lack
in respect of beauty is more than compensated by the
value of the produce to mankind in countries where agri-
culture is impracticable, and where culinary vegetables
are the fewest and of the poorest kinds. Such are the
districts in that great portion of northern Africa which
includes the Sahara, reaching from the edge of the
Atlantic right away to Egypt : such, also, are the extreme
south-western parts of Asia. These, it is very evident,
from proof in the greatest variety, were the original seats
of the tree, the zone of indigenous growth lying between
19° and 30° N. South of the equator the date-palm
does not occur truly wild. It was conveyed at a very
early period into southern Europe; and in the Morea,
Italy, and Sicily it flowers freely, but the fruit seldom
becomes sufficiently saccharine to be worth eating. At
Elche, on the south-eastern coast of Spain, there is quite
a forest of date-palms, many miles in circumference,
but the fruit here is very different in substance, being
farinaceous instead of sugary. A few miles east of
Mentone, date-palms are also very plentiful, being culti-
vated for the sake of the " branches," in Italy so much

2P

290 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

used in Palm-Sunday ceremonials, though deprived of
their natural form by being tied up into wisps. The
date-palm is emphatically the tree of the desert, writing,
moreover, upon the far horizon, for the traveller across
the flat and weary sand, that near it are *' wells of water,"
since no tree, not even the willow, is fonder of water or
more dependent upon it for prosperity. The Arabs say
that for the palm to flourish its feet must be in the water
and its head in the fire. The date is the palm, universally
and exclusively, of Scripture ; the palm of legend, song,
fable, and tradition; the palm that art has delighted
to honour ; the palm that has fixed itself metaphorically
in language. Let us not forget, either, that it is the tree
of Palmyra, that wonderful city in the wilderness, the
cherished of Solomon, the home and capital, in a later
age, of proud, chaste, literary Zenobia, " Queen of the
East," which has for ages existed only as a skeleton, yet
in its enormous ruin is so magnificent, sorrowful, and
romantic, as to constitute the finest sepulchre of human
labour in the world.

The flowers of the date-palm, like those of the coco,
are individually insignificant, but produced in vast
numbers, lying at first in a great sheath or "spathe."
The clusters are developed, again like those of the
coco, from among the bases of the leaf-stalks, hang-
ing down when ripe, something like huge bunches of
grapes. They are cut when near maturity, and laid in the
sunshine to get dry. Fifty full-grown trees yield about
a ton of good and eatable fruit. The best of the dates

The Date. 291

offered for sale in England are said to be brought from
near the Persian Gulf. There is certainly a large export
from the edge of that famous water, both lo Europe
and the United States. The best of those ordinarily
purchaseable are the Tafilat, imported from Morocco,
loose, and in boxes. The second-best come from Tunis,
and are at once distinguished by the intermixture with
them of fragments of stalk and branch. Inferior qualities
are also imported in the form of cake. The arrivals,
at all events of the superior qualities, are chiefly by
way of the Thames. The very best dates in the world,
according to Gilford Palgrave, are produced in central
Arabia. He purchased, he tells us, in the narrative of
his Arabian travels, a large handkerchief full for three
farthings, hanging it up from the ceiling to preserve
the fruit from the ants; thence "it continued to drip
molten sweetness into a sugary pool on the floor below,
for three days, this before we had demolished the
contents, though it figured at every dinner and supper
during that period." All date-palms producing the best
descriptions of fruit are subjects, more or less, of some
kinds of culture — manuring, stirring of the earth, and
irrigation. They require also that half the bunches
(in number originally about twenty-four) shall be re-
moved while young, in order to ensure the prosperity
of the remainder. Prudent men in England always
get a friend to do their fruit-thinning for them :
whether or not the Arabs follow suit is not known.
Peculiar interest attaches to the date from the dessert

292 Fruits and Fruit-Trees.

point of view, no other fruit being so exactly interme-
diate between the productions of tropical countries and
temperate ones. Long since brought to England, the
date-palm may often be seen in conservatories where
space can be afforded, but it is seldom more than a tuft
of huge leaves.

THE LITCHI OR LYCHEE (Nephelium Litchi).

LITCHIS are those curious fruits of the better-class
shops which in figure and dimensions remind one of
the strawberry, only that they are brown, dry, rather more
heart-shaped, and covered with wart-like protuberances.
Lightly squeezed between the fingers, they are found to
consist of a very thin and brittle shell, enclosing a mass
of prune-like black sweetmeat, with a large brown stone
inside of all. Two often grow side by side ; stalk they
have scarcely any; the shell has often been driven
in more or less during conveyance from their native
country. In the dried state, or as we have them in Eng-
land, litchis, it must be confessed, offer very little to eat,
and the great stone adds still further to the deceitfulness
of the external promise. But when fresh from the bough
it is scarcely possible to imagine a fruit more delicious.
The rind is then of a glowing red colour, and the entire
cavity is filled with a sweet, white, and perfumed pulp,
the aroma of which remains, and constitutes the recom-
mendation of the litchi as an article of dessert.

The Opuntia. 293

The tree producing this fruit is a native of southern
China, from which country we receive our supplies. It
is very generally cultivated throughout the Malayan
Archipelago, where it is esteemed not more for its bounty
than for the beautiful appearance. The stature is about
twenty feet ; the leaves are abruptly pinnate, the leaflets,
(two or four pairs,) about three inches in length, laurel-like
and shining; the foliage, as a whole, dense, rich, and
handsome. The flowers are but trifling, but being
produced in large panicles, at the extremities of the
twigs, when the bunches of fruit are ripe, depending
elegantly, the ensemble is enchanting. The Chinese birds
are of the same opinion, so that the trees have to be
protected with nets. Some idea of the appearance may
be gathered from that of the arbutus. The litchi was
introduced to this country by the celebrated Warren
Hastings, and is now not uncommon in greenhouses
where space can be spared for curiosities.

THE OPUNTIA (Opuntia vulgaris).

IN late autumn there comes to England, chiefly from the
Azores, and countries touched by the Mediterranean, a
fruit commonly called the "Indian fig" or "prickly pear,"
and sometimes the " Barbary pear." It is easily recog-
nized, being about the size of an ordinary breakfast-egg,
but more barrel-shaped, the summit remarkably depressed,

294 Fruits and Fruit-Trees*

so as to be almost saucer-like, and the delicately tinted
pinky-yellow surface spirally dotted at half-inch distances
with little scars. Internally it is of the substance of a
strawberry, but crowded with small black seeds. The
flavour is pleasantly sweet, the amount of saccharine
matter being considerable; there is also an agreeable
touch of acidity. " Fig " and " pear " are names so very
inappropriate, that it would be better to discard both,
and call the fruit by the name of the plant producing it.

This is the Opuntia vulgaris, one of the very curious
order called the Cactaceae, everywhere represented in
conservatories, either by the brilliant crimson cereuses, or
by the rosy epiphyllums, indispensable for decoration in
early spring. Admirers of the quaint and grotesque are
glad also of mammillarias and "melon-thistles," over-
looking the terrific prickles for the sake of the charming
coronets of crimson bloom. Many of the species of this
order, American in every instance, produce eatable and
decidedly nutritious fruits of the same general character
as the opuntia, but they do not come to England.

The plant before us, a native of Mexico, was one of
the first conveyed to Europe by the Spaniards of the time
of Columbus. They desired, we may be sure, to show
to their friends at home a vegetable production so totally
unlike anything they had ever beheld before. It very
soon got naturalized in the south of Europe, Africa, and
southern Asia. In Sicily it has spread over expanses of
volcanic sands and ashes, where there is not a particle
of ordinary soil, and in many warm countries is employed

The Fig- Marigold. 295

for living fences. In English greenhouses it is by no
means uncommon, and often produces plenty of young
fruit, which usually fails, however, to ripen. There is
no mistaking the plant after once seeing it, the portions
which answer to stem and branches consisting of oval
and flattened lumps, several inches in length, sprouting
fantastically hither and thither; clusters of prickles dis-
persed in plenty upon the green skin, and yellow flowers
upon the upper edges. The ovary, below the flower, has
similar clusters of prickles, which, being rubbed off when
the fruit is collected, leave the scars above-mentioned.
The plant grows as fairly erect as the odd configuration
will permit, attaining the stature, when favourably circum-
stanced, of nine or ten feet.

THE FIG- MARIGOLD ( Mesembryanthemum edule).

SCARCELY inferior in point of quaintness to the Cactaceae
are the curious succulent garden and greenhouse plants,
chiefly from the Cape of Good Hope, which, because
of their usually brilliant many-rayed flowers, and the
similarity, in some few, of the fruit, are called by the com-
posite name of Fig-marigolds. Two or three of them have
become naturalized in the Scilly Islands, the M. edule in
particular. At Tresco the curving shore above high-
water mark is in many places marked by broad patches
of this beautiful plant. From May to August it is decked

296 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

all over with golden flowers, followed, in due time, by the
so-called " figs," which resemble, in some degree, the fruit
of the opuntia.

THE GRANADILLA (Passi 'flora quadrangularis).

THE common blue Passion-flower has been mentioned
above as one of the choicest ornaments of a house-front
in the south of England, when dressed, in October, with
its golden berries like large plums. Several species of its
famous genus yield fruits of far greater magnitude, and
that are eatable. These are "granadillas;" the name,
bestowed by the early Spanish settlers in the West Indies
and South America, referring to the similarity of the
pulpy inside to that of the pomegranate. Chief among
them is the common granadilla, a fruit resembling a
citron, but more oblong, often reaching a length of fifteen
or sixteen inches, with a diameter of five or six, greenish
yellow externally, internally purplish, and abounding in
seeds. The pulp is rather watery, but sweetish, slightly
acid, fragrant, and very agreeably cooling to the palate.
It should be eaten after the same manner as an egg, a
little wine and some sugar being first introduced. It
ripens in our hothouses ; as do the fruits of the incarnata,
occasionally; of the maliformis, or "sweet calabash;"
and of the laurifolia, or " water-lemon." The last-named
and the fruit of the macrocarpa are both in fine condition
this year (1885) at Cherkley Court.

The Guava and the Eugenia. 297

THE GUAVA.

GUAVAS are the produce of three or four different species
of Psidium, small myrtaceous trees of the West Indies
and other tropical countries. The leaves are in all of
them two or three inches long, opposite, and glabrous ;
the flowers are white, axillary, solitary, and almost sessile.
When ripe, the fruit resembles a little apple with many
seeds; usually it is sweet and aromatic, sometimes acid
and astringent. In the West Indies, the yellow or pear-
fruited guava, Psidium pyriferum, is used for the cele-
brated "guava-jelly." In England, both this one and the
claret-red or apple-fruited guava, Psidium pomiferum, bear
freely in the hothouse, and supply a pleasing addition to
the table. Better than either of the original kinds is
the purple-fruited Psidium Cattleianum, introduced from
China about 1817. Like the banana it does well in a
vinery.

THE EUGENIA (Eugenia Ugni).

THE Eugenias, very numerous, are also myrtaceous
shrubs and small trees. One of them is an eminently
deserving fruit-plant for south-country English gardens,
and for conservatories in the north. This is the Chilian
species with the odd native name Ugni, a pleasing little
bush two to five feet high, myrtle-like in foliage and
flowers, and in due time studded with berries resembling

2Q

298 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

black-currants, with flavour that seems a mixture of
sweetness and spice. The berries of the Ugni make an
excellent tart ; or the juice may be expressed and mixed
with water, for a delicious cool drink, with odour of rose-
mary; or they may be made into jam. So penetrating is
the aroma, that it clings to the fingers after gathering.

THE MANGO (Mangifera Indica).

THE Mango is essentially a tropical fruit, and considered
one of the very finest in the world. In form it is some-
what apple-like, but more kidney-shaped : usually about
two inches in diameter, very variable in colour and
substance, with, in the heart, a large curiously flattened
stone, the surface of which is covered with fibrous
filaments. The taste is sweet and luscious, but when
the fruit is over-ripe, strongly suggestive of turpentine.
It is produced by a tree of thirty or forty feet in height,
branchless till taller than a man, then affording a pecu-
liarly grateful shade. The leaves are large, lanceolate,
smooth and shining, and evolve a sweet resinous odour.
The flowers, small individually, and in colour reddish
white or yellow, come out in clusters of such a character
as to render the tree, when in full bloom, not unlike
a Spanish chestnut. The mango has often ripened in
England, notably at Chatsworth, Kew, and in the Regent's
Park Botanical Gardens.

The Mango steen and the Persimon. 299

THE MANGOSTEEN (Garcinia Mangostana).

THE Mangosteen is also essentially tropical, belonging by
birthright to Borneo and the adjacent islands. In figure
the fruit resembles an orange, but the colour is dark
brown, curiously spotted with green. It lias cells like
those of an orange, and these contain a snow-white pulp
which combines the flavour of the pine, the grape, and
the apricot, and in addition the inexpressible one of the
mangosteen itself. Like the mango, it is the produce of
a handsome tree, laurel-like in complexion, and with
flowers that seem single crimson camellias. Several cases
of its ripening in England are upon record. It seems to
need only hand-fertilization, but the temperature must
be of the highest, and the humidity considerable.

THE PERSIMON (Diospyros Virginiana).

THE Persimon is the produce of a tree indigenous to the
United States, whence it was brought to this country in
1629. The leaves are alternate, ovate, four to six inches
long, entire, and glabrous. The inconspicuous yellow
flowers are axillary and solitary; the fruit resembles a
small yellow plum. After attaining full maturity, it
softens, like the medlar, becoming somewhat glutinous,
and acquiring a sweet and agreeable flavour, though
somewhat austere. It ripens fairly well in the southern

300 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

English counties, but never to the same degree as in its
native country, where it is called by the duplicate name
of the " Virginian date-plum."

Another species of the same genus, the Diospyros Kaki
of eastern Asia, promises to supply a good orchard-house
fruit, as soon as attention shall be expressly devoted to
it. Near Paris it grows freely out-of-doors, and ripens
fruit the size of a small orange, and of the same colour,
but covered with a delicate "bloom." The flavour
resembles that of the apricot, with inclination towards
the austerity of the medlar, and when the fruit is not
gathered too soon, is decidedly pleasant. It would thrive,
in all likelihood, wherever the Eugenia prospers.

SOLANACEOUS FRUITS.

THE large and very important order named after the
Nightshade is noted for the frequent occurrence in it
of narcotic and poisonous plants. Such, among many
others, are the Belladonna, the henbane, the stramonium,
and the tobacco-plant. This renders the fact so much
the more interesting that, as in the parallel case of the
Umbelliferse, it contains other plants, not alone harm-
less, but that are donors of excellent fruits. Foremost
among these last we have the tomato or "love-apple:"
then come the tree-tomato, the aubergine, and the
so-called "Cape-gooseberry."

The Tomato. 301

The TOMATO ( Ly coper sicum esculentum) is a native
of Peru, from which country, bringing its native name
tamate, it was introduced into Europe in the beginning
of the sixteenth century. England received it earlier
than even the potato, a very curious circumstance, since,
while the latter has been a national aliment for quite two
centuries, the tomato, until quite lately, has been almost
neglected. The introduction of the tomato, in this our
own current age, to the middle and lower classes of the
people of England, as a staple article of food, may
unhesitatingly be pronounced one of the greatest boons
they have ever received from horticulture. No esculent
is placed upon table of more distinctly excellent dietetic
qualities ; and before long, it is to be hoped that as much
use will be made of it as upon the Continent and in the
United States, where a dinner is scarcely served up in
which the tomato, in some shape, does not appear. The
plant, like many others of its race, is somewhat of a
straggler, though, when trained, tidy enough, and then
branching to the height of several feet. The leaves and
the flowers are both fashioned upon the type of the
potato, only that the petals are yellow. Many capital
varieties have already come into existence. In some the
fruit is yellow; in some it is no larger than a red-currant;
in Jersey, tomatos are grown to weights over a pound.
Those in which the flowers are disposed in long zigzag
racemes appear to be the best for cultural purposes;
those in particular which are of dwarf habit of growth,
and which will succeed out-of-doors. In the very front

302 Fmits and Fruit- 7^rees.

of these last seems to stand the variety called " Laxton's
Open-air Tomato." That the nearer the fruit of a
plant is to the ground, the more may be expected of it
in point of size and excellence, was remarked in Chapter
VI. in connection with pears and gooseberries; and in
" Laxton's Open-air " we have another proof of this very
intelligible fact. Another capital sort is that one called
"Chiswick Red," very vigorous, immensely productive,
and requiring less heat than many of the varieties which,
although producing larger fruit, have the disadvantage of
being tender. A very pretty variety is that one named
pyriforme, the " grape " or " fig " tomato, the fruit only
an inch or so in diameter, thus well adapted for pickling,
or for eating fresh, since it is not only when stewed or
baked, in sauce or in soup, that the tomato is so valuable
an article of food ; it is excellent also as a sort of salad-
substitute, and with sugar. The freedom with which the
tomato grows under glass makes the culture so simple
that any spare corner will do for it, let it only have plenty
of light, and be carefully and regularly watered. It is a
curious fact that the quicker and better the tomato is
grown, the fewer will be the seeds discoverable in the
pulp. That it has yet to become popular is no doubt
true; many people, especially the poor, scarcely know
what it is ; once made plentiful, every child would soon
learn to relish a fruit so wholesome. " Love-apple" (one
of the ancient appellations of the renowned mandrake)
is said to be the French pomme tf amour, this being, in
turn, a mistaken representative of the Italian pomi del

The Tree-Tomato and the Aubergine. 303

Mori, "apples of the Moors/' or of Morocco, from which
country the tomato was originally thought to have been
received.

The TREE-TOMATO (Cyphomandra betacea), also South
American, is a very much larger plant, resembling in
habit and in its great leaves, a Brugmansia. The flowers,
as in the Lycopersicum, are star-shaped, but of a soft
pink-lilac colour. They come in clusters of six or seven,
and are followed by large and handsome ovoid berries,
usually orange-colour, sometimes red, and even vermilion.
It is easily raised from seed, and after about two years old
bears fruit abundantly, even till winter, the harvest thus
coming in most usefully at a season of the year when the
supply of ordinary tomatos slackens. Being more tender
than the Lycopersicum, it requires to be treated altogether
as an indoor plant. In Jamaica, upon the mountains,
it flourishes where the mean annual temperature ranges
from 63° to 72°. Supplies of this fruit come occasionally
from the Azores to Covent Garden. It ripens in the
Great Temperate House at Kew.

The AUBERGINE (Solatium Melongena) in its common
form, the " egg-plant," is well known to all who care for
pretty and engaging garden curiosities. In autumn it is
hung all over with white berries just like breakfast-eggs,
though rather smaller, and these, when perfectly ripe, are
excellent for cooking, either as an ingredient of soups
and stews, or independently, then cut into thin slices and
fried. Many fine varieties have been raised upon the
Continent, where aubergines are greatly esteemed, the

304 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

colour deepening into violet-purple, and the dimensions
reaching to eight inches in length, by over two inches in
diameter. Imported from France, it is these which we
chiefly see in the shops and market-places, sometimes
under the Indian name of Brinjals. India is probably
the native country of the Melongena, but the plant is
now so widely naturalized in the tropics, both of the
east and the west, that doubt still exists. It is now
naturalized also in the south of Europe. Aubergines
may be used in almost as many different ways as the
tomato, and in merit are scarcely inferior. A very
capital way of dealing with them, little known, is to
scoop out the pulp by means of an opening made at
one end, season and otherwise enrich it, then replace
in the leathery shell or skin, and bake in a brisk oven
with a small quantity of butter.

The "CAPE -GOOSEBERRY" (Phy satis Peruviana) is
that very pleasing little fruit of the greenhouse and cool
vinery, a yellow berry enclosed in a cage, which at
once, except in colour, recalls the still more interesting
scarlet though not eatable alkekengi. Like the tomatos,
it is South American by birthright, the common English
name coming of its popularity at the Cape of Good Hope.
Few kinds of fruit make a nicer tart : it is excellent also
for preserving, as certified by the offer in some of the
metropolitan shops of "Cape-gooseberry jam." The
stature of the plant is about a yard : it is downy in every
part, has ovate leaves, and pretty yellowish flowers an
inch across, the centre with five large purple spots.

The Melon. 305

THE CUCURBITACEyE.

WHAT the Cucurbits are is at once plainly realized to the
mind by thought of the melon, the cucumber, the gourd,
the vegetable-marrow, and the pompion or " pumpkin."
Succulent stems, running to the length of many yards,
and almost invariably provided with tendrils, the natural
tendency of the plants being to climb into trees ; large,
broad, rough leaves, and yellow flowers, are the prevailing
characteristics ; the fruits, when they arrive, are in dimen-
sions unapproached, and very often huge. They vary
considerably both in colour and in form; the qualities
are also various, some being inexpressibly bitter. Three
or four of them are not only esculent, but delightfully so,
and for these we have to thank the East Indies.

The MELON (Cucumis Melo) runs wild both in British
India and in Beloochistan. From Asia it was conveyed
to Italy about the beginning of the Christian era, and
thence, about 1570, it was brought to England. Of all
the fleshy fruits, whether large or small, it is the richest
and the most diversified, alike in form, colour, and taste.
Whether or not one of the most wholesome is perhaps an
open question, though to be asked only in cold countries,
where, in any case, it is prudent to ward off any possible
hurt by the use of warm and stimulating food of other
kinds. The melons exposed for sale in the shops, in
quantities so vast, all through the autumn, come chiefly
from Spain and Portugal.

2R

306 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

The CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus) speaks for itself.
In north-western India it has been cultivated for over
three thousand years. Possibly it is the outcome of
some ruder species, after the manner of the apple from
the crab. This is the only fruit which in England we eat
while still green without cooking.

The VEGETABLE-MARROW (Cucurbita succada) is of
uncertain origin. Most probably it is a variety of the
common pompion, Cucurbita Pepo. The bees are so fond
of diving into the golden caverns of the cucurbit flowers,
that there can be little doubt that they promote the origi-
nation of hybrids or " crosses," and to their influence it
is quite likely that the marrow may be in part attributed.
We have had it only since the beginning of the present
century, when it is believed to have been introduced
from south-western Asia. This excellent fruit, as it
deserves, is now more generally cultivated than any other
of its tribe. Hardy, prolific, adapted not only for the
dinner-table, but for conversion into a sweetmeat, and
demanding of the gardener only the very minimum of
trouble and attention, of all vegetable productions in
which the ideas of fruit and vegetable unite, it is unques-
tionably the most valuable, a production that none can
afford to despise, and, best of all, the poor man's friend.
One of these days perhaps we shall see our miles of
unoccupied railway-slope utilized in some degree for the
culture of a plant that can never be an interloper, and is
always welcome to some one. When ripe, the vegetable-
marrow is superior to all the other gourds, even the

Ornamental Gourds. 307

famous Americans, for pie. The last-named, commonly
called "squashes," are the produce of the Cucurbita
Melopepo. In form they are always flattened, with promi-
nent lateral angles or ribs, as in the crown or Turk's cap
marrow, occasionally cultivated, for variety's sake, in our
own country. The fruit of the C. Pepo. the common
pompion, is also good and nutritive when gathered young
and properly dressed.

The renowned "WATER-MELON" (Cucurbita Citrullus),
the inside of which resembles pink snow, fast dissolving,
belonged originally to tropical Africa. This was the
melon of the ancient Egyptians, so missed by the
wanderers in the desert. To-day it is universal in the
warmer parts of the eastern world. In England grown
only, now and then, as a curiosity.

Not only, in their produce, do the Cucurbits blend the
popular conceptions of " fruit " and " vegetable ;" they
unite also, above all other families, the ideas of esculent
fruits and decorative ones. Upon the borders of large
gardens, where space can be allowed, and even in small
ones, where arrangements can be made for training upon
trellises or other supports, no plants are more interesting
or more impressive than the so-called "ornamental
gourds." The variety they offer is truly wonderful;
many also, after gathering, keep sound all through the
winter, and are thus of singular value at Christmas-tide
for the embellishment of halls, etc. Among these, again,
are found the best illustrations of the prodigious magni-
tude attainable by cucurbit fruits. Green and golden

308 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

spheres, somewhat flattened at the poles, six feet in
circumference, and weighing from a hundred up to a
hundred and eighty or ninety pounds, are by no means
rare. A pompion exhibited in Paris in the autumn of
1884, acknowledged to be the "emperor," weighed a
hundred and thirty kilogrammes, or about two hundred
and eighty pounds. In conservatories the ornamental
cucurbits are, if possible, still more effective, as shown in
the water-lily house at Kew, these including the marvel-
lous Snake-gourd, six or eight feet long, the Bottle and
Trumpet gourds, and the Luffas — those which supply
us (from Egypt, their native country) with the curious
skeletons sold in the apothecaries' shops for use as flesh-
brushes.

Of Decorative or purely ornamental fruits, not escu-
lent, though in some cases, perhaps, with latent capacity
to be rendered so, the company is large, and, through
introduction of curiosities from foreign countries, yearly
increasing. Some of them were mentioned on p. 7. It
may not be amiss here to indicate a few others as price-
less where the conditions are favourable for the ripening,
or where fruiting may be induced by skilful treatment.
Among trees and shrubs there are none which in their
autumnal fruit-richness excel the spindle-trees, the Euony-
mus latifolius in particular; the Lycium Barbarum; the
common laurustinus, so commended by Ovid;* the
Spiraa opulifolia; the Desfontainea spinosa, the scarlet

* "Et bicolor myrtus, et baccis ccerula tinus." — Met. x. 98.

Ornamental Fruits. 309

flowers of which are followed by yellow fruits resembling
little gooseberries ;* and the Japanese apple-rose, Rosa
rugosa. Would that the arbutus were as good to the
palate as to the eye : it is " strawberry-tree," alas, only in
name, though the crimson harvest is made available in
Spain and Corsica for the manufacture, by distillation, of
a simple wine. No less remarkable, in their own ways,
are the Bladder-senna, Colutea arborescens, and many of
the Acers, none excelling the red-winged variety of the
common sycamore. A very distinct and striking garden
ornament, when individuals of both sexes can be pro-
cured, is supplied by the silvery-leaved Sea-buckthorn,
Hippophae rhamnoides, the branches of the female tree
being thickly covered, in the way of holly, with yellow
and long-enduring berries. The value of the common
Butchers' broom, Ruscus aculeatus, as a winter red-berried
plant, is well known in the south of England. The
Skimmia oblata is not less brilliant than the aucuba.
The little Skimmia Japonica is invaluable as one of the
hardiest of all red-berried evergreens. The Pernettyas are
good, not only out-of-doors, but for the winter-garden.

Among hardy climbers, in the southern counties, may
be mentioned, as specially interesting, the Actinidia
Kolomikta, that beautiful Japanese evergreen, with fruits
again like gooseberries, the flavour between pine-apple
and strawberry j the Stauntonia lattfolm, also evergreen,
the fruits resembling eggs ; and the Akebia quinata, the
purplish pods of which, three inches long, no doubt are

* As at Rocklodge, Monkstown, Ireland.

3 1 o Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

produced but seldom, but probably only wait persuasion
to become plentiful. Hardy herbaceous plants do their
part well in the purple Phylolacca decandra and the
Podophyllum Emodi, not to mention the paeonies and
the gladwyn. Under glass we have the Nertera, the
Bucelia, and the Coccocypselum, again not to mention
the papaw, and two or three species of Clusiaceae,
notably the Xanthochymus pictorius, the yellow berries
of which are no less pretty than nice to eat. Capsicums,
in their many varieties, red and yellow, are singularly
ornamental when in fruit, and have the additional recom-
mendation that they serve, eventually, for pickling.

The number of SEED-PODS and of SEEDS resorted to in
this country as articles of food, but which do not come
under the popular appellation of " Fruit," is considerable.
Still more are in constant request for employment in
medicine, various arts and manufactures, and for miscel-
laneous uses, such as bird-feeding. To describe them
is no part of the plan of the present volume; it may
be interesting, nevertheless, to mention the names.

Resorted to as staple aliments : —

Wheat, Peas,

Barley, Windsor beans,

Oats, French beans,

Rye, Haricots,

Rice, Lentils,

Italian millet, Coffee-seeds,

Maize or Indian corn, Cocoa-seeds.

Fruits Employed in Art. 311

Employed in the shape of pickles, or as condiments and
flavouring agents : —

Olives, Vanilla,

Capsicums, Nutmeg,

Radish-pods, Allspice,

Pepper, Caraways,

Mustard-seed, Coriander.

Used for art-purposes — in the manufacture of toys, and
for ornament. These are all from the tropics : —

Coquilla-nuts (Attalea funifera). The hard, thick, brown
shell, susceptible of high polish. Umbrella handles, egg-
cups, beads, etc.

Ivory-nuts (Phytelephas macrocarpa). Parasol handles ; articles
for ladies' work-boxes.

Areca-nuts (Areca oleracea). Necklaces and bracelets.

Brahmin-seeds (El&ocarpus Ganitrus). Brown seeds the size
of marbles, rough and corrugated. Necklaces and bracelets.

Job's Tears (Coix Lacrymce). Grey beads as hard as flint.
Necklaces and bracelets.

Leucsenas (Leuccena %laiica). Resembling apple-pips. Very
pretty for workbags and bracelets.

Rosary-peas ( Abrus precatorius ). Scarlet, with a black spot.

Ormosias (Orntosia dasycarpa). Similar to the preceding, but
four times larger.

Soap-berries (Sapindus Saponaria). Globular, black, half an
inch in diameter. Excellent for necklaces.

Peacock-seeds (Adenantherapavonina). Double-convex, dark
rich red, a third of an inch in diameter.

Bonduc-seeds ( Guilandina Bonducella). Grey or yellow, the
size of marbles. Very suitable for bracelets and rosaries.

Lavo-nuts (Entada scandens). Circular, flat, nearly two inches
across, rich red brown. Excellent for conversion into jewel-
boxes.

312 Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

Employed in medicine or as drugs : —

Tamarinds, Grains of Paradise,

Poppy-capsules, Nux Vomica seeds,

Cardamoms, Physostigma or Calabar-
Jujubes, bean,

Juniper-berries, Cubebs,

Colocynth, Indian Bael,

Elaterium, Cathartocarpus,

Aniseed, Stramonium,

Fennel, Ignatia,

Dill, Sabadilla,

Cummin, Star-anise,

Ricinus-seeds (castor-oil), Myrrhis,

Croton-seeds, Fenugreek,

Cocculus Indicus, Tonquin-bean.

Useful as bird-seed, in the manufacture of artificial cattle-
food, or as supplying oil, etc., for commercial purposes: —

Linseed, Dhourra (Sorghum vulgare),

Hempseed, Oil-palm seeds,

Inga-seed (Guizotia), Rape-seed,

Canary-seed, Divi-divi (Ccesalpinia),

French millet, Myrobalans,

Buckwheat, Carobs,

Persian berries, Ground-nuts.

To carobs and ground-nuts pertains an interest peculiarly
their own. What peaches, and pine-apples, and grapes,
are to the wealthy, these are to the poor little creatures
whose playground is the street, and who know what
farthings will buy. Their needs are not forgotten, think
of the medium as we may please : " That Thou givest
them they gather: Thou openest Thy hand; they are
filled with good."

Carobs and Ground-Niits. 3 1 3

Carobs, the fruit of the Ceratonia Siliqua, also called
"Locusts" and "Locust-beans," are the odd-looking
purplish-brown and somewhat glossy pods, three to ten
inches in length, an inch in width, a third of an inch in
thickness, flattened, and often curved, which we see in
the very lowest class fruit-shop windows. They contain
a considerable quantity of saccharine matter, with some
mucilage, and hence are eligible in the manufacture of
artificial cattle-food, which owes to them its greenish tint.
Freshly gathered they are soft and pulpy, and in all the
Levantine countries, also in Spain, Malta, and the north
of Africa, are given as food to almost all kinds of animals
of draught and burden. They are the Kepana or "husks"
which appear in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The
tree producing them is a fine evergreen, about thirty feet
high, with pinnate leaves, and racemes, about four inches
long, of little pink flowers. When in full bearing it yields
a weight of about nine hundred pounds annually. The
name is the Arabic "al-kharub," whence, in the first
place, the Spanish "algaroba." The seeds were the
original " carats " of the goldsmiths.

Ground-nuts, by the pavement-children called "mon-
key-nuts," are the legumes of the Arachis hypogcza.
Every one knows them by sight — buff-coloured, an inch
and a half in length, roundish, obtuse, obliquely contracted
in the middle, and having the surface netted. Inside the
very brittle shell are two or three seeds resembling hazel-
nut kernels, tasting like dried peas, and heavily charged
with oil. The oil is of considerable value commercially,

2S

Fruits and Fruit- Trees.

and for the sake of it the plant is cultivated in various
warm countries to an immense extent. The import into
England is chiefly from the west coast of Africa. In the
United States, the seeds of the Arachis, there called
"pea-nuts," are much used for the manufacture of arti-
ficial chocolate. The plant itself is a pretty annual,
easily raised in the greenhouse, with pinnate leaves and
yellow pea-like flowers. After fecundation, the stalk
supporting the ovary lengthens out remarkably, bends
downwards to the soil, and buries it beneath the surface,
where maturation is completed, and from which, when
ripe, the pods have to be dug up like potatoes.

INDEX.

Actinidia, 309

Adam's apple, 194

Alligator-pear, 9

Almond, 88

,, colour, 83

Amelanchier, 60

Ampelopsis, 131

Amygdalopsis, 103

Amygdalus, 80, 88

Anacardium, 277

Ananas, 238

Anchovy-pear, 9

Anona, 245

Apple, 17

„ oftheO.T., 20
,, Congress, 27-29

Appleton, 26

Apricot, 94

Arabs, The, 174

Aracese, 243

Arachis, 313

Arbutus, 309

Arctic raspberry, 216

Armeniaca, 94

Attalea, 270, 311

Aubergine, 303

Aucuparia, 52

Aurantiaceae, 163

Azarole, 59

B

Banana, 286
Barbary-pear, 293
Barberry, 156
Barcelona-nuts, 254
Bay-tree, 98
Bees, 86
Benthamia, 246
Berberis, 156

,, dulcis, 159
Berbery, 156
Bergamot, 185
Berries, 104
Bertholletia, 274
Bilberry, 147, 149
Birds, Work done by, 74
Bird-cherry, 72
Bitter almonds, 93

,, orange, 173-176
Blackberry, 204, 218
Black-thorn, 65
Blaeberry, 147, 149
Blitum, 223
Blood-orange, 185
Bluebell of Scotland, 149
Bramble, 200
Brazil-nut, 274
Bread-fruit, 9
Bridal chaplets, 162
Brignolles, 69

Index.

Brinjal, 304

Citron, 167

Brugnon, 83

Citrus, 163

Bullace, 65, 67

Aurantium, 172

Butter-nut, 266, 282

Bergamia, 172, 185

decumana, 193

C

Limetta, 190

Cactaceae, 294

Limonum, 186

Caesius, 215

Medica, 167

California, in, 184

nobilis, 185

Callitris, 1 66

Cloudberry, 210

Cape-gooseberry, 304

Clusius, 100

Capsicum, 310

Cob-nut, 253

Carambola, 9

Coco-nut, 267

Carobs, 313

Cocos, 267

Carpels, 62

Codling, 28

Carya, 265

Comarum, 223

Caryocar, 281

Compound fruits, 199

Cashew-nut, 277

Coquilla-nut, 270, 311

Casimiroa, 196

Cornels, 8

Castanea, 255
„ chrysophylla, 260

Corylus, 250
,, Algeriensis, 254

,, Japonica, 257

,, Avellana, 250

Castanha-nuts, 274

,, Colurna, 254

Cerasin, 63
Cerasus, 72

Corynocarpus, 280
Cotiniac, 45

,, Avium, 72

Cowberry, 150

,, sylvestris, 72
,, vulgaris, 75

Crab, 23
,, Siberian, 57

Ceratonia, 313

Cranberry, 150

Cereus, 294

Crataegus, 59

Cerevisia, 55

Crusaders, The, 175

Charlemagne, 113, 237

Cucumber, 306

Cherimoyer, 9

Cucumis, 305

Cherkley Court, 170, 296

Cucurbita, 306

Cherry, 72

Cucurbitaceae, 305

„ apple, 57

Cura9oa, 175

,, laurel, 98

Currants, 133

,, plum, 101

,, Grocers', 126

„ Ripe, 79

Custard-apple, 245

Chestnut, 255

Cydonia, 42

Christ's thorn, 200

,, Japonica, 58

Cider, 25

Cyphomandra, 303

,, counties, 25

Cissus, 131

D

Citric acid, 166

Damson, 68, 70

Citrine- wood, 166

Date, 289

Index.

317

Date-plum, 300

Guava, 297

Dewberry, 213

Gum, 63

Diospyros, 299

Dog-rose, 227

H

Drupiferae, 62

Hampton Court vine, 112

Duchesnea, 223

Hautboy-strawberry, 224

Durion, 9

Hazel-nut, 250

Helena, 78

£

Henry VIII. , 13, 45, 85,96

Egg-plant, 303

Hesperides, 19, 47, 164

Elder, 152

Hesperidium, 164

Eriobotrya, 50

Hickory-nut, 265

Etserios, 197

Hips (Rose), 228

Eugenia, 297

Hurtle-berry, 147, 149

Hurts, 149

F

Fay-berry, 140

I

Fea-berry, 140

Ida, Mount, 25, 150

Feap-berry, 140
Ficus, 228

Imports of fruits, 14
Indian fig, 293

Fig, 228

,, strawberry, 223

Fig-marigold, 295

Filbert, 252, 254

J

Finger- citron, 165
Flat peach, 84

Jaffa, 182
Japanese medlar, 50

Florida, 184

Jersey pears, 41

Forbidden fruit, 194

Jordan almond, 92

Fragaria, 224

Juglans cinerea, 267

French plums, 69

,, nigra, 266

„ regia, 261

G

June-berry, 60

Garcinia, 299

Juvias, 274

Geans, 75

Glaucium, 214

K

Glycosmis, 195

Karaka-nut, 280

Gooseberry, 138

Kei-apple, 9

,, fool, 142

Kittatinny, 218

,, shows, 142

Kizilzicks, 55

Gourds, 305, 307

Kumquat, 195

Grafts, 22

Granadilla, 296

L

Grape, 105

Laurel, 98

Greece, 129

Lauro-cerasus, 98

Greengage, 69

Laurus, 98

Grocers' currants, 126

Lecythis, 276

Ground-nut, 313

Lemon, 186

Index.

Lemonade, 189
Lime, 189

,, tree (Tilia), 192
Limonia, 195
Litchi, 292
Locust-beans, 313
Locusts, 313
Loquat, 50
Love-apple, 300, 302
Lychee, 292
Lycopersicum, 301

If

Mabilia, The lady, 26
Mahonia, 158
Maltese orange, 185
Malum, The Latin, 43
Mammee, 9
Mandarin orange, 185
Mangifera, 298
Mango, 298
Mangosteen, 299
Maraschino, 87
Marmalade, 45

„ Orange, 176
Marrows, 306
May-apple, 9
May-dukes, 79
Medlar, 47
Melimelum, 45
Melon, The Greek, 43
Melon, 305
Melongena, 303
Mentone, 179, 188, 205
Merries, 75

Mesembryanthemum, 295
Mespilus, 47
Mexican apple, 196
Monasteries, The, 12, 114
Monkey-nut, 313
Monstera, 242
Montserrat, 191
Morello, 79
Morus, 235
Mountain-ash, 52
Mulberry, 235

Mume, 102
Musa, 286
Muscatels, 124
Myrobalan plum, 101
Myrtle-berries, 8

N

Nectarine, 82
Nephelium, 292
Neroli, 182
Normans, The, 12, 25
Nova Scotia, 27
Noyau, 87, 96
Nuts, 248

"Old maids," 123

Opuntia, 293

Orange, 160

Bitter, 172, 173
blossom for bridal

chaplets, 162
flowers, 182
Seville, 175
Sweet, 176

Orchards, 33

Oxycoccos, 150-152

P

Padus, 72
Palm-trees, 267
Papaw, 9
Para-nuts, 274
Passiflora, 296
Passion-flower, 7, 296
Pavie, 82
Peach, 80

,, colour, 83

„ Flat, 84
Pea-nuts, 314
Pear, 35
Pecuan-nut, 265
Pericarp, 5
Perry, 40
Persimon, 299
Philodendron, 244

Index.

319

Phoenix, 289

R

Phyllis, Story of, 89

Raisins, 121

Physalis, 304

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 177

Pig-nut, 12

Raspberry, 201

Pine-apple, 238

Red- currant, 134

Pippins, 22

Rennett-apple, 22

Pirus, 37

Ribes, 133

Pistachio-nut, 279

Grossularia, 138

Pistacia, 279

inebrians, 138

Plantain (Musa), 288

nigrum, 134, 137

(Plantago), 277

rubrum, 134

Plum, 65

sanguineum, 138

,, French, 69

Ripeness, True idea of, 48

Pomander, 177

Rivers, Messrs., 179

Pomegranate, 283

Rock bramble, 215

Pomelo, 194

Romans, The, II

Pomiferse, 58

Rosa canina, 227

Pompion, 305, 308

Rose-apple, 9

Prickly-pear, 293

Rowan-tree, 52

Prune, 70

Rubi, The, 199

Prunus, 65

Rubus arcticus, 216

cerasifera, 101

csesius, 213

Cerasus, 72

Chamgemorus, 210

domestica, 65

deliciosus, 219

insititia, 65

fruticosus, 204

Lauro-cerasus, 98

feoides, 213

Mume, 1 02

dseus, 201

Pissardi, 102

laciniatus, 218

spinosa, 65

leucodermis, 220

tomentosa, 103

nubigenus, 220

triloba, 103

Nutkanus, 219

Psidium, 297

odoratus, 219

Punica, 283

phcenicolasius, 220

Pyrus, 17

rossefolius, 220

baccata, 57

saxatilis, 215

communis, 35

domestica, 54

S

Japonica, 58

Sambucus, 152

Malus, 17

,, nigra, 152

Maulei, 58

,, racemosa, 155

prunifolia, 57
torminalis, 56

Sapucajas, 276
Scindapsus, 244

Seed-like fruits, 5

Service-tree, 54

Q

„ Wild, 56

Quince, 42

Seville orange, 175

320

Index.

Shaddock, 193

V

Sherbet, 285

Vaccinium, 147

Siberian crab, 57

,, Myrtillus, 147

Sloe, 65

,, uliginosum, 150

,, thorn, 65
Smyrna nuts, 254

,, Vitis-Idaea, 150
Vegetable-marrow, 306

Solanaceae, The, 300

Vine, 105

Solanum Melongena, 303

Vineyards in England, 113

Souari-nut, 281

Virginian date-plum, 300

Squash, 307

Vitis, 105

Stone-fruits, 61

,, humulifolia, 131

Strawberry, 220

,, tricuspidata, 131

Sugar-apple, 245

,., vinifera, 105

Sultana raisins, 125

Sweet- calabash, 296

W

„ sop, 245

Walnut, 261

Sycamine, 236

Water-lemon, 296

„ melon, 307

T

Whinberry, 147

Tangerine orange, 185

Whortle-berry, 147

Targums, Jewish, 168

Wild-vine of the O.T., 108

Tendrils, 109

Wines, 120

Thyine-wood, 166

Witten pear-tree, 54

Titmouse -walnut, 265

Tomato, 301

X

Tornelia, 244

Xanthochymus, 310

Tort worth, 255

Tree-tomato, 303

Y

Triphasia, 195

Yew-tree, 101

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