1C.D. LI 8 3ft BY 
 
POMARIUM 
 BRITANNICUM 
 
 HISTORICAL AND BOTANICAL ACCOUNT 
 
 OF 
 
 FRUITS 
 
 KNOWN IN GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY PHILLIPS 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 Suxal rt yXuxspat, seal Ixa7a; 
 
 HOM ODYSS 
 
 " I have often been astonished at onr indifference respecting the applause of those who 
 have introduced useful plants into their country^ the fruits of which are to this day so 
 delightful. The names of these public benefactors are chiefly unknown, whilst their benefits 
 pass from generation to generation : whereas, those of the destroyers of the human race are 
 handed down to us in every page, as if we took more account of our enemies than our 
 friends." 
 
 ST PIERRE 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED FOR T AND J ALLMAN 
 
 PRINCE'S STREET HANOVER SQUARE 
 
Printed by J. 6. Barnard, Skinner Street, London. 
 
TO THE 
 
 PRESIDENT, 
 VICE PRESIDENTS, 
 
 AND 
 
 
 
 FELLOWS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, 
 
 AS A SINCERE THOUGH SMALL 
 
 TESTIMONY OF HIS HIGH ESTEEM 
 
 FOR THIS 
 
 GREAT NATIONAL AND BENEFICIAL INSTITUTION, 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
 i 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 
 BT 
 THEIR MOST DEVOTED 
 
 AND 
 OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 
 THE COMPILE ft. 
 
 a 2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To the first historical account of fruits, which 
 has been attempted in the English language, 
 it may be expected that a Preface should 
 be given. The Author would rather that 
 his should be considered an apology for 
 having undertaken so arduous a task, at a 
 time when his utmost exertions were, from 
 necessity, directed towards other objects. 
 He is now induced to offer it to the world, 
 not relying on his own ability so much as 
 on the indulgence of the Public, to a work 
 that has been finished under the most dis- 
 tressing family affliction. 
 
 It will be observed, that the work has 
 been compiled more for general readers than 
 for botanists or practical gardeners. The 
 former, as well as the latter, will find abun- 
 dance of books worthy their attention, but 
 
VI 
 
 which afford the greater part of society but 
 little information, particularly those who 
 have not enjoyed the advantage of a classi- 
 cal education, as Botany is not yet divested 
 of it's Latin garments, although there is no 
 reason why it should continue to be shackled 
 in a dead language, when our own is so co- 
 pious and so rapidly becoming the dialect 
 of one half of the world. The ancients 
 wrote their botanical and medicinal works 
 in the language of their respective countries, 
 whilst the writings of the moderns on these 
 subjects are so disguised in ancient lan- 
 guage, that few but professors thoroughly 
 understand them, thus depriving those whom 
 they intended to enlighten from obtaining 
 information. For many centuries, the pro- 
 fession of the law was worded in a foreign 
 tongue, and the prayers of the church were 
 offered to the Almighty in a language little 
 understood except by the clergy. These 
 inconveniences have been remedied, and 
 the Author hopes to see Medicine and 
 Botany also dispossessed of their foreign 
 
Vll 
 
 terms to the advantage of society in ge- 
 neral. 
 
 By those who have made the history of 
 fruits their study, it may be thought that the 
 Author has added but little new information. 
 This will be admitted, as he has not at- 
 tempted to search for unknown fruits, or 
 to relate anecdotes of them. His object 
 has been to collect the earliest and best in- 
 formation on this interesting subject, and to 
 bring it into a small focus, as the accounts of 
 fruits have hitherto been scattered in volu- 
 minous works, of so great rarity and value, 
 that none but those possessing extensive li- 
 braries could gratify their inquiries on this 
 subject, and even then it was obtained at a 
 great expense of time; nor would the Author 
 have been able to have compiled this humble 
 volume, but for the kindness of the late Sir 
 Joseph Banks, and several other botanical 
 friends, whose liberality allowed him access 
 to their collections. He is also greatly in- 
 debted to many of the members of the Hor- 
 ticultural Society, particularly to several prac- 
 
vm 
 
 tical gardeners and nurserymen, whose atten- 
 tion to their profession has not only honoured 
 and enriched themselves, but so benefited 
 and beautified their country, that it has be- 
 come, as far as nature and art can make it, 
 the paradise of the terrestrial world. 
 
 The art, of gardening is now so justly ap- 
 preciated in this country, that the Author 
 does not despair of seeing monuments of brass 
 erected, by a generous public, to commemo- 
 rate the memory of those neglected personages 
 who first introduced the cultivation of the po- 
 tatoe, and other useful vegetable productions 
 into this kingdom. Even the brilliant talents 
 of Ireland have not left a more lasting benefit 
 to our sister country, than that man, who, 
 braving the seas, procured for it the potatoe 
 root. Our naval and military defenders are 
 justly rewarded by the gratitude and the purse 
 of the nation, and would gladly divide these 
 honours with those that have made their coun- 
 try more worthy of defence. 
 
 The Author considers, among other bless- 
 ings, that gardening has bestowed on the 
 
IX 
 
 City of London, that of it's being a preventive 
 of pestilence and the plague, from the cir- 
 cumstance of it's making cleanliness a mat- 
 ter of profit in this immense f metropolis, 
 from whence the soil is so carefully removed 
 
 ** o> 
 
 to manure the ground occupied by gardeners 
 
 t '/ 
 
 in the environs, which are now^ calculated 
 to exceed six thousand acres within twelve 
 miles of London, that are constantly culti- 
 vated for the supply of the markets with 
 fruit anid vegetables. 
 
 Stevenson informs us, that 3,500 acres 
 of ground in Surry alone are employed as 
 market gardens; and Middleton observes, 
 that from Kensington to Twickenham, the 
 
 land on both sides of the road for seven 
 
 - 
 
 miles composes the great fruit gardens, north 
 of the Thames, for the supply of the London 
 market. It is gratifying to see the number of 
 hands this ground employs. Even during 
 
 s. '- ' .-. 
 
 the six winter months, it i$ computed 'that 
 it affords work to five persons an "acre, and 
 at least double that number for the summer 
 months, who are principally females; and 
 if we add porters, hawkers, &c. it will be 
 
found to treble the amount, making the 
 number exceed ninety thousand persons, 
 who are in the summer months daily em- 
 ployed by the gardeners, within a circle of 
 ten or twelve miles around London. 
 
 The Author of the Pomarium Britannicum 
 laid the foundation of his work from his- 
 torical researches, which he has since en- 
 deavoured 'to make more complete, by se- 
 lections from Natural History and Botany. 
 It will be observed, that he has referred to 
 Pliny ofteher than to any other ancient 
 
 author ; but those who have studied this 
 
 
 writer's Natural History, will acknowledge, 
 
 that he ha$ given more accurate accounts of 
 fruit, than is contained in all the other ancient 
 works together. Gerard was the first En- 
 glish authbr that wrote largely on fruits 
 and plants; and, as it was at the period 
 when Horticulture first began to be studied 
 in this country, his work also afforded much 
 information. The author is much indebted 
 to the reports of the Horticultural Society, 
 whose liberality is as justly admired, as their 
 prosperity is earnestly wished for. 
 
XI 
 
 It is hoped that no part of this work 
 will be found objectionable, as the principal 
 study of the Compiler] has been to render 
 it acceptable to all classes, and to fulfil his 
 engagement with his liberal friends and pa- 
 tronisers, to the utmost of his ability. Should 
 it meet with an encouragement to demand 
 an enlargement, he will consider it the 
 proudest day of his life, when he sets about 
 correcting and improving his first work : to 
 make it more worthy attention, on this ac- 
 count, he solicits from the Public such in- 
 formation as may have escaped his notice. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IT is now universally allowed, that no coun- 
 try ever attained to such eminence, either in 
 commerce or the arts, as the British nation 
 has at present. 
 
 As the mind has become more enlight- 
 ened, the taste of course has become more 
 pure; whence it is no wonder that man 
 in this island has now so much directed his 
 attention to an Employment which the Al- 
 mighty deemed best adapted for his happi- 
 ness in the creation of the world : " And 
 
 : 
 
 the Lord took the man, and put him into 
 the garden of Eden, to dress it, and to 
 keep it." 
 
 No people of old, in their greatest pro- 
 sperity, ever ceased to cultivate and honour 
 this useful pursuit, which, far from being con- 
 sidered a mean and vulgar study, command- 
 ed the attention of kings themselves. Of 
 Solomon it is written, that " he made cedars 
 to be as the sycamore trees that are in the 
 
 B 
 
vale for abundance/' and that he wrote a his- 
 tory of all the plants, from the cedar of Liba- 
 nus to the moss growing on the wall. 
 
 The Chinese have ever been celebrated for 
 their attention to horticultural pursuits. A 
 peasant, whose garden or fields are cultivated 
 with the most care, is rewarded by being made 
 a mandarin of his class. 
 
 Among the Persians, horticulture was 
 most strictly attended to, if we may trust 
 the authority of Xenophon, who states that 
 Cyrus the Younger was accustomed to in- 
 form himself, whether the private gardens of 
 his subjects were well kept, and yielded a 
 plenty of fruit ; that he rewarded the super- 
 intendants or overseers whose provinces were 
 the best cultivated ; and punished those who 
 did not labour, and improve their grounds. 
 I will not here omit the just compliment of 
 Lysander to this monarch, who was telling 
 him that many of the trees they were look- 
 ing at had been planted by himself. The 
 Lacedaemonian observed, " That the world 
 had reason to extol the happiness of Cyrus, 
 whose virtue was as eminent as his fortune, 
 and who in the midst of the greatest affluence, 
 splendor, and magnificence, had yet preserved 
 a taste so pure, and so conformable to right 
 
 reason/' 
 
Socrates makes this noble encomium up- 
 on agriculture : " It is/' says he, " an em- 
 ployment the most worthy of the applica- 
 tion of man, the most ancient, and the 
 most suitable to his nature; it is the com- 
 mon nurse of all persons, in every age and 
 condition of life ; it is the source of health, 
 strength, plenty, riches, and of a thousand 
 sober delights and honest pleasures ; it is the 
 mistress and school of sobriety, temperance, 
 justice, religion, and in short of all virtues, 
 both civil and military/' 
 
 To prove in what estimation among the 
 ancients they were held who encouraged or 
 improved this art, it will be only necessary 
 to attend to what is stated by Plutarch, who 
 says that Ceres and Bacchus were mortals 
 that were deified for having given to men 
 immortal blessings, by bestowing on them 
 the knowledge of raising fruits. At Rome 
 especially, during the Commonwealth, the 
 greatest generals, consuls, and dictators, with 
 the same victorious hands that overthrew the 
 enemies of their state in war, turned up the 
 earth in time of peace. 
 
 Pompey and Vespasian bore in their tri- 
 umphs trees which they had procured from 
 the conquered nations, as monuments more 
 durable and useful than those of brass or 
 
 B 2 
 
marble ; and long before their time, after 
 the sacking of Carthage, the Senate reserved 
 from the libraries of that great city only 
 twenty-eight volumes, (the writings of Mago 
 on Husbandry,) which they caused to be 
 translated into the Latin language, notwith- 
 standing Cato had so lately written on the 
 same subject. 
 
 As soon as they had in some sort made 
 themselves masters of Britain, the Romans 
 began to clear the forests, and encourage 
 agriculture, which in this country was but 
 little attended to, except upon the coast; and 
 at that period the island possessed but few 
 fruits, which for want of proper culture must 
 have been very inferior in quality. 
 
 As the Romans made a practice of con- 
 veying to their native country the natural 
 productions of the conquered nations, and 
 cultivating them with such care as to make 
 them flourish as though indigenous to the 
 climate, it is probable that, after the fall 
 of their empire, the Crusaders, who often 
 made that part of the world a rendezvous, 
 observed and acquired a relish for many of 
 those rarities, and brought back to their 
 homes, not only new fruits, but those of 
 their native soil in an improved state. After 
 this, the intercourse of the priests with Rome 
 
perhaps served to introduce other fruits, as 
 the Catholic religion, enjoining frequent 
 abstinence from animal food, must have 
 made the possession of fruits more desira- 
 btei 
 
 But it was during the reigns of Henry 
 the Eighth and Elizabeth, that the most 
 valuable fruits were introduced into this 
 country, for at that time the desire of disco- 
 very pervading England, many fruits, plants, 
 and vegetables, hitherto unknown, were 
 brought to this island from the new world. 
 At that period so little does horticulture seem 
 to have advanced, that Elizabeth was obliged 
 to procure her salads from Holland; and, 
 according to Fuller, green pease were seldom 
 seen except from that country. " These," says 
 he, " were dainties for ladies they came so 
 far and cost so dear/' 
 
 About the commencement of the seven- 
 teenth century, Tusser, Gerard, Bacon, and 
 others, turned their attention to natural his- 
 tory and the cultivation of useful and orna- 
 mental plants. After them, Linnreus alter- 
 ing and enlarging the foundation upon which 
 former naturalists had built, raised that sys- 
 tem which will remain as long as science, time, 
 and natural productions shall last. 
 
 Since this, there has been kept up. a con- 
 
6 
 
 tinned search for every kind of tree, shrub, 
 and herb, that could either please the eye, 
 gratify the taste, or contribute to the advan- 
 tage of medicine ; the hottest and the coldest 
 climates have been explored ; and those 
 plants that, for want of a warmer sun, would 
 not flourish naturally in this country, have 
 had an artificial clime and temperature fur- 
 nished to them. Our cottage walls are now 
 covered with the roses of China ; our gardens 
 with the flowers of Persia; and even the 
 woods ornamented with the spiral blossoms 
 of the Asiatic chesnut : in short, the various 
 plants of all the world have been introduced 
 to beautify our happy land ; and with such 
 success, as to render it difficult sometimes 
 to say, which are natives, and which are 
 not. 
 
 The Agricultural Society has succeeded 
 in improving our farms, the very meadows 
 of which are clothed anew : this produces 
 the grass of the Italian fields, and that the 
 pasture of the Netherlands : the chalky hills 
 wave with corn, our marshes are no longer 
 stagnated, and famine, which formerly suc- 
 ceeded an unfavourable season, seems no 
 longer to be dreaded. 
 
 The Horticultural Society was established 
 in the year 1809? in order to give further 
 2 
 
encouragement to this art, and to extend the 
 best possible system of it to every part of the 
 kingdom. By means of this company, what 
 is discovered in one place, may be sent post 
 as it were to others, through the remotest 
 corners of the dominions, without travelling 
 as before, by ages. Besides this advantage, 
 individuals have sent out men of science to 
 every quarter of the known world in search 
 of plants, which have since been so diver- 
 sified and multiplied, as to make it almost 
 difficult to discover more varieties. 
 
 The author has ascertained, by the assist- 
 ance of the Hortus Kewensis, that since the 
 discovery of the new world, we have pro- 
 duced 2,345 varieties of trees and plants from 
 America, and upwards of 1,700 from the 
 Cape of Good Hope, in addition to many 
 thousands which have been brought from 
 China, the East Indies, News Holland, va- 
 rious parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe, 
 until the list of plants now cultivated in 
 this country exceeds 120,000 varieties. 
 
 But flowers have principally engaged the 
 care and study of students in horticulture 
 and botany, while fruits have been in com- 
 parison rather too much neglected, though 
 of the two the latter are intrinsically the 
 most valuable, for since the more frequent 
 
8 
 
 use of fruits and vegetables in this country, 
 many dreadful diseases, as the leprosy, &c. 
 are no longer prevalent, or have lost their 
 baneful effects. 
 
 Induced by these reflections, the author 
 endeavoured to discover to whom we are 
 indebted for such comforts and advantages ; 
 in doing which, he met with considerable 
 difficulty, for modern historians are silent on 
 the subject, though they often dwell long 
 on others not really so interesting ; and the 
 few works in our language on this head, are 
 either too expensive or strictly botanical for 
 general readers. However, encouraged by 
 the observation of Sir Joseph Banks, that 
 " Every anecdote that tends to throw 
 light on the introduction, or on the pro- 
 bable origin of plants now collected for 
 use, is interesting, even though it is not 
 quite perfect/' he continued his researches 
 till he was flattered that the work, originally 
 intended only as a private instruction for his 
 family, might, with care, become worthy the 
 perusal of the public, and enable him to 
 make further inquiries and discoveries, which 
 has emboldened him to send it forth to the 
 world. 
 
 It has been the compiler's wish and en- 
 deavour to render the work a History of 
 
Fruits, that may not only be read through, 
 but referred to, with some amusement; in it 
 to blend entertainment with useful informa- 
 tion, as much as the subject would allow; 
 to combine and compare the accounts of 
 the ancients with those of the moderns which 
 are more improved ; and, in short, to treat 
 on each species of fruit generally ; for to 
 have descended into varieties, would have 
 filled volumes with names alone, since he 
 finds one individual possessing 400 kinds of 
 strawberries, and others as great a variety 
 of gooseberries, while the kinds of apples, 
 pears, plums, &c. have been still more nu- 
 merously multiplied. 
 
 And kinds are less material to his theme ; 
 Which who would learn, as soon may tell the sands 
 Driv'n by the western wind on Libyan lands, 
 Or number, when the blust'ring Eurus roars, 
 The billows beating on Ionian shores. 
 
 Dryden's VirgiL 
 
A C O R N. G L A N S. 
 
 THE OAK TREE. QUERCUS. 
 In Botany, of the Monoecia Potyandria Class. 
 
 THE acorn, which is the fruit or nut of the 
 oak tree, was the food of the ancient Britons, 
 and particularly of the Druids, who, says 
 the historian, lived in caves and hollow 
 trees; their food was acorns and berries, 
 and their drink, water. The name of Druid 
 seems to be taken from the Greek word tyuV, 
 an oak. They thought whatever grew on 
 the oak was sent from heaven, and nothing 
 was held so sacred by them as the mistletoe 
 of an oak ; and they believed it to be the 
 favourite tree of the Deity. 
 
 Content with food, which nature freely bred, 
 On wildings and on strawberries they fed ; 
 Cornels and bramble-berries gave the rest, 
 -And falling acorns furnished out a feast. Ovid. 
 
12 
 
 Acorns were not the food of the Britons 
 only. The inhabitants of Chios (in ancient 
 times) held out a long siege, having no other 
 food but acorns. 
 
 Acorns are eaten to this day in Spain, 
 where they long remained a delicacy at 
 the desserts. Cervantes often mentions them 
 in his Don Quixote ; but the Spanish acorns 
 are certainly of a sweeter nature than those 
 of England. 
 
 In times of scarcity and dearth of corn, 
 they have been ground and baked into bread, 
 both in this country and in France ; but the 
 taste of it is rough and disagreeable, and 
 indeed acorns are said to be hard of diges- 
 tion, and to cause head-aches and flatulence. 
 The study of botany, and the encourage- 
 ment given to agricultural and horticultural 
 pursuits, have so wonderfully improved the 
 state of this country, that what in early ages 
 a king would have feasted on, the beggar 
 now refuses; and the acorn is scarcely 
 known as affording nourishment to the hu- 
 man species, even among the wandering 
 vagrants who pitch their tattered tents, and 
 cook their scanty fare beneath the branches 
 of the trees that produce them. 
 
 Should there remain any persons so igno- 
 rantly obstinate, as to exclaim against the 
 
13 
 
 study of botany as useless and uninteresting, 
 let their plentiful desserts be furnished with 
 a scanty supply of acorns, and their wine 
 be exchanged for the beverage of their fore- 
 fathers; and soon would they join in the 
 praise of this science, and of all those who 
 have given their time and talent to improve 
 the health, and add to the luxuries of man, 
 by this interesting and beneficial study, which, 
 next % to astronomy, carries our thoughts to 
 heaven, and causes us to join the Psalmist 
 in his exclamation, " O Lord, how wonderful 
 are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made 
 them all." 
 
 Before the Conquest, the wealds of Sussex 
 (which is the largest valley in Europe) were 
 one continued forest from Hampshire to 
 Kent, principally of oak trees, that were 
 only valued for the number of swine which 
 the acorns maintained. 
 
 Acorns are but little used at present, 
 except to fatten hogs and deer; they are 
 sometimes given to poultry, and would be 
 found an advantageous food for fowls, were 
 they dried and ground into meal. 
 
 In medicine, a decoction of acorns is re- 
 puted good against dysenteries and colics. 
 Pliny states, that acorns beaten to powder, 
 and mixed with hog's lard and salt, heal 
 
14 
 
 all hard swellings, and cancerous ulcers; and 
 when reduced into a liniment, and applied, 
 stay the bloody flux. 
 
 Every part of the oak is styptic, binding, 
 and useful in all kinds of fluxes and bleed- 
 ings, either inwardly or outwardly; the bark 
 is frequently used in gargarisms, for the re- 
 laxation of the uvula, and for sore mouths 
 arid throats. An extract made from the bark 
 is said by some to be equal to the Peruvian 
 bark. Chambers. 
 
 The gall nuts of the oak, are of many 
 kinds, but they have all the same medicinal 
 virtue. I learn from Pliny that they were 
 used by the Romans to colour their hair 
 black. 
 
 John Ellis, Esq. discovered that acorns can 
 be preserved in a state fit for vegetation for a 
 whole year, by enveloping them in bees wax : 
 other seeds may be conveyed from distant 
 countries, by the same means. 
 
 The ancients thought, that of all trees, the 
 oak was made first; and that among men, 
 the Arcadians were born first; and that is 
 the reason why they were compared to the 
 oak. 
 
 It seems that in ancient times, the oak 
 tree was not venerated by the Heathens only, 
 as it appears there were oak trees in the 
 
15 
 
 temple of the true God, for the Bible in- 
 forms us that Joshua " wrote the command- 
 ments and the precepts of the Lord, in the 
 book of the law, and that he took a 
 very great stone, which he put under 
 an oak, which was in the sanctuary of the 
 Lord." 
 
 In the Valley of Mamre, which was in 
 the beautiful country of the tribe of Judea, 
 where Abraham was visited by the angels 
 who announced to him the birth of Isaac, 
 stood an oak, that became celebrated as the 
 tree under which Abraham often went to re- 
 pose and refresh himself. Bayle says, that 
 this oak was said to have existed under the 
 emperor Constantius. 
 
 It was an oak that caused the death of 
 the son of David in the battle of the wood 
 of Ephraim : " And Absalom rode upon a 
 mule, and the mule went under the thick 
 boughs of a great oak, and his head caught 
 hold of the oak, and he was taken up between 
 the heaven and the earth : and the mule that 
 was under him went away/* 
 
 A periwig-maker in the town of Lewes, 
 in Sussex, made use of this story to recom- 
 mend the sale of false hair. He had a sign 
 painted on the front of his shop, represent- 
 ing the rebellious son of David hanging in the 
 
16 
 
 oak by the hair of his head, with this whimsi* 
 cal couplet below : 
 
 O Absalom! unhappy sprig, 
 
 Thou should'st have worn a periwig. 
 
 It was an oak-tree also which cost Milo 
 of Crotona, the most celebrated wrestler of 
 Greece, and who was always the conqueror 
 in the games, his life. He possessed pro- 
 digious strength. It is related that he held 
 a pomegranate in his hand so firmly, without 
 smashing or hurting the fruit, that no person 
 could open his fingers strait, so as to take 
 it from him. He would put his naked foot 
 on a quoit, greased with oil, and whatever 
 effort was made, it was impossible to shake 
 him. His confidence in his (almost super- 
 natural) strength was fatal to him, for having 
 once found in his way an old oak-tree, 
 nearly opened by wedges, which had been 
 forced by the hatchet and hammer, he un- 
 dertook to finish the felling of it, by the 
 power of his arms alone; but in the effort 
 he undid the wedges, and his hands w r ere 
 caught by the two parts of the oak, which 
 joining together again, he was unable to 
 liberate himself, and was devoured by the 
 wolves. 
 
 The famous forest of Dodona, in Epirus, 
 
17 
 
 consisted of oaks that were consecrated -to 
 Jupiter: this was one of the most ancient 
 oracles of which we have any particular 
 account. Herodotus gives two accounts of 
 the rise of this oracle, one of which clears 
 up the mystery of the fable, viz. that some 
 Phoenician merchants carried off a priestess 
 of Thebes into Greece, where she took up 
 her residence in the forest of Dodona, and 
 there, at the foot of an old oak, erected 
 a small chapel in honour of Jupiter, whose 
 priestess she had been at Thebes; and this 
 was the first temple that was ever seen in 
 Greece. Suidas informs us that the answer 
 was given by an oak. Homer has also de- 
 livered the same account; and as it was 
 generally believed to proceed from the trunk, 
 it is easy to conceive that the priestess had 
 nothing more to do than to hide herself in 
 the hollow of this oak, and from thence to 
 give the pretended sense of the oracle, for 
 the distance the suppliants were obliged to 
 keep was an effectual means to prevent the 
 cheat from being discovered. During the 
 war between the Thracians and Boeotians, 
 the latter sent deputies to consult this oracle 
 of Dodona, when the priestess gave them 
 this answer, of which she doubtless did not 
 foresee the consequence, " If you would 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 meet with success, you must be guilty of 
 some impious action/' The deputies sus- 
 pecting that she prevaricated with them in 
 order to serve their enemies, from whom 
 she was descended, resolved to fulfil the 
 decree of the oracle; and therefore seized 
 the priestess and burnt her alive, alleging, 
 that this act was justifiable in whatever light 
 it was considered ; that if she intended to 
 deceive them, it was fit she should be pu- 
 nished for the deceit ; or, if she was sincere, 
 they had only literally fulfilled the sense of 
 the oracle. 
 
 On Mount Lycaeus, in Arcadia, v r as a 
 temple of Jupiter with a fountain : when 
 rain was wanted, it was thought that it 
 would be obtained of the god by throwing 
 in the fountain a branch of the oak-tree. 
 
 Socrates swore by the oak, perhaps because 
 this tree was consecrated to Jupiter. 
 
 There was an oak near Priene, a city of 
 Ionia, near which a thousand Samians were 
 killed by the Priennians. From thence came 
 the custom that the women of Priene had to 
 swear by the darkness of the oak, because they 
 had lost, in this place, their fathers, their hus- 
 bands, and their sons. 
 
 The veneration that the ancients had for 
 the oak, gave rise to the Greek and Latin 
 
19 
 
 proverb, " Speak to the oak;" which signified, 
 speak in good security. They had also an- 
 other proverb on the oak : when they spoke 
 of persons they did not know the birth of, it 
 was said they were born of an oak, because 
 the ancients often exposed children in the hol- 
 low of trees. 
 
 Lucan compares Pompey to an old oak, 
 hung with superb trophies. 
 
 The oak is a tree of slow growth, requir- 
 ing a century before it will arrive to its 
 full perfection. Pliny, in his Natural History, 
 states, that hard by the city of Ilium, there 
 were oaks near the tomb of Ilius, which were 
 planted from acorns when Troy was first 
 called Ilium. He also says, " the great forest 
 Hercynia is full of large oaks, that have 
 never been topped or lopped." " It is sup- 
 posed/' adds this naturalist, " that they have 
 been there since the creation of the world, 
 and (in regard to their immortality) surmount- 
 ing all miracles whatever. The roots of these 
 trees run and spread so far within the ground 
 that they meet each other, in which encounter 
 they make such resistance, that they swell 
 and rise upwards to a great height, in the 
 form of arches/' In some instances, he says, 
 they were so high and so large that a 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 whole troop of horsemen could ride upright 
 through these natural portals, in order of 
 battle. 
 
 Linnaeus mentions fourteen species of 
 the oak-tree; Miller extended them to 
 twenty; and Aiton describes forty-five va- 
 rieties of this tree. The most common of the 
 English oak produces the acorns close to the 
 branches, without any stalk ; but the most 
 esteemed for ship building is found growing 
 in the Wealds of Sussex and Kent ; and this 
 tree often produces its acorns with foot stalks 
 as long as the cherry stalk. Young says, 
 " Oak is the staple commodity of Sussex, 
 which, from the remotest antiquity, has been 
 celebrated for the growth of oak ; it is esti- 
 mated that not less than from 170 or 180,000 
 acres are occupied by this timber, the qua- 
 lity of which is acknowledged by navy con- 
 tractors preferring, and in all their agree- 
 ments stipulating for, Sussex oak. This 
 author adds, that the soil is so naturally 
 adapted to the growth of oak, that if a field 
 were sown with furze only, and the cattle 
 kept out, the ground would, in a few years, 
 be covered with young oaks, without trouble 
 or expense of planting. 
 
 Although the late long war has, in some 
 
degree, thinned this country of oak-trees, 
 still we have many oaks left of extraordinary 
 great age and bulk, and 
 
 the sturdy oak, 
 
 A prince's refuge once, th* eternal guard 
 Of England's throne, by sweating peasants felPd, 
 Stems the vast main, and bears tremendous war 
 To distant nations, or with sovereign sway 
 Awes the divided world to peace and love. 
 
 Phillips. 
 
 The celebrated oak in Hainault Forest, 
 Essex, known by the name of Fairlop, is 
 thus mentioned by the late Rev. Mr. Gilpin : 
 " The tradition of the country/' says this 
 ingenious writer, " traces it half way up the 
 Christian era. It is still a noble tree, though 
 it has suffered greatly from the depredations 
 of time. About a yard from the ground, 
 where its rough fluted stem is thirty-six feet 
 in circumference, it divides into eleven vast 
 arms, which overspread an area of three 
 hundred feet in circuit : beneath this shade 
 an annual fair has long been held on the 
 2d of July; but no booth is suffered to be 
 erected beyond the extent of its boughs." 
 
 In Bloomfield wood, near Ludlow, in 
 Shropshire, is an oak-tree belonging to Lord 
 Powis, the trunk of which, in 1765, measured 
 sixty-eight feet in girth, thirty-two in length, 
 
and which, reckoning ninety feet for the 
 larger branches, contained in the whole 
 1,455 feet of timber, round measure, or 
 twenty-nine loads and five feet, at fifty feet 
 to a load. 
 
 In the vale of Gloucestershire, near the 
 turnpike road between Cheltenham and 
 Tewksbury, stands the Baddington oak, the 
 stem of whose trunk is fifty-four feet, and 
 some of its branches extend to eight yards 
 from the body of the tree. 
 
 The famous oak, Robur Britannicum, in 
 Lord Norrey's Park, at Prescot, was com- 
 puted to be able to shelter between three 
 and four thousand men. Dr. Plot, in his 
 Oxfordshire, tells us of an oak near Clifton, 
 that spread eighty-one feet from bough-end 
 to bough-end, and shaded 560 square yards. 
 
 In Worksop Park, the Duke of Norfolk 
 had an oak which spread almost 3,000 square 
 yards, and near 1,000 horse might stand 
 under the shade. 
 
 I have been favoured with the particular 
 dimensions of the large oak that was felled on 
 the Gelin's estate, in the parish of Bassaley, 
 and within four miles of the town of New- 
 port, in the county ofMonmouth, in 1810, 
 as communicated by the Earl of Stamford 
 to Sir Joseph Banks, 
 
23 
 
 Body of the tree, ten feet long 450 ft. 
 
 Twelve limbs and collateral parts, contained 1850 
 Dead limbs - 126 
 
 2426 ft. or 
 
 48 loads and 26 ft. Quantity of bark, 65 cwt. 
 and 16 stacks of wood. 
 
 Four men were three weeks and two days 
 in felling and stripping the tree. There were 
 85 pieces of square or hewn timber: the 
 squarers were three weeks and four days in 
 squaring it. One pair of sawyers had been 
 five months in sawing the tree, and had not 
 finished when this account was sent. (Mar. 
 6th, 1811.) 
 
 The tree was purchased by Mr. Thomas 
 Harrison for one hundred guineas. 
 
 Part of an oak-tree, twenty-feet in cir- 
 cumference, was drawn out of the Thames in 
 September, 1815, near the Ferry at Twick- 
 enham, with great difficulty, by twenty-four 
 horses : it is known to have laid in the river 
 one hundred and fifty years. 
 
 The timber of the oak-tree is so well 
 known, and so justly esteemed, for a variety 
 of purposes, that it would be superfluous to 
 state the whole of them. 
 
 In building ships of war, one great advan- 
 tage is, that it seldom splinters, which 
 caused foreigners to attribute our naval vie- 
 
24 
 
 lories to the excellency of our timber ; but 
 the late war has given so many proofs of our 
 defeating our enemies with ships of their own 
 building, that they must now acknowledge 
 that the bravery of a British sailor is as firm 
 as the heart of an English oak. 
 
 It was not until we had manufactured 
 into furniture all the curious woods of the 
 New World, that the transcendent splendor 
 of the English oak was brought to any degree 
 of perfection by the late Mr. Bullock, of 
 Tenterden-street, and other eminent cabinet- 
 makers. Mr. Penning, of Holies-street, Ca- 
 vendish-square, who I am informed has been 
 the most successful in the choice of this 
 wood, has lately wrought up some old oak- 
 trees of such matchless beauty, that one set 
 of dining-tables brought him the unheard-of 
 price of six hundred pounds. This far ex- 
 ceeds any thing of the kind we read of, 
 even in the luxurious days of the Romans, 
 although Pliny says, " Our wives at home 
 twit us, their husbands, for our expensive 
 tables, when we seem to find fault with their 
 costly pearls/' 
 
 " There is at this day to be seen, "says this 
 author, " a board of citron wood, belonging 
 formerly to M. Tullius Cicero, which cost 
 him ten thousand sesterces; a strange cir- 
 
25 
 
 cumstance, as he was not rich." He also 
 mentions a table that belonged to Gallus 
 Asinius, \vhich sold for eleven thousand ses- 
 terces, which is about equal to ^70 of our 
 money; and he particularizes a table of 
 citron-wood that came from Ptolemaeus, king 
 of Mauritania, which was made in two demi- 
 rounds, or half circles, joined together so 
 cleverly, that the joints could not be disco- 
 vered : the diameter of it was four feet and 
 a half, and three inches in thickness. It is 
 related that they set great store on woods of 
 curious grains: some there are mentioned 
 with curling veins, which were called tigrin<z 
 (tiger tables) ; others, panthernce (panther) ; 
 and some are described waved like the sea, 
 and spotted like the peacock's tail. But 
 those of the highest value were of the colour 
 of honey-wine, with shining and glittering 
 veins, or lamprey-veined, running across. 
 
 I have ventured to make this digression, 
 having seen within these last few years oak 
 of such various grains, that out of them the 
 whole of the above-mentioned, and many 
 other curious representations, might have 
 been selected. 
 
 The bark of the oak-tree is a most valu- 
 able article for the purpose of tanning ; and 
 it is by the aid of this bark, that our English 
 
 2 
 
26 
 
 gardeners are able to supply us with pine- 
 apples, and other fruits peculiar to the hot- 
 test climates. 
 
 The oak principally used for wainscot, 
 &c., is brought from Dantzic and Norway. 
 
 The evergreen oak (ilex) is a native of the 
 south of Europe, and is planted merely to 
 ornament our gardens and plantations : this 
 variety was introduced into England in 1581, 
 and is found to grow in great perfection on 
 the banks of the Thames, west of London. 
 There is an oak of this description in the 
 grounds belonging to the Bishop of London's 
 palace at Fulham, more than fifty feet high, 
 and eight feet in circumference. I conclude 
 it was planted by Bishop Compton, who in- 
 troduced many new plants and forest trees 
 from North America and other parts of the 
 world. 
 
APRICOT.--ARMENIACA; 
 
 Or, PRJECOCIA MALA. 
 
 In Botany, of the Class Icosandria Monogynia. 
 
 THE apricot has long been considered, and 
 in most botanical works stated, to be a na- 
 tive of Epirus ; and the name of pruneus 
 Armeniaca having been given to it in mis- 
 take, and which I shall shew belonged to 
 another fruit, it has been transmitted down 
 from one author to another, without particular 
 inquiry. Theophrastus, one of the oldest 
 authors, never mentions the apricot- tree as 
 being cultivated in Greece, at the time when 
 he lived : on the contrary, he alludes to it as 
 an exotic, from an account transmitted to 
 him : he also mentions the almond, as being 
 the only tree in his country which produced 
 the flowers before the leaves. (Theoph. Hist. 
 Plant, lib. vii. c. 12.) 
 
28 
 
 Columella is the oldest Roman author 
 who has mentioned the tree that has been 
 considered the apricot. He writes, that at 
 the end of January we may graft the cherry- 
 tree, the Armenian plum, the nectarine, the 
 almond, the peach-tree, and others which 
 plush early. 
 
 Pliny also mentions the Armenian plum ; 
 and says there is a plum, a kind of apricot, 
 brought from a foreign nation, and which is 
 called Armeniaca, and is desirable for its smell. 
 This great naturalist has particularly men- 
 tioned the apricot, as distinct from the Arme- 
 nian plum : he states that it was not known 
 above thirty years before he wrote the account, 
 which would make its introduction into Italy 
 about the sixtieth year of the Christian era. 
 Pliny says, " at its first coming, each sold for 
 a Roman denier :" he adds, " this fruit is harm- 
 less, and is in such request among invalids, 
 that thirty sesterces are given for one of them, 
 which is as great a price as is given for any 
 fruit whatever/' " We have," continues he, 
 " two sorts, supernatia, which we have from 
 the high countries, and, namely, the Sabines ; 
 and popularia, which grow common every 
 where/' Thus Pliny has furnished us with an 
 account of the apricot, and omitted to men- 
 tion from whence it was first procured. 
 
29 
 
 M. L. Legnier has made some remarks on 
 this subject, which appeared in the French 
 Encyclopedic, for November, 1815. Here he 
 says, " I was struck with its mode of growth 
 in Egypt, where it was anciently brought from 
 latitudes still more southern. In Egyot it', 
 leaves have scarcely fallen off before tiA 
 soms appear again. The name of berikoi 
 first given to it even in Greece, apprj .lies 
 very near to its Arabian name of I kach, 
 or berikach." M. L. Legnier adds, " that the 
 inhabitants of the Deserts called Oasis, gather 
 and dry large quantities of apricots, which 
 they bring down to Egypt for sale ; and they 
 are there called michmich." " The result of 
 every inquiry I made/' says this author, " was, 
 that the apricot-tree grows there spontane- 
 ously, almost without cultivation; and as it is 
 not known to grow in the natural state in any 
 part of Armenia, we may very justly conclude 
 that it is an Arabian fruit." 
 
 The apricot-tree was first brought to Eng- 
 land from Italy, in the year 1524, by Woolf, 
 gardener of Henry the Eighth, who it ap- 
 pears introduced several valuable fruits about 
 the same period. (Gough's British Topo- 
 graphy, vol. i. page 133.) 
 
 We have now considerable varieties of 
 this agreeable fruit, many of which, by their 
 
30 
 
 names, inform us from whence they were 
 procured, as the Algier, the Roman, the 
 Turkey, the Brede, and the Brussels apricot, 
 besides the Muscadine, the Orange, and se- 
 veral new varieties. It is one of our earliest 
 wall-fruits, as well as one in the highest esti- 
 plush ea^ 
 
 PThe young fruit which is gathered to thin 
 a^the ayop, makes an excellent tart; and, when 
 ripe, it is second to no fruit for preserves or 
 jam. 
 
 The apricot-tree produces its blossom 
 buds not only on the last year's wood, but 
 also on the curzons, or spurs, from the two 
 years' old wood. Great care should be used, 
 in pruning, not to injure them; and it is 
 advisable to remove all foreright shoots in the 
 growing time. 
 
 The Brussels apricot is the best as a stan- 
 dard tree: they are all propagated, by graft- 
 ing them on plum stocks. 
 
 Madame de Genlis relates the following 
 'anecdote, which cannot be translated so as to 
 retain the wit, which depends on the agree- 
 ment of the French name for apricot-tree 
 with the inscription alluded to. 
 
 Apr&s la mort de Louis XIze, au com- 
 mencement de la regence de Madame de 
 Beaujeu, plusieurs personnes furent disgra- 
 
31 
 
 ciees ; entre autres, Cotier, premier medecin 
 clu feu roi, qui s'applaudissant d'etre echappe 
 de cette cour orageuse, fit sculpter sur la 
 porte de sa maison un abricotier avec cette 
 inscription : 
 
 A Tabri, Cotier. 
 
ALMOND AM YGDALUS. 
 
 / 
 
 The Name of a Genus of Trees, of the Jco- 
 sandria Monogynia Class. 
 
 THAT the almond-tree is a native of Syria 
 and Arabia, we have the authority of the ear- 
 liest writers. 
 
 Jacob mentions almonds among the best 
 fruits of the land of Canaan, when he says 
 to his sons, " Take of the best fruits in the 
 land in your vessels, and carry down the 
 man a present, a little balm, and a little 
 honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds/' 
 By the miracle of Aaron's rod, we learn that 
 this tree was growing in the wilderness 
 " the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi 
 was budded, and brought forth buds, and 
 blossomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." 
 The Israelites did not use the same orna- 
 mental statuary that adorned the heathen 
 temples, but copied the fruits and flowers 
 
33 
 
 of their country, where they admitted em- 
 bellishment. The almond was selected to 
 beautify the candlesticks for the tabernacle, 
 which were made of pure gold, of beaten 
 work : " Three bowls made after the fashion 
 of almonds in one branch, a knop and a 
 flower : and three bowls made like almonds 
 in another branch, a knop and a flower ; so 
 throughout the six branches going out of 
 the candlestick. And in the six candlesticks 
 were four bowls made like almonds, his 
 knops, and his flowers/' 
 
 Theophrastus, who wrote about 300 years 
 before Christ, mentions the almond as the 
 only tree in Greece that produced the blos- 
 soms before the leaves. Servius relates the 
 traditionary tale of Phyllis's being changed 
 by the gods into an almond-tree, which was 
 called phylla by the Greeks. Some days after 
 this metamorphosis, Demophoon her lover 
 revisited Thrace, of which Phyllis was queen : 
 and when he heard of the fate of Phyllis, he 
 ran and clasped the tree, which, though at 
 that time stripped of its leaves, suddenly shot 
 forth and blossomed, as if still sensible of 
 his tenderness and love. 
 
 The almond tree was not cultivated in 
 Italy in the time of Cato, who calls the fruit, 
 nuces Grcecce, or Greek nuts. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 The Jordan almond-tree was first planted 
 in England, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 
 1548 (Hortus Kez&ensis). Lord Bacon, whose 
 Natural History was written some years after 
 this time, mentions it among the trees that 
 blossom earliest, and whose fruit ripens latest: 
 and which he accounts for as being a tree 
 that hath much oily moisture. He recom- 
 mends almond butter as an excellent nou- 
 risher to those that are weak ; as also the oil 
 of almonds, newly drawn, with sugar and a 
 little spice, spread upon toasted bread, as a 
 nourishing diet. 
 
 The Jordan almonds are the most es- 
 teemed for the table, and are named after 
 the river Jordan, so celebrated in the Old 
 Testament, and from whence they were 
 first procured : these almonds, when taken in 
 moderation, are wholesome, being cooling, 
 healing, emollient, and nutritive: they are 
 much prescribed in emulsions, and are found 
 of good effect in all disorders from choleric 
 and acrimonious humours. 
 
 The oil of almonds is principally drawn 
 from the Valentian and Barbary almonds, 
 and is well known for its medicinal qualities. 
 
 Bitter almonds were considered by the an- 
 cients as of use to take off drunkenness. 
 Plutarch relates that Drusus's physician, 
 
35 
 
 who was a great drinker, took at every cup 
 five bitter almonds, to allay the heat and 
 fumes of the wine. The bitter almonds are 
 held aperient, detersive, and diuretic; they 
 are therefore recommended in obstructions 
 of the liver, spleen, &c. Pliny states, that a 
 decoction of the roots of the bitter almond- 
 tree supples the skin, prevents wrinkles, and 
 gives a fresh, cheerful colour to the coun- 
 tenance ; and that bitter almonds cause sleep, 
 and create appetite. They were considered 
 a cure for chilblains, as well as the bite of 
 a mad dog. 
 
 Neumann states, that these almonds are 
 poisonous to birds, and all animals that come 
 into the world blind. The Bohemians are said 
 to bruise them, and to throw them where fowls 
 frequent, which will stupify those that eat 
 them, so that they are easily taken by the 
 hand. The bitter almonds are more generally 
 used for culinary purposes, and for flavouring 
 cordials, &c. 
 
 As an ornamental tree, the almond de- 
 serves to be more generally cultivated in our 
 shrubberies, and particularly as a foreground 
 to clumps of evergreens in parks and planta- 
 tions, which have a sombre appearance to- 
 wards the spring, that would be much relieved 
 by the beautiful pink flowers of the almond- 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 tree, that give a gaiety to the plantations 
 in March and April, a season when no other 
 trees are in blossom. In favourable seasons, 
 the fruit often comes to good perfection in this 
 country; but these almonds will not keep so 
 well as those produced in warmer climates. 
 
APPLE-TREE.-MALUS. 
 
 In Botany, a Species of the Pyrus, belonging 
 to the Genus of Icosandria Pentagynia. 
 
 THAT the apple-tree Is a native of the 
 Eastern part of the world, we have the au- 
 thority of the earliest writers, both in the 
 Sacred History, as well as by the information 
 given by the naturalists of ancient Greece 
 and Rome. The Prophet Joel, where he 
 declareth the destruction of the fruits of 
 the earth by a long drought, mentions the 
 fruits which were held in estimation, and 
 among them he names the apple-tree. 
 
 " The Greeks call them medica" says 
 Pliny, " after the country from whence they 
 were first brought in old times." Others were 
 called epirotica, from Epirus, their native 
 country ; and that these were the same 
 species of fruit that we call apples at this 
 time, there can be no doubt ; as they are 
 
38 
 
 described in Pliny's Natural History as a 
 fruit that hath a tender skin to be pared off; 
 and he mentions crabs and wildings as being 
 smaller; " and for their harsh sourness, they 
 have/' says he, " many a foul word and 
 shrewd curse given them." 
 
 Apple-trees, from the earliest accounts, 
 seem to iiave required the fostering care of 
 man. Of all the fruit-trees in Italy, Pliny 
 says the apple is the tenderest, and least able 
 to bear heat or cold, particularly the early 
 kind that produces the sweet Jennitings. 
 For a long time the apple-tree was of the 
 highest value among fruit-trees with the 
 Romans: " there are many apple-trees/' says 
 Pliny, "in the villages near Rome that let for 
 the yearly sum of 2,000 sesterces/' which is 
 equal to l c 2. 10s. of our money; "and some 
 of them," says this author, "yield more profit 
 to the owner than a small farm, and which 
 brought about the invention of grafting. 
 There are apples that have ennobled the 
 countries from whence they came; and many 
 apples have immortalized their first founders 
 and inventors. Our best apples," continues 
 he, " will honour the first grafters for ever; 
 such as took their names from Matius, Ces- 
 tius, Manlius, and Claudius." Pliny parti- 
 cularizes the quince apples, that came from 
 
39 
 
 a quince grafted upon an apple stock, which 
 he says, smell like the quince, and were 
 called Appiana, after Appius, who was of 
 the Claudian House, and who was the first 
 that practised this grafting. " Some apples/' 
 says Pliny, " are so red that they resemble 
 blood, which is caused by their being at 
 first grafted upon a mulberry stock ;" but 
 of all the apples he has mentioned, he says 
 the one which took its name from Petisius, 
 who reared it in his time, was the most 
 excellent for eating, both on account of 
 its sweetness and agreeable flavour. He 
 mentions nine-and-twenty kinds of apples as 
 being cultivated in Italy at about the com* 
 mencement of the Christian era. The graft- 
 ing of trees was carried to its greatest extent 
 about this time. " I have seen," says Pliny, 
 " near to Thulise, in the Tyburtines country, 
 a tree grafted and laden with all manner 
 of fruits, one bough, bearing nuts, another 
 berries ; here hung grapes, there figs ; in one 
 part you might see pears, in another pome- 
 granates; and, to conclude, no kind of 
 apple or other fruit but there it was to be 
 found : but this tree did not live long/' Mo- 
 dern grafters will condemn this account as 
 fabulous or exaggerated ; but what reason 
 can we have to doubt the authority of a 
 
40 
 
 man, whose life was spent to the benefit of 
 mankind, and whose death was caused by his 
 perseverance in the research after truth in the 
 wonderful works of nature? 
 
 Sextus Papinius, it is said, brought two 
 kinds of apples to Rome, in the 21st year of 
 the reign of Augustus Caesar : the one called 
 Jujubes, out of Syria ; the other, Tuberes, he 
 brought from Africa ; but their fruit, accord- 
 ing to Pliny's account, rather resembled ber- 
 ries than apples. 
 
 The Wild Crab is the only apple indi- 
 genous to this country; and it is on this 
 stock that most of our valuable apples have 
 been grafted and raised by the ingenuity of 
 the gardeners, who have, by sowing the 
 seeds and studying the soil, so improved and 
 multiplied the variety of this most excellent 
 fruit, that it has now become of great national 
 importance, affording an agreeable and whole- 
 some diet, in a thousand shapes, to all classes 
 of society. 
 
 It was not until the 16th year of the 
 reign of Henry the VHIth, that Pippins 
 were first introduced into England, by Leo- 
 nard Maschal, who, in Fuller's words, 
 " brought them from over sea," and planted 
 them at Plumstead, in Sussex, a small village 
 on the north side of the South Downs, near 
 
41 
 
 the Devil's Dyke. Maschal brought the first 
 carp to England, and thus, at orie time, fur- 
 nished our orchards and our ponds with the 
 rarest variety of each kind. 
 
 The Golden Pippin is a native of Sussex, 
 and is said to have been first reared at Par- 
 ham Park, which is also situated on the north 
 side of the South Downs. The Dutch ac- 
 knowledge it to be an English apple in their 
 catalogue of fruits, where it is called the 
 " Engelsche goud Pepping." The French 
 call it " Pippin d'Or/' which is a translation 
 of the English name. 
 
 Catherine, Empress of Russia, was so fond 
 of this apple, that she was regularly supplied 
 with it from England ; and in order that she 
 might have it in the greatest perfection, each 
 apple was separately enveloped in silver paper 
 before it was packed. 
 
 The Ribston Pippin is a native of Rib- 
 ston Park, Yorkshire. Hargrave, in his 
 History of Knaresborough, (p. 216,) says, 
 " This place is remarkable for the produce of 
 a delicious apple, called the Ribston Park 
 Pippin. The original tree was raised from a 
 Pippin brought from France, from which 
 tree such numbers have been propagated, 
 that they are now to be met with in almost 
 every orchard in this and many other coun- 
 
42 
 
 ties/' The old tree is yet standing ; and in 
 the year 1787 produced six bushels of fruit. 
 Mr. Speedily says, he has seen the tree 
 within these last few years, and that it was 
 without decay, or any indication of dissolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Hargrave adds, " This fruit still retains 
 it's value, being preferred before every other 
 apple this country produces/' While my 
 namesake of Herefordshire says, 
 
 Let every tree in every garden own 
 
 The Redstreak as supreme ; whose pulpous fruit 
 
 With gold irradiate, and vermilion, shines 
 
 Tempting, not fatal, as the birth of that 
 
 Primeval interdicted plant, that won 
 
 Fond Eve in hapless hour to taste, and die. 
 
 This, of more bounteous influence, inspires 
 
 Poetic raptures, and the lowly Muse 
 
 Kindles to loftier strains ; even I perceive 
 
 Her sacred virtue. See ! the numbers flow 
 
 Easy, whilst, cheer'd with her nectareous juice, 
 
 Her's and my country's praises I exalt. 
 
 Hail, Herefordian plant, that dost disdain 
 
 All other fields ! Heav'n's sweetest blessing, hail! 
 
 Be thou the copious matter of my song, 
 
 And thy choice, nectar ! on which always waits 
 
 Laughter, and Sport, and care-beguiling Wit, 
 
 And Friendship, chief delight of human life. 
 
 What should we wish for more ? Or why, in quest 
 
 Of foreign vintage, insincere, and mixt, 
 
 Traverse th' extremest world ? Why tempt the rage 
 
 Of the rough ocean, when our native glebe 
 
43 
 
 Imparts from bounteous womb annual recruits 
 Of wine delectable, that far surmounts 
 Gallic or Latin grapes, or those that see 
 The setting sun near Calpe's tow'ring height. 
 Nor let the Rhodian nor the Lesbian vines 
 Vaunt their rich must, nor let Tokay contend 
 For sovereignty ; Phanaeus' self must bow 
 To th' Ariconian vales. 
 
 Gerard, who wrote his History of Plants 
 about seventy years after the introduction 
 of Pippins, has given no account of this va- 
 riety of the apple. He describes but seven 
 kinds : the Pome Water, the Baker-ditch 
 apple the king of apples, the Quining, or 
 queen of apples, the Summer Pearmain, the 
 Winter Pearmain, and the Paradise apple. 
 In his descriptions of apples, he says, " The 
 fruit of apples do differ in greatness, forme, 
 colour and taste; some covered with a 
 red skin, others yellow or greene, varying 
 infinitely according to the soyle and climate; 
 some very great, some little, and many 
 of a middle sort ; some are sweet of taste, 
 or something sour; most be of a middle 
 taste, betweene sweet and sour; the which 
 to distinguish, I think it impossible, not- 
 withstanding I heare of one that intendeth 
 to write a peculiar volume of apples, and 
 the use jf them/' This author continues, 
 
44 
 
 " The tame and grafted apple-trees are 
 planted and set in gardens and orchards made 
 for that purpose: they delight to grow in 
 good and fertile grounds. Kent doth abound 
 with apples of most sorts ; but I have seen 
 in the pastures and hedge rows, about the 
 grounds of a worshipful gentleman dwelling 
 two miles from Hereford, called M. Roger 
 Bodnome, so many trees of all sortes, that 
 the seruants drink for the most part no other 
 drinke, but that which is made of apples. 
 The quantitie is such, that by the report of 
 the gentleman himselfe, the parson hath for 
 tithe many hogsheads of cyder/' 
 
 " Like as .there be divers manured apples, 
 so is there sundry wilde apples, or Crabs, 
 not husbanded, that is not grafted. We 
 have in our London gardens, (Gerard's gar- 
 den was in Holborn) a dwarfe kind of sweet 
 apple called the Paradise apple, which 
 beareth apples very timely without grafting." 
 From this account we may conclude, that the 
 Pippin apples were still rare, or that they 
 had not been cultivated out of Sussex, al- 
 though I find Gerard must have seen the 
 fruit of the Pippin kind, for in his account 
 of the Pomum Amoris, or Love Apple, he 
 says it is the bigness of a goose egg or a 
 large Pippin. The Pippin appears' to have 
 
45 
 
 been scarce even in the time of Charles the 
 First; for in the valuation of the fruit-trees 
 at the royal gardens of his queen at Wim- 
 bleton, there is only one Pippin-tree men- 
 tioned. 
 
 For some years past, it has been stated 
 by several ingenious writers, that many of 
 our best varieties of apples could no longer 
 be cultivated with success; that by length 
 of time they have become degenerated and 
 worn out. Mr. Knight, the president of the 
 Horticultural Society, seems to have been 
 the first that gave birth to this idea. He says, 
 in his Pomona Herefordiensis, that those 
 apples which have been long cultivated are 
 on the decay. The Redstreak and the 
 Golden Pippin, can no longer be propa- 
 gated with advantage. The fruit, like* the 
 parent tree, is affected by the debilitated 
 old age of the variety. Again he says, in 
 his Treatise on the Culture of the Apple 
 and Pear, page 6, " the Moil, and its suc- 
 cessful rival the Redstreak, with the Must 
 and Golden Pippin, are in the last stage of 
 decay, and the Stire and Foxwhelp are 
 hastening rapidly after them/' " It is much 
 to be regretted/' says Speedily, " that this 
 apparently visionary notion of the extinction 
 of certain kinds of apples should have been 
 
46 
 
 promulgated by authors of respectability, 
 since the mistake will, for a time at least, be 
 productive of several ill consequences/' 
 
 Having observed among the apples in 
 Covent-Garden market, last year, a great 
 quantity of the real Golden Pippin in a per- 
 fect state, I was induced to make particular 
 inquiries respecting this fruit; and have re- 
 ceived satisfactory accounts from all quarters, 
 that these trees are fast recovering from a dis- 
 ease, or canker, which appears to have been 
 brought on by a succession of unpropitious 
 seasons; but that the summer of 1818, and 
 the following year, have greatly improved 
 them. 
 
 When I had decided to publish this His- 
 tory of Fruits, I waited on some gentlemen 
 who are well known in all parts of the world 
 for their practical knowledge in the culti- 
 vation of apples. Mr. Hugh Ronalds, jun. 
 of Brentford, informed me that he had lately 
 seen a tree of the Golden Pippin kind, which 
 had been planted against a wall in a south 
 aspect, which was in a thriving condition, 
 and the fruit in a perfect state. Mr. Ro- 
 nalds, sen. assured me it was the true Golden 
 Pippin, and that there is no fear of losing 
 this variety. 
 
 Mr. Lee, of Hammersmith, who politely 
 
47 
 
 showed me a variety of 500 kinds of apple- 
 trees, was decidedly of opinion that the ap- 
 parent decay of some trees was owing to the 
 unfavourable springs we have had for several 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Knight, of the King's Road, Chelsea, 
 has also favoured me with his opinion, which 
 perfectly agrees with that of Mr. Ronalds 
 and Mr. Lee. Mr. Knight added, that if this 
 spring and summer should be as favorable as 
 the two last seasons, he should be able to 
 show me this and other old varieties of the 
 apple-tree in as perfect a state as they have 
 ever been known. 
 
 Mr. Knight, the ingenious president of 
 the Horticultural Society, I conclude had 
 watched these trees during the unfavourable 
 wet seasons we have had from the commence- 
 ment of the present century, and finding the 
 disease increase, he attributed it to the old 
 age of the varieties ; for, as the great friend 
 of Pomona, his object evidently was to en- 
 courage the obtaining and cultivation of new 
 kinds, to replace those which he appre- 
 hended would be lost to the country. I have 
 made this digression, to prevent if possible 
 our best apples from being stigmatized as 
 a decaying fruit and unprofitable to the 
 grafter, which would be the cause of their 
 
48 
 
 becoming scarce, and, in time, totally lost. 
 I have not presumed to set my judgment in 
 opposition to that of Mr. Knight, who is 
 so justly celebrated for his attention to 
 horticultural pursuits; but it behoves all 
 who may write of this most valuable fruit, 
 to recommend the graftings to be of the best 
 kinds, and to throw out no hint that may 
 cause our nurserymen to neglect it's propa- 
 gation. Gerard, when he published his Ac- 
 count of the Apple in 1597, was a warm 
 advocate for the cultivation of appjes. 
 " Gentlemen that have land and living/' 
 says he, " put forward, in the name of God; 
 graffe, set, plant, and nourish up trees in euery 
 corner of your grounds ; the labour is small, 
 the cost is nothing, the commoditie is great, 
 your selues shall have plentie, the poor shall 
 have somewhat in time of want to relieve their 
 necessitie, and God shall reward your good 
 mindes and diligence/' 
 
 Herefordshire has now to boast of a friend 
 to Pomona in Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 
 who has, for some years past, been benefit- 
 ing his country, by creating, if I may be 
 allowed the expression, a new variety of 
 fruits; but before I disclose the ingenious 
 method he has adopted to procure new 
 varieties, it is but justice to departed merit 
 
49 
 
 to notice with whom the invention was first 
 deemed possible : and I have great pride and 
 satisfaction in stating, that, after an unpre- 
 judiced research, I find this wonderful dis- 
 covery has been left for the perseverance of 
 the English, who, although late in taking up 
 botanical studies, have now surpassed what- 
 ever was done by the ancient world in this 
 science. 
 
 Lord Bacon, who has been called the 
 Prophet of Arts, and who looked into nature 
 with a most curious eye of inquiry, evidently 
 suspected that it was possible to cross the 
 breed of plants, and so procure kinds, by art, 
 as novel as those which nature has sometimes 
 produced by accident. 
 
 " We see/' says the great Verulam, " that 
 in living creatures that have male and female, 
 there is copulation of several kinds, and so 
 compounded creatures; as the mule that is 
 generated betwixt the horse and the ass; 
 and some other compounds which we call 
 monsters. 
 
 " The compounding or mixture of kinds 
 in plants is not found out ; which never- 
 theless, if it be possible, is more at command 
 than that of living creatures; wherefore it 
 were one of the most notable experiments 
 touching plants to find it out, for so you 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 may have great variety of new fruits, and 
 flowers yet unknown. Grafting does it not :" 
 adds this great man ; " that mendeth the fruit, 
 or doubleth the flowers, &c. ; but it hath not 
 the power to make a new kind, for the scion 
 ever overrule th the stock/' 
 
 Bradley, whose works were published in 
 1718, about a century after those of Lord 
 Bacon, is the first author who wrote on 
 this subject as being accomplished ; but 
 the exact method was not then clearly un- 
 derstood, as he only describes it by bringing 
 the branches of different trees together when 
 in blossom ; but, on this hint, the gardeners 
 in Holland and the Netherlands practised 
 before it was much attended to in this coun- 
 try, where the discovery was made and pub- 
 lished ; but, to do them justice, they have the 
 honour to acknowledge they owe the art to 
 the English. 
 
 It now appears to have reached its 
 highest perfection ; and I shall proceed to 
 relate the manner in which Mr. Knight 
 has so successfully produced new varieties 
 of apples and other fruits ; and although he 
 has most clearly explained himself, yet I 
 have thought it advisable to elucidate it 
 more plainly by plates from drawings, which 
 I have made from the blossoms for the ex- 
 
 
 
51 
 
 press purpose, knowing how little even the 
 botanical terms are understood by the far- 
 mers, and many gardeners in the country. 
 
 Mr. Knight, in his Pomona Herefordien- 
 sis, says, " It is necessary to contrive that the 
 two trees from which you intend to raise the 
 new kind, should blossom at the same time ; 
 therefore if one is an earlier sort than the 
 other, it must be retarded by shading, or 
 brought into a cooler situation, and the latest 
 forwarded by a warm wall or a sunny situa- 
 tion, so as to procure the blossoms at the same 
 period/' 
 
 The apple blossom contains about twenty 
 stamina or males, which are represented in 
 Plate I. No. 3. and generally five pointals 
 or females, which form the centre of the 
 cup or cavity of the blossom, as in Figure 
 No. 4. The males stand in a circle, just 
 within the bases of the petals, or flower 
 leaves, and are formed of slender threads, 
 each of which terminates in a small yellow 
 ball or anther, as in Fig. 5. As soon as 
 the blossoms are nearly full grown, as in Fig. 
 1 . they must be carefully opened, and all the 
 male stamina cut or extracted, so as not to 
 injure the pointals or females, which will then 
 appear as in Fig. 4. The blossoms are then 
 closed again, as in Fig. 1. and suffered to 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 remain till they open spontaneously. From 
 the blossoms of the tree, which it is pro- 
 posed to make the male parent of the future 
 variety, must be taken a portion of their 
 pollen or farina, when ready to fall from the 
 mature anthers, and deposited upon the 
 pointals of the blossoms, which consequently 
 will afford seed. By shaking the blossoms 
 over a sheet of white paper, you will ascer- 
 tain when the pollen is ready. It is neces- 
 sary in this experiment, to cover the branches 
 on which the prepared blossoms are, with a 
 thin muslin or gauze, so as not to touch the 
 flowers, or keep off the sun or air, but to pre- 
 vent the bees or other insects from inocula- 
 ting them with the pollen of other blossoms, 
 which would make the experiment uncertain; 
 and in order to obtain the fruit and the seeds 
 of a large size, it is best to leave but few 
 blossoms on the tree, and, at all events, to 
 clear the branches on which the prepared 
 flowers are, from all other blossoms. When 
 the fruit is quite ripe, the pips or seeds 
 should be sown at a proper season, and in 
 suitable soil, and in about four or six years 
 fruit may be expected. Mr. Knight has 
 also made some curious experiments between 
 the peach and the almond, which will be 
 found in the account of the former fruit. 
 
53 
 
 Among the new apples which the world have 
 to thank Mr. Knight for, is the Grange 
 apple, which fruited first in 1802, and ob- 
 tained the prize of the Herefordshire Agri- 
 cultural Society : it is the offspring of the 
 Orange Pippin and the Golden Pippin. He 
 also obtained the annual premium of the 
 same society, in 1807, for the Siberian Har- 
 vey, an apple which fruited for the first time 
 in that year. This tree was raised from the 
 seed of the Yellow Siberian Crab and the 
 pollen of the Golden Harvey. Mr. Knight 
 also raised the Fox ley apple, from the seed 
 of the yellow Siberian Crab and the pollen 
 of the Orange Pippin : this fruit also received 
 the premium in 1808, and it is said to rival 
 the Golden Pippin in sweetness. 
 
 The cultivation of this, our most valuable 
 fruit, has been attended to with so much 
 care of late years, that one of our great 
 gardeners, (Mr. Hugh Ronalds, of Brent- 
 ford,) exhibited at the Horticultural Society, 
 in August, 1818, sixteen varieties of apples, 
 and in September he exhibited fifty-eight 
 other sorts, all grown in his own garden, 
 and considered the finest collection ever 
 exhibited. In the month of October of the 
 same year, he exhibited fifty-three sorts, 
 making in the whole a variety of 127 kinds 
 
54 
 
 of this our staple fruit, which, in point of 
 real value, takes place of all others, and 
 affords a variety for all seasons of the year, 
 both for the dessert and for culinary purposes, 
 as well as the drink of which Phillips in 
 Miltonian verse has sung, 
 
 Some ciders have, by art or age, unlearn'd 
 Their genuine relish, and of sundry vines 
 Assum'd the flavour; one sort counterfeits 
 The sparkling nectar of Champagne; with that, 
 A German oft has swill'd his throat, and sworn, 
 Deluded, that imperial Rhine bestow'd 
 The gen'rous rummer, whilst the owner, pleas'd, 
 Laughs inly at his guest, thus entertain'd 
 With foreign vintage from his cider cask. 
 
 Thomson has thus beautifully described 
 the cider season : 
 
 The fragrant stores, the wide projected heaps 
 Of apples, which the lusty-handed year, 
 Innumerous, o'er the blushing orchard shakes; 
 A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 
 Dwells in their gelid pores ; and, active, points 
 The piercing cider for the thirsty tongue. 
 
 Apple- wine is admired as a summer be- 
 verage, but it is by no means equal to the 
 cider made from Golden Pippins, which, 
 when given in good condition, and well 
 timed, surpasses every other refreshing drink. 
 The spirit extracted from cider is equal to 
 
55 
 
 brandy for preserving fruit, or mixing ia 
 made wines or liquors. 
 
 A solution of iron in the juice of the 
 Golden Rennet, evaporated to a thick con- 
 sistency, proves an elegant chalybeate. 
 
 Dr. Short informs us, that cider was first 
 invented by a Norman, who much admired 
 the delicate flavour of apples; and "long 
 observation/' says he, " assures us, that such 
 as chiefly drink cider, are more healthy and 
 strong, and have better complexions, than 
 those that are accustomed to wine or ale." 
 Both Lord Bacon and Dr. Baynard tell us of 
 several persons near a hundred, and some 
 above, who, having seldom used any other 
 liquor, were very active and vigorous at that 
 age. It is certainly more nourishing than 
 wine, for not being so thoroughly fermented, 
 its spirits are less subtile and impetuous. 
 
 " There is made an ointment," says Gerard, 
 " with the pulp of apples and swine's grease 
 and rose-water, which is used to beautify the 
 face, and to take away the roughness of the 
 skin, which is called in shops pomatum, of 
 the apples whereof it is made/' 
 
 As the Horticultural Society of this coun- 
 try has been established for the purpose of 
 benefiting the world by their attention to 
 the improvement of our various fruits, and 
 
56 
 
 as I know it to be a part of their study 
 to induce the planters of orchards to cul- 
 tivate and propagate the best kinds of 
 apples only, I trust that by their attention 
 we shall soon have our markets supplied with 
 a superior kind of apples to what is now ge- 
 nerally offered for sale, as the same land that 
 will produce an ill-flavoured apple will afford 
 a good one ; and it is as easy to raise the 
 best kinds of apple-trees as those of inferior 
 value. 
 
 The Siberian Crab Apple was not culti- 
 vated in this country until 1758, and the 
 small fruited variety was first introduced in 
 1 784. The flavour of this latter kind is highly 
 esteemed in tarts and puddings, and the tree 
 is often planted as an ornament in our shrub- 
 beries. 
 
 In pruning apple-trees, nothing more 
 should be done than to cut out all those 
 branches which cross each other, to pre- 
 vent the rubbing of the bark; but never 
 to shorten any of their shoots, except 
 those shoots or suckers which proceed from 
 the stem, which should be entirely taken 
 off, as also all branches broken by the wind 
 or accident, which should be cut off close 
 to the division of the branch. November 
 is the best time to prune apple-trees, as it 
 
57 
 
 injures them to prune in frosty weather, or 
 when the sap begins to rise. Pruning is to 
 be avoided as much as possible, as it creates 
 useless shoots, and prevents the fruiting; 
 but if trees are becoming too full of branches, 
 which will be the case in espaliers, the better 
 way is to rub off the buds and shoots which 
 are irregularly produced, in the growing 
 season. All sorts of apples produce their 
 fruit upon cursions, or spurs, therefore it is 
 necessary to be careful not to cut off or 
 destroy them, as they continue to be fruitful 
 for several seasons. 
 
 The apples intended to be preserved for 
 the winter should remain on the trees until 
 quite ripe, when they should be gathered in 
 dry weather, and placed in a heap for five or 
 six weeks, in order to sweat: they should 
 then be carefully wiped dry, and those that 
 are perfectly sound, packed in large jars or 
 boxes so as to be excluded from the air, 
 which will keep them sound and plump, and 
 retain their flavour. 
 
 I have found the wood of old apple-trees, 
 when used as a fuel, produce a most agree- 
 able perfume. 
 
 The various diseases to which the apple- 
 tree is subject, have occupied the attention 
 and the pen of some of our greatest natu- 
 
58 
 
 ralists, as well as many of our eminent 
 practical gardeners. Animals of different 
 species are found to engender a variety of 
 kinds of animalculae, particularly where clean- 
 liness is not attended to. Trees, according 
 to their kinds, attract different blights : our 
 endeavours, therefore, would be in vain to 
 avoid the blight affecting the leaves and 
 blossoms of large trees; but as the trunk 
 and branches of the apple-tree are often in- 
 jured, and sometimes destroyed, by animal- 
 culae, an attention to the cleanliness of these 
 trees cannot fail of being beneficial to their 
 growth. It has therefore occurred to me, 
 from observations and experiments I have 
 made since compiling this work, that if the 
 trunks of the apple-trees were rubbed with 
 the leaves and young shoots of the elder, to 
 which all kind of blight hath an antipathy, 
 that those injurious although minute insects 
 would not only be destroyed, but that it 
 would prevent their fking themselves on 
 these trees. As this is a matter of import- 
 ance to the public, I shall feel obliged by 
 the remarks of any gentlemen who may be 
 disposed to try the experiment. The canker 
 of apple-trees, I apprehend, is principally 
 occasioned by the uncongenial quality of the 
 soil. I lately travelled with a gentleman, who 
 
59 
 
 informed me, that having observed all his 
 apple-trees became cankered at a certain 
 state of growth, he was induced to examine 
 the nature of the soil at the greatest depth 
 the roots had penetrated, and which he found 
 consisted of gravel. Not being willing to 
 give over the propagation of apple-trees, he 
 caused a pavement of bricks to be made on 
 the bed of gravel, which obliged the roots to 
 take a horizontal direction, and thereby pre- 
 vented their reaching the gravel, since which 
 they have been free from canker. 
 
BARBERRY.-BERBERIS; 
 
 Or, THE PIPPERIDGE-BUSH. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Class Hexandria 
 Monogynia. 
 
 THE common barberry-bush is a native of 
 this country ; and notwithstanding the high 
 state of cultivation this kingdom is now 
 arrived at, it is still to be found growing 
 wild in many parts of the northern counties. 
 Gerard says, in his time (1597) most of the 
 hedges near Colnbrook were nothing else 
 but barberry-bushes. 
 
 It is now very properly introduced into 
 our gardens and shrubberies, being both or- 
 namental and useful ; but it requires caution 
 in planting, not to have it near the house 
 or principal walks, on account of its offensive 
 smell when in blossom. The flowers are 
 small, but beautiful ; and on their first ap- 
 pearance have a perfume similar to the 
 
61 
 
 cowslip, which changes to a putrid and most 
 disagreeable scent, particularly towards the 
 evening and at the decay of the flowers. 
 I have a barberry-tree in my garden near 
 twenty feet in height, the branches of which 
 extend over a circumference of sixty-feet. 
 It has been covered with blossom this spring, 
 and had a pleasing effect in the shrubbery ; 
 but was so offensive for about a fortnight, 
 that no one would walk near it during that 
 time. It seems particularly attractive to 
 singing birds wherever it is planted, espe- 
 cially the bullfinch and the goldfinch, both 
 of which often build in these bushes. 
 
 A very singular circumstance has been 
 stated respecting the barberry-shrub, that 
 corn sown near it, proves abortive, the ears 
 being in general destitute of grain; and 
 that this influence is sometimes extended to 
 a distance of three or four hundred yards 
 across a field. This is a just cause for ba- 
 nishing it from the hedge-rows of our arable 
 fields, for which, otherwise, it's thorny branches 
 would have made a desirable fence. When 
 this coral-like fruit is ripe, it adds much to 
 the beauty of the garden ; but it's acidity is 
 so great, that even the birds refuse to eat it. 
 
 I conclude it is the fruit called appen- 
 dices by the ancients. Pliny says, " There 
 
is a kind of thorny bush called appendix, 
 having red berries hanging from the branches 
 which were called appendices :" he adds, 
 " these berries, either raw by themselves, or 
 dried, and boiled in wine, are good to stay 
 the flux of the body." I find, by Gerard's 
 account, that the leaves were formerly used 
 in salad, and to season meat with : he also 
 says, " The green leaves of the barberry-bush 
 stamped, and made into sauce, as that made 
 of sorrel called green sauce, doth cool hot 
 stomachs, and those that are vexed with hot 
 burning agues, and procureth appetite/' 
 
 Barberries are of an agreeable, cooling, 
 astringent taste, which creates appetite. 
 A conserve is made from this fruit that is 
 refreshing, and strengthens the stomach, and 
 is good against diarrhoeas and dysenteries. 
 The juice, or decoction, abates the inflam- 
 mation of the fauces and tonsils, and heals 
 scorbutic gums.- Brookes. 
 
 Pickled barberries make a handsome 
 garnish for all white dishes, where acids can 
 be introduced : this fruit is also used for 
 making syrup, lozenges, &c. 
 
 The bark of the tree is a good medicine 
 against the jaundice, and all obstructions and 
 foulness of the viscera. The inner bark of 
 this tree, with the assistance of alum, dyes a 
 
63 
 
 bright yellow : in Poland it is used for co- 
 louring of leather. 
 
 We have now several varieties of the 
 barberry-shrub cultivated in England, one of 
 which was brought from Candia in 1759> and 
 another from Siberia in 1790; but it pos- 
 sesses no advantage over our native kind of 
 this fruit. 
 
BEECH.-FAGUS. 
 
 A Genus of the Castanea, or Chestnut Tree? 
 and of the Class Moncccia Polyandria. 
 
 THE beech is one of the handsomest of our 
 native forest-trees, which, in stateliness and 
 grandeur of outline, vies with the oak. It 
 seems to have been greatly admired by the 
 ancients. Pliny says, "There was a little 
 hill called Carne, in the territory of Tuscu- 
 lum, not far from the city of Rome, that 
 was clad and beautified with a grove and 
 tufts of beech-trees, which were as even and 
 round in the head as if they had been cu- 
 riously trimmed with garden shears/' He 
 adds, " this grove was, in old times, conse- 
 crated to Diana, by the common consent of 
 all the inhabitants of Latium, who paid their 
 devotions there." This author mentions one 
 of these beech-trees, of such beauty, that 
 Passienus Crispus, an excellent orator, who 
 
65 
 
 was twice consul, and afterwards married 
 the Empress Agrippina, was so much at- 
 tached to, that he not only reposed under 
 it, but sprinkled it plentifully with wine, and 
 would even embrace it. 
 
 Manius Curius, after he had subdued 
 his enemies, protested with an oath, that of 
 all the booty and pillage taken from them, 
 he had reserved nothing for himself but a 
 cruet, or little ewer, made of beech-wood, 
 wherein he might sacrifice to the gods. 
 
 The beech, it will be observed, from 
 the class it is ranged under, produces both 
 male and female flowers on the same tree. 
 The fruit succeeds the latter blossoms, which 
 have a one-leafed empalement, cut into four 
 parts, but have no petals: the germen is 
 fixed to the empalement, which afterwards 
 becomes a roundish capsule, armed with 
 soft pines opening in three cells, each con- 
 taining a triangular nut, called the beech 
 mast. This nut is palatable to the taste, 
 but when eaten i great quantities occasions 
 head-aches and giddiness ; nevertheless, when 
 dried and ground into meal, it makes a 
 wholesome bread. This fruit is celebrated 
 for having enabled the inhabitants of Scio, 
 one of the Ionian Islands, to sustain a me- 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 morable siege, which they did by the beech 
 masts and acorns that their island afforded. 
 
 An oil, equal in flavour to the best olive 
 oil, with the advantage of keeping longer 
 without becoming rancid, may be obtained 
 from the nuts by pressure. It is very com- 
 mon in Picardy and other parts of France, 
 where the masts abound ; in Silesia, it is 
 used by the country people instead of butter. 
 The cakes which remain from the pressure 
 are given to fatten swine, oxen, or poultry. 
 A bushel of masts are said to produce a 
 gallon of clean oil, but the beech-tree seldom 
 produces a full crop of masts oftener than 
 once in three years. 
 
 A few years ago, an attempt was made 
 to introduce the making of beech-oil in this 
 country, and a patent was granted to the 
 projector; but the difficulty of bringing the 
 country people into any new measure, how- 
 ever beneficial to them, is so great, that it 
 often destroys the best concerted projects. 
 In this instance it was found, that they would 
 rather let the swine consume the masts, than 
 suffer their children to collect them for sale 
 to the patentee, and thus failed the making 
 of salad oil in England. 
 
 In the reign of George the First, I find 
 
67 
 
 a petition was made for letters patent for 
 making butter from beech-nuts. 
 
 The finest beech-trees in England arc said 
 to grow in Hampshire. The forest of St. 
 Leonard, near Horsham, in Sussex, abounds 
 with noble beech-trees. The cottagers of this 
 forest inform you, that when St. Leonard 
 wished to rest beneath these trees, he was 
 disturbed during the day by the biting of 
 vipers, and that his repose was broken in the 
 night by the warbling of nightingales, and 
 on that account they were removed by his 
 prayers, since which time tradition says of 
 this forest, 
 
 The viper has ne'er been known to sting, 
 Or the nightingale e'er heard to sing. 
 
 The shade of the beech-tree is very in- 
 jurious to most sorts of plants that grow near 
 it, but is generally believed to be very salu- 
 brious to human bodies. The leaves of the 
 beech are collected in the autumn, to fill 
 mattresses instead of flock or straw, as they 
 remain sweet, and continue soft, for many 
 years. To chew beech-leaves is accounted 
 good for the gums and teeth. The Romans 
 used beech-leaves and honey to restore the 
 growth of hair, which had fallen off in sick- 
 ness. 
 
 F 2 
 
The timber of these trees, in point of ac- 
 tual use, follows next to the oak and the ash, 
 and is little inferior to the elm for water pipes. 
 Between the years 1790 and 1800, when John 
 Aldredge, Esq. of New Lodge, St. Leonard's 
 Forest, was causing fish-ponds to be dug in 
 that neighbourhood, the workmen found 
 scantlings of beech timber, and trunks of 
 these trees, squared out, which were supposed 
 to have been buried in the earth since the i 
 time of the Romans, as there is no record 
 mentioning that part of the forest having 
 been either cleared, or ponds made since. 
 Beech-timber is subject to worms when ex- 
 posed to the air without paint. It is used 
 by wheelwrights and chairmakers, and also 
 by turners for making domestic wooden ware, 
 such as bowls, shovels, &c. Bedsteads and 
 other furniture are often made with this tim- 
 ber ; and no wood splits so fine, or holds so 
 well together, as beech, so that boxes, sword- 
 sheaths, and a variety of other things, are 
 made from it. When the art of splitting this 
 wood was first known in England, the parties 
 who used it kept the method a profound se- 
 cret for many years. 
 
BLACKBERRY.-RUBUS; 
 
 Or, BRAMBLE BERRY. 
 
 A Species of Raspberry. In Botany, a Gemis 
 of the Icosandria Polygynia Class. 
 
 THE bramble derives its Latin name, rubus? 
 from ,the redness of the twigs and juice of the 
 fruit. Pliny informs us, " that the propaga- 
 tion of trees by layers, was taught the ancients 
 by the bramble-bush/' 
 
 Some bow their vines, which, buried in the plain, 
 Their tops, in distant arches, rise again. 
 
 Dryderts Virgil. 
 
 " The berries," says Pliny, " are the food 
 of man, and have a desiccative and astringent 
 virtue, and serve as a most appropriate re- 
 medy for the gums and inflammation of the 
 tonsils." The flowers also, as well as the 
 berries of the bramble, were considered by 
 the ancients as remedies against the worst of 
 
70 
 
 serpents. They are diuretic, and the juice 
 pressed out of the tendrils, or young shoots, 
 of brambles stamped, and afterwards reduced 
 into the consistency of honey by standing in 
 the sun, is, says the above author, " a singu- , 
 lar medicine taken inwardly, or applied out- 
 wardly, for all the diseases of the mouth and 
 .eyes, as well as for the quinsy," &c. The 
 young shoots, eaten as a salad, will fasten 
 teeth that are loose. The roots of the bram- 
 ble, boiled in wine, were esteemed one of the 
 best astringents by the Roman physicians, 
 who preferred the juice of blackberries to that 
 of mulberries for the infirmities of the mouth. 
 Brookes says, " the fruit, when ripe, is cool- 
 ing, and quenches thirst ; and the leaves 
 pounded, and applied to ringworms, and ul- 
 cers of the legs, will heal them in a short 
 time." Boerhaave affirms, that the roots 
 taken out of the earth in February or March, 
 and boiled with honey, are an excellent re- 
 medy against the dropsy. 
 
 The jam made from blackberries is now 
 much used in sore throats caused by colds, 
 and is given in slight fevers. 
 
 The juice of blackberry mixed with raisin 
 wine, before it has fermented, will give it both 
 the colour and flavour of claret. 
 
 There is a kind of this fruit, called rubus 
 
71 
 
 camis, or dew-berry, but which Gerard calls 
 rubus saxatilis, or stone-berry ; the protube- 
 rances of which are much larger, and fewer in 
 number, than those of the common black- 
 berry. It is generally found trailing on the 
 banks of hedge-rows, or in hazel copses, sel- 
 dom growing above a foot high. This is a 
 berry of excellent flavour, and well deserving 
 a place iu cultivated grounds, as it must be 
 equally beneficial to society that our native 
 fruits should be improved, as well as that new 
 varieties should be imported from climates 
 that can give bat little hope of their thriving 
 without the aid of artificial heat. 
 
CACAS.-THEOBROMA ; 
 
 Or, CHOCOLATE TREE. 
 
 In Botany, of the Polyadelphia Decandria 
 Class : Natural Order ; Columnifera. 
 
 THE generic name is derived from two Greek 
 words, signifying the food of the gods. 
 
 The cacas, or chocolate-tree, is a native 
 of South America, and is said to have been 
 originally conveyed to Hispaniola from 
 some of the provinces of New Spain, where, 
 besides affording the natives a principal 
 part of their nourishment, it also serves 
 the purpose of money, 150 of the nuts, 
 (which are about the size of Windsor beans,) 
 being considered of the same value as a rial 
 by the Spaniards. 
 
 It is not only an article of great internal 
 consumption, but for exportation it is one 
 of the most valuable fruits. Guthrie consi- 
 ders the cacas from which chocolate is made, 
 as the next considerable article in the na- 
 
73 
 
 tural history and commerce of Mcxicoj to 
 gold and silver. A garden of cacas is said to 
 produce the owner twenty thousand crowns a 
 year. 
 
 Chocolate was not known in England 
 until the eleventh year of the reign of Henry 
 the Eighth, although twenty-three years had 
 elapsed since Columbus had discovered the 
 country of which it is a native. 
 
 Chocolate is esteemed the most restora- 
 tive of all aliments, insomuch that one ounce 
 of it is said to nourish as much as a pound 
 of beef. 
 
 An acquaintance, on whose veracity I 
 can rely, informed me, that during the re- 
 treat of Napoleon's army from the North, 
 he fortunately had a small quantity of little 
 chocolate cakes in his pocket, which pre- 
 served the life of himself and a friend for se- 
 veral days, when they could procure no other 
 food whatever, and many of their brother 
 officers had perished for want. 
 
 In all countries where chocolate is known, 
 it is esteemed, and found to be a suitable 
 diet for all ages, more particularly for infants, 
 old persons, those of consumptive habits, 
 and such as are recovering from sickness. 
 
 It is related in Hawkes worth's Voyages, 
 that Commodore Byron, in his passage through 
 
74 
 
 the^South Seas, found plenty of cacas in 
 the island called King George's Island, and 
 that many of his men, who were so afflicted 
 with scorbutic disorders that their limbs were 
 become black as ink, and who could not 
 move without assistance, and suffering excru- 
 ciating pain, were in a few days completely 
 cured by eating these nuts, and able to re- 
 sume their accustomed duties. 
 
 I have often been surprised that the 
 making of the small chocolate cakes for 
 eating, should not have been attempted by 
 some persons in London, when they are in 
 such demand at Paris, where a celebrated 
 manufacturer of these chocolate trifles as- 
 sured me that he had then, in 1816, received 
 an order from a late high personage in Eng- 
 land that would exceed 500. 
 
 The oil of the cacas-nut is the hottest of 
 any known, and is used to recover cold, 
 weak, and paralytic limbs. The Mexicans 
 are said to eat the nuts raw, to assuage pains 
 in the bowels. 
 
 We cannot but regret that the cultivation 
 of this valuable plant should have been dis- 
 continued in our West-India islands, nor 
 can we be surprised when we find that the 
 duty, including the customs and excise, 
 amounted to upwards of four hundred and 
 
75 
 
 eighty per cent, on its marketable value, 
 when manufactured. 
 
 It is carefully cultivated in all the French 
 and Spanish settlements in the warmer parts 
 of America. For what reason our ministerial 
 policy should have so widely differed from 
 that of the neighbouring courts, I am unable 
 to guess ; but I trust that the alteration which 
 has lately taken place in the duty on cho- 
 colate, will prove a benefit to our revenue, 
 an advantage to our colonies, and a credit to 
 the ministers who adopted this measure. 
 
 It is certain that the cultivation of the 
 
 cacas plantation was both extensive and 
 
 successful in the British sugar islands, for 
 
 many years after they had become subject 
 
 to our government. Blome, who published 
 
 a short account of Jamaica in 1672, speaks 
 
 of cacas as being at that time one of the 
 
 chief articles of export: " There are/' says 
 
 he, " in this island, at this time, about sixty 
 
 cacas walks, and many more now planting/' 
 
 At present, I believe, there is not a single 
 
 cacas plantation from one end of Jamaica 
 
 to the other. A few scattered trees, here 
 
 and there, are all that remain of those 
 
 flourishing and beautiful groves which were 
 
 once the pride and boast of the country. 
 
 " They have withered with the indigo ma- 
 
76 
 
 nufacture," says Edwards, " under the heavy 
 hand of ministerial exaction." 
 
 The produce of one tree in Jamaica was 
 generally estimated at about twenty pounds 
 of nuts. The produce per acre was rated at 
 one thousand pounds per annum, allowing for 
 bad years. 
 
 The chocolate-tree grows to about six 
 feet high before the head spreads out, and 
 it seldom exceeds from sixteen to twenty 
 feet in the whole height, the boughs and 
 branches beautifully extending themselves 
 on every side, resembling the heart cherry- 
 tree, the leaves being much of the same 
 shape. The tree bears leaves, flowers, and 
 fruit, all the year through; but the usual 
 seasons for gathering the fruit are June and 
 December. The flowers spring from the 
 trunk and large branches: they are small, 
 but beautiful, and sometimes pale red, but 
 most commonly of a saffron colour : the pods 
 are oval and pointed, and contain from ten 
 to thirty nuts each, almost like almonds, 
 adhering to one another by soft filaments, 
 and enclosed in a white pulpy substance, 
 soft and sweet, which some persons suck 
 when they take them out of the shells. 
 The pods change from green to a yellowish 
 colour when they reach to their maturity. 
 
77 
 
 which is known by the rattling of the nuts, 
 when the pods are shaken. When gathered, 
 it is usual to lay the pods in heaps to sweat 
 for three or four days before they are opened ; 
 they are then exposed upon mats or skins, 
 to the sun, every day for about a month. 
 
 The cacas-tree is permitted to bear a 
 moderate crop of fruit the fourth year after 
 the seed has been sown : but if the plant is 
 weak, a greater quantity of the blossoms 
 are gathered, in order that it may recover 
 strength. The tree attains it's full perfection 
 in eight years : after that it will continue to 
 produce fruit for thirty years or more, if 
 planted in a good soil ; but it is obnoxious 
 to blights, and shrinks from the first appear- 
 ance of drought. In early times the planters 
 had many superstitious notions concerning 
 this tree, and among others, the appearance 
 of a comet was always considered as fatal to 
 the cacas plantation. Lunan. 
 
 The chocolate-tree was grown in our 
 stoves as early as the year 1739- 
 
CASHEW-NUT.-ANACARDIUM. 
 
 In Botany, a Class of the Polygamia Moncecia 
 Class. Natural Or der, HoloracecE. 
 
 THE generic name is derived from two 
 Greek words, signifying without a heart ; be- 
 cause the fruit, instead of having the seed en- 
 closed, has the nut growing at the end. 
 
 The cashew-tree, is a native of the Bra- 
 zils, and other parts of America, where it 
 grows to the height of twenty feet or more, in 
 favourable situations. Lunan gives the fol- 
 lowing account of it in his Hortus Jamaicensis. 
 The fruit is full of an acrid juice, which is 
 frequently used in the making of punch. 
 To the apex of the fruit, grows a nut, of the 
 size and shape of a hare's kidney, but much 
 larger at the end which is next the fruit than 
 at the other end. The shell is very hard, and 
 the kernel, which is esteemed the finest nut 
 
79 
 
 in the world, is covered with a thin film. Be- 
 tween this and the shell is lodged a thick, 
 blackish, inflammable liquor, of such a 
 caustic nature in the fresh nut, that if the 
 lips chance to touch it, blisters will immedi- 
 ately follow. The fruit is said to be good in 
 disorders of the stomach ; for the juice of it 
 cuts the thick tough humours, which obstruct 
 the free circulation of the blood, and thus 
 removes the complaint. This juice, ex- 
 pressed and fermented, makes a fine rough 
 wine, useful where the viscera or solid system 
 has been relaxed. Barham, who has written 
 on this fruit, says, " the stone of this apple 
 appears before the fruit itself, growing at the 
 end in the shape of a kidney, as big as a 
 walnut. Some of the fruit are all red, some 
 entirely yellow, and some mixed with both 
 red and yellow, and others perfectly white, 
 of a very pleasant taste in general ; but there 
 is a great variety, as some more sharp, some 
 in taste resembling cherries, others very 
 rough like unripe apples. The taste of most 
 of them is sweet and pleasant, but generally 
 goes off with an astringency or stipticity 
 upon the tongue, which proceeds from it's 
 tough fibres, that run longwise through the 
 fruit. When cut with a knife, it turns as 
 black as ink. The generality of the fruit 
 
80 
 
 is as big and much of the shape of the French 
 Pippins, and makes an excellent cider or 
 wine/' Barham adds, that he has distilled 
 a spirit from the nut far exceeding arrack, 
 rum, or brandy, of which an admirable punch 
 is made. 
 
 The flowers are very small, grow in tufts 
 of a carnation colour, and are very odori- 
 ferous. The leaves much resemble those 
 of the common walnut-tree in shape and 
 smell, and a decoction of them is equally 
 effectual in cleansing and healing old 
 wounds. 
 
 The oil cures the herpes, takes away 
 freckles and liver spots, but draws blis- 
 ters, and therefore must be cautiously made 
 use of; it also takes away corns, but it 
 is necessary to have a very good defensive 
 round the corn to prevent inflaming the 
 part. The inside kernel is very pleasant 
 to eat when young, and, before the fruit 
 is too ripe, exceeding any walnut; and 
 when older and drier, roasted, is very plea- 
 sant, exceeding Pistachio nuts or almonds ; 
 and ground up with cocoa, makes an excel- 
 lent chocolate. 
 
 It has been observed, that poor dropsical 
 slaves who have had the liberty to go into 
 a cashew-walk, and eat what cashews they 
 
81 
 
 please, as well as the roasted nuts, have 
 been recovered. These trees are of quick 
 growth : Barhatn says he has planted the 
 nuts, and the young trees have produced 
 fruit in two years after. They will continue 
 bearing fruit for more than a hundred years. 
 Many are now flourishing in Jamaica that 
 were planted when the Spaniards had it in 
 possession. 
 
 I have lately received from Jamaica a 
 cashew apple, bearing two distinct nuts, 
 which was considered so rare a circumstance 
 that it was preserved in spirits. It's appear- 
 ance is unnatural, resembling a lemon pippin 
 apple, with two lambs' kidneys stuck on 
 the end. 
 
 The wood of the cashew is excellent, 
 strong, and lasting timber. 
 
 These trees annually transude in large 
 quantities, viz. often to ten or twelve pounds' 
 weight of fine, semi-transparent gum, similar 
 to gum-arabic, and not at all inferior to it 
 in virtue and quality, except that it contains 
 a light astringency, which perhaps renders 
 it the more valuable in many respects : 
 for this reason it is often used as a suc- 
 cedaneum in the Jamaica shops. 
 
 The thick oil of the nut or shell tinges 
 linen of a rusty iron colour, which can be 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 hardly got out ; and if any wood be smeared 
 with it, it preserves it from decay. From the 
 body of this tree is procured, by tapping, 
 or incision, a milky juice, which stains linen 
 of a deep black, and cannot be discharged. 
 Dr. Grew mentions the juice being used for 
 staining of cottons ; but it is doubtful which 
 of the species he means, though Sir Hans 
 Sloane supposes it to be of the acajou or 
 cashew, here mentioned. 
 
 Long seems of opinion that this juice 
 has the same property as the Japan lac. 
 
 The oil between the rinds of the nut, 
 il hilu to the candle, emits bright, salient 
 particles. This oil is used as a cosmetic 
 to remove freckles and sun burning, but the 
 pain suffered, makes it's use not very fre- 
 quent. Grainger. 
 
 The pith, or medullary part of the 
 anacardium, is extremely pungent and 
 acrimonious; whence the ancients made 
 great use of it in cold diseases of the 
 head, particularly to strengthen the me- 
 mory ; but the abuse of it sometimes 
 making them stupid, delirious, or even 
 mad, the moderns rarely venture on it's 
 use, at least not without great correctives. 
 Chambers. 
 
83 
 
 The cashew nut-tree can only be raised 
 in stoves in this country, where it has been 
 cultivated since the year 1699. 
 
 G 2 
 
CHERRY.-CERASUS. 
 
 In Botany, of the Icosandria Monogynia Class. 
 It was formerly considered by Botanists 
 as a distinct Genus; but Linn&us pro- 
 nounces it of the Prunus Species. 
 
 THIS beautiful fruit was procured and 
 brought into Europe by the overthrow of 
 Mithridates, king of Pontus, when he was 
 driven from his dominions by Lucullus, the 
 Roman general, who found the cherry-tree 
 growing in Cerasus, a city of Pontus, (now 
 called Keresoun, a maritime town belong- 
 ing to the Turks in Asia,) which his army 
 destroyed, and from whence it derived the 
 present name of Cherry. Lucullus, who was 
 as great an admirer of nature as he was 
 of the arts, thought this tree of so much 
 importance, that when he was granted a 
 triumph, it was placed in the most con- 
 
85 
 
 spicuous situation among the royal treasures 
 which he obtained from the sacking of the 
 capital of Armenia; and I doubt much if 
 there was a more valuable acquisition made 
 to Rome by that war, which is stated by Plu- 
 tarch to have cost the Armenians 155,000 
 men : we may very justly style it the fruit of 
 the Mithridatic war. 
 
 Botany seems to have been more studied 
 in early times by distinguished persons than 
 at present. In this instance we find the 
 conquered and the conqueror both botanists, 
 Mithridates, whom Cicero considered the 
 greatest monarch that ever sat on a throne, 
 and who had vanquished twenty-four nations 
 whose different languages he had learnt, and 
 spoke with the same ease and fluency as his 
 own, found time to write a treatise on botany 
 in the Greek language. His skill in physic 
 is well known : there is even, at this day, 
 a celebrated antidote, called Mithridate, a 
 particular translation of the account of 
 which will be found in the history of the 
 walnut* 
 
 It was in the 68th year before the birth 
 of Christ, that Lucullus planted the cherry- 
 tree in Italy, which " was so well stocked," 
 says Pliny, " that in less than twenty-six 
 years after, other lands had cherries, even as 
 
 2 
 
86 
 
 far as Britain beyond the Ocean." This 
 would make their introduction to England 
 as early as the 42d year before Christ, 
 although they are generally stated not to have 
 been brought to this country until the early 
 part of the reign of Nero, A. D. 55. 
 
 Some idea may be formed of the Roman 
 gardens, by the luxurious manner in which 
 Lucullus lived in his retirement from Rome 
 and the public affairs. He had passages 
 dug under the hills, on the coast of Cam- 
 pania, to convey the sea- water to his house 
 and pleasure grounds, where the fishes 
 flocked iri such abundance, that what were 
 found at his death sold for more than 
 twenty-five thousand pounds. Pliny men- 
 tions eight kinds of cherries as being culti- 
 vate^ in Italy when he wrote his Natural 
 History, which was about the 70th year, 
 A. D. " The reddest cherries," continues 
 he, "are called apronia; the blackest, actia; 
 the Caecilian are round. The Julian cherries 
 have a pleasant taste, but are so tender 
 that they must be eaten when gathered, 
 as they will npt endure carriage." The Du- 
 racine cherries were esteemed the best, but 
 in Pkardy the Portugal cherries were 
 most admired. The Macedonian cherries 
 grew on dwarf trees; and one kind i& men- 
 
87 
 
 tioned by the above author, which never 
 appeared ripe, having a hue between green, 
 red, and black. He mentions a cherry that 
 was grafted, in his time, on a bay-tree stock, 
 which circumstance gave it the tiame of 
 laurta : this cherry is described as having an 
 agreeable bitterness. " The cherry-tree could 
 never be made to grow in Egypt/' continues 
 Pliny, " with all the care and attention of 
 
 man/' 
 
 The county of Kent has long been cele- 
 brated for the quantity of cherries which it 
 produces, and, in all probability, they were 
 first planted in this part of England, of which 
 Caesar speaks more favourably than of any 
 other part which he visited. Some authors 
 assure us, that the whole race of cherries 
 that had been brought to this country by 
 the Romans, were lost in the Saxon period, 
 and were only restored by Richard Harris, 
 fruiterer to Henry the VIHth, who brought 
 them from Flanders, and planted them at 
 Sittingbourn in Kent. This appears to be 
 an error, as Gerard says, " the Flanders' 
 cherrie-tree differeth not from our English 
 cherrie-tree in stature or in forme," &c. 
 
 There is an account of a cherry-orchard 
 of thirty-two acres in Kent, which, in the 
 year 154)0, produced fruit that sold in these 
 
early days for 1000, which seems an enor- 
 mous sum, as at that period good land is 
 stated to have let at one shilling per acre. 
 We can only reconcile our minds to this 
 great price, from the deficiency of other 
 fruits in this country, and the splendour in 
 which Henry the VHIth and his ministers 
 lived. 
 
 Fruit orchards are still considered the 
 most valuable estates in Kent ; and I learn 
 from Boys's Kent, that cherry-gardens, while 
 in full bearing, pay better than orchards ; 
 but the cherry-tree does not generally con- 
 tinue more than thirty years in perfection. 
 Mr. Randall says he has known a single 
 cherry-tree produce fruit that he has sold 
 for above five pounds per year, for seven 
 years in succession. Gerard says, " the 
 Luke Wardens cherrie is so called, because 
 he was the first that brought the same out of 
 Italy ; another we have called the Naples' 
 cherrie, because it was first brought into 
 these parts from Naples : the fruit is verie 
 great, sharpe pointed, somewhat like a man's 
 heart in shape, of a pleasant taste, and of a 
 deepe blackish colour when it is ripe/' This 
 author mentions the Spanish and the Gas- 
 coigne cherry, &c. and says, " there are 
 many other sorts in our London gardens/' 
 
89 
 
 The cherry seems to have been a fruit 
 highly esteemed by the court in the time of 
 Charles the First, as I find, by the survey 
 and valuation of the manor and mansion 
 belonging to his queen, Henrietta Maria, 
 at Wymbleton (now Wimbledon) in Surry, 
 which was made in 1649? there were upwards 
 of two hundred cherry-trees in those gardens. 
 ( Archceologia, vol. x. p. 399.) 
 
 I have observed, that the cherry-gardens 
 in the vicinity of London, have what is 
 termed an upper and an under crop, which 
 is done by planting strawberries or currants, 
 &c. between the trees; and the latter fruit, 
 I have noticed, has been as fine, and as pro- 
 ductive, as when planted by itself, and en- 
 grossing the whole garden. Phillips says the 
 apple tree is 
 
 Uneasy, seated by funereal yew, 
 Or walnut, (whose malignant touch impairs 
 All generous fruits,) or near the bitter dews 
 Of cherries; therefore weigh the habits well 
 Of plants, how they associate best, nor let 
 111 neighbourhood corrupt their hopeful grafts. 
 
 Lord Bacon has clearly elucidated what 
 the ancients considered the sympathy or an- 
 tipathy of plants. " For it is thus/' says 
 this great man, " wheresoever one plant draw- 
 eth such a particular juice out of the earth 
 
90 
 
 as it qualifieth the earth, so that juice which 
 remaineth is fit for the other plant : there the 
 neighbourhood doeth good, because the nou- 
 rishments are contrary, or several ; but where 
 two plants draw much the same juice, there 
 the neighbourhood hurteth ; for the one de- 
 ceiveth the other/' 
 
 The cherry, like many other kinds of 
 fruits, has had its sorts so multiplied, by 
 various graftings and sowing the seeds, that 
 we now enjoy a great variety of this agree- 
 able fruit, and for a considerable portion of 
 the summer, as it is one of the first trees 
 that yields its fruity in return for the care of 
 the gardener. From the ripening of the 
 Kentish and the May Duke, to the Yellow 
 Spanish and the Morello, we may reckon 
 full one third of the year that our desserts are 
 furnished with this ornamental fruit; and to 
 those who have the advantage of housed 
 trees, the cherry makes a much earlier ap- 
 pearance, as it is a fruit that bears forcing 
 exceedingly well. 
 
 Cherries have ever been found more 
 tempting than wholesome. Pliny says, " this 
 fruit will loosen and, hurt the stomach ; but, 
 when hung up and dried, has a contrary 
 effect/' He relates, that some authors have 
 affirmed that cherries, eaten fresh from 
 
91 
 
 the tree when the morning clew is on them, and 
 the stones being also swallowed, will purge so 
 effectually, as to cure those who have the gout 
 in their feet. 
 
 Dried cherries are much esteemed for 
 winter puddings, and the wine made from 
 this fruit much resembles the red Constantia, 
 both in colour and flavour. The small black 
 cherries, with good brandy, produce one of 
 the most wholesome as well as agreeable li- 
 quors. Eau de cerises is an admired liquor of 
 France. 
 
 The wood of the cherry-tree, which is hard 
 and tough, is next to oak for strength, and 
 comes the nearest to mahogany in appear- 
 ance: it is in much request by the turners 
 for making chairs, &c. 
 
 The cherry-tree produces its fruit gene- 
 rally at the extremity of the branches; 
 therefore, in pruning, they should never be 
 shortened. 
 
 Judiciously planted, the cherry-tree is 
 very ornamental in a shrubbery, its early 
 white blossoms contrasting with the sombre 
 shades of evergreens in the spring, and its 
 graceful ruby balls giving a pleasing variety 
 in the summer. 
 
 -* 
 
 There is a feast celebrated at Hamburg, 
 called the "Feast of Cherries;" in which 
 
92 
 
 I 
 
 troops of children parade the streets with 
 green boughs ornamented with cherries, to 
 commemorate a victory obtained in the fol- 
 lowing manner : in 1432 the Hussites threat- 
 ened the city of Hamburg with an immediate 
 destruction, when one of the citizens named 
 Wolf proposed that all the children in the 
 city, from seven to fourteen years of age, 
 should be clad in mourning, and sent as sup- 
 plicants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, 
 chief of the Hussites, was so touched with this 
 spectacle, that he received the young suppli- 
 cants, regaled them with cherries and other 
 fruits, and promised them to spare the city. 
 The children returned crowned with leaves, 
 holding cherries, and crying " Victory!" 
 
CHESNUT.-CASTANEA. 
 
 In Botany, it is ranged in the Class ofMon&cia 
 Polyandria, and is of the Genus of Fagus, or 
 Beech. The Fruit is more properly a Mast 
 than a Nut. 
 
 THE chesnut-tree was first brought to Eu- 
 rope from Sardis, (now Sart,) a town of Asia 
 Minor, by the Greeks, who called the fruit 
 the Sardinian nut, until it was honoured by 
 the appellation of A*o? BaAavo?, or Jupiter's 
 nut. Sardis was burnt by the Athenians 
 504 years before Christ, which caused the 
 invasion of Attica by Darius. We may there- 
 fore venture to conclude that the chesnut was 
 thus early known to the Grecians. Pliny 
 mentions eight kinds of chesnuts as being 
 known to the Romans in his time, and says 
 they were ground into meal, and made into 
 bread, by the poor ; " but when roasted/' 
 he adds, " they are pleasanter and better 
 food/' He also mentions one kind, coctiva 
 
94 
 
 (chesnuts to be boiled). Chesnuts were con- 
 sidered nutritive by the ancients, and good 
 for those who retched up blood. 
 
 "Chesnuts," continues Pliny, "were much 
 improved when men began to graft them/' 
 
 The Romans called them Castanea, after 
 a city of that name in Thessalia, from 
 whence they first procured them, and where 
 they were grown in great abundance by the 
 Grecians. 
 
 Some authors affirm that the chesnut-tree 
 is a native of this country. Dr. Ducarel 
 maintains, in his Anglo-Norman Antiquities, 
 that it is an indigenous, or native tree of 
 this island ; for this purpose he alleges, that 
 many of our old buildings in London, and 
 other places, contain a great quantity of this 
 timber. 
 
 The remains of very old decayed chesnut- 
 trees may be seen in the Forest of Dean, 
 Enfield Chase, and in many parts of Kent. 
 At Fortworth, in Gloucestershire, is a chesnut- 
 tree fifty-two feet round : it is proved to have 
 stood there since the year 1150, and was then 
 so remarkable, that it was called " The great 
 chcsnut of Fortworth. 3 ' It fixes the boundary 
 of a manor. Mr. Marsham states that this 
 tree is 1100 years old. 
 
 Cheshunt, or Cheutrehunt, in Hertford- 
 
95 
 
 shire, is supposed to have been so called 
 from the chesnut-trees with which it formerly 
 abounded. 
 
 Camden remarks, that Cowdery Park, 
 near Midhurst in Sussex, abounded in fine 
 chesnut-trees. It is therefore evident that 
 chesnut timber has been long known in this 
 country ; but I am induced to believe that it 
 was one of the fruits which was introduced 
 by the Romans to this island. 
 
 Chesnuts were certainly considered as a 
 proper food for man by Lord Bacon, who 
 in his " Essay on Plantations," says, " In a 
 country of plantation, first look about what 
 kind of victual the country yields of itself to 
 hand ; as chesnuts, waluuts, pine apples, 
 olives, dates, &c. &c." 
 
 Chesnuts stewed with cream make a much 
 admired dish, and many families prefer them 
 to all other stuffings for turkeys ; they make 
 an excellent soup ; and I have no doubt but 
 that chesnuts might be advantageously used 
 in cooking, so as to make many agreeable 
 and wholesome dishes. I have had them 
 stewed and brought to table with salt fish, 
 when they have been much admired ; but it 
 is exceedingly difficult to introduce any 
 article as food that has not been established 
 by long custom ; and it is not more strange 
 
\ 
 96 
 
 than true, that the difficulty increases, if the 
 object be economy. 
 
 The importation of chesnuts is very con- 
 siderable both from Spain and Portugal, yet 
 I believe it is rare if ever there is a single 
 meal made from them in this country. The 
 Catalonians have this strange religious prac- 
 trice. On the 1st of November, the eve of All 
 Souls, they run about from house to house 
 to eat chesnuts, believing that for every 
 chesnut they swallow, with proper faith and 
 unction, they shall deliver a soul out of pur- 
 gatory. 
 
 As ornamental and profitable for parks, 
 chesnut-trees are exceeded by no others, 
 which all must acknowledge who have seen 
 the fine avenues in Greenwich Park. There 
 is no better food for deer than chesnuts, and 
 they fall from the trees when other sustenance 
 is scarce. 
 
 The timber is of equal value with the best 
 oak, and, for many purposes, far exceeding 
 it. No wood is more preferable for making 
 casks to hold wine and other liquors, as it 
 imparts no taste to the contents, and has the 
 property of maintaining its bulk constantly, 
 without shrinking or swelling, as most other 
 timber is apt to do, which often causes casks 
 to burst. It has also the quality of lasting 
 
97 
 
 longer than elm, or any other timber, when 
 used for water pipes, or other purposes, 
 under ground. 
 
 The chesnut-wood has recently been suc- 
 cessfully applied to the purnoses of dyeing 
 and tanning, thus forming a substitute for log- 
 wood and oak bark. Leather tanned by it, 
 is declared, by the gentleman who made the 
 experiment, to be superior to that tanned 
 with oak bark ; and in dyeing, its affinity for 
 wool is said, on the same authority, to be 
 greater than that of either galls or sumach, 
 and consequently the colour given is more 
 permanent : it also makes admirable ink. 
 
 The great chesnut-tree, near Mount Etna, 
 is perhaps one of the most extraordinary trees 
 in the Old World. It is called " The ches- 
 nut-tree of a Hundred Horses/' from the 
 following traditionary tale: Jean of Arragon, 
 when she visited Mount Etna, was attended 
 by her principal nobility, when a heavy shower 
 obliged them to take refuge under this tree, 
 the immense branches of which sheltered the 
 whole party* According to the account given 
 of it by Mr. Howel, this chesnut-tree is 160 
 feet in circumference, and, although quite hol- 
 low within, the verdure of the branches is not 
 affected; for this species of tree, like the 
 willow and some others, depends upon its 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 bark for subsistence. The cavity of this 
 enormous tree is so extensive, that a house 
 has been built in it, and the inhabitants have 
 an oven therein, where they dry nuts, ches- 
 nuts, almonds, &c. of which they make con- 
 serves ; but as these thoughtless people often 
 get fuel from the tree that shelters them, it is 
 feared that this natural curiosity will be de- 
 stroyed by those whom it protects. 
 
HORSE-CHESNUT. HIPPO- 
 CASTANEUM. 
 
 JEsculus; in Botany, of the Class Heptan- 
 dria Monogynia. 
 
 THIS tree was first brought from the north- 
 ern parts of Asia in 1588, and is now one of 
 the greatest ornaments of our parks and 
 plantations, particularly when in blossom. 
 
 The grand avenue of horse-chesnut- trees 
 in Bushey Park, near Hampton-Court Pa^- 
 lace, is the finest in England, and many par- 
 ties go from London to see it when in full 
 blossom. 
 
 There is a fine print of an old patriot of 
 this neighbourhood, with the following in- 
 scription : " Timothy Bennet, of Hampton 
 Wick, in Middlesex, Shoemaker, aged 75, 
 1752. This true Briton, unwilling to leave 
 the world worse than he found it, by a vigo- 
 rous application of the laws of his country 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 in the cause of liberty, obtained a free pas- 
 sage through Bushey Park, which had many 
 years been withheld from the people/' 
 
 The fruit of the horse-chesnut-tree is 
 ground, and given to the horses in Turkey, 
 particularly to such as have coughs, or are 
 broken- winded. The Turks also give it to 
 milch cows, it being found to increase the 
 quantity of milk, without injuring the qua- 
 lity. In France and Switzerland horse-ches- 
 nuts are used for the purpose of bleaching 
 yarn, and are recommended as capable of 
 extensive use in whitening, not only flax and 
 hemp, but also silk and wool. 
 
 A patent was granted, in the year 1796, 
 to Lord William Murray, for his discovery 
 of a method of extracting starch from horse- 
 chesnuts, and a paste or size has been made 
 from them, which is preferred by book- 
 binders, shoemakers, and paper-hangers, to 
 that made from wheaten flour. It is thought 
 that the meal of this fruit can be converted 
 into many useful articles, such as soap, 
 &c. ; and as it loses its bitter astringent taste 
 after it has been rasped into water, it is con- 
 cluded that it would be a wholesome food 
 mixed with flour or potatoes. The prickly 
 husks are valuable for tanning of leather. 
 Zannichelli affirms, that he has made a 
 
101 
 
 great many trials, and has found the bark 
 of the horse-chesnut-tree to have the same 
 effect as the Peruvian bark. 
 
 This tree is of quick growth, and the 
 timber has been thought of but little value, 
 although it is in appearance so like the wain- 
 scot oak, that none but those who are accus- 
 tomed to work on these woods, can discern 
 the difference. 
 
COCOA-NUT.-COCOS. 
 
 Natural Order, Palmed ; in Botany, a Genus 
 of the Monacia Hexandria Class. 
 
 THE cocoa-nut appears to have been known 
 to the ancient Greeks, as I find the Macedo- 
 nian soldiers, who accompanied Alexander 
 the Great in his expedition into India, met 
 with various Indian fruits, although they were 
 not able to give the names of them. This 
 nut was evidently one of the fruits they dis- 
 covered; and their account of it has been 
 faithfully transmitted to us in the twelfth book 
 of Pliny's Natural History, chap. 6. " The 
 fruit," he says, " is put forth at the bark, 
 having within it a wonderful pleasant juice, 
 and in such abundance, that one of them is 
 sufficient to afford a competent refection for 
 four men/' The Macedonians described the 
 leaves as being of great size, resembling birds' 
 wings. 
 
103 
 
 From this period, which was about 325 
 years before Christ, little or nothing more 
 was known of the cocoa-nut by the Euro- 
 peans, for the space of 1 823 years, when the 
 discoveries of Columbus opening a wide field 
 of speculation for the naturalist as well as 
 the trader, this fruit became once more 
 known to the Old World ; but it is only of 
 late years that the cocoa-nut has been brought 
 to England as an article of commerce. It is 
 now used by the West-India captains instead 
 of wedges of timber, to fill up the vacua be- 
 tween the casks and other packages in their 
 ships. The freightage of these large nuts 
 is consequently considered as of no charge : 
 they are therefore now become as common in 
 the shops and in the streets of London, as the 
 orange. 
 
 The cocoa-nut is the produce of a tree 
 of the first importance to the Indians, as it 
 furnishes them with meat, drink, physic, 
 clothing, lodging, furniture, and fuel. 
 
 Chambers states, that many travellers aver, 
 from the size and useful product of this tree, 
 that from a single cocoa-nut tree and its fruit, 
 a ship might be built, equipped, and laden 
 with merchandise and provision. 
 
 It is supposed to be a native of the Mai- 
 dive, and some desert islands in the East 
 
104 
 
 Indies, and from thence to have been trans- 
 ported to all the warmer parts of America. 
 The largest cocoa-nut-trees grow on the river 
 Oronooko, which reach to the height of sixty 
 feet, and, bearing all their foliage at the top, 
 produce a beautiful, waving, featherlike ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 The Spaniards call it Palma de las Indias, 
 and the Portuguese coco, from the three holes 
 in the shell, which give it the appearance of 
 a monkey's head. 
 
 The kernel, or substance, which adheres 
 to the interior of the shell of the cocoa-nut, 
 is very nourishing, and is used instead of 
 almonds in milks, emulsions, &c. These 
 emulsions, when added to coffee instead of 
 cream, give it an exquisite taste; excellent 
 cakes and fritters are also made from the 
 kernel, when rasped. 
 
 The tender shoots of this tree, when 
 boiled, afford an excellent substitute for cab- 
 bage. 
 
 A large cocoa-nut will produce upwards 
 of a pint of milk ; and when young, it is 
 esteemed one of the greatest dainties of 
 America. As the fruit gets older, the milk 
 becomes more sharp and cooling, conse- 
 quently more agreeable to those of feverish 
 habits. It is also esteemed highly anti- 
 
105 
 
 scorbutic. Custards, blanc-mange, rice pud- 
 dings, &c. are made with this milk. 
 
 An agreeable sweet oil, fit for the table, 
 is procured, if the milk of the cocoa-nut 
 be concentrated by ebullition over a mo- 
 derate fire. The oil obtained from this 
 nut by pressure is an excellent lamp oil, 
 burning with a clear bright flame, without 
 exhaling any odour or smoke. The substance 
 from which this oil has been squeezed, is 
 given to cattle, mixed with their forage, and 
 greatly promotes the quantity of milk when 
 given to cows. 
 
 A juice is obtained by tapping the trunk 
 of this tree, or by cutting off the shoots which 
 produce the nuts, and which is caught in 
 jars attached to the trees. This liquor, after 
 it has fermented, is distilled into a spirit called 
 arrack, which is very superior to that drawn 
 from rice : it also improves the flavour of 
 rum when used in the distillation of that spirit. 
 This juice, when exposed to the sun, produces 
 vinegar. 
 
 The cocoa-nut-oil, composed with the 
 emulsion, is a gentle purgative, without being 
 nauseous or producing colic ; it is also recom- 
 mended in coughs, and complaints of the 
 lungs. 
 
 The filings of the hard shell, applied to 
 
106 
 
 old wounds, will cleanse and heal them ra- 
 pidly. 
 
 In Maldivia, this nut is thought a power- 
 ful antidote against the venom of serpents and 
 other poisons. 
 
 The milk is of the greatest importance 
 in dyeing silks, cotton, or woollen stuffs, 
 as it prevents black and other caustic colours 
 from burning them, and gives a brilliancy to 
 the colour. The emulsion of the kernel is 
 used in the art of painting chintzes, and in 
 scouring the cloth after the colours have 
 been applied. The Hindoos procure their 
 fine violet and rose colours by the assistance 
 of this fruit. 
 
 The tough fibres or substance which en- 
 closes the shell, being steeped in water and 
 beaten like flax, is then manufactured into 
 linen. 
 
 The palms of this tree are made into mats 
 for sleeping on ; the leaves, which are of great 
 length, are made into baskets, hammocks, 
 mats, brooms, racks, &c. and are used for the 
 thatching of houses : the trunk of the tree is 
 employed for gutters, and split into laths for 
 covering buildings, &c. 
 
 The shell of the fruit, when polished, is 
 formed into basins, drinking cups, and a va- 
 riety of useful articles. 
 
107 
 
 The Emperors of Mogul highly esteemed 
 the cocoa-nut for making goblets, which 
 they have set with precious stones and 
 edged with gold, believing that poison would 
 lose its baneful qualities in these vases. 
 
 The cocoa-nuts have three holes closely 
 stopped ; one of these being both wider, and 
 more easily penetrated than the rest: from 
 this, when the nut is planted, rises the ger- 
 men, or young tree, first having ramified, 
 and filled the whole cavity of the nut ; and 
 then shoots out at the before-mentioned 
 hole in the top, and soon appears above 
 ground in two narrow leaves : through these 
 holes likewise is the water copiously dis- 
 tilled into the nut from the roots : thus 
 has nature wonderfully made an egress for 
 the future tree. 
 
 M. Le Goux de Flaix, an officer of en- 
 gineers, and a member of the Asiatic Society 
 of Calcutta, in his account of the cocoa-nut- 
 tree, says it is a well-known fact, that the 
 fibrous covering of the cocoa-nut is con- 
 verted into good ropes, which are useful in 
 navigation and for various purposes on shore. 
 Cables for anchors made of this substance 
 are much better than those made of hemp. 
 They are exceedingly elastic, stretch without 
 straining the vessel, and scarcely ever break, 
 
108 
 
 advantages which are not possessed by those 
 of hemp. They are also lighter, and never 
 rot in consequence of their being soaked 
 with sea-water; nor do they exhale damp 
 or miasmata, which are exceedingly hurtful to 
 the crews of ships who sleep on the same 
 deck where ropes are kept when ships are 
 under sail. These ropes are also easier ma- 
 naged, and run better in the pulleys during 
 nautical manoeuvres. 
 
 Some time since a cocoa-tree was cut 
 down on Mr. Hanson's land, in Jamaica, 
 which had been planted about a century, 
 when, in grubbing up the root, the shell from 
 which the tree had been raised was found 
 quite sound and perfect. 
 
 The cocoa-tree growing in Chili produces 
 a fruit not larger than a walnut, but this is 
 more esteemed than the large kind which is 
 brought to England. 
 
COFFEE. COFFEA. 
 
 In Botany of the Class Pentandria Monogynia; 
 Natural Order, Stellate. It is named 
 after Caffa, in Africa, where it grows abun- 
 dantly. 
 
 THIS berry, which affords such a wholesome 
 and agreeable beverage, is said to have been 
 drunk from time immemorial in Ethiopia, 
 but of this we have no authority ; and as the 
 use of most plants has been accidentally 
 discovered, it is probable that the properties 
 of coffee might have been first perceived by 
 a goatherd (as related by Chambers), who 
 observed that his cattle, after browsing on 
 this tree, would wake and caper all night, 
 and that a prior of a monastery, being in- 
 formed of it, first tried it on his monks, 
 to prevent their sleeping at matins. 
 
 About the fifteenth century the use of 
 coffee appears to have been introduced from 
 Persia by Gemaleddin, Mufti of Aden, a 
 
110 
 
 city near the mouth of the Red Sea. He, 
 finding it dissipate the fumes which oppress 
 the head, give cheerfulness, and prevent 
 sleep, without injury, recommended it to his 
 dervises, with whom he used to spend the 
 night in prayer. It was soon after this drunk 
 at Aden, by all studious persons and those 
 who travelled by night. It was progress- 
 ively used at Mecca, Medina, &c. and Grand 
 Cairo: hence it continued it's progress to 
 Damascus and Aleppo. From the two latter 
 places, it was introduced into Constantinople 
 by persons of the name of Shems and Hekin, 
 in the year 1554, each of whom opened 
 a public coffee-house in that city. These 
 coffee-houses becoming a rendezvous for 
 newsmongers, who made too free with state 
 affairs, were suppressed by Cuproli, the 
 Grand Vizier. 
 
 Rauwolfus, who was in the Levant in 
 1573, was the first European author who 
 
 made any mention of coffee. 
 
 w 
 
 The Venetians seem to be the next who 
 used coffee. Pietro Delia Valle, a Venetian, 
 writes from Constantinople in 1615, in- 
 forming his friend, that upon his return he 
 should bring him some coffee, which he 
 believed was a thing unknown in this 
 country. 
 
Ill 
 
 Lord Chancellor Bacon makes mention 
 of it in 1624: he says, " the Turks have a 
 drink they call coffee, made with boiling 
 water from a berry reduced into powder, 
 which makes the water black as soot, and is 
 of a pungent and aromatic smell, and is 
 drunk warm/' 
 
 M. La Roque, who published his journey 
 into Arabia Felix, in 1715, contends that 
 his father having been with M. de la Haye, 
 the French ambassador at Constantinople, 
 did, when he returned to Marseilles, in 
 1644, drink coffee every day ; but the same 
 author acknowledges that it was M. Theve- 
 not, who taught the French to drink coffee 
 on his return from the East, in 1657- 
 It was made fashionable and more known 
 in Paris, in 1669, by Soliman Aga, am- 
 bassador from Sultan Mahomet the Fourth, 
 who gave coffee at all his parties with great 
 magnificence; and it could not fail being 
 pronounced an agreeable beverage by the 
 Parisian ladies, after they had received it 
 from his slaves with bended knee. If it were 
 a matter of policy with the Turks to get 
 coffee introduced into France, the ambas- 
 sador's splendid porcelain, equipage, and 
 gold fringed napkins, were the best recom- 
 mendation that could have been given to 
 
a people who are so naturally fond of 
 show. 
 
 Two years after, it was sold in public at the 
 Foire St. Germaine, by Pascal, an Armenian, 
 who afterwards set up a coffee-house on the 
 Quai de TEcole ; but not being encouraged 
 in Paris, he left that city and came to Lon- 
 don: however, soon after this, some spacious 
 rooms were opened in Paris for the sale of 
 coffee, and they soon increased to upwards 
 of three hundred. 
 
 It is said to have been first brought to 
 England by Mr. Nathaniel Conopius, a 
 Cretan, who made it his common beverage, 
 at Baliol College, at Oxford, in the year 
 1641, and that the first coffee-house in 
 England was kept by one Jacob, a Jew, 
 at the sign of the Angel in Oxford, in 
 1650. Coffee was first publicly known in 
 London, in 1652, when Mr. Daniel Edwards, 
 a Turkey merchant, brought home with him 
 a Ragusan Greek servant, whose name was 
 Pasqua Rossee, who understood the roasting 
 and making of coffee, and kept a house for 
 the purpose, in George Yard, Lombard 
 Street, or rather, according to Mr. Houghton, 
 in a shed in the Churchyard of St, Michael's, 
 Cornhill. The famous Dr. Harvey used it 
 frequently. Mr. Ray affirms that, in 1688, 
 
113 
 
 London might rival Grand Cairo in the 
 number of it's coffee-houses, so rapidly had 
 it come into use ; and it is thought that they 
 were augmented and established more firmly 
 by the ill-judged proclamation of Charles the 
 Second, in 1675, to shut up coffee-houses as 
 seminaries of sedition : this act was suspended 
 in a few days. 
 
 The first mention of coffee in our statute 
 books, is in i860, (xn. Char. II. cap. 24.) 
 by which, a duty of fourpence was laid upon 
 every gallon of coffee bought or sold. 
 
 The Arabs seem to have been very jea- 
 lous of letting this tree be known, and in order 
 to confine the commodity to themselves, they 
 destroyed the vegetable quality of the seeds ; 
 but Nicholas Witsen, burgomaster of Am- 
 sterdam and governor of the East-India 
 Company, desired Van Hoorn, governor 
 of Batavia, to procure from Mocha, in 
 Arabia Felix, some berries of the cof- 
 fee-tree, which were obtained and sown 
 at Batavia ; and about the year 1690, 
 several plants having been raised from seeds, 
 Van Hoorn sent one over to Governor 
 Witsen, who presented it to the garden at 
 Amsterdam. It there bore fruit, which in a 
 short time produced many young plants: 
 from these the East Indies and most of the 
 
114 
 
 gardens in Europe have been furnished. In 
 1696, it was cultivated at Fulham, by Bishop 
 Compton, and in 1714, the magistrates of 
 Amsterdam presented Louis the Fourteenth 
 with a coffee-tree, which was sent to the 
 royal garden at Marli. In 1718, the Dutch 
 colony, at Surinam, began first to plant 
 coffee ; and in 1722, M. de la Motte Aigron, 
 governor of Cayenne, contrived by an ar- 
 tifice to bring away a plant from Surinam, 
 which, by the year 1725, had produced many 
 thousands. The French authors affirm that 
 it was planted in the Isle of Bourbon, in the 
 year 1718, having been obtained from Mocha : 
 this seems doubtful; but it is ascertained that 
 M. Clieux carried the first coffee-plant to 
 Martinico, in 1720. M. Fusee Aublet states 
 that one tree only survived in the Isle of 
 Bourbon, which bore fruit in 1720. From 
 Martinico it spread to the neighbouring 
 islands. Sir Nicholas Laws first introduced it 
 into Jamaica, in the year 1728, and planted 
 it at Townwell Estate, now called Temple 
 Hall, in Liguanea : the first berries produced 
 from this tree sold at a bit each, which is 
 equal to 6d. In the year 1752 the export of 
 coffee from Jamaica was rated at 60,000 Ibs. ; 
 and it has continued regularly to increase 
 since that time, except when additional duties 
 
115 
 
 have been laid on, which have as regularly 
 lessened the exports and the revenue also ; 
 an important proof, among others, how fre- 
 quently heavy taxation defeats its own 
 purpose. 
 
 In 1808, the exports from Jamaica were 
 29,528,273 Ibs ; the next year they were less- 
 ened about four millions of pounds ; in 1812, 
 the export was 18,481,986 Ibs. 
 
 Every gentleman who has stoves should 
 raise this tree for the beauty of its appear- 
 ance. It is an evergreen whose leaves con- 
 tinue three years ; and being of a fine dark 
 green, make a beautiful contrast with the 
 clusters of pure white blossoms, which per- 
 fume the air with an odour like jasmine. 
 Nothing can be conceived more delightful 
 and grateful than the appearance and per- 
 fume of a field of coffee-trees when in full 
 bloom : it has the resemblance of a shower 
 of snow, which nearly obscures the dark green 
 branches. The tree, like the walnut, pro- 
 duces smaller fruit, and better flavoured, as 
 it becomes older. 
 
 The Turkey coffee is the smallest berry, 
 and is more esteemed for its flavour than 
 that which grows in the West Indies. I 
 conclude that one great cause of the 
 American coffee being inferior in point of 
 
 j 2 
 
116 
 
 flavour, is owing to the practice, in that part 
 of the world, of gathering the berries before 
 they are quite ripe, whereas the Arabians 
 shake their trees, and by this means obtain 
 the berries in full perfection. Mr. Lunan 
 observes, that the West-Indian berries being 
 considerably larger than those of the Turkey 
 coffee, require much longer keeping; but Mr. 
 Miller, the celebrated gardener, is of opinion, 
 that coffee does not require long keeping, 
 and that it loses a part of its flavour. He 
 states that two gentlemen, who resided some 
 years in Arabia, assured him that the berries, 
 when first ripe, were very superior to those 
 which had been kept: he also states, that 
 from plants brought from the West Indies, 
 and raised in English hot-houses, coffee-ber- 
 ries have been produced, which, at a proper 
 age, were found to surpass the very best 
 Mocha that could be produced in Great 
 Britain. Jamaica coffee is often sold as 
 Turkey coffee in London, and there have 
 been many samples sent from thence, that 
 have proved quite equal to any Arabian 
 berries. As coffee readily imbibes the smell 
 or flavour of any article it comes in con- 
 tact with, it is often injured in the voyage 
 home, by being stowed near sugar, rum, 
 pimento, <kc. &c. ; and the flavour which it 
 
117 
 
 thus contracts, cannot be separated again, 
 even by roasting. 
 
 The most eminent physicians of every 
 country have recommended the use of 
 coffee for various complaints. It greatly 
 relieves the head-ache, and is recommended 
 to those of constitutional weak stomachs, 
 as it accelerates the process of digestion, 
 takes away languor and listlessness, and 
 affords a pleasing sensation. 
 
 Coffee is often found useful in quieting 
 the tickling vexatious cough. Sir John 
 Floyer, who had been afflicted with the 
 asthma for sixty years, was relieved by 
 strong coffee. 
 
 The great use of coffee in France is sup- 
 posed to have abated the prevalency of the 
 gravel; for where coffee is used there as a 
 constant beverage, the gravel and the gout 
 are scarcely known. 
 
 Voltaire lived almost on coffee, and said 
 nothing exhilarated his spirits so much as the 
 smell of it ; for which reason, he had what 
 he was about to use in the day roasted in 
 his chamber, every morning, when he lived 
 at Fernai. 
 
 A friend writes me from Constantinople, 
 that many of the Turks will subsist almost 
 entirely on coffee, except during the rigid 
 
118 
 
 fast of the Ramadan, or Turkish Lent, 
 which lasts forty days; during which time 
 they neither eat, drink, or smoke, while the 
 sun is over the horizon; and the use, of 
 coffee is then so strictly forbidden, that 
 those who have even the smell of coffee on 
 them, are deemed to have violated the in- 
 junctions of their prophet. 
 
 Among the various qualities of coffee, 
 that of it's being an antidote to the abuse of 
 opium must make it an invaluable article 
 with the Turks. 
 
 Those who use opiates at night would 
 find the advantage of taking strong coffee 
 in the morning. 
 
 An interesting analysis of coffee was 
 made by M. Cadet, apothecary in ordinary to 
 the household of Napoleon, when emperor; 
 from which it appears, that the berries con- 
 tain mucilage in abundance, much gallic 
 acid, a resin, a concrete essential oil, some 
 albumen, and a volatile aromatic principle, 
 with a portion of lime, potash, charcoal, iron, 
 &c. Roasting develops the soluble princi- 
 ples. Mocha coffee is, of all kinds, the 
 most aromatic and resinous. M. Cadet 
 advises that coffee be neither roasted nor in- 
 fused till the day it be drunk, and that the 
 roasting be moderate. 
 
119 
 
 Dr. Moseley, in his learned and inge- 
 nious Treatise, states, that " the chemical 
 analysis of coffee evinces that it possesses 
 a great portion of mildly bitter, and lightly 
 astringent gummous and resinous extract, 
 a considerable quantity of oil, a fixed salt, 
 and a volatile salt. These are it's medicinal 
 constituent principles. The intention of 
 torrefaction is not only to make it deliver 
 those principles, and make them soluble in 
 water, but to give it a property it does not 
 possess in the natural state of the berry. 
 By the action of fire, it's leguminous taste, 
 and the aqueous part of it's mucilage, are 
 destroyed ; it's saline properties are created, 
 and disengaged, and it's oil is rendered em- 
 pyreumatical. From thence arises the pun- 
 gent smell, and exhilarating flavour, not found 
 in it's natural state. 
 
 " The roasting of the berry to a proper 
 degree, requires great nicety. If it be under- 
 done, it's virtues will not be imparted, and 
 in use it will load and oppress the stomach : 
 if it be overdone, it will yield a flat, burnt, 
 and bitter taste; it's virtues will be destroyed, 
 and in use it will heat the body, and act as 
 an astringent. The closer it is confined, at 
 the time of the roasting, and till used, the 
 better will it's volatile pungency, flavour, and 
 virtues, be preserved. 
 
120 
 
 66 The influence which coffee, judiciously 
 prepared, imparts to the stomach, from it's 
 invigorating qualities, is strongly exemplified 
 by the immediate effect produced on taking 
 it when the stomach is overloaded with 
 food, or nauseated with surfeit, or debili- 
 tated by intemperance, or languid from ina- 
 nition. 
 
 " In vertigo, lethargy, catarrh, and all 
 disorders of the head, from obstructions in 
 the capillaries, long experience has proved 
 it to be a powerful medicine; and in cer- 
 tain cases of apoplexy, it has been found 
 serviceable even when given in clysters, where 
 it has not been convenient to convey it's 
 effects to the stomach. Mons, Malebranche 
 restored a person from apoplexy by repeated 
 clysters of coffee. 
 
 " Du Four relates an extraordinary in- 
 stance of the effect of coffee in the gout: 
 he says, Mons. Deverau was attacked with 
 the gout at twenty-five years of age, and had 
 it severely until he was upwards of fifty, 
 with chalk stones in the joints of his hands 
 and feet: he was recommended the use of 
 coffee, which he adopted, and had no return 
 of the gout. 
 
 " A small cup or two of coffee, immedi- 
 ately after dinner, promotes digestion. 
 
 ,,With a draught of water previously 
 
drunk, according to the eastern custom, coffee 
 is serviceable to those who are of a costive 
 habit." 
 
 The generality of English families make 
 their coffee too weak, and use too much 
 sugar, which often causes it to turn acid on 
 the stomach. Almost every housekeeper has 
 a peculiar method of making coffee ; but it 
 never can be excellent, unless it be made 
 strong of the berry, any more than our 
 English wines can be good, so long as we 
 continue to form the principal of them on 
 sugar and water. 
 
 Count Rumford says, "Coffee may be too 
 bitter; but it is impossible that it should 
 ever be too fragrant. The very smell of it 
 is reviving, and has often been found to be 
 useful to sick persons, and to those who 
 are afflicted with the head-ache. In short, 
 every thing proves that the volatile, aromatic 
 matter, whatever it may be, that gives fla- 
 vour to coffee, is what is most valuable in 
 it, and should be preserved with the greatest 
 care, and that, in estimating the strength 
 or richness of that beverage, its fragrance 
 should be much more attended to, than either 
 its bitterness or its astringency. This aro- 
 matic substance, which is supposed to be 
 an oil, is extremely volatile, and escapes into 
 
122 
 
 the air with great facility, as is observed by 
 it's filling a room with it's fragrance, if suffered 
 to remain uncovered, and at the same time 
 losing much of it's flavour/' 
 
CRANBERRY.-VACCINIUM 
 MACROCARPUM. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Octandria Monogynia 
 
 Class. 
 
 Tins fruit, which is so much esteemed in 
 tarts, or with cream, is a native of England, 
 and is found growing in the peaty bogs of 
 Sussex, Cumberland, Norfolk, Lancashire, 
 and in other marshy lands. Gerard calls the 
 fruit fen-berries: " they grow," says he, " in 
 fennie places, in Cheshire and Staffordshire, 
 where I have found them in great plentie." 
 Valerius Cord us called them oxycoccon; the 
 Dutch term them fen grapes. 
 
 Dr. Withering states, that at Longton, in 
 Cumberland, there is a considerable traffic 
 carried on in cranberries ; that on the market 
 days, during the gathering season, the sale of 
 these berries amounts to from twenty to thirty 
 pounds sterling per day : many people in 
 
124 
 
 that neighbourhood make wine from cranber- 
 ries ; but never having tasted this liquor, I 
 can give no account of it's quality. The 
 English cranberries, which are preserved in 
 bottles with no other care than keeping them 
 dry, are very superior to those large cran- 
 berries imported from the northern parts of 
 America, which are now so common in the 
 shops of London. These berries, being pack- 
 ed in large casks, must undergo a fermenta- 
 tion during the voyage, which consequently 
 deprives them of a part of their natural fla- 
 vour. Cranberries are also imported from 
 Russia and Germany ; and during this last 
 year great quantities have been brought from 
 New Holland, which are smaller, and darker 
 coloured, than those brought from America, 
 and very superior in flavour. Cranberries are 
 found growing in many parts of Spain and 
 Hungary. They are the produce of damp 
 swampy lands only : but the idea that they 
 will not bear transplanting, is erroneous, the 
 late Sir Joseph Banks having planted some 
 near a pond in his grounds at Spring Grove, 
 which have produced fruit beyond calcula- 
 tion. This information may be worth the 
 attention of those who have marshy or brook 
 land, as a matter of profit ; and to those who 
 have ornamental water in their gardens or 
 
125 
 
 parks, it would be found an embellishment to 
 the banks ; it being an elegant little fruit on 
 the ground, where it trails, and spangles the 
 grass with its red and variegated berries. 
 
 Sweden produces abundance of cranber- 
 ries, but they are only used for cleansing plate 
 in that country. 
 
 'A new species of cranberry is now culti- 
 vated in this kingdom, which has been called 
 snowberry, on account of the colour of the 
 fruit : it was brought from Nova Scotia in the 
 year 1760 by Mr. Jonathan Laycock, and is 
 stated to be found in the swamps of Cyprus 
 also. This berry has a perfumed taste, like 
 eau de noyau, or bitter almonds : it is reared 
 by Mr. Joseph Knight, of Little Chelsea, and 
 several other nurserymen near the metropolis. 
 Another variety was brought from Madeira in 
 1777 ' 9 which requires the shelter of the green- 
 house ; and the Jamaica cranberry, which was 
 introduced the following year, will not thrive 
 in this country except in the stove. 
 
 Cranberries are of an astringent quality, 
 and esteemed good to restore the appetite : 
 they were formerly imagined efficacious in 
 preventing pestilential diseases. 
 
CUCUMBE R.-CUCUM IS. 
 
 In Hot any i a Genus of the Moncecia Synge- 
 nesia Class. 
 
 THE cucumber, which is one of the coldest 
 fruits, is evidently a native of a warm cli- 
 mate ; and by all the researches I have been 
 able to make, I conclude it belongs to the 
 soil of some parts of Asia and Africa. It 
 was known to the Grecians, as their earliest 
 writers on natural history have mentioned 
 it, and in particular recommend that the 
 seeds should be steeped for two days in milk 
 and honey before they are set, to make the 
 fruit sweeter and pleasanter. Pliny men- 
 tions the great quantities that grew in some 
 parts of Africa, and particularly in Barbary. 
 All vegetables are so formed as to per- 
 petuate themselves by seed in the climate 
 where they originate; for if this was not 
 the case, every species of plant that is not 
 
127 
 
 cultivated, would soon cease to exist; and 
 the cucumber has never been found to grow 
 in the natural state in any part of Europe. 
 
 Columella is the oldest author who gives 
 any direction for forwarding cucumbers by 
 artificial means. " Those who wish for 
 them early/' says he, " should plant the 
 seeds in well dunged earth, put into osier 
 baskets, that they may be carried out of 
 the house, and placed in warm situations 
 when the weather permits; and as soon as 
 the season is advanced, the plants may be 
 sunk in the earth with the baskets, or wheels 
 may be put upon large vases, that they may 
 be brought out with less labour ; notwith- 
 standing they ought/' continues he, " to be 
 covered with specularia" which seem to have 
 been transparent stones, that the Romans were 
 in the habit of cutting thin, so as to admit 
 light, and keep out the air, glass being un- 
 known at that period. 
 
 It is related by Pliny, " that Tiberius 
 the emperor was so fond of cucumbers, and 
 took such pleasure and delight in them, 
 that there was not a day, throughout the 
 year, passed over his head, but he had them 
 served up at his table. The beds and 
 gardens wherein they grew, were made*upon 
 frames, so as to be removed every way with 
 
 2 
 
128 
 
 wheels ; and in winter, during the cold and 
 frosty days, they could be drawn back 
 into certain high covered buildings, ex- 
 posed to the sun, and there housed under 
 roof." These appear to be the earliest ac- 
 counts of the forcing of plants which we 
 read of in ancient times. It is probable, also, 
 that artificial heat was used ; as we find, by 
 the remains of their villas in this country, how 
 perfectly the Romans were acquainted with 
 the method of warming their rooms with 
 flues. 
 
 Pliny says, " To make a delicate salad of 
 cucumbers, boil them first, then peel them 
 from the rind, and serve them up with oil, 
 vinegar, and honey/' 
 
 Mr. Alton mentions the cucumber as be- 
 ing first cultivated here in the year 1575, in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This appears 
 to be an error, as cucumbers were very com- 
 mon in this country in the reign of Edward 
 the Third; but being unattended to during 
 the wars of York and Lancaster, they soon 
 after became entirely unknown, until the 
 reign of Henry the Eighth, when they were 
 again introduced to this kingdom. (Gough's 
 British Topography, vol. I. p. 134.,) 
 
 Gerard gives the earliest directions for 
 making hot beds for cucumbers in this 
 
129 
 
 country, which was in 1597* when gardening 
 was in it's infant state. He directs, that 
 they should be covered with mats over hoops, 
 as glasses were riot then known. 
 
 Lord Bacon, who wrote about the same 
 period, says, " cucumbers will prove more ten- 
 der and dainty if their seeds be steeped 
 (little) in milk : the cause may be, for that 
 the seed being mollified in uiilk, will be too 
 weak to draw the grosser juices of the earth, 
 but only the finer :" he adds, " cucumbers 
 will be less watery if the pit where you set 
 them be filled up half way with chaff or 
 small sticks, and then pour earth upon them ; 
 for cucumbers, as it seemeth, do exceedingly 
 affect moisture, and over-drink themselves, 
 which this chaff or chips forbiddeth." This 
 great author also states, that " it hath been 
 practised to cut off the stalks of cucumbers, 
 immediately after bearing, close by the earth ; 
 and then to cast a pretty quantity of earth 
 upon the plant that remaineth, and they will 
 bear the next year fruit, long before the or- 
 dinary time. The cause may be, for that 
 the sap goeth down the sooner, and is not 
 spent in the stalk or leaf, which remaineth 
 after the fruit ; where note, that the dying in 
 the winter of the roots of plants that are 
 annual, seemeth to be partly caused by the 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 over-expence of the sap into stalk and leaves; 
 which being prevented, they will superannuate, 
 if they stand warm." Miller informs us, that 
 the cuttings of cucumbers, taken off about 
 five or six inches long, from healthy plants 
 in the summer crop, at the end of September 
 or beginning of October, planted in pots of 
 rich mould, plunged into the bark bed and 
 shaded until they have struck, will produce 
 fruit before Christmas. It is also recorded in 
 Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, that Thomas 
 Fowler, gardener to Sir Nathaniel Gould, at 
 Stoke Newington, presented King George 
 the First with a brace of well-grown cucum- 
 bers, on New Year's Day, 1721. The seeds 
 from which they were raised were sown on 
 the 25th of September. 
 
 His late revered Majesty had his table 
 supplied with cucumbers, at all seasons of 
 the year, by Mr. Aiton, under whose care the 
 Royal Gardens of this kingdom have pro- 
 duced, in the highest perfection, nearly all the 
 known fruits of the world. 
 
 Cucumbers are much less used in their na- 
 tural state than formerly, among wealthy fami- 
 lies, but they are in great request for stews and 
 made dishes, and when preserved they are es- 
 teemed one of the most agreeable sweetmeats. 
 As a pickle, girkins have been long admired ; 
 
131 
 
 but whoever purchases them, should be care- 
 ful to get them free from any substance that 
 may have been used to colour them. 
 
 Lunan, in his account of the sativus, or cul- 
 tivated cucumber, says, " although cucumbers 
 are neither sweet nor acid, they are consi- 
 derably acescent, and so produce flatulency, 
 cholera, diarrhoea/' &c. Their coldness and 
 flatulency may be likewise in part attributed 
 to the firmness of their texture. 
 
 They have been discharged, with little 
 change, from the stomach, after having been 
 detained there for forty-eight hours. By this 
 means, therefore, their acidity is greatly in- 
 creased; hence oil and pepper, the condi- 
 ments commonly employed, are very useful 
 to check their fermentation. Another condi- 
 ment is sometimes used; viz. it's skin, which is 
 bitter, and may therefore supply the place of 
 aromatics ; but it should only be used when 
 young. 
 
 Brookes states, that the cucumber is unfit 
 for nourishment, and is generally offensive to 
 the stomach, especially if not corrected with 
 a good deal of pepper as well as vinegar. 
 The seeds, he states, are reckoned among the 
 four greater cold seeds, therefore emulsions 
 of them have been prescribed in burning 
 fevers, &c. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 Cowper has beautifully described the 
 method 
 
 To raise the prickly and green coated gourd, 
 So grateful to the palate ; and when rare, 
 So coveted ; else base and disesteem'd, 
 Food for the vulgar merely. 
 
 The Rev. Griffith Hughes, in his Natural 
 History of Barbadoes, mentions the wild cu- 
 cumber-vine as indigenous to that part of the 
 world. It is called by Father Plumier, an- 
 guria fructu echinato eduli: he describes the 
 fruit as a small cucumber, whose surface is 
 covered with many soft pointed prickles : 
 it is sometimes eaten ; but is esteemed to be 
 of too cold a nature to be wholesome. 
 
 Lunan, in his Hortus Jamaicensis men- 
 tions the small wild cucumber as being a 
 native of Jamaica, where it grows very plen- 
 tifully, and is often used with other herbs 
 in soups, and is a very agreeable ingredient : 
 the rind is thickly beset with blunt prickles. 
 Sloane mentions it as a pale green oval fruit, 
 as big as a walnut, and says it is eaten very 
 greedily by sheep and cattle. 
 
 The ancients used the wild cucumber as 
 
 a sovereign remedy in various complaints. 
 
 " The best kind," says Pliny, " was found in 
 
 Arabia, and the next about Cyrene and 
 
 Arcadia/' 
 
133 
 
 It was from the juice of these cucumbers 
 that they procured the medicine called elate- 
 rium, .which, Theophrastus states, could be 
 kept good two hundred years ; and for fifty 
 years it would be so strong and full of virtue, 
 that it would put out the light of a candle or 
 lamp. Pliny says, " to try good elaterium, it 
 is set near to a lighted candle, which it causes 
 to sparkle upwards and downwards." 
 
 Elaterium was used not only as a pur- 
 gative, but against the sting of scorpions, 
 and for the dropsy : with honey and oil, it 
 was used for the quinsy and diseases of the 
 windpipe: it was said to cure dimness and 
 other imperfections of the eyes, the ring- 
 worm, tetter, &c. as well as the swelling 
 kernels behind the ears. 
 
 The juice of wild cucumber leaves dropped 
 with vinegar into the ears, was thought a good 
 remedy for deafness. A decoction of the 
 fruit being sprinkled in any place, will drive 
 away mice; it was also said to cure the 
 gout, &c.; indeed, so many virtues were 
 attributed to it by the ancients, that if we 
 were inclined to give credit to them, it would 
 cause our wonder to find they had any com- 
 plaint uncured. 
 
 The Romans had also many superstitious 
 opinions respecting these wild cucumbers. 
 
134 
 
 Wives who wished for children wore them 
 tied round their bodies; and they were 
 brought into houses by the midwife, but 
 carried out, in the greatest haste, after child- 
 birth. 
 
 Columella has recorded a variety of 
 wonderful stories respecting the garden- 
 cucumber; and some English authors, of 
 great celebrity, have stated, that when a 
 cucumber vine is growing, if you set a 
 pot of water, about five or six inches distance 
 from it, it will shoot so much in twenty- 
 four hours as to touch it: but that it will 
 shrink from oil, and turn fairly away from 
 it. 
 
 The gourd 
 
 And thirsty cucumber, when they perceive 
 Th' approaching olive, with resentment fly 
 Her fatty fibres, and with tendrils creep 
 Diverse, detesting contact. 
 
 Phillips. 
 
CURRANT-TREE. RIBES. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Pentandria 
 Monogynia Class. 
 
 THIS agreeable and wholesome fruit is un- 
 doubtedly a native of our country : it was 
 formerly found growing in the wild state, in 
 woods and hedges in Yorkshire, Durham, 
 and Westmorland, as well as on the banks of 
 the Tay and other parts of Scotland. As 
 a further proof of its being a northern fruit, 
 we have no account of its having been at all 
 known to the ancient Greeks or Romans, 
 who have been very accurate in describing 
 all the fruits known in their time. It seems 
 not to have grown so far south as France ; for 
 the old French name of groseilles d'outremer 
 evidently bespeaks it not 'to have been a 
 native of that country, and even at the pre- 
 sent time their language has no appropriate 
 
136 
 
 name for it distinct from the gooseberry. The 
 Dutch also acknowledge it not to have been 
 indigenous to Holland, where it was called 
 besskins over zee. Whether the Dutch first 
 procured this fruit from Britain, or from any 
 other northern countries, we must acknow- 
 ledge ourselves indebted to the gardeners of 
 that country for so improving the size, if not 
 the flavour of this fruit. 
 
 The English name of currant seems to 
 have been taken from the similitude of the 
 fruit to that of the small Zante grapes, which 
 we call currants, or Corinths, from Corinth, 
 where this fruit formerly grew in great abund- 
 ance, and which are so much used in this 
 country for cakes, puddings, &c. 
 
 The Italians seem to have no other name 
 for the currants than uvette, little grapes. 
 At Geneva they are called raisins de Mars. 
 The currant does not appear in the list of 
 fruits published by Thomas Tusser in 1557, 
 which I have transcribed to shew what fruits 
 were cultivated in the latter part of Queen 
 Mary's reign. 
 
 Apples of all sorts, apricots, barberries ; 
 boollesse, black and white ; cherries, red and 
 black ; chesnuts ; cornet plums ; damisens, 
 white and black; filberts, red and white; 
 gooseberries ; grapes, white and red ; green 
 
137 
 
 or grass plums ; hurtil berries ; rnedlers, or 
 ineles ; mulberries ; peaches, white and red ; 
 peeres of all sorts ; peer plums, black and 
 yellow; quince-trees; raspis; reisons; small 
 nuts ; strawberries, red and white ; service 
 trees ; wardens, white and red ; walnuts ; 
 wheat plums. 
 
 Currants were not distinguished from 
 gooseberries by any particular name at that 
 period ; and even in Gerard's time, they were 
 considered as a species of the gooseberry. He 
 says, in his account of the latter fruit, " We 
 have also in our London gardens another 
 sort altogether without prickes, whose fruit 
 is verie small, lesser by much than the com- 
 mon kinde, but of a perfect red colour, where- 
 in it differeth from the rest of his kinde/' 
 
 Lord Bacon, who wrote about fifty years 
 after Tusser, has noticed them : he says, 
 " The earliest fruits are strawberries, cherries, 
 gooseberries, corrans, and after them early 
 apples, early pears, apricots, rasps, and after 
 them damisons, and most kinds of plums, 
 peaches, &c. ; and the latest are apples, war- 
 dens, grapes, nuts, quinces, almonds, sloes, 
 brierberries, hops, medlers, services, corne- 
 lians, &c/' 
 
 Currants are a fruit of great importance 
 in this country : they are so easily propa- 
 
1S8 
 
 gated, that every cottage gardener can rear 
 them ; and they are likewise so regular in 
 bearing, that it is seldom they are injured by 
 the weather. At the dessert, they are greatly 
 esteemed, being fo.und cooling and grateful 
 to the stomach ; and they are as much ad- 
 mired for their transparent beauty, as for 
 their medicinal qualities, being moderately 
 refrigerant, antiseptic, attenuant, and ape- 
 rient. They may be used with advantage 
 to allay thirst in most febrile complaints, to 
 lessen an increased secretion of bile, and to 
 correct a putrid and scorbutic state of the 
 fluids, especially in sanguine temperaments: 
 but in constitutions of a contrary kind, they 
 are apt to occasion flatulency and indiges- 
 tion. Brookes says, they strengthen the sto- 
 mach, excite appetite, and are good against 
 vomiting. 
 
 Besides the red and the white currant, 
 the salmon colour, or champaigne, is culti- 
 vated for variety. The currant is a fruit that 
 will ripen early, when planted in a warm 
 situation, and may be retarded so as to 
 be gathered in good condition in the month 
 of November, when they are planted in a 
 northern aspect : thus, with care, a skilful gar- 
 dener will furnish a dessert of this fruit for 
 -six months, without the aid of artificial heat. 
 
139 
 
 Currants will keep for years in bottles, re- 
 taining all their qualities for tarts, &c. if 
 they are gathered perfectly dry, and not too 
 ripe. They only require to b^ kept from the 
 air, and in a dry situation. I have found it 
 an advantage to pack them in a chest, with 
 the corks downwards ; and if the vacua be 
 filled up with dry sand, it would insure their 
 preservation. 
 
 The red currant gives the finest flavour for 
 jelly. 
 
 The wine made from the white currants, 
 if .rich of the fruit, so as to require little 
 sugar, is, when kept to a proper age, of a 
 similar flavour to the Grave and Rhenish 
 wines ; and I have known it preferred as a 
 summer table wine. Even in London this 
 agreeable beverage may be made at less ex- 
 pence than moderate cider can be bought for. 
 Diluted in water, this wine is an excellent 
 drink in the hot season, particularly to those 
 of feverish habits. It makes an excellent 
 shrub; and the juice is a pleasant acid in 
 punch, which, about thirty years back, was 
 a favourite beverage in the coffee-houses in 
 Paris. 
 
 The best English brandy I have tasted, 
 was distilled from weak currant wine, by a 
 gentleman at Windsor ; and I have no doubt 
 
140 
 
 but it could be made superior to the common 
 brandies, imported from France, were it en- 
 couraged, and certain restrictions taken from 
 the distiller. 
 
 The black currants, which were formerly 
 called squinancy berries, on account of their 
 great use in quinsies, are natives of Sweden 
 and the northern parts of Russia, as well as 
 the northern counties of England, where 
 they have been found in their natural state, 
 growing in alder swamps, and in wet hedges 
 by the banks of rivers. In some parts of 
 Siberia, the black currants are said to grow 
 to the size of hazel-nuts. The inhabitants 
 of that country make a drink of the leaves : 
 in Russia a wine is made of the black cur- 
 rants; and it is also made in some parts of 
 England. 
 
 The jelly made from these currants is 
 recommended in most complaints of the 
 throat : they are also esteemed cleansing, pel- 
 lent, and diuretic : an infusion of the roots is 
 useful in fevers of the eruptive kind. 
 
 The inner bark of all the species of the 
 currant tree, boiled in water, is a popular 
 remedy in jaundice ; and some medical 
 men have recommended it in dropsical com- 
 plaints. 
 
 The currant-tree that was brought from 
 
141 
 
 the isle of Zante, by our Levant traders, and 
 first planted in England in the year 1533, 
 I conclude was the vine that produces the 
 small grapes which we call currants, and of 
 which the English use more than all the rest 
 of the world together. This fruit grows in 
 great abundance in several places in the Ar- 
 chipelago. We have a factory at Zante, 
 from whence we import them so closely 
 pressed by treading, that they are often 
 obliged to be dug out with an iron instru- 
 ment, the natives thinking we use them as a 
 dye. 
 
 Currant trees produce their fruit on small 
 snags, that come out of the former year's 
 wood : in pruning, care should be taken not 
 to injure that part; but the shoots may be 
 shortened or thinned as soon as the leaves 
 are off. They require least room, and have 
 a neat appearance, in private gardens, when 
 planted as espaliers; and the fruit is thought 
 to ripen better. 
 
DATE.-DACTYLUS. 
 
 A Species of the Palma, or Palm Tree. 
 Date Tree, Phamix Dactylifera. In Bo- 
 tany, of the Dicecia Triandria Class. 
 
 THE palm-tree is a native of the eastern 
 countries, and has been known to grow in 
 the deserts of Arabia and Syria from the 
 earliest ages. Dates appear to have been 
 the first food which the Israelites found 
 in the wilderness of Shur. " And they 
 came to Elim, where were twelve wells of 
 water, and threescore and ten palm-trees; 
 and they encamped there by the waters/' 
 (Exodus, chap. xv. verse 27-) The ancients 
 esteemed dates next to the vine and olive. 
 
 The palm-trees are very lucrative to the 
 Arabs and other inhabitants of the desert, 
 where the fruit forms a principal part of 
 their food, particularly in all that part of the 
 Zaara which is near Mount Atlas, where 
 they grow but little corn, and chiefly depend 
 
143 
 
 on this fruit for subsistence. In this part 
 of the world, forests of date-trees may be 
 seen, some of which are several leagues iri 
 circumference. The Grecian and Roman 
 authors have given full accounts of this 
 fruit. It is related that Alexander's army 
 having met with dates of such a delicious 
 quality, many, who could riot forbear eat- 
 ing too plentifully, died. There is one 
 kind of date described by the ancient 
 authors, that would inebriate and overturn 
 the brain. 
 
 The Babylonian, or Royal Dates, were 
 most esteemed : these, in ancient times, 
 were reserved for the kings of Persia, and are 
 said to have grown only in one hortyard or 
 park at Babylon, which was annexed to the 
 Persian crown. The dates at Jericho, in 
 Jewry, were also in high estimation with 
 the ancients, who made both bread and 
 wine of them. Pliny, who has written at 
 great length upon this fruit, mentions forty- 
 nine kinds of dates, varying according to the 
 country where they grew; some of which 
 were white, black, or brown, some were 
 round, others in the shape of a finger, some 
 very small, and others he describes as being 
 as large as the pomegranate. One species 
 of the date, the Lotus, was much cultivated 
 2 
 
144 
 
 in Italy, and is by some supposed to be the 
 fruit by which the companions of Ulysses 
 were enchanted, and forgot their native 
 country. 
 
 Italy, and the coast of Spain, have been 
 renowned for palm-trees more than two thou- 
 sand years : " but the dates/' says Plinj', 
 " never come to maturity or ripeness, nor 
 were they ever known to grow without being 
 planted :" this caused him to state that they 
 were foreign trees. 
 
 The Arabs eat dates without seasoning, 
 for they have a very agreeable taste when they 
 are fresh, and afford wholesome nourishment. 
 These people dry and harden them in the 
 sun, to reduce them to a kind of meal, which 
 they preserve for food when they undertake 
 long journeys across the deserts; and they 
 will subsist a considerable time on this simple 
 nourishment : pieces of the date-bread di- 
 luted in water afford a refreshing beverage. 
 The Arabs likewise strip the bark and fi- 
 brous parts from the young date-trees, and 
 eat the substance that is in the centre. It 
 is very nourishing, and has a sweet taste, 
 and they call it the marrow of the date- 
 tree : they also eat the leaves when they 
 are young and tender, mixed with lemon- 
 juice, as a salad. The male flowers are also 
 
145 
 
 eaten, when tender, in the same manner. 
 The fruit before it is ripe is somewhat as- 
 tringent, but when thoroughly mature, is of 
 the nature of the fig. A white liquor, 
 known by the name of date-milk, is drawn 
 from the palm-tree. To obtain it, all the 
 branches are cut from the summit of one of 
 these trees ; and after several incisions have 
 been made in it, they are covered with leaves, 
 in order that the heat of the sun may not 
 dry it: the sap then drops into a vessel 
 placed to receive the liquor. The milk of 
 the date-tree has an agreeable sweet taste 
 when new : it is very refreshing, and is 
 given even to sick people. Thus has 
 Providence reared a blessing in the sanely 
 desert for the wanderer. 
 
 Even the stones of dates, though very 
 hard, are not thrown away : they are bruised 
 and laid in water to soften, when they 
 become good food for sheep and camels. 
 
 The Egyptians make an agreeable con- 
 serve of the fresh dates and sugar. The 
 Arabs weave mats and other things of the 
 same kind from the old leaves; and from 
 the filaments which arise from the stumps 
 of the branches, they fabricate both ropes 
 and sails. 
 
 Among the trees of Egypt, there is none 
 
 L 
 
14(5 
 
 more common than the date-tree, both onffle 
 sands as well as on the cultivated districts. 
 It requires no attention, and is very pro- 
 fitable, the fruit being in great demand, par- 
 ticularly that in the neighbourhood of Ro- 
 setta, which is delicious. The branches 
 are cut off with the dates upon them before 
 they are thoroughly ripe, and thrust into 
 baskets made for the purpose, which have 
 no other aperture than a hole, through which 
 the branches project. The dates thus packed 
 up, ripen in succession, and boats are laden 
 with them, and sent to Cairo. Could they 
 not be brought to England in this state ? 
 
 The timber is so durable, that it is thought 
 incorruptible by the natives. It is used for 
 making beams and implements of husbandry, 
 as also for javelins, and the trees often grow 
 to a hundred feet in height. There are 
 but few trees which are used for so many 
 valuable purposes, and I know of none where 
 the sexual distinctions are so evident. It 
 is the female tree which produces the fruit, 
 and on which account it is cultivated in 
 greater numbers ; but in order to obtain the 
 fruit, the orientalists, who live upon it, 
 plant male trees also ; and it is no uncommon 
 practice for their enemies, in time of war, 
 to cut down the male trees, which prevents 
 
147 
 
 the others from producing dates, and causes 
 famine* The number of female trees cul- 
 tivated in Asia, is much greater than that 
 of the males, the former being more profit- 
 able. 
 
 The sexual organs of the date-tree grow 
 upon different stalks; and when they are in 
 flower, the Arabs cut the male branches to 
 impregnate the female blossoms : for this 
 purpose, they make incisions in the trunk of 
 each branch which they wish to produce 
 fruit, and place in it a stalk of male flowers: 
 without this precaution, the date-tree would 
 produce only abortive fruit. In some parts 
 the male branches are only shaken over the 
 female blossoms. This practice was known 
 to the ancients, and is accurately described 
 by Pliny, who says, " if the male tree be cut 
 down, his wives will afterwards become bar- 
 ren, and bear no more dates, as if they 
 were widows. So evident is the copulation 
 of the sexes in the date-trees/' says he, "that 
 men have devised to make the females 
 fruitful, by casting upon them the blooms 
 and down that the male tree bears, and 
 sometimes by strewing the powder which he 
 yields upon them/' 
 
 Linnaeus, in his Dissertation on the Sexes 
 of Plants, speaking of the date-tree, says, 
 
 L 2' 
 
148 
 
 " A female date-bearing palm, flowered many 
 years at Berlin, without producing any seeds ; 
 but the Berlin people, taking care to have 
 some of the blossoms of the male tree, which 
 was then flowering at Leipsic, sent them 
 by the post; they obtained fruit by these 
 means ; and some dates, the offspring of this 
 impregnation, being planted in my garden, 
 sprung up, and to this day continue to grow 
 vigorously/' 
 
 Pfere Labat, in his Account of America, 
 mentions a tree which grew near a convent in 
 Martinique, that produced a great quantity 
 of fruit, which came to maturity enough for 
 eating : but as there was no other tree of 
 the kind in the island, it was desirable to 
 propagate it, but none of the seeds would 
 grow. He conjectures that the tree might 
 probably be so far impregnated by some 
 neighbouring palm-tree, as to render it ca- 
 pable of bearing fruit, but not sufficient to 
 make the seeds prolific. 
 
 M. Geoffrey cites a story from Jovicus 
 Pontanus, who relates, " that, in his time, 
 there were two palm-trees, the one a male, 
 the other a female, in the wood Otranto, 
 fifteen leagues apart; that this latter was 
 several years without bearing any fruit; till 
 at length, rising above the other trees of 
 
149 
 
 the forest, so as it might see/' says the 
 poet, " the male palm-tree at Brindisi, it 
 then began to bear fruit in abundance/' 
 M. Geoffrey makes no doubt but that the tree 
 then only began to bear fruit, because it was 
 in a condition to catch on it's branches the 
 farina of the male brought thither by the 
 wind. 
 
 It may appear to many persons almost 
 incredible, that the pollen of the male flower 
 should be conveyed to so great a distance ; 
 but that it should be attracted by a tree of 
 it's own species, will not create so much our 
 wonder, when, with the least reflection, we 
 must be satisfied that the glutinous moisture 
 on the stigmata of flowers, has an attraction 
 for the pollen of the anthera of it's kind only; 
 else, when a variety of flowers were blossoming 
 at the same time, we should have the rose 
 impregnating the lily, and the wheat giving 
 it's generating powder to the poppy. All 
 animals and insects, when left to nature, 
 couple with their kinds. Vegetables do the 
 same, although it is now clearly ascertained 
 that it is possible to make the stigma of one 
 blossom receive the pollen of another, if it is 
 prevented from taking that of it's own spe- 
 cies ; and thus we have within these last few 
 
150 
 
 years so great a variety of new flowers and 
 fruits. 
 
 The date-tree grows very rapidly, and 
 will produce fruit in some countries in the 
 third year, while in others it is from four to 
 six years before it begins to bear : when ar- 
 rived at maturity, it makes no change, but 
 remains in the same state for three genera- 
 tions, according to the account of the Arabs. 
 Like most other fruits, the date requires 
 cultivation to have it good, as the fruit which 
 is produced from trees which have been 
 raised from seed is poor and ill-tasted, 
 while those trees which are reared from the 
 shoots, give dates of a good quality. 
 
 The flowers of both sexes come out in 
 very long bunches from the trunk between 
 the leaves, and are covered with a spatha 
 which opens and withers : those of the male 
 have six short stamina, with narrow four- 
 cornered anthers filled with farina. The 
 female flowers have no stamina. 
 
 Dates are imported into this country 
 in a dried state, similar to dried figs: 
 when in good condition, they are much 
 esteemed, and fetch a high price. At the 
 present time, they are sold for five shillings 
 the pound, although interior kinds may be 
 
151 
 
 bought much cheaper for medicinal purposes, 
 for which they are principally used in 
 England, being considered hard of diges- 
 tion, and often causing the head-ache to those 
 who eat them in quantities, and they create 
 scorbutic complaints as well as the loss of 
 teeth. In medicine, the qualities of dates 
 are to soften the asperities of the throat, to 
 assuage all immoderate fluxes of the stomach, 
 and to ease disorders of the reins, &c. 
 The oil and phlegm render them moistening 
 and good to assuage coughs. They stop 
 vomitings and fluxes, and are good for the 
 piles when taken in red wine. (Barham.) 
 
 They are principally brought from Africa, 
 Egypt, and Syria, but the finest come from 
 Tunis. 
 
 Near Elete, in Spain, there is a wood 
 consisting of two hundred thousand palm- 
 trees, bearing dates. These trees furnish a 
 curious traffic : the branches of them are 
 bound up in mats to bleach the leaves, 
 which in time become white ; they are then 
 cut off, and sent in ship-loads to Genoa and 
 other parts of Italy, for the grand procession 
 of Palm Sunday. There is a great trade 
 in them with Madrid also, where every 
 house has it's blessed palm-branch. The 
 
152 
 
 dates seldom ripen so thoroughly as to keep 
 well. 
 
 Hughes, in his Natural History of Bar- 
 badoes, speaking of the date-tree, says, " The 
 straightest and youngest branches, which 
 grow near the summit of the tree, are much 
 used here by the Jews, upon their Feast of 
 Tabernacles: these they usually gild, and 
 adorn with various flowers, and then carry 
 them in procession to their synagogue/' He 
 adds, " whether this is the same kind of 
 palm that was used by the Israelites, we 
 know not, or whether it is not here succe- 
 daneously used as bearing the nearest re- 
 semblance to it/ 
 
ELDER. SAMBUCUS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Pentandria 
 Trigynia Class. 
 
 THE common elder-tree is a native of Eng- 
 land, and is found also in most parts of 
 Europe, as it will grow on any soil, and in 
 situations where few other trees would live. 
 
 The elder thrives near wet ditches, and 
 is often seen growing on the ruins of old 
 walls, or from the hollow of decayed trees : 
 so hardy is this valuable and neglected tree, 
 that it is found both in sheltered swamps 
 and on the bleak tops of church towers. 
 
 The elder does not appear to have been 
 used medicinally by the ancients, but the 
 berries were employed by the Romans to dye 
 the hair of the head black. If they be boiled 
 in water, says Pliny, they are as good and 
 wholesome to be.eaten as other pot-herbs. 
 
 Sir J. E. Smith has remarked, that this 
 
154 
 
 tree is, as it were, a whole magazine of physic 
 to rustic practitioners. 
 
 The bark, leaves, flowers and berries, are 
 used with advantage in medicine. The leaves 
 are said to be purgative and emetic, and 
 are applied externally for the piles and inflam- 
 mations; an ointment is made also with them 
 as well as the flowers : the latter are used 
 inwardly as a carminative. Infusions made 
 from the flowers while fresh, are gentle, laxa- 
 tive, and aperient; when dry, they are found 
 to promote the cuticular secretion, and to 
 be particularly serviceable in erysipelatous 
 and eruptive disorders. Sydenham directs 
 three handfuls of the inner bark to be boiled 
 in a quart of milk and water, till only a 
 pint remains, of which one half is to be taken 
 at night and the other in the morning ; and 
 this repeated every day for those afflicted 
 with the dropsy. Boerhaave recommends 
 the expressed juice of the middle bark, 
 given from a drachm to half an ounce, as the 
 best of hydragogues when the viscera are 
 sound. 
 
 Elder-flower water, the oil of elder, and 
 elder syrup, are all used as medicines. 
 
 The berries are esteemed cordial, and use- 
 ful in hysteric disorders ; and are often put 
 into gargarisms for sore mouths and throats. 
 
155 
 
 The fungous excrescences, which are often 
 found growing on the trunk of the elder-tree, 
 bearing the resemblance of an ear, black in 
 the inside and of a whitish colour on the out- 
 side, (called auricula Judaorwn) are accounted 
 good for inflammations and swellings of the 
 tonsils, sore throats, and quinsies. 
 
 The wine made from elder-berries is too 
 well known by families in the country to 
 require any encomiums : it is the only wine 
 the cottager can procure, and, when well 
 made, is a most excellent and wholesome 
 drink, taken warm before going to bed. It 
 causes gentle perspiration, and is a mild 
 opiate ; and may be taken safely, and with 
 advantage, by those of costive habits. 
 
 If a rich syrup be made from ripe elder- 
 berries and a few bitter almonds, when added 
 to brandy it has all the flavour of the very 
 best cherry-brandy. 
 
 The white elder-berries, when ripe, make 
 wine, much resembling rich grape-wine. 
 
 The buds and the young tender shoots 
 are greatly admired as a pickle. 
 
 The leaves of the elder-tree are often put 
 into the subterraneous paths of moles, to 
 drive those noxious little animals from the 
 garden. If fruit-trees, flowering shrubs, corn, 
 *>r other vegetables, be whipped with the 
 
156 
 
 green leaves of the elder branches, insects 
 will not attach to them. An infusion of these 
 leaves in water is good to sprinkle over rose 
 buds, and other flowers, subject to blights 
 and the devastations of caterpillars. 
 
 The wood of old elder-trees is so hard, 
 and takes so good a polish, that it is often 
 used as a substitute for the box- tree. From 
 its toughness, it is used for tops for fishing 
 rods, needles for weaving nets, butchers' 
 skewers, &c. I find it was used by the Ro- 
 mans to make pipes and trumpets, as Pliny 
 says, " the shepherds were thoroughly per- 
 suaded that the elder-tree, growing in a by- 
 place out of the way, and where the crowing 
 of cocks from any town cannot be heard, 
 makes more shrill pipes and louder trumpets 
 than any other/' 
 
FIG.-FICUS.-CARICA. 
 
 Natural Order, Scabridce. In Botany, a Ge- 
 nus of the Polygamia Tricecia Class. 
 
 THE fig-tree is evidently a native of that part 
 of Asia, where the garden of Eden is gene- 
 rally said to have been situated, as it is the 
 only tree particularly named in those pas- 
 sages of the Bible which relate to the creation 
 and fall of man. " And they sewed fig- 
 leaves together, and made themselves aprons/' 
 It is a fruit that appears to have been highly 
 esteemed by the Israelites, who brought figs 
 out of the land of Canaan, when they were 
 sent by Moses to ascertain the produce and 
 strength of that country. 
 
 The fig-tree is often mentioned, both in 
 the Old and New Testament, in a manner 
 to induce us to conclude that it formed a 
 principal part of the food of the Syrian nation. 
 In the 25th chapter of the first book of 
 
158 
 
 Samuel, we read, that when Abigail went 
 to meet David, to appease him for the affront 
 given by Nabal her husband, she took with 
 her, amongst other provisions, a present of 
 two hundred cakes of figs. 
 
 When Lycurgus banished luxury from 
 Sparta, and obliged the Spartan men to dine 
 in one common hall, to enforce the practice 
 of temperance and sobriety, every one was 
 obliged to send thither his provisions month- 
 ly, which consisted of about one bushel of 
 flour, eight measures of wine, five pounds of 
 cheese, and two pounds and a half of figs. 
 
 The Athenians were so choice of their 
 figs, that it was forbidden to export them 
 out of Attica. Those who gave information 
 of this fruit being sold contrary to law, 
 were called sykophantai, from two Greek 
 words signifying the discoverers of figs ; and 
 as they sometimes gave malicious informa- 
 tion, the term was afterwards applied to all 
 informers, parasites, liars, flatterers, impostors, 
 &c. from whence the word sycophant is de- 
 rived. 
 
 The story of Romulus and Remus being 
 suckled by a wolf under a fig-tree, proves 
 that this fruit must have been early known in 
 Italy. 
 
 The Egyptians and Greeks held this fruit 
 
159 
 
 in great estimation : it was their custom to 
 carry a basket of figs next to the vessel of 
 wine used in the Dionysia, or festivals in 
 honour of Bacchus ; and it is related to have 
 been the favourite fruit of Cleopatra, who 
 was the most luxurious queen the world ever 
 produced. The asp with which she termi- 
 nated her life, was conveyed to her in a 
 basket of figs. 
 
 Saturn, one of the Roman deities, was 
 represented crowned with new figs ; he being 
 supposed to have first taught the use of 
 agriculture in Italy. There was a temple in 
 Rome dedicated to this god, before which, 
 grew a large fig-tree. The Vestals, when they 
 removed this tree in order to build a chapel 
 on the spot, offered an expiatory sacrifice : 
 this happened about two hundred and sixty 
 years after the foundation of the city. 
 
 The fig was a fruit much admired by 
 the Romans, who brought it from most of 
 the countries they conquered, and had so in- 
 creased the varieties in Italy, by the com- 
 mencement of the Christian era, that Pliny 
 has furnished us with a description of twenty- 
 nine sorts that were familiar to him. He 
 says, " figs are restorative) and the best food 
 that can be taken by those who are brought 
 low by long sickness, and are on the recovery." 
 
160 
 
 He adds, " that figs increase the strength of 
 young people, preserve the elderly in better 
 health, and make them look younger, and 
 with fewer wrinkles. They are so nutritive, 
 as to cause corpulency and strength : for this 
 cause/' continues he, " professed wrestlers 
 and champions were in times past fed with 
 figs/' This naturalist mentions the African 
 figs as being admired ; but says, " it is not 
 long since they began to grow figs in Africa." 
 These appear to have been of an early 
 kind; for we find when Cato wished to sti- 
 mulate the senators to declare war against 
 Carthage, he took an early African fig in his 
 hand ; then, addressing the assembly, he said, 
 " I would demand of you how long it is since 
 this fig was gathered from the tree?" and 
 when they all agreed that it was fresh ga- 
 thered, " Yes," answered Cato, " it is not 
 yet three days since this fig was gathered at 
 Carthage; and by it, see how near to the 
 Avails of our city we have a mortal enemy/' 
 With this argument he prevailed upon them 
 to begin the third Punic war, in which Car- 
 thage, that had so long been a rival to Rome, 
 was utterly destroyed. " The Lydian figs/' 
 says Pliny, " are of a reddish purple colour; 
 the Rhodian, of a blackish hue; as is the 
 Tiburtine, which ripens before others. The 
 
161 
 
 
 
 white figs were from Herculaneum, 
 rate, and Aratian ; the Chelidonian figs ard 
 the latest, and ripen against the winter : some 
 bear twice a year, and some of the Chalcidian 
 kind bear three times a year/' The Romans 
 had figs from Chalcis and Chios, &c. ; and 
 many of their varieties, it appears, were 
 named from those who first introduced or 
 cultivated them in Italy. The Livian fig was 
 so named after Livia, wife to the Emperor 
 Augustus, who, it is said, made an unnatural 
 use of it to poison her husband. 
 
 If the fig-tree was ever brought to this 
 country by the Romans, it was, in all pro- 
 bability, confined to the southern counties ; 
 and not being generally cultivated, was de- 
 stroyed when their villas were demolished. 
 It is generally supposed that it was not plant- 
 ed in England before the reign of Henry the 
 Eighth, when luxury and the arts began to 
 be encouraged, and noblemen's houses first 
 put on the air of Italian magnificence. There 
 are, at the present time, some fig-trees, of the 
 white Marseilles kind, growing in the garden 
 of the Episcopal Palace, at Lambeth, which 
 are said to have been planted by Cardinal 
 Pole, who brought them from Italy during 
 the reign of Henry the Eighth. There is 
 also a fig-tree of the white sort, at Mitcham, 
 
 Tlf 
 
162 
 
 in the garden of the manor-house, formerly 
 the private estate of Archbishop Cranmer ; 
 and it is confidently stated to have been 
 planted by that prelate : the stem measures 
 thirty inches in girth. 
 
 At Oxford, in the botanic garden of the 
 Regius Professor of Hebrew, is a fig-tree, 
 which was brought from the East, and planted 
 by Dr. Pocock, in the year 1648. Of this 
 tree, the following anecdote is related : Dr. 
 Kennicott, the celebrated Hebrew scholar 
 and compiler of the Polyglot Bible, was pas- 
 sionately fond of this fruit; and seeing a 
 very fine fig on this tree that he wished to 
 preserve, wrote on a label, " Dr. Kenni- 
 cott's fig/* which he tied to the fruit. An 
 Oxonian wag, who had observed the trans- 
 action, watched the fruit daily, and when 
 ripe, gathered it, and exchanged the label for 
 one thus worded : " A fig for Dr. Kenni- 
 cott." 
 
 We may conclude that the fig-trees, 
 which are stated to have been planted in the 
 time of Henry the Eighth, either had not 
 fruited, or were but little known at that 
 period ; as Tusser, who has furnished us with 
 a list of the fruits which were grown in Eng- 
 land in the succeeding reign, has not men- 
 tioned the fig-tree ; and Lord Chancellor 
 
163 
 
 Bacon, who wrote still later, never mentions 
 it as being cultivated in England, though, 
 from the exalted situation he filled, and the 
 circles in which he moved, he must have had 
 great opportunities of knowing the earliest 
 introduction of trees and plants, which occu- 
 pied a part of his attention. The almond, 
 which was not introduced until the days of 
 Elizabeth, is particularly mentioned by him 
 as one of our fruits ; but the fig is not in 
 his list. He says, " there be divers fruit 
 trees in the hot countries, which have blos- 
 soms, and young fruit, and ripe fruit, almost 
 all the year, succeeding one another/' And 
 it is said, the orange hath the like with us 
 for a great part of summer ; and so also hath 
 the fig. 
 
 The Hortus Kewensis informs us, that the 
 fig-tree was planted in this country in 1548; 
 and we find, in Turner's Herbal, that the fig- 
 tree was cultivated here previous to 1562. 
 Gerard says, in 15.97, that " the fruit of the 
 fig-tree never cometh to maturity with us, 
 except the tree be planted under a hot wall/' 
 Parkinson also, in 1629, says, that " if you 
 plant it not against a brick wall, it will not 
 ripen so kindly ;" but much must depend on 
 the situation of the country. 
 
 There is an orchard of fig-trees at Tarring, 
 
164 
 
 near Worthing, in Sussex, where the fruit 
 grows on standard trees, and ripens as well 
 as in any part of Spain; these trees are so 
 regularly productive, as to form the principal 
 support of a large family. Although the or- 
 chard does not exceed three-quarters of an 
 acre, there are upwards of 100 trees, that 
 are about the size of large apple-trees, the 
 branches extending near twenty feet each 
 way from the trunk. Mr. Loud, the pro- 
 prietor of this little figgery, informs me, that 
 he gathers about 100 dozen per day, during 
 the season, and that he averages the trees to 
 produce him about 20 dozen each : the fruit 
 ripens in August, September, and October, a 
 part of the year when the neighbouring wa- 
 tering places are frequented with fashionable 
 company, that insures a ready sale for this 
 agreeable fruit, at good prices. 
 
 The second crop I find has occasionally 
 ripened: the fruit, which, although smaller, is 
 exceedingly sweet, ave of the white and pur- 
 ple varieties. Two of these trees are now 
 about seventy-five years old, having been 
 planted in the year 1745 by John Long, who 
 raised them from some old ones in an ad- 
 joining garden, near the ruins of the palace 
 of Thomas-a-Becket in that town, who, tra- 
 dition says, brought these trees from Italy, 
 
165 
 
 and planted them himself. The soil of the 
 garden is a deep black loam on chalk. 
 
 The trees are but seldom and sparingly 
 pruned, which I conclude is the cause of their 
 being so prolific, as I have remarked that fig- 
 trees rarely produce much fruit where the 
 knife is regularly used. When they grow 
 too luxuriantly, it has been found better to 
 destroy a part of their roots, and to fill up the 
 space with stones or broken bricks, than to 
 prune the branches too much. Mr. Knight, 
 the president of the Horticultural Society, 
 observes, that there cannot be a more defec- 
 tive manner of cultivating the fig-tree than 
 that which is generally practised by gardeners, 
 of training them against walls, with their 
 branches perpendicular upwards; the wood, 
 by this means, becomes too luxuriant to pro- 
 duce fruit. 
 
 The ancients believed that there existed a 
 sympathy between plants, and they therefore 
 planted rue near their fig-trees, which was 
 said to make the fruit sweeter; and that the 
 rue not only grew more luxuriantly, but more 
 bitter, by being thus neighboured by the fig- 
 tree. I think this is very probable, without 
 having any thing to do with sympathy, as 
 trees and plants will naturally draw juices 
 from the earth most congenial tc their nature: 
 
166 
 
 the rue may therefore exhaust the earth of 
 those properties suitable for the nourishment 
 of bitter plants, and leave the fig-tree to thrive 
 from a soil, which the former has qualified, by 
 consuming the particles of the earth that are 
 pernicious to sweet fruits. Shakspeare seems 
 to have been of this opinion when he wrote 
 
 u And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best, 
 Neighboured by fruit of baser quality." 
 
 We have now in this country a great va 
 riety of this most delicious and wholesome 
 fruit, which is, I believe, the only kind we 
 possess that has sweetness, without acidity or 
 oiliness. It is nourishing, easy of digestion, 
 and grateful to the stomach; and is much 
 esteemed in the countries where it is culti- 
 vated: but in England, it seems to please 
 only the refined palates of the higher order of 
 society. In some parts of the coast of Sussex, 
 where this fruit ripens in perfection, I have 
 known it not only neglected by the middle 
 and lower classes, but even mentioned with 
 derision in their disputes. 
 
 The fig-tree is distinguished from all other 
 trees we know of, by it's bearing two succes- 
 sive and distinct crops of fruit in one year, 
 each crop being produced on a distinct set of 
 shoots. This climate rarely allows the second 
 
167 
 
 crop to come to maturity, except where they 
 are housed. At the Royal Gardens at Kew, 
 there is a fig-house fifty feet in length, where, 
 under the superintendence of Mr. Aiton, this 
 fruit has been forced to the highest pitch of 
 perfection: Mr. Alton's chief reliance has 
 been, I understand, on the second crop. In 
 the year 1810, the royal tables were supplied 
 with more than two hundred baskets of figs 
 from that fig-house, fifty baskets of which 
 were from the first crop, and one hundred 
 and fifty baskets from the second. In one 
 instance, Mr. Alton had this fruit ripe in 
 January, and sent excellent figs to the palace 
 on the late Queen's birthday, the 18th of that 
 month. 
 
 The caprification of figs was practised by 
 the ancients in the same manner as it is now 
 attended to by the inhabitants of the Archi- 
 pelago; and it is described by Theophrastus, 
 Plutarch, Pliny, and other authors of antiqui- 
 ty. It is too curious a circumstance in the 
 history of the fig-tree to be omitted, as it fur- 
 nishes a convincing proof of the reality of the 
 sexes of plants. The flowers of the fig-tree are 
 situated within the pulpy receptacle, which 
 we call the fruit. Of these receptacles, in the 
 wild fig-tree, some have male flowers only, 
 and others have male and female. 
 
168 
 
 In the cultivated fig, these are found to 
 contain only female flowers, that are fecun- 
 dated by means of a kind of gnat bred in the 
 fruit of the wild fig-trees, which pierces that 
 of the cultivated, in order to deposit its eggs 
 within; at the same time diffusing within the 
 receptacle the farina of the male flowers: 
 without this operation, the fruit may ripen, 
 but no effective seeds are produced. Hence 
 it is that we can raise no fig-trees from the fruit 
 of our own gardens, having no wild figs to as- 
 sist the seed. They are consequently raised 
 by cuttings, or by layers. 
 
 In many parts of the Grecian islands, the 
 inhabitants pay such attention to the caprifi- 
 cation of the cultivated figs, that they attend 
 daily for three months in the year to gather 
 these little flies from the wild fig-trees, and to 
 place them on the fig-trees in their gardens, 
 by which means they not only get finer fruit, 
 but from ten to twelve times the quantity: 
 thus one of the most minute insects is, by the 
 attention of man, made a principal cultivator 
 of fruit. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that fresh-killed veni- 
 son, or any other animal food, being hung up 
 in a fig-tree for a single night, will become as 
 tender, and as ready for dressing, as if kept 
 for many days or weeks in the common man- 
 
169 
 
 ner. A gentleman, who lately made the expe* 
 riment, assured me that a haunch of venison 
 which had lately ^been killed, was hung up in 
 a fig-tree when the leaves were on, at about 
 ten o'clock in the evening, and was removed 
 before sun-rise in the morning, when it was 
 found in a perfect state for cooking ; and he 
 adds, that in a few hours more it would have 
 been in a state of putrefaction. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Argenteuil, near 
 Paris, are immense fields covered with fig- 
 trees : the inhabitants of the former town 
 derive their chief support from the culture 
 of this fruit; and I feel confident that there 
 are many situations on the coast of Sussex, 
 between the towns of Arundel and Shoreham, 
 where, if figs were cultivated, the London 
 markets could be amply supplied with this 
 nutritious fruit. 
 
 We import the best dried figs from Turkey, 
 Italy, Spain, and Provence. In the south of 
 France, they are prepared by dipping them 
 in scalding hot lye made of the ashes of the 
 fig-tree, and then dried in the sun. 
 
 For medical purposes, figs are chiefly used 
 in emollient cataplasms and pectoral decoc- 
 tions. 
 
 The wood of the fig-tree is of a spongy 
 texture, and, when charged with oil and 
 
170 
 
 emery, is much used on the continent by 
 locksmiths, gunsmiths, and other artificers 
 in iron and steel, to polish their work. This 
 wood is considered almost indestructible, and 
 on that account was formerly used in Egypt 
 and other eastern countries, for embalming 
 bodies. 
 
 I shall conclude my account of the fig- 
 tree, by the well-known story of Timon of 
 Athens, who was called misanthrope, for his 
 aversion to mankind and to all society. He 
 once went into the public place, where his 
 appearance as an orator soon collected a 
 large assembly, when he addressed his coun- 
 trymen, by informing them that he had a 
 fig-tree in his garden, on which many of the 
 citizens had ended their lives with a halter ; 
 and that, as he was going to cut it down, he 
 advised all those that were inclined to leave 
 the world, to hasten and go hang themselves 
 in his garden. 
 
FILBERT.-CORYLUS. 
 
 A Species of the Hazh-Tree. In Botany, a 
 Genus of the Mon&cia Polyandria Class. 
 
 FILBERTS were originally brought out of 
 Pontus into Natolia and Greece, and were 
 therefore called Pontic nuts : from thence 
 they were procured by the Romans, and 
 brought into Italy, where they acquired the 
 name of Abellani, or Avellana nuts, from 
 Abella or Avellins, a town of Campania; 
 where the best were cultivated, (Plin. b. xv. 
 c. 22.) and from thence arose the French 
 name Aveline. 
 
 These nuts still continue to be cultivated 
 in the same situation ; and, according to Mr. 
 Swinburn's account, the whole face of the 
 neighbouring valley is covered with them, 
 and which, in good years, brings in a profit of 
 60,000 ducats (l 1,250.) 
 
 Fuller, who wrote in the year 1660, says, 
 " gardening was first brought into England, 
 
172 
 
 for profit, seventy years ago/' in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. He adds, " gardening 
 crept out of Holland into Kent/' 
 
 It is supposed, that within a few miles 
 round Maidstone in that county, there are 
 more filberts growing at the present time, 
 than in all England besides, there being se- 
 veral hundred acres planted with filbert-trees 
 in the vicinity of that town. The London 
 market is entirely supplied from thence with 
 these nuts, which are excellent in quality, 
 and, if quite ripe, will keep good for several 
 years placed in a dry room. 
 
 Filberts are not only much more agree- 
 able than the common nuts, but are esteemed 
 wholesome and nourishing when taken with 
 moderation. The cream of these nuts is good 
 for the stone and heat of urine. Emulsions 
 may also be made of them. The Romans 
 used them with vinegar and wormwood seed 
 for the yellow jaundice. 
 
 Filberts are not found to answer well but 
 on very few soils : they seem to like a stony, 
 sandy loam ; for in rich soils they grow too 
 luxuriantly to produce fruit, but 'much de- 
 pends on the skill and management in prun- 
 ing these trees. In Kent, they are not suf- 
 fered to grow above five or six feet high, and 
 are kept with a short stem, like a goose- 
 
173 
 
 berry-bush, and very thin of wood, somewhat 
 in the shape of a punch-bowl. 
 
 From the class in which the tree is 
 ranged in botany, it will be observed, that the 
 male and female flowers grow quite distinct. 
 The male flower is a scaly catkin, resembling 
 the bullion in fringe ; it appears in autumn, 
 and waits for the expansion of the female 
 blossom in the spring, from whence the nut 
 arises : this is very diminutive, but of a fine 
 crimson colour; therefore the pruner should 
 make himself acquainted with the wood that 
 produces each blossom, and not destroy too 
 many of the male flowers that will fall from 
 the tree after they have discharged their pol- 
 len, to the benefit of the future fruit. 
 
 To preserve filberts, they should be ga- 
 thered quite ripe, and laid for some days on 
 the floor of a room, where the sun can get in, 
 to dry them effectually. 
 
 The Byzantium nut, although much es- 
 teemed for it's flavour and size, is but little 
 cultivated in this country, and very rarely 
 seen in our markets. This nut was brought 
 from Constantinople, before Constantine had 
 given his name to that city ; and I am much 
 inclined to think, that the Greeks procured 
 it from more eastern countries. They were 
 first cultivated in this country by Mr. John 
 
174 
 
 Ray, in 1665, and are generally called Cob* 
 nuts. 
 
 Pliny informs us, that Vitellius brought 
 the nuts, called fistichs, into Italy, a little 
 before the death of Tiberius, and that Flac- 
 cus Pompeius, who served in the wars with 
 Vitellius, carried them into Spain. Nuts 
 are now grown in that country in such quan- 
 tities, according to the account of Mr. Swin- 
 burn, that from a single wood, near Recus, 
 sixty thousand bushels have been collected in 
 one year, and shipped from Barcelona, whence 
 they are called Barcelona nuts. 
 
 It was the custom among the Romans 
 for the bridegroom, on the night of his mar- 
 riage, to scatter nuts among the boys, inti- 
 mating that he dropt boyish amusements, and 
 thenceforth was to act as a man. (Serviw. 
 Pliny.) 
 
 Columella states, that if nuts be steeped 
 in water and honey before they are planted, 
 they will grow more speedily, and produce 
 sweeter fruit. 
 
GOOSEBERRY.-GROSSU- 
 LARIA. 
 
 In Botany, a Species of the Ribes, of the Class 
 Pentandria Monogynia. 
 
 THE gooseberry, which is now so much and 
 so justly esteemed, is a native of Europe; 
 and as it grew in the woods and hedges 
 about Darlington, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, 
 and other northern counties, in the wild 
 state, I consider it indigenous to this coun- 
 try, although Drs. Smith and Miller both 
 entertained doubts of its being truly so. It 
 appears not to have been known to the an- 
 cients, either in Greece or Rome, as their 
 authors have made no mention of it ; but it 
 is noticed by the earliest naturalists who 
 have written in this country, notwithstanding 
 it was a fruit much neglected, according to 
 Allioni's account, who says, " they are eat- 
 able, but somewhat astringent/' Gerard says, 
 
176 
 
 " it is called feaberry-bush, in Cheshire, my 
 native country/' and I find that it had the same 
 name in Lancashire and Yorkshire. In Nor- 
 folk it was abbreviated into feabes. It ap- 
 pears to have taken the name of gooseberry, 
 from its being used as a sauce for young or 
 green geese. 
 
 Gerard says, " These plants do grow in 
 our London gardens, and elsewhere, in great 
 abundance. The fruit is used in divers 
 sawces for meate : they are used in brothes 
 insteade of veriuice, which maketh the broth 
 not onely pleasant to the taste, but is greatly 
 profitable to such as are troubled with a hot 
 burning ague." 
 
 Parkinson says, that " the berries, whilst 
 they are small, green, and hard, are much 
 used to be boiled or scalded, to make sauce 
 for fish or flesh of divers sorts/' Green goose- 
 berries have continued to be used as a sauce 
 for mackerel since my memory, in many 
 parts of the country ; and they are often 
 mentioned by the French as groseilles aux 
 maquereaux. 
 
 The gooseberry, which was but a small 
 berry in the wild state, has, like the apple, 
 been multiplied in it's variety, and brought 
 to it's present size by the art and industry of 
 the English and Dutch gardeners ; and it is 
 
17? 
 
 now deemed one of our most valuable fruits, 
 being so easily propagated, and so regular 
 in it's production, furnishing our tables, at 
 all seasons of the year, with a wholesome 
 and agreeable diet. It is the earliest as 
 well as one of the best fruits for spring 
 tarts; and, when ripe, the gooseberry is 
 regarded by all classes of society at the des- 
 sert, where it appears from July to Novem- 
 ber, by those who have well-regulated varie- 
 ties, as some kinds ripen early, while others 
 are not only later, but have the quality of 
 hanging on the bushes until near Christinas: 
 among the last, the Warrington gooseberry 
 is considered the best. I have not attempted 
 to give even the names of all the varieties 
 of this fruit, finding them so numerous, that 
 one nurseryman furnished me with his list, 
 and obliged me with a sight of 300 varieties, 
 the largest of which in weight was equal to 
 three guineas and a half. 
 
 Gooseberries are preserved in the green 
 state with little trouble or expense, so as 
 to retain their natural flavour for tarts or 
 cream, &c. ; and, when ripe, they make ex- 
 cellent jam, and a delicious and ornamental 
 sweetmeat. 
 
 To procure gooseberries large for the 
 table, it is desirable to cut off with a pair 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 of scissars all the small berries, which are 
 equally good for the purpose of tarts. 
 
 The wine made from green gooseberries, 
 if properly managed, is but a shade below 
 champaign ; and the black gooseberry, when 
 ripe, affords a luscious wine. 
 
 The pale gooseberry was first brought 
 from Flanders in the year that Henry the 
 Eighth received the title of Defender of the 
 Faith. This monarch, and his daughter 
 Queen Elizabeth, seem to have encouraged 
 the art of gardening, as during their reigns, 
 most of our best fruits and vegetables were 
 first introduced and cultivated in this king- 
 dom; but even during the reign of these 
 sovereigns, gooseberry leaves were used as a 
 salad by those who could not afford to send 
 to Holland for a lettuce. 
 
 The gooseberry is but little esteemed on 
 the continent, for want of being more known ; 
 and foreigners seem astonished at the size 
 and flavour of this fruit in England. It 
 cannot be propagated with success in the 
 warmer parts of the world ; but in this happy 
 island we procure, by the aid of stoves, the 
 finest fruits of the hottest climes; we may 
 therefore justly say with the poet 
 
 On foreign mountains may the sun refine 
 The grape's soft juice, and mellow it to wine; 
 
179 
 
 With citron groves adorn a distant soil, 
 And the fat olive swell with floods of oil ; 
 We envy not the warmer clime, that lies 
 In ten degrees of more indulgent skies. 
 
 It has been a question agitated among 
 physicians, whether fruits be safer before 
 or after meals. The answer to this seems 
 to depend on a knowledge of the stomach. 
 In a weak stomach, they are more apt to 
 be noxious when empty, than when dis- 
 tended with animal food. Here likewise 
 they cannot be taken in such quantity as 
 to hurt. In strong stomachs there is little 
 difference ; there they would seem to promote 
 appetite. In weak stomachs even when 
 full, if taken in too great quantity, they 
 may be very hurtful, by increasing the ac- 
 tive fermentation of the whole. The ancients 
 alleged, that the mild fruits should be taken 
 before, and the acerb after meals, as being 
 fitter to brace up the stomach, and promote 
 digestion. (Lectures on the Materia Medica.) 
 
 The gooseberry bush is propagated by 
 cuttings or suckers; but the former way is 
 preferable, as the roots are less likely to shoot 
 out suckers. Straight shoots should be se- 
 lected about eight inches long, and planted 
 about half the length, in good mould or light 
 earth. The best time for planting them is 
 
 M 9, 
 
180 
 
 in the autumn, just before the leaves begin 
 to fall. It is desirable to sow the seeds of 
 ripe gooseberries, as by this means you have 
 the chance of new varieties ; and the bushes 
 generally grow in a better shape than either 
 by cuttings or suckers. 
 
 In pruning these bushes, observe to keep 
 the stem quite free from shoots, at least that 
 from ten or twelve inches from the ground, 
 there be but one regular stem. I have 
 seen them trained on trellis work, where the 
 fruit has grown and ripened well; and it 
 is a most desirable method for small gardens, 
 as they have a neat appearance, take but 
 little room, and form a good back ground 
 to flower-borders. 
 
GOURD -CUCURBITA. 
 
 In Botany, ef the Mon&cia Syngcnesia Class. 
 Natural Order, Cucurbit acece. 
 
 THE plants of this genus are very nearly 
 allied to those of cucumis, and of them 
 there is a great variety. 
 
 Gourds were more esteemed by the an- 
 cients, than either melons or cucumbers. 
 Pliny has minutely described them as dif- 
 ferent from the pompion or cucumber. He 
 says, " they are employed for more purposes, 
 and are more useful than the former fruit 
 When properly dressed/' he says, " they are 
 a light, mild, and wholesome food. The 
 young and tender stalks/' he states, " were 
 dressed and served up to table as a good 
 dish ; and the fruit of those that climbed 
 up trees, or walls, or on the frames of ar- 
 bours, were better food than those which 
 crept on the ground. They have of late/' 
 
182 
 
 says this author, " been much used for pots 
 and pitchers ;" but long before, they had been 
 used as barrels to keep wine in. Both the 
 wild and the garden-gourd was much used in 
 medicine by the Romans, who also employed 
 the seeds as a charm to cure the ague. 
 (Pliny, 1. xx. c. 3.) 
 
 Gerard says, " the pulp, or meat of the 
 gourd, used as a poultice, mitigates all hot 
 swellings, and takes away the head-ache and 
 the inflammation of the eyes/' 
 
 The bottle-gourd, (lagenaria,) grows in 
 many parts of the world to near six feet 
 long, and two feet thick. The rinds or shells 
 are used by the negroes in the West-India 
 islands as bottles, holding from one pint to 
 many gallons. Barham speaks of one that 
 held nine gallons ; and the Rev. Mr. Griffith 
 Hughes mentions them, in his History of Bar- 
 badoes, as holding twenty-two gallons. The 
 shells are cleared of the pulp and seeds by the 
 negroes in the following manner : they make 
 a hole at one end, into which they pour hot wa- 
 ter, in order to dissolve the pulp, which after- 
 wards is extracted with a stick, and the inside 
 rinsed with sand and water, to loosen and 
 clear away the fibres that remain ; they are 
 then dried and become fit for use, and will con- 
 tain water or other liquids for a length of time. 
 
183 
 
 Sloane mentions one of these gourds as 
 large as the human body. Brown says, 
 " the decoction of the leaves is recommended 
 much in purging clysters, and the pulp of 
 the fruit is often employed in resolutive poul- 
 tices." He adds, that " it is bitter and 
 purgative, and may be used instead of the 
 common coloquintida." Sloane and Bar- 
 ham describe a sweet gourd, which, the lat- 
 ter says, "grow two or three feet long, as 
 big as a man's thigh, is full of sweet pulp 
 that makes a pleasant sort of sweetmeat or 
 preserve/' He says, " the distilled water is 
 good in fevers, and the pulp applied to the 
 eyes abates their inflammation." Sloane says 
 " the seeds are diuretic, and made into 
 emulsions, temper and take off the acrimony 
 of urine." 
 
 Lunan describes the squash (melopeps) 9 
 a small gourd, not exceeding the size of a 
 moderate fist, and which, he says, " when 
 young and properly boiled and dressed 
 with butter and black pepper, is a deli- 
 cious vegetable." Louriero says, " this fruit 
 is of great use in long voyages, as it may be 
 kept several months fresh and sweet." 
 
 The Gourd, called Vegetable Marrow, is 
 of a pale yellow colour. Those I have seen 
 did not exceed from seven to nine inches in 
 
184 
 
 length. It has only been known a few 
 years in this country; and, I believe, was 
 not sold in the shops and markets before the 
 summer of 1819; and although they are of 
 so late an introduction, the accounts are 
 very imperfect : but it seems most probable 
 that the seeds were brought in some East- 
 India ships, and likely from Persia, where 
 it is called deader. It is cultivated in the 
 same manner as cucumbers, and is said by 
 those who have grown them to be very 
 productive. This fruit is used for culinary 
 purposes in every stage of it's growth. When 
 very young, it is good fried with butter; 
 when half-grown, it is said to be excellent, 
 either plainly boiled, and served up sliced on 
 toasted bread, as asparagus ; or stewed with 
 rice sauce, for which purpose it is likewise 
 sliced. It is often sent to table mashed like 
 turnips : when full-grown, it is used for pies. 
 It has been highly recommended to me by 
 many persons who have grown it, while 
 others speak of it as but little superior to 
 the pompion. 
 
GRAPE-VINE.-VITIS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Pentandria Mo- 
 nogynia Class. Natural Order, Hederacea. 
 
 THE generic name is derived from vincire, 
 to bind. 
 
 The cultivation of the vine appears to 
 have attracted the attention of man from the 
 earliest times of which we have any account. 
 Every part of the Scripture, from the Flood 
 to the crucifixion of our Saviour, mentions 
 the vine as being held in the highest esti- 
 mation. The book of Genesis informs us, 
 that " Noah planted vineyards, and made 
 wine/' It is mentioned among the blessings 
 of the promised land, " a land of wheat, and 
 barley, and vines," &c. 
 
 The answer of the vine to the trees in 
 Jotham's parable, shows in what high esteem 
 men held this fruit : 
 
 " And the vine said unto them, Should I 
 
186 
 
 leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, 
 and go to be promoted over the trees ?' 
 
 The patriarchs and prophets frequently 
 represent in scripture the flourishing state of 
 a nation, a tribe, or a family, under the 
 emblem of a vine. " Thou hast brought a 
 vine out of Egypt, thou hast cast out the 
 heathen, and planted it; thou preparedst 
 room before it, and didst cause it to take 
 deep root, and it filled the land/' Psalm Ixxx. 
 Again the Psalmist mentions it, " Thy wife 
 shall be as the fruitful vine, upon the walls 
 of thine house/' 
 
 The heathens, likewise, held the vine in 
 the highest estimation. Bacchus was eleva- 
 ted to the rank of a god, for having taught 
 men the use of the vine. As the god of 
 vintage, of wine, and of drinkers, he is ge- 
 nerally represented as crowned with the vine ; 
 and, according to Pliny, to have been the 
 first who ever wore a crown, 
 
 the grapy clusters spread 
 
 On his fair brows, and dangle on his head. 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Bacchus was sometimes represented as 
 an infant holding a cluster of grapes with a 
 horn, and he has often been depicted as an 
 old man, whose head was encircled with the 
 
187 
 
 vine, to teach us that wine taken immode- 
 rately, will enervate us, consume our health, 
 and render us loquacious and childish, like 
 old men. 
 
 Juno's crown was also made of the 
 vine. The vine, with grapes, is still selected 
 as a proper ornament in all bacchanalian 
 devices. 
 
 Wine was chiefly used by the ancient 
 Romans in the worship of their gods. Young 
 men under thirty, and women all their life- 
 time, were forbidden to drink wine. Egna- 
 tius Macennius killed his wife with a cud- 
 gel, having caught her drinking wine out of 
 a tun, for which he was tried by Romulus, 
 and acquitted of murder. Fabius Pictor, in 
 his Annals, reports, that a Roman lady was 
 starved to death by her own relations for 
 opening a cupboard which contained the keys 
 of the wine-cellar. Cato records, that the 
 custom of kinsfolks kissing of women when 
 they met, was to know by their breath if 
 they had been drinking wine, but these re- 
 strictions were removed when wine became 
 more plentiful ; and the use of it was then 
 carried to such an excess, that even females 
 would drink wine, and, by the aid of a vomit, 
 throw it up again, in order to sharpen their 
 appetites for supper. 
 
188 
 
 Plato, who strictly restrains the use of 
 wine, and severely censures the excess, says 
 that " nothing more excellent or valuable 
 than wine was ever granted by God to 
 man:" the greatest philosophers, legislators, 
 and physicians, give it due praise, when tem- 
 perately taken. 
 
 Amphitryon is said by the Athenians 
 to have been the first who diluted wine with 
 water; and on this account the fable was 
 invented of Bacchus having been struck by 
 a thunderbolt, and, being all inflamed, was 
 presently cast into the nymphs' bath, to be 
 extinguished. 
 
 At what exact period the vine was first 
 cultivated in England is uncertain ; but I 
 conclude it was as early as about the tenth 
 year, A. D., as at that time the Romans 
 had possession of great part of this island, 
 and had introduced the luxuries of Italy 
 wherever they settled. Augustus was then 
 emperor, and it was common to send the 
 sons of the English nobles to Rome to be 
 educated ; from this intercourse it seems un- 
 likely that the culture of the vine should 
 have been neglected at this time, though 
 many authors are of opinion that the vine 
 was not introduced into this country until 
 about the year 280, when Probus, who 
 
189 
 
 greatly encouraged agricultural pursuits in 
 all the provinces under Rome, was em- 
 peror. 
 
 Again, we are informed that the planting 
 of vineyards in Italy had so much increased 
 about A. D. 85, that agriculture was thereby 
 neglected; on which account Domitian is- 
 sued an edict prohibiting any new vineyards 
 to be planted in Italy, and ordered at least 
 one half of those in the provinces to be cut 
 down. It therefore appears highly impro- 
 bable that the vine should not have been 
 planted in Britain previous to the year 280, 
 when in 85 all the other Roman provinces 
 were over-run with vineyards. 
 
 That we are indebted to the Romans for 
 the first introduction of the vine, is generally 
 allowed ; although it is possible it might 
 have been introduced at a much earlier pe- 
 riod than I have stated, as the Phoenicians 
 are said to have planted the vine in the isles 
 of the Mediterranean sea, as well as in seve- 
 ral parts of Europe and Africa ; and as we 
 have accounts of their trading to Britain for 
 tin, they might have planted it on the Eng- 
 lish coast also : but this must remain a matter 
 of conjecture, any further than it confirms 
 the vine to have been originally brought 
 from Palestine. In the Book of Numbers we 
 
190 
 
 find that the men, whom Moses had sent to 
 spy the Land of Canaan, returned with a 
 bunch of grapes, which they bare between 
 two, upon a staff. The Damascus grapes, 
 at the present time, are often found to weigh 
 upwards of twenty-five pounds the bunch. 
 In the accounts of ./Egidius Van Egmont, 
 envoy from the States to the King of Naples, 
 and John Heyman, professor of the oriental 
 languages in the university of Leyden, who 
 have published their observations of the pre- 
 sent state of Asia Minor, it is mentioned 
 that, in the town called Sidonijah, which is 
 four hours' journey from Damascus, some of 
 the grapes were as large as pigeons' eggs, and 
 of a very exquisite taste. From these cir- 
 cumstances, we may fairly conclude that the 
 vine is a native of Syria. That we do not 
 hear more of the enormous clusters of grapes 
 growing in the eastern parts, is owing to that 
 country having been in the hands of the 
 Saracens since the seventh century, when 
 Abubeker over-run it; and these people 
 being Mahomedans, a religion that prohibits 
 the use of wine, it is natural to suppose that 
 the management and culture of the vine 
 should be greatly neglected. 
 
 Although wine is not made in Egypt, 
 vines are much cultivated, and the grapes 
 
191 
 
 have a delicious perfume : the greater part 
 of those that are eaten there, are of that spe- 
 cies, of which the fruit contains only a single 
 seed. 
 
 The leaves of the vine are of great utility 
 in the kitchens of Egypt : they serve to en- 
 velop large balls of hashed meat, one of the 
 dishes most commonly presented at good 
 tables. It is necessary that the leaves should 
 be young : and they are frequently sold at a 
 dearer rate than the grapes themselves. (Son- 
 nini's Travels in Egypt.) 
 
 In this country, vine-leaves are used in 
 roasting those delicious little birds called 
 wheat-ears. 
 
 Pliny concludes, that the vine was very 
 rare in Italy in the time of Numa, who or- 
 dered that no libations of wine should be 
 made at funerals; and to encourage the 
 pruning of vines, he prohibited the use of 
 any wines, in sacrifices to the gods, that 
 were cut from vines which had not been 
 pruned, 
 
 Pliny says, " M. Varro writes, that Me- 
 zentius, the King of Tuscany, aided the 
 Rutilians of Ardea, in their wars against the 
 Latins, for no other hire but the wine and 
 the vines which were in the territories of 
 the Latins/' He adds, " that wines did 
 
192 
 
 not come into much repute until 600 years 
 after the foundation of Rome/' 
 
 Julius Caesar found vines growing in Lan- 
 guedoc and Provence; but other parts of 
 Gaul were totally without vines at that time. 
 Strabo remarks, that Languedoc and Pro- 
 vence produced the same fruit as Italy ; but 
 it was not until about the year 270, that the 
 vine was planted in the northern parts of 
 Gaul, and about the rivers Rhine, Maine, and 
 Moselle ; and in Hungary. 
 
 The varieties of the grape-vine are very 
 numerous : and we have accounts of some 
 of them growing to an extraordinary size, 
 and producing such fruit as appears almost 
 incredible to our northern conception of 
 grapes. 
 
 Strabo, who lived in the reign of Au- 
 gustus, testifies that the vines of Margiana y 
 and in other places, were so big, that two 
 men could scarcely compass them with their 
 arms, and that they produced bunches of 
 grapes two cubits, or a yard, in length. Co- 
 lumella states, that Seneca had a vine which 
 produced him two thousand clusters of grapes 
 in a year. Theophrastus mentions a vine 
 that grew so large, that a statue of Jupiter, 
 and the columns in Juno's temple, were made 
 of it. At the present time, the great doors 
 
193 
 
 of the cathedral at Ravenna may be seen, 
 which are made of vine-tree planks, some of 
 them twelve feet long and fifteen inches 
 broad. 
 
 At Ecoan, at the Duke of Montmorency's 
 house, is a table of a large dimension, made 
 of vine planks. Pliny states, that vines, in 
 old times, were, on account of their size, 
 ranked among trees. Valerianus Cornelius 
 mentions a vine of one stock that encom- 
 passed and surrounded a good farm-house 
 with the branches. Upon the coast of Bar- 
 bary, vines are now growing of large dimen- 
 sions, some of them being eight or nine feet in 
 circumference ; and in Persia there are some 
 kinds of grapes so large, that a single one is a 
 mouthful. From what we find in Huetius 
 Crete, Chios, and other islands in the Archi- 
 pelago, afford bunches of grapes from ten to 
 forty pounds' weight each. Chios, now Scio, 
 has long been celebrated for its vineyards, and 
 Virgil has immortalized its wines by his pen. 
 
 The ritual feast shall overflow with wine, 
 
 And Chios' richest nectar shall be thine : 
 
 On the warm hearth, in winter's chilling hour, 
 
 We'll sacrifice; at summer, in a bow'r. Warton. 
 
 Pliny mentions a vine, in his time, that 
 was 600 years old ; and Miller states, that 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 the vineyards in some parts of Italy hold good 
 above three hundred years. 
 
 It is related, that Rhemnius Palaemon, 
 who was a renowned Roman grammarian, 
 bought a farm within ten miles of Rome, 
 for which he gave 600,000 sesterces. By cul- 
 tivation he so improved it, that the produce 
 of his vines in one year sold for 400,000 ses- 
 terces. Pliny says, " many people ran to see 
 the huge and mighty clusters of these grapes, 
 which his idle neighbours attributed to his 
 deep learning, while others accused him of 
 using magic and the black art/' 
 
 We have, at the present time, some re- 
 markable vines in England ; for since the in- 
 troduction of stoves, no country can rival us 
 in the variety and perfection of this fruit, se- 
 veral kinds of which ripen well in the open 
 air. 
 
 The vine, too, here her curling tendrils shoots, 
 Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south, 
 And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky. 
 
 The Duke of Portland has upwards of 
 a hundred kinds of grape-vines at his seat 
 at Welbeck; and in the year 1781, his grace 
 made a present to the Marquis of Rocking- 
 ham of a bunch of grapes that grew in his 
 vinery, which weighed nineteen pounds and 
 
195 
 
 a half : it was nineteen inches and a half in 
 the greatest diameter, four feet and a half in 
 circumference, and twenty-one inches and 
 three quarters in length. It was conveyed to 
 Wentworth House, a distance of- twenty miles, 
 by four labourers, who carried it suspended 
 on a staff, in pairs, by turns. 
 
 The vine at Hampton-Court Palace, which 
 was planted in the year 1769, has a stem of 
 thirteen inches in girth, and a principal 
 branch 1 14 feet in length, which, in one year, 
 produced two thousand and two hundred 
 bunches of grapes, each weighing, on an ave- 
 rage, a pound. His late revered Majesty en- 
 joyed the fruit of this vine half a century. 
 Fruit was the only luxury in which he in- 
 dulged himself, and that was cultivated in the 
 Royal Gardens to the highest perfection, and 
 served at table in great abundance. 
 
 Mr. Eden planted a vine of the black 
 Hamburg sort, at Valentine House, Essex, in 
 the year 1758, which is the parent of the vine 
 at Hampton Court, and has extended itself to 
 upwards of 200 feet in length, being so pro- 
 ductive, that it ripened two thousand bunches 
 of grapes in the year 1819- 
 
 Speechly describes a vine, which was 
 growing in the open air at Northallerton, in 
 Yorkshire, in 1789, that had once covered 
 
196 
 
 a space containing 137 square yards ; and it 
 was judged, that, had it been permitted, it 
 would have extended to three or four times 
 the room. The circumference of the stem, a 
 little above the ground, is three feet eleven 
 inches : it is supposed to have been planted 
 150 years. 
 
 In Jamaica, and some other of the West- 
 India islands, the vine produces two, and 
 often three crops a year. Both Brown and 
 Lunan observe, that grape-vines produce 
 most abundantly in Jamaica, particularly 
 the Muscadine, which ripens all it& berries 
 nearly at the same time, and has clusters 
 of the fruit from eight to ten pounds weight ; 
 the pulp of which has been found less wa- 
 tery, and more fleshy, than the same fruit 
 in the south of France, and yet the making 
 of wine even for the consumption of the 
 island has never been attempted. 
 
 There are several accounts of actual 
 vineyards being in England in an early pe- 
 riod of our history. Vineyards are noticed in 
 the Doomsday Book, as also by Bede, as 
 early as the commencement of the eigath 
 century. 
 
 The isle of Ely was expressly denomi- 
 nated the isle of vines by the Normans. The 
 Bishop of Ely, shortly after the Conquest, 
 
197 
 
 Appears to have received at least three or 
 four tons of wine annually, as tithes from the 
 vines in his diocese ; and in his leases he 
 made frequent reservations of a certain quan- 
 tity of wine by way of rent : many of these 
 wines were little inferior to the French wines 
 in sweetness. Few ancient monasteries were 
 without a vineyard attached to them. Malms- 
 bury mentions the county of Gloucester, as 
 excelling every other part of the country, in 
 his time, in the number and richness of its 
 vineyards. In the reigns of Stephen and 
 Henry the Third, we meet with accounts of 
 vineyards. The first Earl of Salisbury plant- 
 ed a vineyard in his park adjoining Hatfield 
 House, Hertfordshire, which was in existence 
 when Charles the First was conveyed there a 
 prisoner to the army. 
 
 Historians and antiquarians appear remiss, 
 
 in not accounting for the total neglect of the 
 
 British vineyards; but we may conclude 
 
 that, as our intercourse increased with the 
 
 continent, it was found more advantageous 
 
 to import wine than depend on the product 
 
 of our own crop, which must have been an 
 
 uncertain one, from the variableness of our 
 
 climate. Again, the low price of foreign 
 
 wines must have contributed much to the 
 
 neglect of making it in England, as in the 
 
198 
 
 year 1342, according to Stow, the price of 
 Gascon wines in London was fourpence, and 
 that of Rhenish, sixpence per gallon; and, in 
 1389, the price of foreign wine was only 
 twenty shillings per ton, for the best sort, and 
 thirteen shillings and fourpence for the second 
 quality, which was about three halfpence per 
 dozen. 
 
 It is stated by several authors, that foreign 
 wines were sold by apothecaries only, as a 
 cordial, in the year 1300. I am of opinion, 
 that it was Portugal wine only which the apo- 
 thecaries sold, and not foreign wine in gene- 
 ral, for about that time we find that the mer- 
 chants of Gascoin were settled in London in 
 great numbers; and that, in the year 1317, an 
 order was made to this effect, " That mer- 
 chants, who are not of the freedom of the 
 city, are not to sell, by retail, wines or other 
 wares, within the city or suburbs. Witness 
 the King, at York, the eighth day of June/' 
 
 The suppression of all the monasteries in 
 England must also have contributed much 
 towards the loss of our vineyards; and the 
 present high duties on wine could not have 
 been anticipated by our forefathers, when they 
 neglected their vines. 
 
 The first duty on wines was one penny per 
 ton, which was in the year 1272, when wine 
 
199 
 
 gaugers were first appointed at London and 
 the principal sea-ports. The new gauge duty 
 at London alone amounted to fifteen pounds 
 sixteen shillings and sevenpence, which makes 
 the quantity imported amount to 7,598 pipes. 
 The principal customs for importation, at that 
 period, seem to have been on wines chiefly 
 French and Rhenish, as there is yet scarcely 
 any mention of Spanish, or Portuguese, or 
 Italian wine. (Madox's History of the Ex- 
 chequer.) 
 
 In the year 1409, the duty on wine was 
 three shillings per ton. 
 
 Grapes seem to have become rare about 
 the year 1560. Strype, in his Life of Grind- 
 all, Bishop of London, (who was one of the 
 earliest encouragers of botany in this king- 
 dom) writes, that his grapes, at Fulham, 
 " were esteemed of that value, and a fruit 
 Queen Elizabeth stood so well affected to, 
 and so early ripe, that the bishop used every 
 year to send her Majesty a present of them/' 
 
 The vintage is a season of mirth in all the 
 wine countries, and seems to have been equally 
 so in the earliest times. The prediction of 
 Isaiah concerning Moab is particularly cha- 
 racteristic: " And gladness is taken away, and 
 joy, out of the plentiful field; and in the vine- 
 yards there shall be no singing, neither shall 
 
200 
 
 there be any shouting : the treaders shall 
 tread out no wine in their presses; I have 
 made their vintage shouting to cease. " 
 
 The Spaniard, during the vintage, throws 
 off his stateliness and his cloak, and cries 
 out to his servants, " Let us be merry, my 
 companions ; wisdom is fled out of the win- 
 dow." 
 
 The various wines made from the juice of 
 the grape are so numerous, that to give a short 
 description of each would be to write a vo- 
 luminous work, and could only be interesting 
 to those who are in the wine trade. Pliny 
 says, there were eighty kinds of the best 
 wines in his days. 
 
 The Grecians were renowned for their 
 wines. Homer has celebrated several : among 
 them, the kind called Maronean wine, which 
 was made from grapes growing upon the 
 coast of Africa; and also thePramnian wine, 
 which, according to Pliny's account, was 
 made from one vineyard only in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Smyrna, near to the temple of 
 Cybele. 
 
 These wines were so rare and expensive in 
 Rome, in the younger days of Lucullus, that 
 only one draught was allowed at a repast, 
 however sumptuous the feast was in other 
 respects. Lucullus says, that " he never 
 
201 
 
 saw at his father's board Greek wines served 
 up but once at a meal; but when he returned 
 from Asia, he gave to the people a largess 
 of more than 100,000 gallons of this wine; 
 and Hortensius, at his death, left above 
 10,000 barrels full of Greek wines to his 
 heir." 
 
 I have selected the following lines of a 
 poet, who wrote in the fourth century, to 
 show of what wines the Britons had know- 
 ledge at that early time, 
 
 Ye shall have rumney and nialespiue, 
 Both ypocrasse and vernage wyne, 
 Mountrese and wyne of Greek, 
 Both algrade and despice eke; 
 Antioche and Bastarde, 
 Pyment also, and garnarde, 
 Wyne of Greke and Muscadell, 
 Both clare, pyment, and Rochell. 
 
 Some of these liquors, as ypocrasse, py- 
 ment, and clare, were compounded of wine, 
 honey, and spices. 
 
 At the installation feast of George Ne- 
 ville, Archbishop of York, and Chancellor of 
 England, amongst other liquors is mention- 
 ed, " In ale, 300 tun ; in wine, 100 tun ; in 
 ipocrasse, 1 pipe." 
 
 In the year 1311 we find Thomas Earl 
 of Leicester debited by his cofferer, or pay- 
 
202 
 
 master, Thomas Leicester, amongst other 
 charges, with 104. I7s. 6d. for 369 pipes of 
 red wine and two pipes of white, which is 
 about 5s. lid. per pipe. (Stow's Survey of 
 London.) 
 
 In the year 1322, when the sentence of 
 banishment against the Spencers was re- 
 moved, the elder Spencer's petition to the 
 King, setting forth the damage he had sus- 
 tained, amongst other things enumerates for- 
 ty tun of wine and ten tun of cider. From 
 these circumstances, we may fairly judge that 
 wine was the principal beverage of the Eng- 
 lish nobility at that period. 
 
 At the present time, the consumption 
 of wine in these dominions is immense, not- 
 withstanding the excessive high duties laid 
 on foreign wines; and in the London Docks 
 there are eleven large vaults for housing of 
 wines until the duties are paid on them: one 
 of these vaults often contains near 30,000 
 pipes. 
 
 Portugal supplies us with both the red 
 and the white port, which take their name 
 from Oporto, from whence they are shipped. 
 Lisbon, which is called after that city, and 
 Bucellas, which is a wine made from the 
 fruit of vines that have been brought from 
 the Rhine, and planted in the neighbourhood 
 
203 
 
 of Lisbon, if not often renewed, degenerate, 
 and become similar to the produce of Lisbon. 
 No wine improves more by keeping than Bu- 
 cellas, if good when bottled. 
 
 Port wine is imported in casks, containing 
 138 gallons, which is called a pipe, but often 
 gauges two or four gallons over: upon this the 
 duty must be paid, although the merchant 
 makes no charge for the extra quantity. 
 
 France has been long famous for her vine- 
 yards, and even exported wine to Italy in the 
 reign of Vespasian. Our traffic with Bor- 
 deaux for wine, commenced about the year 
 1172; and we now obtain from France a 
 great variety of delicate wines, among which 
 are the red and white hermitage, burgundy, 
 claret, champaigne of several sorts, frontignac, 
 muscadel, lunel, barsac, langon, vin de grave, 
 &c. &c. The generality of these wines do not 
 require long keeping, and, without great care, 
 burgundy and champaigne soon become ropy 
 and spoiled. The most esteemed French wines 
 are 
 
 The claret smooth, 
 
 The mellow tasted burgundy, and quick, 
 
 As is the wit it gives, the gay champaigne. 
 
 From Switzerland we procure neufchtel, 
 vdteline, la cote, reiff, &c. &c. 
 
204 
 
 The borders of the Rhine furnish us with 
 a variety of Rhenish wines, the most es- 
 teemed of which is called hock, from Hock- 
 heim, the town where it is made. This wine 
 cannot be kept too long, as it obtains both 
 body and flavour, as well as colour, by age. 
 Hock wine is given with the greatest advan- 
 tage, in cases of the typhus fever. About 
 one half of Germany can boast of having 
 good vineyards, while the other half has 
 none: all the wines of this country require 
 long keeping. 
 
 The advantage of keeping particular wines, 
 was well known to the Romans. 
 
 Est mihi nonum superantis annum, 
 Plenus Albani cadus. 
 
 Hor. 
 
 Phillis, this Alban cask is thine, 
 Mellow'd by summers more than nine. 
 
 Pliny mentions having met with wines in 
 his time that were made in the consulship of 
 Opimius, which was almost two hundred 
 years before. This author says, " there was a 
 wine made at Vienna which sold the dearest ; 
 it had/' says he, " the taste of pitch, and it 
 is reputed cooler than other wines, and was 
 therefore given to allay fever/' 
 
 The Hungarian wines, if not sent to us in 
 
205 
 
 quantities, are made up in quality, if we may 
 judge by the price of tokay. At the sale of 
 the Duke of Queensberry's wine, in 18 , 
 the tokay sold for one hundred and fifty 
 pounds per dozen, which is about a guinea 
 a glass. The tokay made at Johanneski, in 
 Poland, of the vintage of 1811, was sold on 
 the spot for 4,000 florins the cask of 8 ohms, 
 which is equal to twenty-seven shillings per 
 gallon. 
 
 Spain furnishes us with sherry, paxeretta, 
 mountain, tent, &c. Mr. Swinburn men- 
 tions, in his account of -Spain, that in plen- 
 tiful seasons the vineyards are so productive, 
 casks cannot be found to contain the wine ; 
 and that many vineyards remain ungathered, 
 notwithstanding public notice being stuck at 
 the church doors, that all who choose may 
 gather, by paying a small acknowledgment. 
 Those who are afflicted with bilious com- 
 plaints should drink good sherry, in prefer- 
 ence to all other wines, it being less likely to 
 turn acid on the stomach. 
 
 The island of Madeira was planted with 
 the vine from cuttings brought from Cyprus, 
 by Prince Henry, son to John the Eirst of 
 Portugal, in the year 1420, when the island 
 was first discovered; and it now affords about 
 30,000 pipes of wine annually. The Hhenish 
 
206 
 
 vfne has also been planted in Madeira, and 
 produces a very superior wine, known by the 
 name of Cerciel Madeira : this island also 
 affords us a sweet wine, called Malmsey 
 Madeira, but the genuine Malmsey wine is 
 the produce of Malvisia, and is now very rare. 
 The ancients sometimes ripened particular 
 wines, by placing them in the smoke above a 
 fire, or in an upper part of their houses ; and 
 it is well known to the moderns, who are cu- 
 rious in their Madeira wines, how much they 
 improve by being kept in a garret, instead 
 of a vaulted cellar. Good West-India Ma- 
 deira that has been exposed to the frost, as 
 well as the heat of summer, will be found to 
 have ripened, as well as by a voyage to the 
 East-Indies. 
 
 The Teneriffe wine, when about three years 
 old, can hardly be known from Madeira; but 
 as it gets older it becomes sweet and mellow, 
 like Malaga. Formerly there was made at 
 Teneriffe a great quantity of canary sack, 
 which the French call Vin de Malvesia, and 
 we, corruptly after them, Malmsey, from Mal- 
 vesia, a town in the Morea, famous for lusci- 
 ous wines. 
 
 The luscious red wine called Lachryma 
 Christi, is produced from vineyards on Mount 
 Vesuvius. 
 
 2 
 
207 
 
 The Cape of Good Hope has been planted 
 with vines from the Rhine, Persia, and other 
 countries ; and they have so increased, that 
 there is scarcely a cottage without a vine- 
 yard in all the colony. It is from the 
 Cape that we obtain those rich wines called 
 Constantia, both red and white, which are 
 made on one farm only, and the quantity 
 does not exceed sixty pipes of red and 100 
 of the white per annum. We also receive 
 from thence large quantities of the wine 
 called Cape, which will be good when the 
 growers know their interest better, and attend 
 more to the quality and less to the quantity. 
 There is another objection to this wine, 
 which must be remedied before Cape can 
 be agreeable, viz. that the vines, instead 
 of being staked, as in other wine coun- 
 tries, are suffered to trail on the ground: 
 it is natural, therefore, to conclude that those 
 berries next the earth will rot, and a few un- 
 sound grapes will give an unpleasant flavour 
 to"a large quantity of wine. 
 
 The moderate use of wine has never been 
 condemned by physicians ; and in so moist 
 and changeable a climate as England, a more 
 plentiful draught may be allowed than in 
 warmer countries. 
 
 Sentius, when he was praetor of Rome, said 
 
208 
 
 he never had any wine of Chios in his house 
 before the physician prescribed it for the 
 palpitation of the heart, a complaint he 
 laboured under, which is a convincing proof 
 of it's having been used medicinally in those 
 days. On the other hand, Androcydes, in his 
 letter to Alexander the Great, says, (to cor- 
 rect his intemperate drinking of wine,) " My 
 good lord, remember when you take your 
 wine, that you drink the very blood of the 
 earth ; hemlock, you know, Sir, is poison to 
 man, even so is wine to hemlock/' 
 
 That an excess of this reviving beverage is 
 pernicious to the health, no one will attempt 
 to deny, any more than he would to excuse 
 repeated intoxication. Wine is not so much 
 used in this age to debase man as it was in 
 times past. Those liquors least intoxicating 
 are now preferred ; and the quality of the 
 wines given at table is at present more at- 
 tended to than the quantity ; which has in- 
 troduced cheerfulness and good sense around 
 the decanters, in exchange for boisterous dis- 
 putes. In an age that has advanced so far 
 towards refinement, there can be no need to 
 set up the alarm of poison, or condemn all 
 the wine-merchants as murderers, as has lately 
 become the fashion of some authors, which 
 can answer no other purpose than that of 
 
209 
 
 alarming the timid, and bringing a respectable 
 body of men into contempt. I am surprised 
 that any person should make so severe an 
 accusation as that of stating to the world 
 that poisonous drugs are employed by the 
 wine-merchants, without giving one instance 
 to make good their assertions. About the 
 year 1426, when Sir John Rainwell was 
 lord-mayor of London, he having received 
 an information of the mal-practices of the 
 Lombard merchants in adulterating their 
 wines, to the great prejudice of the health 
 of his Majesty's subjects, caused one hun- 
 dred and fifty butts of that pernicious 
 liquor to be seized in divers parts of the 
 city, the heads whereof being knocked out, 
 the wine, or putrid matter, ran into the street 
 channels, and emitted such a very noxious 
 smell, that it infected the air to a great 
 degree. It will be observed that this was 
 an imposition practised by foreign merchants, 
 and I do not recollect having met with any 
 instance where an English wine-merchant 
 has been detected in this infamous practice, 
 or of the charge of mixing his wine with perry, 
 as has been stated is often done, and thereby 
 defrauding both the revenue and his cus- 
 tomers. This latter charge can be refuted by 
 the best of all possible reasons, viz. : it is 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 against the interest of a wine-merchant so 
 to do ; for he has more difficulty in procuring 
 superior wines than he has of obtaining 
 ready sales at high prices. The best wines 
 are always the first sold, and afford the largest 
 profit, whereas inferior wines are rarely dis- 
 posed of without a loss. I conclude it is 
 generally known, that, at the present time, 
 the duty and other incidental charges on 
 foreign wines form the greater part of the 
 price, and that the worst pipe of Port or 
 Madeira pays as much duty as the best ; it 
 is therefore a most material part of the 
 business of a wine-merchant to import the 
 best wines from the countries with which 
 he trades. When the vintage proves rather 
 unfavourable, or his importations are deficient 
 in flavour, he pursues a very different course 
 to adulteration: he is obliged to procure 
 the richest wines he can obtain of the same 
 kind to mix with them. This is often done 
 at a great expense, because he has not the 
 means of disposing of inferior wines, even at 
 any price. It is not an uncommon prac- 
 tice to add Burgundy or Hermitage to im- 
 prove Port wine: this cannot be deemed 
 adulteration. 
 
 Solomon, in his Proverbs, says, " Wisdom 
 hath mingled her wine/' 
 
211 
 
 The fining of white wines is so simple a 
 process, and attended with so little expense, 
 that there can be no inducement to use 
 poisonous drugs, as has been stated by 
 a late publication to be a common prac- 
 tice. It is well known to every house- 
 keeper, that isinglass dissolved in Hock or 
 Rhenish wine will fine the most obsti- 
 nate white wines. It is correctly stated, 
 that there are persons who prepare finings 
 for the wine-merchants at a cheap rate ; 
 but as this is publicly sold, any person has 
 an opportunity to analyze it, and ascertain 
 if it consists of poisonous drugs : indeed it 
 would have been more honourable to have 
 analyzed the wines of any suspected person, 
 and to have exposed them to the public, were 
 they guilty of so injuring the constitutions 
 of their benefactors. A wine-merchant sel- 
 dom does more himself to the fining of his 
 wines than to give directions to his cellar- 
 man : were he to use pernicious finings, how 
 often should we hear of his being betrayed 
 by his discharged servants ! 
 
 For red wines, the whites of eggs, with 
 sometimes a part of the shells pulverized, is 
 the universal and only finings used. A few 
 years back, when there was so great a demand 
 for pale sherry, the wine-merchants dis- 
 charged the colour with the assistance of a 
 
212 
 
 small quantity of new milk. The folly of 
 this fashion was no sooner seen, than good 
 brown sherries returned into favour. The 
 Africans of old used to mitigate and allay 
 the tartness of their wines with a kind of lime 
 plaster, while the Greeks of the same day 
 quickened their's with clay and marble pow- 
 dered, or with sea water. 
 
 The Romans admired the flavour of pitch, 
 which was often added to their wines ; thus 
 we find it has ever been the study of the 
 wine-merchant to suit the taste of the times, 
 but at no period has it been found necessary 
 to add baneful drugs. 
 
 Grapes furnish the French with another 
 article of commerce, almost equal in import- 
 ance to their wines; namely, brandy. It is 
 computed that their exportation in this 
 liquor is not less than 50,000 pipes or pieces 
 per $nn. which, at the average of five shil- 
 lings per gallon, produces them nearly two 
 millions sterling annually. 
 
 The brandies imported into this country 
 are principally from Bordeaux, Rochelle, and 
 Cogniac ; but they are very inferior to those 
 made in the neighbourhood of Nantes and 
 Poictou, from whence private families in the 
 city and suburbs of Paris supply themselves, 
 and they are very careful to obtain the best 
 quality of this spirit. All brandies are ori- 
 
213 
 
 ginally white, but by long keeping they na- 
 turally become a little stained by the cask ; 
 and to give this appearance of age to the 
 brandies shipped for England, burnt sugar 
 and other dyes are added to such an excess, 
 as to destroy the natural flavour of the spirit. 
 
 Private families would do well to buy 
 none but the best pale brandy, and the im- 
 portation of bad brandies would soon cease. 
 
 The fruiterers of London have a consi- 
 derable trade in preserved grapes, which are 
 principally brought from Portugal in large 
 earthen jars, closely cemented down: these 
 grapes add considerably to the luxury of our 
 winter desserts, as they are sold at moderate 
 prices for so rare a fruit. 
 
 This art of preserving grapes was well 
 known to the Romans. Columella gives a 
 particular account of the manner they were 
 preserved, both in his time, and in the time 
 of his uncle Marcus Columella. He recom- 
 mends them to be put into small jars that 
 will only contain one bunch, and that the 
 fruit should be gathered quite dry, when the 
 sun is on it, and after being cooled in the 
 shade, to be suspended in the jars, and the 
 vacua to be filled up with oat chaff, after all 
 the dust has been blown from it. The jars 
 must be well baked or burned, and not such 
 
214 
 
 as imbibe moisture : the tops of the jars must 
 be covered over, and pitched, to keep out the 
 air. 
 
 The process of drying grapes into raisins 
 is usually performed, by tying two or three 
 bunches together before they are cut from 
 the vine, and dipping them into a hot lixi- 
 vium of wood ashes, with a little olive oil in 
 it : they then shrivel, and partly dry ; and in 
 a few days they are cut from the vine, and 
 dried in the sun. We procure the finest 
 raisins from Damascus. Sun raisins are 
 brought from Spain, and are so called to 
 distinguish them from those that are scalded, 
 or dried, in ovens. Large quantities are also 
 imported from Malaga, Calabria, Muscadine, 
 Smyrna, &c. 
 
 The vinous latitude is said to extend 
 between the 25th and 51st degree in the 
 northern hemisphere. 
 
 It has been observed, that all the vine- 
 yards in Germany, beyond the 51st degree, 
 are dubious. This leaves the southern coast 
 of England within the latitude for vines; 
 and 1 have often been surprised that the 
 culture of them should have been so little 
 attended to, where the shelter of the hills, 
 and the soil, seem to offer so promising a 
 situation. 
 
215 
 
 There are several flourishing vineyards 
 at this time in Somersetshire: the late Sir 
 William Basset, in that county, annually 
 made some hogsheads of wine, which was 
 palatable and well bodied. The idea that 
 we cannot make good wine from the juice of 
 our own grapes is erroneous : I have tasted it 
 quite equal to the Grave wines; and in some 
 instances, when kept for eight or ten years, 
 it has been drunk as Hock by the nicest 
 judges. Grapes that are not perfectly ripe, 
 and even sour, will make good wine, but it 
 will require longer keeping. 
 
 If a sweet wine be preferred, raisins should 
 be used with the grapes; for sugar and 
 water (the common addition to our country 
 wines) can never produce a good beverage. 
 
 The following observations on the eco- 
 nomical uses to which the leaves and stalks 
 of the vine may be applied, are taken from 
 a letter in the Philosophical Magazine, No. 
 119, signed James Hall. 
 
 " From experiments which I have made, 
 I find that, on being dried, which should 
 be done in the shade, and infused in a tea- 
 pot, the leaves of the vine make an excellent 
 substitute for tea. I have also found that, 
 on being cut small, bruised, and put into a 
 vat, or mashing-tub, and boiling water poured 
 
216 
 
 on them in the same way as is done with 
 malt, the primings of the vine produce liquor 
 of a fine vinous quality, which, on being 
 fermented, makes a very fine beverage, either 
 strong or weak, as you please ; and on being 
 distilled, produces an excellent spirit of the 
 nature of brandy. In the course of my ex- 
 periments, I found that the fermented liquor 
 from the prunings, particularly the tendrils, 
 when allowed to pass the vinous, and to run 
 into the acetous fermentation, makes uncom- 
 monly fine vinegar/' 
 
 Vine-leaves, as well as the tendrils, have 
 an astringent taste, and were formerly used 
 in diarrhoeas, haemorrhages, and other dis- 
 orders requiring refrigerant and styptic me- 
 dicines. The juice or sap of the vine, called 
 lachryma, has been recommended in calcu- 
 lous disorders, and is said to be an excellent 
 application to weak eyes and specks of the 
 cornea. The tendrils of the vine were eaten 
 as a pickle by the Romans. 
 
 The expressed juice of the unripe fruit 
 is called verjuice, and is considered a very 
 useful external remedy for bruises. 
 
 The wood of the vine, reduced to charcoal, 
 is used by painters for drawing outlines, and 
 is mentioned as good for tooth powder. 
 
 Although it forms no part of my plan 
 
217 
 
 in this work to enter upon the cultivation of 
 trees, I cannot avoid giving a few remarks on 
 a fruit of so much importance. 
 
 In the planting of vines, the first care 
 should be to select cuttings of those kinds 
 which are known to be good, and suitable to 
 the situation and soil in which they are to be 
 placed. 
 
 " The grafting of vines upon vines is not 
 now in use," says Lord Bacon in his Natural 
 History; and adds, " the ancients had it, and 
 that three ways : the first was insition, which 
 is the ordinary manner of grafting ; the second 
 was terebration through the middle of the 
 stock, and putting in the scions there ; and 
 the third was pairing of two vines, that grow 
 together, to the marrow, and binding them 
 close/' 
 
 Speedily, in his work on the vine, says, 
 " The grafting of grapes is but little attended 
 to, although of so much importance ; as a 
 bad vine may be improved without loss of 
 time ;" and he states, that he has had fine 
 grapes from the same year's grafts, which, 
 if permitted, will run from thirty to forty 
 feet the first summer. He mentions a vine 
 of the Syrian kind, in a hothouse at Welbeck, 
 that produced sixteen different sorts of grapes 
 from as many graftings. 
 
218 
 
 Vines have ever been found to thrive best 
 on the banks of rivers, or where their roots 
 can draw moisture in abundance. 
 
 The scripture often makes the remark ; 
 " It was planted in a good soil by great 
 waters, that it might bring forth branches, 
 and that it might bring forth fruit, that it 
 might be a goodly vine/' (Ezekiel, c. xvii. v. 8.) 
 
 " Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, 
 planted by the waters : she was fruitful and 
 full of branches, by reason of many waters." 
 (Ezekiel, c. xix. v. 10.) 
 
 It hath been stated, that the blood of 
 animals, applied about the roots, greatly nou- 
 rishes the vine : this must be owing to the 
 quantity of saline particles which it contains. 
 
 Mr. Daws, of Slough, near Windsor, has 
 made the experiment of painting one half 
 of a wall black, that was covered with a 
 vine, and leaving the other half in it's com- 
 mon state. That part of the vine which 
 covered the black wall, ripened the grapes 
 earlier, and yielded about three times the 
 weight of fruit that the other half produced. 
 
 Gentlemen, who prune their own vines, 
 should observe, that the fruit is always pro- 
 duced upon the shoots of thp same year, 
 which are thrown out of the buds of the last 
 year's shoots; and that it is not the old 
 
219 
 
 wood that yields grapes. It is best to prune 
 vines as soon as the fruit is gathered, as the 
 bearing shoots for the following year cannot 
 then be mistaken ; and it is recommended to 
 shorten them, so as to leave but four eyes, 
 as by leaving too many, the vine is exhausted, 
 and yields but poor small fruit. The shoots 
 just above the fourth eye are to be cut, and 
 the cutting to be sloped or cut in such a 
 manner, that the water discharging from the 
 shoot may not run on the bud to injure it. 
 About the beginning of May, all vines should 
 be looked over, and the shoots from the old 
 wood should be rubbed off; and if one eye 
 produces two shoots, the weakest must be 
 removed. Vines require frequent examining, 
 after this time, to rub off all dangling shoots ; 
 and about the latter end of June, the ends of 
 the bearing branches are to be nipped off, 
 but those intended for the next year's fruit, 
 may go a month longer before they are 
 topped. 
 
 The blossoms of the vine have an agree- 
 able odour: the ancients used to put them 
 into their wine, to give it this fragrance. 
 
 The Romans reared their vines by fasten- 
 ing them to certain trees, as the poplar and 
 the elm, &c., whence these trees were said to 
 be married to the vines, which gave rise to 
 
220 
 
 that elegant and entertaining story of Ovid's 
 Vertumnus and Pomona. 
 
 " If that fair elm," he cried, " alone should stand, 
 No grapes Would glow with gold, and tempt the hand; 
 Or, if that vine without her elm should grow, 
 'Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below." 
 
 Pliny states that the vines in Italy would 
 climb to the very top, and even out-top the 
 highest poplars ; on which account, the grape 
 gatherers, in time of vintage, put a clause in 
 the covenant of their bargains, when they 
 were hired, that in case their foot should slip 
 and their necks be broken, their masters 
 should give orders for their funeral fire and 
 tomb, at their own expense. 
 
HAZEL.-CORYLUS ; 
 
 Or NUT-TREE. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Monoscia Polyandria 
 
 Class. 
 
 THE common hazel-nut is found growing 
 wild in most parts of Europe, as also in every 
 part of England. It is never cultivated for 
 the sake of the nut, which is considered un- 
 wholesome, being hard of digestion, and 
 causing shortness of breath and wheezing. 
 Many young people have suffered by eating 
 too freely of this fruit ; and it has caused the 
 death of several who have taken immoderately 
 of it. 
 
 The pleasure of nutting parties is well 
 known in this country, and much enjoyed by 
 the rustics : it is thus beautifully described by 
 Thomson : 
 
 Ye swains, now hasten to the hazel bank, 
 Where down yon dale the wildly winding brook 
 
222 
 
 Falls hoarse from steep to steep, In close array, 
 Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, 
 Ye virgins, come. For you their latest song 
 The woodlands raise ; the clustering nuts for you 
 The lover finds amid the secret shade ; 
 And where they burnish on the topmost bough, 
 With active vigour crushes down the tree ; 
 Or shakes them ripe, from the resigning husk, 
 A glossy shower. 
 
 These nuts are not much used in medicine, 
 but the cream of them is good for the stone, 
 and heat of urine ; emulsions made of them 
 with mead, are recommended for old dry 
 coughs. 
 
 Quercentan gave a drachm of the powder 
 of nut-shells, mixed with an equal quantity 
 of prepared coral, in a glass of the water of 
 carduus benedictus, or corn poppy, in the 
 pleurisy. 
 
 The wood of the hazel-tree is used for 
 making hoops for casks, hurdles, crates, 
 springles to fasten down thatch, fishing rods, 
 &c. ; it is also burnt for charcoal ; and in the 
 country where yeast is scarce, they twist the 
 slender branches of hazel together, and steep 
 them in ale yeast during its fermentation : 
 they are then hung up to dry, and at the next 
 brewing are put into the wort instead of 
 yeast. 
 
JUNIPER.-JUNIPERUS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Di&cia Monadelphia 
 Class. Natural Order, Conifers. 
 
 THE earliest mention of the juniper-tree will 
 be found in the first book of Kings, about 
 906 years before the Christian era, when the 
 prophet Elijah took refuge in the wilderness 
 of Beersheba, to avoid the persecution of 
 King Ahab. " He went a day's journey into 
 the wilderness, and came and sat down under 
 a juniper-tree: And as he lay and slept under 
 a juniper-tree, behold then an angel touched 
 him, and said unto him, Arise and eat." 
 
 The juniper is also a native of most of the 
 cold mountainous parts of Europe. Gerard 
 says, " The common juniper-tree grows, in 
 some parts of Kent, unto the bigness and 
 stature of a fair great tree/' It is found 
 growing wild in considerable quantities on 
 many parts of the Sussex and Surrey hills, 
 
224 
 
 from whence it is often transplanted into 
 shrubberies. Being of a bluish evergreen, it 
 contrasts well with the laurel and other 
 shrubs of that nature. The flowers are her- 
 baceous, and, if viewed with a microscope, 
 would be found a most beautiful model, 
 either for the jeweller, or the ornamental 
 sculptor. 
 
 Juniper berries, used by distillers to flavour 
 their gin, are principally brought from Hol- 
 land and Italy. These berries are carminative ; 
 but their most remarkable properties are, in 
 scouring the viscera, and particularly the 
 reins and urinary passages, for which reason 
 they are of great service in asthmas, ca- 
 chexies, the jaundice, colic, the stone of the 
 bladder and kidneys, as also crudities of the 
 stomach. The oil of juniper berries is a very 
 stimulating diuretic: the decoction, inspis- 
 sated to the consistency of a rob, or extract, 
 has a pleasant, balsamic, sweet taste. This 
 extract may be used with advantage, as in 
 catarrhs, debility of the stomach and intes- 
 tines, and difficulties of the urinary excretions, 
 in persons of advanced age. 
 
 Etmuller had a vast opinion of juniper 
 berries. The rob, made of the expressed juice 
 of the green berries, has been called by 
 many theriaca Germanorum, so much are 
 
225 
 
 they esteemed by that nation for their alexi- 
 pharmic qualities. In many parts of Ger- 
 many, they are used as a culinary spice, and 
 the flavour of these berries is esteemed in their 
 sauer kraut. The heathcock of Germany is 
 not eatable in the autumn, being so strongly 
 flavoured with juniper berries, on which this 
 bird feeds. The wood of this shrub is also of 
 use in physic, as it strengthens the stomach, 
 clears the lungs, removes obstructions of the 
 viscera, and is further said to be sudorific, 
 cephalic, and hysteric. So much is the 
 flavour of the berries admired by the lower 
 order of the inhabitants of the metropolis, 
 th&t it would be difficult to name any com- 
 plaint, that they would not be afflicted with, 
 for the sake of a plentiful supply of this cor- 
 dial. 
 
 In Sweden, the juniper-berries are made 
 into a conserve, and eaten at breakfast. The 
 Swedes also prepate a beverage from them, 
 which they consider useful as a medicine. In 
 some places they are roasted, and used as a 
 substitute for coffee. 
 
 Gerard says, in his 3d book, " Divers 
 in Bohemia do take, instead of other drinke, 
 the water wherein these berries have been 
 steeped, who live in wonderful good health." 
 
 The wood of the juniper-tree is very hard, 
 
 Q 
 
326 
 
 beautifully veined, susceptible of a very high 
 polish, and is admired, when used as veneer- 
 ing for cabinet furniture, being fragrant, and 
 of a yellow colour. Pliny says, " the juniper 
 has the same properties as the cedar/' adding, 
 " that it grew in Spain to a great size, but 
 that wherever it grows, the heart is found 
 more sound than cedar/' It has been said,, 
 that a coal of juniper wood, covered with 
 ashes of the same kind, will keep on fire a 
 whole year. 
 
LEMON.-LIMON.-CITRUS. 
 
 In Botany, of the Class Polyadetphia Icosan- 
 dria ; Natural Order, Bicornes. 
 
 THIS fruit derives it's name from the Greek 
 word Afi^wj/, which signifies a meadow, "be- 
 cause the leaves and the fruit, before they 
 are ripe, are of the colour of a spring 
 meadow. 
 
 The lemon and the citron-tree are nati es 
 of Asia, from whence they were brought into 
 Greece and Italy. They appear to have been 
 well known to the Romans in the days of 
 Pliny, although they had failed in the culti- 
 vation of them, as that author informs us in 
 his 13th book, chap, iii., where he says, speak- 
 ing of foreign trees, " I will begin with that, 
 which is of all others the most wholesome, 
 the citron-tree, called the Assyrian-tree, and 
 by some the Median-apple: the fruit is a 
 counterpoison, and singular antidote against 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 
 
 all venom ; the leaves," he says, " are like 
 the arbutus, and it hath thorns/' " The pome 
 citron," he continues* " is not good to be 
 eaten as a fruit, but is very odoriferous, as 
 are the leaves, which are used to be put in 
 wardrobes among apparel, to give a perfume, 
 and to keep off moths and spiders/' " This 
 tree/' he adds, " bears fruit at all times of the 
 year, for when some fall, others begin to 
 mellow, and some to blossom. Many have 
 tried to transplant the trees into their own 
 country ; and for this purpose they have had 
 pots made, and enclosed them well with 
 earth ; but for all the care and pains taken 
 about them, to make these trees grow in 
 other countries, yet would they not forget 
 Media and Persia, and liking no other soil, 
 would soon die." 
 
 Virgil, in his Second Georgic, has ele- 
 gantly described this fruit, and it's supposed 
 medical powers against spells and poison. 
 
 Media fert tristes succos tarduraque saporem 
 Felicis mail: quo non praesentius ullum 
 (Pocula si quando soevae infecere novercae 
 Miscueruntque herbas, et non innoxia verba) 
 Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena. 
 Ipsa ingens arbos, faciemque simillima lauro : 
 Et si non alium late jactaret odorem, 
 Laurus erat : folia hand ullis labentia vends : 
 Flos apprime tenax : animas et olentia Medi 
 Ora fovent illo, et senibus medicantur anhelis. 
 
229 
 
 Sharp-tasted citron Median climes produce, 
 Bitter the rind, but gen'rous is the juice; 
 A cordial fruit, a present antidote 
 Against the direful stepdame's deadly draught, 
 Who, mixing wicked weeds with words impure, 
 The fate of envied orphans would procure. 
 Large is the plant, and like a laurel grows, 
 And, did it not a diff'rent scent disclose, 
 A laurel 'twere : the fragrant flow'rs contemn 
 The stormy winds, tenacious of their stem ; 
 With this, the Medes to laboring age bequeath 
 New lungs, and cure the sourness of the breath. 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 The lemon-tree appears to have been 
 cultivated in this country as early as the reign 
 of James the First, as Lord Bacon mentions 
 the housing of hot country plants, as lemons., 
 oranges, and myrtles, to save them. 
 
 In some parts of Devonshire, lemon-trees 
 are trained to the walls, and require no other 
 care than to cover them with straw or mats 
 during the winter. Earl Paulet presented 
 some of these lemons to his late Majesty 
 upwards of forty years ago, which grew in 
 the garden of his sister, Lady Bridget Bas- 
 tard, of Garston. The lemon- tree is of a 
 much hardier nature than the orange : it is 
 therefore brought to greater perfection in 
 this country than the latter fruit. Lemons 
 have long been propagated with success 
 in Italy, Spain, Portugal, ad the South 
 of France, as well as in the West-India 
 
230 
 
 islands. The lemons of St. Helena are the 
 most esteemed, growing larger, and of a 
 milder flower than other kinds. 
 
 This fruit is now become almost neces- 
 sary in culinary purposes, as well as being 
 an article of luxury in a variety of shapes : 
 it makes an excellent sweetmeat when cleared 
 of it's pulp, and prepared with clarified syrup. 
 Lemonade and lemon ices are as well known 
 in the present day as punch was in the last 
 age. The yellow peel of the lemon is an 
 agreeable aromatic ; and, in cold phlegmatic 
 constitutions, it proves an excellent stoma- 
 chic and carminative, warming the habit 
 and strengthening the tone of the viscera. 
 
 Lemons are cooling and grateful to the 
 stomach, allaying thirst, increasing appetite, 
 and are useful in fevers, even malignant and 
 pestilential. The juice, mixed with salt of 
 wormwood, is an excellent medicine to stop 
 vomiting, and to strengthen the stomach. The 
 efficacy of lemon-juice in preventing the sea- 
 scurvy, has long been recommended. Sir 
 James Lancaster, in his voyage in 1601, 
 carried with him several bottles of lemon- 
 juice, and, by giving his sailors a few table- 
 spoons-full in the morning, kept off this dis- 
 order. 
 
 In Captain Cook's voyages, great benefit 
 was derived from lemon and orange-juice, 
 
231 
 
 which were found in the sea-scurvy to be very 
 efficacious. 
 
 Dr. Willich states, that the largest dose 
 of opium may be checked in it's narcotic 
 effects, if a proper quantity of citric acid be 
 taken with it; and that, with this adjunct, 
 it induces cheerfulness instead of stupefaction, 
 and is succeeded by gentle and refreshing 
 sleep. 
 
 In Sicily, the juice of lemons forms an 
 important article of commerce, it being con- 
 sidered the most valuable remedy for the 
 scurvy in long voyages. It is also very 
 extensively used by calico-printers, as a dis- 
 charger of colour, to produce, with more 
 clearness and effect, the white figured parts 
 of coloured patterns, dyed with colours formed 
 from iron. 
 
 When Gibraltar was besieged or blocked 
 up in the autumn of 1780, vegetables had 
 become so scarce, that a small cabbage sold 
 for 5s. which caused the scurvy to rage to 
 such a degree, as threatened more fatal 
 consequences than the gun-boats of the 
 Spaniards. The women and children, as 
 well as the officers, were equally affected 
 with this dreadful disorder, when happily 
 an antidote was procured by the capture of a 
 Danish dogger, from Malaga, laden with 
 
232 
 
 lemons and oranges, which the governor im- 
 mediately purchased for the use of the garri- 
 son, and distributed among them, which re- 
 lieved them most wonderfully. The juice was 
 given to those in the malignant state diluted 
 with sugar, wine, or spirits. Various antiscor- 
 butics had previously been used without suc- 
 cess, such as acid of vitriol, sauer kraut, extract 
 of malt, essence of spruce, &c. 
 
 As the juice of lemons and limes became 
 in so much demand for medical use, as well 
 as for the purposes of luxury, various modes 
 of purifying and preserving it have been 
 adopted by our ingenious chemists, who have 
 succeeded in procuring the acid in a state of 
 purity in crystals. The liquor called shrub, 
 is made with lemon and lime-juice added to 
 rum. 
 
 The fruit of the lime (lima) resembles in 
 acidity the lemon ; and the tree, that of the 
 orange, having winged leaves. It is much 
 smaller than the common lemon, and is prin- 
 cipally brought to this country from the West- 
 India islands, where, says Lunan, " thenegros 
 take the young fruit, soon after it is formed, 
 or when about the size of a small hazel-nut, 
 pare off the rind, which they beat into a fine 
 pulp, and with a hair-pencil apply it carefully 
 to the lids of sore eyes for a cure. It is sup- 
 
233 
 
 posed/' continues Lunan, " this rawness of 
 the eye-lids, accompanied with a humour, is 
 generally caused by worms which lodge in it, 
 and that this application destroys them/' 
 
 Lime punch is more esteemed than that 
 made from lemons, particularly for cold 
 punch, which is a beverage greatly esteemed 
 by turtle eaters. 
 
 The citron is principally used as a sweet- 
 meat. 
 
 The shaddock-tree: Aurantium Friictu 
 maximo India Orientalis. 
 
 This fruit is also a species of the citrus, 
 and takes its name from Captain Shaddock, 
 who first brought it from the East Indies, 
 where it is a native. It is now cultivated in 
 the West Indies, where the fruit often grows 
 to the size of twenty inches in circumference, 
 and is known to yield near half a pint of 
 clear juice. It is described in the Hortus 
 Jamaicensis as being often larger than a 
 man's head. Shaddocks are preserved as a 
 sweetmeat, and used in making punch, as 
 well as limes and lemons. 
 
LOCUST-TREE. -HYMENJM. 
 
 In Botany, of the Class Decandria Monogynta. 
 Natural Order, Lomentacece. 
 
 THIS is a very large spreading tree, in shape 
 resembling the beech. The flowers are 
 produced in loose spikes at the end of the 
 branches, and are succeeded by thick, fleshy, 
 brown pods, shaped like those of the garden- 
 bean, about six inches long, and two and a 
 half broad, wherein there are three or four 
 round, flat, blackish beans or stones, bigger 
 than those of the tamarind, enclosed in a 
 whitish substance of fine filaments, as sweet 
 as sugar or honey. The wild bees are fond 
 of building their nests in these trees : we may 
 therefore justly conclude that St. John found 
 both the locust and wild honey on the same 
 trees, and that it was this fruit on which he 
 fed, and not on insects, called locusts, as 
 some authors have stated. 
 
235 
 
 The Indians eat this fruit with great 
 avidity, though it is apt to purge when fresh 
 gathered, but loses that quality as it grows 
 older. 
 
 The juice, or decoction x of the leaves, is 
 carminative, and eases the colic pain. The 
 inward bark destroys worms. Between the 
 principal roots of the tree exudes a fine trans- 
 parent resin, which is collected in large lumps, 
 is called gum animi, and makes the finest 
 varnish that is known, superior even to the 
 Chinese lacca. 
 
 The tree is now well known in the West 
 Indies ; and when old, the timber is in request 
 to make wheel-work for various machines. 
 
 As this tree is made interesting to us by 
 the mention made of it in Scripture, I shall 
 be excused in giving some particulars from 
 the Botanical Manuscript of Mr. Anthony 
 Robinson, who writes thus : 
 
 " On the 8th July, 1759, I had the plea- 
 sure of seeing the perfect flower of the hyme- 
 naea of Linnaeus expanded, from which I 
 took this description : the receptacle of the 
 cup was bell-shaped, permanent; the peri- 
 anth consisted of four ovate, coriaceous, thick 
 leaves, almost equal, placed scalewise, which, 
 for the most part, dropped as soon as the 
 petals were expanded. The leaves of the 
 
236 
 
 cup were placed on the margin of the recep- 
 tacle. The petals were white, five in number, 
 ovate, erect, patent, and almost equal, as long 
 as the cup; the stamina were ten, subulated, 
 erect, patent filaments, one fourth longer 
 than the petals; the germen was placed on a 
 receptacle, arising out of a hole in the centre 
 of the receptacle, compressed and small ; the 
 style subulate, and somewhat longer than the 
 stamens; the stigma coronated; the anthers 
 were large, oblong, and the flower has nothing 
 of a pyramid in it's form. There was great 
 difficulty in getting a complete flower, for the 
 leaves of the cup dropped off with the least 
 motion. The petals were considerably per- 
 manent, but the stamens more so. Linnaeus 
 has described the blossoms erroneously/' This 
 tree was first cultivated in England, in the 
 year 1688. (Hortus Kewensis.) 
 
LOVE-APPLE.-SOLANUM ; 
 
 Or, TOMATO-BERRY. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Pentandria Mono- 
 gynia Class. Natural Order, Luridtf. 
 
 THE love-apple, or tomato, is the fruit of the 
 ly copersion, an herbaceous branching plant, or 
 vine, with a hairy stem, and a rank smell. 
 
 It is a native of South America, and in all 
 probability of Mexico; from whence it ap- 
 pears to have been brought by the Spaniards, 
 who, as Barham observes, use them in their 
 sauces and gravies; because the juice, as they 
 say, is as good as any gravy, and so by its 
 richness warms the blood. 
 
 Dodoens, in his Pemptades, published at 
 Antwerp, in 1583, describes it as growing at 
 that time in the continental gardehs, and says, 
 that it's fruit was eaten dressed with pepper, 
 salt, and oil. 
 
 Parkinson, whose works were published 
 in 1656, mentions it as being cultivated in 
 England for ornament and curiosity only. 
 
238 
 
 Even at the present time they are grown in 
 many gardens in the country, merely for the 
 singularity of their appearance, varying very 
 much in size and shape as well as colour; 
 some being of a bright yellow, and others of 
 a fine red. It appears, by the Hortus Kewen- 
 sis, to have been cultivated in England as 
 early as the year 1596; but I conclude it was 
 introduced several years previous to that date, 
 as Gerard mentions it in the early part of his 
 voluminous work, as growing in his garden. 
 This author calls it pomum amoris; and says, 
 " apples of love do growe in Spaine, Italic, 
 and such hot countries, from whence myself 
 have received seedes for my garden, where 
 they do increase and prosper/' 
 
 " There hath happened unto my handes 
 another sort/' says this author, " agreeing 
 very notablie with the former, onely the fruite 
 heereof was yellow of colour/' (Now this 
 work, which was published in 1597, must 
 have taken some years in compiling and 
 printing, &c. as it contains several thousand 
 wood plates.) 
 
 Miller says, in the 6th edition of his Gar- 
 dener's Dictionary, "the Italians and Spa- 
 niards eat love-apples as we do cucumbers, 
 with pepper, oil, and salt, as well as for 
 
 sauces." 
 
239 
 
 The Portuguese call this fruit tomato, and 
 eat it either raw or stewed. 
 
 Lunan says of this fruit, " I have eaten 
 five or six raw at a time: they are full of a 
 pulpy juice, and of small seeds, which you 
 swallow with the pulp, and have something 
 of a gravy taste. The juice is cooling, and 
 very proper for defluxions of hot humours in 
 the eyes, which may occasion a glaucoma, if 
 not prevented: they are also good in the St. 
 Anthony's fire, and all inflammations ; and a 
 cataplasm of them is very proper for burns." 
 Miller also says, that the love-apple was used 
 as a medicine in his time. 
 
 This fruit has long been used by the wealthy 
 Jew families in this country ; and within these 
 last few years it has come into great use with 
 all our best cooks, as it possesses in itself an 
 agreeable acid, a very unusual quality in ripe 
 vegetables, and which makes it quite distinct 
 from all garden vegetables that are used for 
 culinary purposes in this country. It makes a 
 good pickle, and is preserved in various ways 
 for the winter use, and is made into a kind 
 of ketchup also. When boiled in soups and 
 sauces, it imparts an acid of a most agreeable 
 flavour: it is also served at table boiled or 
 roasted, and sometimes fried with eggs. Love- 
 apples are now to be seen in great abundance 
 
240, 
 
 at all our vegetable markets, but I do not 
 find that they are used by the middle or lower 
 classes of English families, who have yet to 
 learn the art of improving their dishes with 
 vegetables. 
 
 Mr. John Wilmot, of Isleworth, states* 
 that in 1819 he gathered, from 600 plants, 
 400 half-sieves, which is about equal to 133 
 bushels, and that he then had many to spare. 
 He adds, that the plants produced from 
 twenty to forty pounds' weight each, and 
 that some of the apples measured twelve 
 inches in circumference. 
 
 Mr. Wilmot recommends them to be 
 planted against a bank, as being more con- 
 genial to their nature than a wall. There are 
 several varieties of the tomato; and that which 
 produces fruit about the size of a cherry is the 
 most acid, therefore the most desirable kind 
 for private gardens, alt hough not so profitable 
 for market. 
 
MEDLAR.-MESPILUS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Pen- 
 tagynia Class. 
 
 THIS fruit was known to the ancients in 
 Greece, as it is mentioned by one of their 
 authors, Theophrastus, who wrote 300 years, 
 B. C. ; but it appears not to have been cul- 
 tivated in Italy so early, as Pliny states 
 that it was not known in Rome in Cato's 
 days. Pliny mentions three kinds : the 
 Anthedon, the Setanian Medlar, which he 
 describes as the largest and palest in colour, 
 and the Gallicum, or Bastard French Med- 
 lar. 
 
 Some authors affirm it to have been ori- 
 ginally a German fruit ; but the name An- 
 thedon was doubtless given to it from 
 it's being brought from a city of that name 
 in Greece, while the last is declared by this 
 author to have been from France : the Se- 
 tt 
 
242 
 
 tanian seems to have derived it's name from 
 it's growing near the marshes of Setia. It 
 appears also to have been indigenous to this 
 country, as it is mentioned by all our early 
 writers. Tusser calls the fruit Medlers or 
 Meles. Gerard says, " The medlar-tree often- 
 times grows in hedges among briars and bram- 
 bles : being grafted on a white-thorn, it 
 prospers and produces fruit three times as 
 large as those which are not grafted at all, 
 and almost the size of small apples. We 
 have/* says he, " divers sorts of them in our 
 orchards." He mentions the Neapolitan 
 Medlar, with leaves like the hawthorn, and 
 the Dwarf, growing naturally upon the Alps, 
 and hills of Narbonne and Verona. 
 
 The Dutch Medlar, which is much larger 
 and finer flavoured than the common sort, 
 is the only kind now in request for planting 
 in the garden or orchard. This fruit can- 
 not be eaten when fresh gathered, being too 
 harsh for the palate; but after it has been 
 laid up for a few weeks, and undergone 
 a putrefactive fermentation, it becomes 
 quite soft, and is an agreeable fruit for the 
 desserts in November and December. 
 
 This fruit is cooling, drying, and binding, 
 especially before it is ripe, and is useful in 
 all. kinds of fluxes. The lapilli, or hard 
 
243 
 
 seeds, are accounted good for the stone and 
 gravel ; they are an ingredient in the syrupus 
 myrtinus. (Miller s Hot. Off.) 
 
 The medlar-tree is propagated by bud- 
 ding or grafting on the hawthorn, as has 
 been noticed by Phillips : 
 
 Men have gathered from the hawthorn's branch 
 Large medlars, imitating regal crowns. 
 
 It is sometimes grafted on the pear stock, 
 but is more productive by the former mode. 
 
 The pruner must observe not to shorten 
 any of the branches, as the fruit is always 
 produced at the extremities of the boughs. 
 
 it 2 
 
MELON.-MELO.-CUCUMIS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Monoecia Syngenesia 
 Class. Natural Order, Cucurbit acecs. 
 
 THE melon most esteemed, in every part of 
 Europe, is the Cantaleupe, which takes it's 
 name from a town so called, about fifteen 
 miles from Rome, where it has been culti- 
 vated since the Mithridatic war, being one 
 of the fruits brought from Armenia by Lu- 
 cullus. It grows, says Miller, in that part 
 of Armenia, which borders on Persia, in such 
 plenty, that a horse-load is sold for a Trench 
 crown. The flesh of this melon, when in 
 perfection, is delicious, and does not offend 
 the most tender stomach, but may be eaten 
 with safety. The outer coat of this melon 
 is full of knobs and protuberances like 
 warts : it is of a middle size, rather round 
 than long: that with an orange-coloured 
 flesh is the best. 
 
245 
 
 The Musk Melon appears to be a native 
 of Tartary, where it is found growing wild. 
 It has lately been found in great abun- 
 dance on the sandy plains in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Jeypoor. This kind of melon 
 has long been cultivated in Italy, from 
 whence I conclude it was brought to Eng- 
 land, as it was first introduced into this 
 country in the year that Henry the Eighth 
 received the title of " Defender of the Faith/' 
 A. D. 1520: and from Gerard's account it 
 appears to have been nearly confined to the 
 Royal Gardens : he had not grown it himself, 
 but says, " They delight in hot regions, not- 
 withstanding I have seen, at the Queen's house 
 at St. James's, very many of this sort ripe, 
 through the diligent and curious nourishing 
 of them by a skilful gentleman, the keeper 
 of the said house, called Master Fovvle; and 
 in other places neere unto the Right Honour- 
 able, the Lord of Sussex house, of Bermond- 
 sey, by London, where from yeere to yeere 
 there is verie great plenty, especially if the 
 weather be any thing temperate." " It hath," 
 adds Gerard, " the smell of musk, and from 
 which account it is called the Musk Melon." 
 
 It is stated in Gough's British Topo- 
 graphy, that melons were common in this 
 country as early as the time of Edward the 
 
246 
 
 Third, but were entirely lost, as well as the 
 cucumber, during the wars of York and Lan- 
 caster. 
 
 Miller justly remarks, that, in this country, 
 there are too many melons produced of no 
 value by those who supply the market, who, 
 endeavouring to enlarge their size, render 
 the fruit of no value, and unworthy the 
 trouble and expense, being more fit for the 
 dunghill than the table. In warmer coun- 
 tries, the melon is raised with little or no 
 trouble, and the fruit attains a peculiar fine 
 flavour ; but in this climate it requires great 
 attention and expense to rear it, therefore 
 
 Grudge not, ye rich, (since luxury must have 
 His dainties, and the world's more numerous half 
 Lives by contriving delicacies for you,) 
 Grudge not the cost. Ye little know the cares, 
 The vigilance, the labour, and the skill, 
 That day and night are exercised, and hang 
 Upon the ticklish balance of suspense, 
 That ye may garnish your profuse regales 
 With summer fruits brought forth by wintry suns : 
 Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart 
 The process. 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 No country has a greater variety of me- 
 lons than England, yet it is so rare to find 
 them good in the market, that the demand 
 
247 
 
 for them in London, compared td that in 
 Paris, cannot be more than the proportion of 
 one to a thousand. 
 
 I have observed, in other parts of this 
 work, that the French have particular places 
 where they cultivate peculiar fruits only : this 
 is the case with melons, and where they are 
 grown in such abundance as entirely to oc- 
 cupy the attention of whole villages, the 
 culture must necessarily be better understood 
 than in our gardens, where the same persons 
 have to cultivate every kind of fruit or vege- 
 table : the mind being thus divided between 
 so many varieties, that none can be so tho- 
 roughly understood. Another great disad- 
 vantage arises in the common mode of grow- 
 ing melons in this country ; that is, by plant- 
 ing them near to cucumbers, and sometimes 
 quite surrounded by them, and often by 
 gourds, which, it is well known, will, by 
 their incestuous intercourse, not only affect 
 the seeds for future plants, but change the 
 nature of the fruit, which has been pol- 
 luted by the farina of other species of the 
 cucurbitacecE. 
 
 When a melon is perfectly fine, it is full 
 without any vacuity : this is known by knock- 
 ing upon it ; and, when cut, the flesh should 
 be dry, no water running out, only a little 
 
248 
 
 dew, which should be of a fine red colour. 
 This fruit is principally used at desserts in 
 England, and eaten with sugar, ginger, pep- 
 per or salt, agreeable to the taste, while in 
 France it is chiefly served up at dinner, as a 
 sauce for boiled meats. Miller says, " the 
 seeds should not be sown before they are 
 three years old, but not older than six;" 
 although we read, in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions, of melons being raised from seeds 
 that were forty-three years old. Melon-seeds 
 are cooling and diuretic : they are anodyne ; 
 and were formerly used to take off stranguries 
 occasioned by blisters; but sweet almonds 
 are now preferred. 
 
 Pliny writes, that " melons, being eaten 
 as meat, cool the body, and make it soluble : 
 the fleshy substance of them applied to the 
 eyes assuages pain, and restraineth the wa- 
 terish and rheumatic flux. The root heals 
 wens or ulcers; and being dried, stops 
 vomits :" it was also used by the Romans in 
 washing-balls and soap, as a good scourer. 
 
 The water-melon, or cucurbita citullus, 
 is a fruit greatly appreciated in Egypt, 
 China, the East Indies, and other hot cli- 
 mates, where it is cultivated to a great 
 extent on account of it's grateful coolness 
 and delicious flavour; and the flesh of it is 
 
249 
 
 so succulent, that it melts in the mouth, 
 and its central pulp is fluid, like the cocoa- 
 nut, and may be sucked, or poured out, 
 through a hole in the rind, which is a most 
 refreshing beverage to the inhabitants of warm 
 countries. 
 
 In some parts of Upper Egypt, whole 
 districts are covered with water-melons. 
 They are sown in the sand, on the banks 
 of rivers ; and it is in this situation, where 
 the burning heat co-operates with the fresh- 
 ness of the water, which moistens the stalks, 
 that this fruit acquires its agreeable pulp. 
 The Egyptians esteem it equally wholesome 
 and agreeable. Sonnini says, their own 
 melons are not so good as those grown in 
 Europe. 
 
 The water-melon is allowed to be eaten 
 in fevers and inflammatory complaints. One 
 kind of the water-melon is pickled like gher- 
 kins, and much used by the French cooks 
 in their fricassees; and they are sometimes 
 baked in sweet wine. Gerard mentions, that 
 the surgeons who belonged to the fleet, 
 brought home many kinds of melons and 
 pompions from the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean sea; but they could not have been 
 ripened well in this country, before glasses 
 were used for that purpose ; and Parkinson 
 
250 
 
 seems to have been the earliest English 
 author, who gives directions for making hot- 
 beds for melons, and covering them with bell 
 glasses, which was in 1629. 
 
 Madame de Genlis relates, that, " the 
 master of Lockman, the famous fabulist, who 
 was a slave, having given him a bitter melon, 
 was astonished to see him eat the whole of it; 
 and, on naming his surprise, received this 
 answer: ' I have experienced so many benefits 
 from you/ said Lockman, ' that it cannot be 
 strange that I should have eaten without com- 
 plaint the first bitter fruit which you ever 
 presented me with/ This answer so affected 
 his master, that he gave Lockman his li- 
 berty." 
 
MULBERRY.-MORUS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Monacia Tetan- 
 dria Class. 
 
 THAT the mulberry-tree is a native of other 
 parts of Asia besides China and Persia, we 
 have the authority of the Bible, where, in 
 the 2nd book of Samuel, we read that David 
 came upon the Philistines, and smote them 
 over against the mulberry-trees. Again, in 
 the Psalms, we read, " He destroyed their 
 vines with hailstones, and their mulberry- 
 trees with frost." 
 
 This fruit was first brought from Persia 
 into Greece and Rome, and was more es- 
 teemed by the Romans, even in their most 
 luxurious days, than any other fruit. 
 
 Ovid has celebrated this tree in his story 
 of Pyramus and Thisbe : 
 
 The berries, stain'd with bloody began to show 
 A dark complexion, and forgot their snow ; 
 
252 
 
 While, fattened with a flowing gore, the root 
 Was doom'd for ever to a purple fruit. 
 The pray'r which, dying, Thisbe had preferr'd, 
 Both gods and parents with compassion heard : 
 The whiteness of the mulberry soon fled, 
 And, rip'ning, sadden'd in a duskyred. 
 
 Pliny observes (book xv. c. 24), that 
 " there is no other tree that was so neglected 
 by the wit of man, either by grafting, or 
 in giving it names, except that of making 
 the fruit large and fair/' " At Rome/' he 
 continues, " we make a difference between 
 the mulberries of Ostia and those of Tuscu- 
 lum/' This author observes, in his xvith 
 book, c. 25, that, " of all the cultivated 
 trees, the mulberry is the last that buds, and 
 which it never does until the cold weather 
 is past ; and was therefore called the wisest 
 of all the trees; but when it begins to 
 put forth buds, it dispatches the business 
 in one night, and that with so much force, 
 that their breaking forth* may be evidently 
 heard/' 
 
 The mulberry was much used in medi- 
 cine by the Romans, particularly for the 
 diseases of the mouth, the windpipe, the 
 uvula, and the stomach. The leaves and the 
 roots were also used medicinally by them. 
 (Pliny, b. xxiii. c. 17.) 
 
253 
 
 The mulberry-tree is stated to have been 
 introduced to this country in the year 1548, 
 and it is said that it was first planted at 
 Sion House, where the original trees still 
 thrive, and which I have seen since the first 
 part of this work has been put to press. 
 The interior of these trees is so entirely de- 
 cayed, that the timber has so far returned to 
 its native earth that it will crumble in the 
 hand ; yet its branches, that are supported by 
 props, are so well nourished by means of the 
 bark, that the fruit and the foliage appear as 
 luxuriant as those of the youngest trees : a 
 strong proof of the durability of the mulberry- 
 tree in this country. The first Duke of Nor- 
 thumberland said he could trace these trees 
 back three centuries. 
 
 This fruit is mentioned by Tusser, in 1557, 
 and by Gerard in 1597, who notices both the 
 white and the black mulberry, and says they 
 grow in sundry gardens in England: he adds, 
 " that in Italy they "do maintain great woods 
 and groves of them, that their silk-worms 
 may feed thereon." 
 
 The planting of mulberry-trees was much 
 encouraged by King James the First, about 
 the year 1605 ; but parties running so high at 
 that period, the attention of the nation was 
 
254 
 
 occupied on political affairs; and the pro- 
 curing of silk in England was neglected, and 
 has never since been attempted, although the 
 mulberry-tree has been found to thrive ex- 
 ceedingly well, and the silk-worms to spin as 
 well as in any other part of the world. The 
 mulberry-trees are now alive, and bearing 
 fruit in many parts of the country, that were 
 planted in the time of James the First, which 
 is a proof of their durability. I have lately 
 seen a mulberry-tree, of the nigra species, 
 which is supposed to be one of the oldest in 
 England, in the garden of the Rev. Dr. 
 Crumbie, adjoining Greenwich Park; and, 
 notwithstanding its neglected and dilapidated 
 state, it is one of the greatest curiosities I 
 have seen in the shape of a fruit-tree in this 
 country. It throws out ten large branches so 
 near the earth, that it has the appearance of 
 half a score of large trees rather than of one; 
 and notwithstanding many of the projecting 
 branches have been sawed off, still it com- 
 pletely covers a circumference of 150 feet ; 
 and although the elder-trees have fixed their 
 abode in some parts of the trunk, and other 
 parts are covered with ivy, yet it continues 
 to give shoots as vigorous as the youngest 
 tree, and produces the finest mulberries in 
 
255 
 
 England. It is a regular bearer; and the 
 gardener assured me that he gathered more 
 than eighty quarts a week during the season. 
 
 It is observed in Evelyn's Sylva, that this 
 tree possesses the peculiar property of breed- 
 ing no vermin, neither does it harbour any 
 caterpillar except the silk-worm. The fruit, 
 when ripe, stains the hands; but when un- 
 ripe, is a good cleanser. 
 
 It is one of the latest trees to blossom, and 
 one of the earliest to ripen its fruit ; which, 
 when ripe, is of a cooling aperient nature, but 
 quite of an opposite quality when unripe, 
 being a strong astringent; and it has been 
 already observed to harbour no insects, yet it 
 is the peculiar food of a voracious worm. 
 
 The root of the mulberry-tree has an acrid 
 bitter taste; it is powerful in its effects; and 
 has been used with great advantage against 
 worms, particularly the tape- worm. The juice 
 of this fruit, mixed with cider, is esteemed 
 the best of all the English vinous liquors. 
 
 Miller mentions eight varieties of this 
 agreeable fruit; which appears to be again 
 duty appreciated at the dessert, as I find it is 
 cultivated in a hothouse belonging to T. A. 
 Knight, Esq., who, I believe, is the first per- 
 son that has attempted to force this excellent 
 berry. In the garden of Thos. Wm. Coke, Esq. 
 
256 
 
 M. P. at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, there are 
 two mulberry-trees trained to a trellis, upon a 
 south wall. These trees are about 16 feet 
 high, and the lateral extent of the branches 
 of one of them is upwards of 94 feet, and the 
 other exceeds 97 feet. They have been 
 planted about 30 years; and it is found that 
 the fruit is much larger than that produced on 
 standard trees, and their time of maturity 
 much earlier, and affording an abundant suc- 
 cession from the middle of July until October. 
 They are pruned twice a year, leaving spurs 
 of two inches long, which, at the winter 
 pruning, are shortened to about an inch in 
 length. It is both a common and a bad prac- 
 tice to make grass-plats under mulberry-trees, 
 by this means retarding the ripening of the 
 fruit by the coolness of the grass; whereas 
 the heat reflected from the earth would 
 greatly promote the ripening. 
 
 The mulberry must have been a most 
 valuable tree to the Persians and Chinese in 
 ancient times, on account of it's leaves feeding 
 the silk-worms, which enabled them to supply 
 all the known world with silk, the price of 
 which, in Europe, was an equal weight of 
 pure gold, even as late as Justinian's time, 
 A. D. 526. Madame de Genlis gives the 
 invention of silks to the Chinese: she relates 
 
257 
 
 in her work, (La Botanique, Historique et 
 Litteraire) that the Empress Siling Chi, wife 
 to Hoamti, was desired by that emperor to 
 examine the silk-worms, and endeavour to 
 turn their web to some useful purpose, which 
 she did, after various trials and experiments; 
 and by feeding them with mulberry-leaves, she 
 discovered the means of winding the silks, and 
 the making of silk stuffs, which she embroi- 
 dered with flowers and birds. Voltaire states, 
 that the valuable insect that produces the 
 silk, is originally from China, from whence it 
 was carried into Persia, though not until very 
 late, together with the art of weaving the down 
 in which it is enveloped. 
 
 Should a few spirited land-proprietors 
 make the experiment of grubbing up their 
 hedge-rows, and planting fences of mulberry- 
 trees, I have no doubt but that in a few years 
 they would reap as great a profit from their 
 hedges as from their corn. It would find im- 
 mediate employ for many labourers, and 
 would in time require the assistance of thou- 
 sands of the lower classes to gather the leaves 
 and attend to the breeding and feeding of the 
 silk-worms, the winding of the silk, &c. : in>- 
 deed, the whole process is calculated as an 
 employ for the aged and the infirm, who, be- 
 ing uuable to do laborious work, must now, 
 
258 
 
 of necessity, add to the weight of the paro- 
 chial taxes. I am fully of opinion that it 
 would be the foundation of a permanent 
 reduction in the poor-rates, which must con- 
 tinue to augment, unless employ be found 
 equal to the increase of the population. It 
 is worthy of notice that the trees, which 
 are planted for the feeding of the silk-worms, 
 are seldom suffered to grow to a height to 
 injure the land ; but they are kept as shrubs 
 or espaliers. The great nurseries of mulberry 
 plants, in the plain of Valencia, in Spain, are 
 produced from seeds obtained by rubbing a 
 rope of esparts with ripe mulberries, and then 
 burying the rope two inches under ground. 
 As the young plants come up, they are drawn 
 and transplanted ; the trees are afterwards set 
 out in rows in the fields, and pruned once in 
 two years. 
 
 It is now 2,143 years since wrought silks 
 were first introduced into Greece from Per- 
 sia ; and about forty-nine years afterwards 
 the Grecians obtained them from India. 
 
 In Rome a law was passed by the senate 
 in the reign of Tiberius, forbidding men to 
 debase themselves by wearing silk, as being 
 fit only for women. 
 
 Heliogabalus was the first Roman that 
 wore a garment all silk, which must have 
 
259 
 
 been about the year 220, A. D. The Em- 
 peror Aurelianus, who died in 275, denied 
 his empress a robe of silk, because it was 
 too dear. In the year 555 some monks, who 
 had been in India, brought some eggs of the 
 silk-worm to Constantinople, where, in time, 
 they produced raw silk, which was manufac- 
 tured at Athens, Thebes, Corinth, &c. 
 
 Charlemagne sent Offa, king of Mercia, a 
 present of a belt, and two silken vests, in the 
 year 780, which is the earliest account we 
 have of silk being seen in this country. 
 
 In 1130 the Sicilians were taught to breed 
 silk-worms, and to spin and weave silk; 
 from whence the art was carried to Italy, 
 Spain, and the south of France. Some no- 
 blemen's ladies wore silk mantles at a ball 
 given at Kenilworth Castle, in Warwick- 
 shire, in 1286; and it was worn by the 
 English clergy in 1534. 
 
 Stockings made of silk were first worn by 
 Henry the Second, of France, in 1543 ; and 
 in 1549 mulberry-trees were propagated 
 through all France ; and the breeding of silk- 
 worms was much encouraged by Henry the 
 Fourth of that country. 
 
 Henry the Eighth of England received 
 a few pair of silk stockings from Spain ; but 
 knit silk stockings were not known until 
 
260 
 
 they were made by Mrs. Montague, who 
 presented the first pair to Queen Elizabeth. 
 Thus silk has gradually come into use, and 
 it is now so common in this country, that it 
 would be difficult to find a female servant in 
 the streets of London, or any part of the king- 
 dom, who had not some portion of her dress 
 composed of silk. 
 
 The alba, or white mulberry, is a native 
 of China. 
 
 The nigra, or black mulberry, is the tree 
 of the largest size, and the fruit is of a black- 
 ish red colour, and from it a good wine is 
 made : this variety is a native of Persia. 
 
 The rubra, or red mulberry, is a native 
 of Virginia. 
 
 The Japan mulberry-tree is called Papy- 
 rifera, from the bark of which a kind of paper 
 is made. 
 
 The mulberry-tree's seldom producing fruit 
 until it has arrived at a considerable age, has 
 been much against it's cultivation ; but it is 
 now discovered, that by grafting it from the 
 aged trees, or, to use a common phrase, put- 
 ting an old head on young shoulders, it soon 
 becomes fruitful. 
 
NECTARINE.-AMYGDALUS, 
 MUCPERSCEA. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Mono- 
 gynia Class. 
 
 THIS fruit is thought to have derived it's 
 name from Nectar, a beverage supposed to 
 be drunk by the heathen gods. 
 
 It is a native of Persia, and was brought 
 into this country, with the peach, about the 
 year 1524. It does not appear at that time 
 to have been distinguished by any name 
 distinct from other peaches of which it is a 
 species, as Gerard was living when it was 
 first obtained, and published his History of 
 Plants about thirty-five years later, wherein 
 he describes four kinds of peaches, and says, 
 " they are set and planted in gardens and 
 vineyards : I have them all in my garden," 
 continues he, " with many other sorts," 
 which shows there was a variety when first 
 introduced. He mentions one kind of peach 
 
262 
 
 which appears to have been the Nectarine, 
 Persica rubra. " The fruit or peaches/' says 
 Gerard, " of this sort, be round, of a red 
 colour on the outside: the meat likewise 
 about the stone is of a gallant red colour. 
 These kinds of peaches are very like to wine 
 in taste, and therefore marvellous pleasant/' 
 
 Pliny says, of all the peaches, the one 
 most admired in Rome is that named Du- 
 racina, from the solid substance of the meat; 
 which seems to agree with the quality of the 
 nectarine, the principal distinction of which, 
 from other peaches, consists in the firmness 
 and fineness of it's pulp, it's superior flavour, 
 and smooth skin. 
 
 There have been many instances of nec- 
 tarines having grown not only on peach- 
 trees, but on branches bearing both peaches 
 and nectarines, without either budding or 
 grafting : whether this is owing to it's being 
 so nearly allied to the peach, or by the pollen 
 of the nectarine being conveyed by the bees 
 or the wind, I have not yet been able to 
 ascertain, although this circumstance has oc- 
 curred in the gardens of persons eminent for 
 their knowledge of fruits, as witness Mr. 
 Wilmot, of Isleworth; James Wyatt, Esq., 
 Hounslow; William Gilpin, Esq., East 
 
263 
 
 Sheen; and in the garden of the Earl of 
 Landesborough, Yorkshire. 
 
 Thomson has beautifully distinguished it 
 from the common peach in his Seasons : 
 
 As I steal along the sunny wall, 
 
 Where autumn basks with fruit empurpled deep, 
 My pleasing theme continual prompts my thought; 
 Presents the downy peach, the shining plum, 
 The ruddy, fragrant nectarine ; and, dark 
 Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig. 
 
 The flowers have an aromatic bitter taste, 
 and, when fresh, an infusion of half an ounce 
 in water, or a drachm, when dry and sweet- 
 ened with sugar, is a useful laxative for chil- 
 dren. (Brookes, vol. 6.) 
 
OLIVE. OLEA. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Diandria Mono- 
 gynia Class. 
 
 OF this tree we have very ancient mention, 
 since it is related, in the Book of Genesis, 
 that the dove which Noah sent out of the 
 ark, returned with an olive leaf in it's mouth, 
 by which he knew that the waters of the 
 Deluge had abated. Since this time the 
 olive-branch has been used as an emblem 
 of peace by all civilized nations ; and it is 
 observed that a green bough answers the 
 same purpose amongst the most savage 
 people in every part of the world. 
 
 That the olive-tree was anciently very 
 much esteemed by the Hebrews, is proved 
 by the parable of Jotham : 
 
 " The trees went forth on a time to anoint 
 a king over them ; and they said to the 
 olive-tree, Reign thou over us. But the 
 
265 
 
 olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my 
 fatness, wherewith by me they honour God 
 and man, and go to be promoted over other 
 trees?" Judges, chap. ix. verse 7. 
 
 David also seems to have considered the 
 olive as a blessing when he says, " Thy chil- 
 dren like the olive-branches round about thy 
 table: Lo! thus shall the man be blessed 
 that feareth the Lord/' 
 
 The Grecians appear to have thought no 
 less of this tree and it's fruit than the Israelites. 
 In their fabulous histories, we are informed, 
 that the gods having been called on to settle 
 a dispute between Neptune and Minerva, 
 arising from the desire of each of them to 
 give name to the new city of Cecrops ; they 
 determined to give the preference to the one 
 who should produce the most beneficial gift 
 to mankind. Neptune, striking the ground 
 with his trident, created a horse; but Mi- 
 nerva, by causing an olive-tree to spring from 
 the earth, gained her point, and from her was 
 the city called Athenae, now Athens, since 
 the olive, the emblem of peace or agriculture, 
 was much preferable to th$ horse, the sym- 
 bol of war and bloodshed. Minerva and the 
 Graces are also represented as crowned with 
 olive-branches. 
 
 A contribution of olives was given by all 
 
 1 
 
266 
 
 the Grecians who attended the Panathenssa, 
 a festival held at Athens in honour of Mi- 
 nerva. Those who excelled in any of the 
 games during this festival, were crowned with 
 a wreath of olives, which grew in the grove 
 of Academus, a place near the city, with 
 spacious and shady walks, belonging to a 
 man of that name. Plato having here opened 
 a school of philosophy, all places of learning 
 have been since called Academies. 
 
 As to the soil of the olive-tree, we may 
 conclude, from several passages in Scripture, 
 that it grew naturally in Syria ; but particu- 
 larly near Jerusalem, if we may judge by 
 the Mount of Olives, so often mentioned in 
 the New Testament. It was first planted 
 in Italy in the thirteenth year of the reign 
 of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome ; 
 and in that very year was Nebuchadnezzar 
 restored to his understanding and his king- 
 dom, after having spent seven years among 
 the beasts of the field. 
 
 The olive seems to have been highly ap- 
 preciated by the Romans ; as Pliny says, 
 " except the vine, there is not a tree bearing 
 fruit of so great account as the olive. Fe- 
 nestella informs us," says this author, " that 
 during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. which 
 was about the 183d year from the. fbunda 
 
267 
 
 tion of Rome, there were no olive-trees either 
 in Italy, Spain, or Africa, which is a strong 
 presumption that they grew originally only 
 in Syria." Theophrastus states, that in the 
 440th year of the city, there were no olive- 
 trees in Italy, but on the coast, and within 
 forty miles of the sea ; but Pliny says, in his 
 time, they were to be found in the very 
 heart of Spain and France, but that the 
 olives -pf Syria, although smaller, produced 
 the best oil. Virgil mentions but three 
 kinds of olives : Columella mentions ten va- 
 rieties, but says he believes they were much 
 more numerous. 
 
 The olive-tree was first introduced into 
 England in the year 1570; but there is little 
 inducement for us to cultivate it, since it 
 is by no means handsome, and we have no 
 desire for its ripe fruit. Besides, the climate 
 in general is not sufficiently warm to assure 
 us of a crop, though I have no doubt but it 
 would flourish in many situations on the south 
 side of the Sussex Downs, where the fig-tree 
 thrives : indeed, in some parts of Devonshire 
 it is found as a standard tree, and is seldom 
 injured by the frost. 
 
 According to Columella, this tree flou- 
 rishes best in dry hills that are full of white 
 clay; for in moist and fat fields it produces 
 
268 
 
 plenty of leaves, but no fruit. Though this 
 author contradicts the idea that the olive 
 will not grow sixty miles from the sea, he 
 states, that where an oak has stood it cannot 
 be raised. 
 
 The olive-tree requires but little care 
 in the cultivation, and produces fruit but 
 once in two years. This fruit the modern 
 Greeks during Lent eat in its ripe state, 
 without any preparation, but a little pepper, 
 or salt and oil. 
 
 We receive it from the south of France, 
 from Spain, and Portugal, pickled in the 
 following manner : it is gathered unripe, and 
 suffered to steep in water some days, and af- 
 terwards put into a ley of water and barilla, 
 or kali, with the ashes of olive-stones calcined, 
 or with lime. It is then bottled or barrelled 
 with salt and water, and in this state do we 
 meet with it at the desserts of our most 
 wealthy tables, where fashion has done much 
 in having introduced and given a fondness for 
 olives, which seems to be an acquired taste: 
 however, they are grateful to the stomach, 
 and are considered good to promote digestion 
 and appetite. 
 
 But olives are chiefly cultivated for the 
 sake of the oil that they produce, which is not 
 only a profitable article of commerce, but 
 
269 
 
 forms a principal one of food to the inha- 
 bitants of the places where these trees are 
 found. This oil is contained in the pulp only, 
 whereas other fruits have it in the nut or ker- 
 nel. It is obtained by simple pressure, in 
 the following manner: the olives are first 
 bruised by a mill-stone, and afterwards put 
 into the trough of a press for the purpose, 
 which, by means of turning a strong screw, 
 forces all the liquor out, which is called virgin 
 oil. A coarser kind is obtained afterwards, 
 by adding hot water to the bruised fruit. 
 
 The oil of olives seems to have been of 
 great utility to the ancients, since Aristaeus, 
 son of Apollo by Gyrene, was regarded as a 
 rural deity for having taught mankind to ex- 
 tract it, and also to make honey, cheese, and 
 butter. The wrestlers were anointed with it ; 
 and it was made a substitute for butter, which 
 among the Romans was used as a medicine. 
 
 We find, in the book of Leviticus, that oil 
 formed a principal part of the meat offerings, 
 which the Israelites presented to the Lord : 
 " If thou bring an oblation of a meat offer- 
 ing baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened 
 cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or un- 
 leavened wafers anointed with oil. And if 
 thy oblation be a meat offering, baken in the 
 
270 
 frying pan, it shall be made of fine flour with 
 
 "1 *> 
 
 Oil. 
 
 Pliny informs us, that in the 500th year of 
 the city, when Appius Claudius and L. Junius 
 were consuls together, a pound of oil was sold 
 for twelve ases ; but that in the year 680, ten 
 pounds of oil sold for one as, and that, in 
 twenty-two years after that time, Italy was 
 able to furnish the provinces with oil; and it 
 was much used at their baths, having, as they 
 supposed, the property of warming the body, 
 and defending it against the cold. 
 
 The best olive-oil at present is obtained 
 from Provence. 
 
 Olive-oil is esteemed good for the breast 
 and lungs ; it tempers the sharp choleric 
 humours in the bowels, is useful against all 
 corrosive mineral poisons, as arsenic, &c.; 
 opens the urinary passages ; and is good for 
 the stone and gravel. 
 
 The wood of the olive-tree is used by cabi- 
 net-makers, from it's being beautifully veined, 
 and admitting an excellent polish. 
 
ORANGE.-CITRUS.-AU11AN- 
 TIUM. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Polyadelphia Ico- 
 
 sandria Class. Natural Order, Bicornes. 
 
 
 
 THE China, or sweet oranges, with which 
 this country is now so amply supplied, and 
 at such moderate prices, that all classes of 
 society enjoy them as perfectly as if they had 
 been indigenous to the climate, were not known 
 to the ancient Europeans. They were first 
 brought into Europe by Jean de Castro, a 
 celebrated Portuguese warrior, who made 
 them a present to the Conde Mellor, the king 
 of Portugal's prime minister, who was only 
 able to raise one plant from a great number 
 that were brought to Europe. This tree, 
 which was planted in 1548, and from which 
 all the European orange-trees of this sort 
 were produced, is said to be now alive at 
 Lisbon, in the garden of Count S. Laurent. 
 The Romans had endeavoured to culti- 
 
 i 
 
272 
 
 vate the citrus before the Christian era, for 
 the beauty of the tree and it's medicinal qua- 
 lities ; but,, as it has already been observed 
 in the history of the lemon, they could not 
 succeed in the time of Pliny, who says, 
 (book xvi. c. 32) " The Assyrian pome-citron- 
 tree will not bear fruit out of Syria/' The same 
 author, in his 12th book, c. 3, informs us that 
 th(3 Romans were acquainted with the Per- 
 sian and Median pome-citron; but he never 
 mentions it as a fruit to be eaten : the ker- 
 nels, he states, were in particular employed 
 by the Parthians, to sweeten the breath. In , 
 his 13th book, chap. 15, we are informed that 
 the Romans had tables made of the citron 
 wood, which they procured from Mauritania 
 and Cyrenaica, in Africa. 
 
 Some authors are of opinion that the 
 orange was the golden apple of the Hespe- 
 rides ; and as the ancient Europeans could not 
 propagate it, was said to have been taken 
 back by Minerva. The fable states, that Her- 
 cules, to obtain information of this garden,, 
 seized Nereus, god of the sea, in his sleep, 
 who directed him to Africa. If he had to 
 cross the deserts of that country to obtain this 
 fruit, the allusion of it's being guarded by a 
 dragon, is both natural and just. 
 
 About the eleventh or twelfth century 
 
273 
 
 several varieties of the orange were cultivat- 
 ed in Italy, from whence they were taken 
 to Spain and Portugal ; therefore the sweet 
 orange, soon after it was introduced, became 
 plentiful in these countries, where there were 
 already abundance of stocks to graft on. 
 Gerald notices in his work, which was pub- 
 lished in 1597, that orange and lemon-trees 
 grew on the coast of Italy, and in the islands 
 of the Adriatic ; and on the coast of Spain 
 they were, says he, in great quantities, as 
 well as in certain provinces of France, which 
 lie upon the midland coast. At the present 
 time, these trees are cultivated in Italy to 
 so great an extent, that there are almost 
 forests of them. Prince Antonius Borghese, 
 at his palace near Rome, has upwards of 
 seventy sorts of orange and lemon-trees, 
 among which are some very rare kinds : it 
 is a fruit so much esteemed in Italy, where 
 it thrives well, that apples, pears, and 
 cherries, have almost become extinct in that 
 country. 
 
 The delightful perfume of an orange- 
 grove is such as to scent the air for miles; 
 and the tree gives a succession of flowers 
 during the whole summer, on which account 
 it is cultivated in all green-houses, and large 
 orangeries have been built for the express 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 purpose of housing these trees: the most 
 magnificent one is that of Versailles, built by 
 Louis the XlVth. 
 
 Oranges were known in this country in 
 the time of Henry the Vlllth, but I find 
 no account of the orange-tree being cultivat- 
 ed in England prior to Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign. The Seville orange-tree appears to 
 have been first planted the year before the 
 East India Company was incorporated, and 
 two years previous to the return of Sir 
 Francis Drake, our first circumnavigator. It 
 is said to have been introduced by Sir Francis 
 Carew, and first planted at his seat at Bed- 
 dington in Surrey. Chancellor Bacon, who 
 wrote about twenty years after this time, 
 mentions the housing of orange and lemon- 
 trees in this country to keep them in the 
 winter. He also states, that if the seeds 
 of oranges be/sown in April, they produce an 
 agreeable salad. 
 
 Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles the 
 1st, had an orange-house and orange-garden 
 at her mansion, Wimbleton Hall, in the pa- 
 rish of Wimbleton, in the county of Surrey; 
 and by an estimate and survey which was 
 made in the month of November, l649 ? for 
 the sale of that property, by order of the 
 Parliament, we find how highly orange-trees 
 
275 
 
 wore estimated even in those turbulent days. 
 It is described as follows: 
 
 " In the north side of which sayd oringe- 
 garden, there stands one large garden-house ; 
 the outwalls of brick, fitted for the keepinge 
 of oringe-trees, neatly covered with blue 
 slate, and ridgejd and guttered with lead; the 
 materials of which house, with the greate 
 doores, and the iron thereof, with a certeine 
 stone pavement lying before these doores, 
 in nature of a litle walke, four foote broad, 
 and seventy-nine foote long, wee valew to 
 bee worth 66. 13s. 4*d. 
 
 " In which sayd garden-house there are 
 now standing, in squared boxes fitted for 
 that purpose, fortie-two oringe trees bearing 
 fay re and large oringes, which trees, with 
 the boxes, and the earth and materials therein 
 feeding the same, wee valew at ten poundes 
 a tree, pne tree with another, in to to, amount- 
 ing unto 420. 05. Od. 
 
 " In the sayd garden-house there now all- 
 soe is one lemon-tree, bearing greate and very 
 large lemons, which, together with the box 
 that it grows in, and the earth and mate-' 
 rialls therein feeding the same, wee valew at 
 20. 05. Od. 
 
 " In the sayd garden-house there no\y all- 
 soe is one pome citron-tree, which, togeather 
 
 T 2 
 
276 
 
 with the box that it growes in, and the earth 
 and materialls feeding the same, wee valew at 
 10. 05. Od. 
 
 "There are also belonginge to the said 
 oringe-garden six pomegranet-trees, bearing 
 faire and large fruits, which, togeather with 
 the square boxes they growe in, and the 
 earth and materialls therein feeding the same, 
 wee valew at three poundes a tree, one with 
 another, in toto, 18. Os. Qd." 
 
 There were also eighteen orange-trees 
 that had not borne fruit, which, with their 
 boxes, were valued at 5 a tree, one with 
 another, 90. 
 
 A white marble fountain, with a statue 
 of Diana upon it, and " a fayer led cestern 
 belonging to it, and a chanelled pavement," 
 were esteemed to be worth 7- 
 
 " Another fountain of white marble, with 
 a statue of a mermaid, with the cestern, &c." 
 were valued at 10. 
 
 Orange-trees have been grown in the 
 southern parts of Devonshire for more than 
 100 years past. When trained to walls, they 
 produce large, handsome fruit, but not of 
 equal value to the lemons grown in the same 
 situation. Most of these were raised in this 
 country from seeds, and they are thought 
 to be more hardy than trees imported ; but 
 
277 
 
 the orange-trees which are brought every 
 year from Italy, and sold principally at the 
 Italian warehouses in London, are as large as 
 those of our own growth would be in twenty 
 years. With proper care, these trees will have 
 good heads, and produce fruit in about three 
 years. The Mandarin orange was not culti- 
 vated in England until 1805. 
 
 We have lately seen orange-trees import- 
 ed from the south of France, which have 
 arrived in small tubs; and so well packed, 
 that the fruit and blossoms remained on the 
 trees when they reached the neighbourhood 
 of London. 
 
 In the Philosophical Transactions, No. 
 114, there is a very remarkable account of a 
 tree standing in a grove near Florence, having 
 an orange stock, which had been so grafted 
 on, that it became in it's branches, leaves, 
 flowers, and fruit, three-formed; some emu- 
 lating the orange, some the lemon or citron, 
 and some partaking of both forms in one. 
 These mixed fruits never produce any perfect 
 seeds: sometimes there are no seeds at all 
 in them, and sometimes only a few empty 
 
 ones. 
 
 rn 
 
 The Maltese graft their orange-trees on 
 the pomegranate-stock, which causes the 
 juice to be of a red colour, and the flavour 
 
278 
 
 to be more esteemed. The Rev. Mr. Hughes, 
 in his Natural History of Barbadoes, men- 
 tions the golden-orange as growing in that 
 island. He describes the fruit as a large 
 fine orange, of a deep colour within, from 
 whence it derives the name Golden Orange. 
 He adds, " This fruit is neither of the Seville 
 or China kind, though it partakes of both, 
 having the sweetness of the China mixed with 
 the agreeable bitterness and flavour of the 
 Seville orange/' 
 
 The juice of oranges is a pleasing acid, 
 and good in inflammatory and putrid disor- 
 ders, both acute and chronical. The juice 
 contains an essential acid salt, mixed with 
 much mucilage. The salt may be obtained 
 in crystals, by diluting the juice, clarifying 
 it with whites of eggs, and using evaporation. 
 In this way a saline extract may be made, 
 capable of being preserved, and possessed of 
 the same medicinal qualities as the juice, 
 which is said to be very powerful in the 
 scurvy. When Commodore Anson sailed 
 round the world, his men, who were afflicted 
 with the scurvy, were surprisingly recovered 
 from that disorder by the oranges they found 
 in the island of Tinian. 
 
 Orangeade, an agreeable drink made of 
 orange-juice, water, and sugar, may be 
 
279 
 
 given, says Lemery, to people in the height of 
 a fever. 
 
 The Seville orange is esteemed far pre- 
 ferable for medicinal purposes, and the blos- 
 soms of this species are the most odoriferous: 
 the leaves are also used in medicine. The 
 yellow rind of these oranges, separated from 
 the white fungous matter under it, is a grate- 
 ful, warm, aromatic bitter, often used as a 
 stomachic and corroborant. It is warmer 
 than the peel of lemons, of a more durable 
 flavour, abounds more with a light, fragrant 
 essential oil, which is lodged in distinct cells 
 on the surface of the peel. The rind of the 
 China orange has a weak smell, and is sel- 
 dom employed for medicinal purposes. Se- 
 ville oranges also produce the best marma- 
 lade, and the richest wine : it is from the 
 flowers of this kind of orange, that orange- 
 flower water is distilled. These oranges are 
 often preserved whole as a sweetmeat, and 
 are justly admired. 
 
 The seeds of the orange kind will be 
 found, on nice examination, different from the 
 seed of any other fruit. They have been 
 anatomized by the curious, and, with the aid 
 of a good microscope, are found to be almost 
 as wonderful, in their formation, as the human 
 frame when dissected. 
 
280 
 
 Signior Francesco Lana, in his Prodromus 
 to some philosophical discoveries, tells us, 
 that there is a way of producing oranges, 
 without sowing or planting the trees, only by 
 infusing the flowers in oil of almonds; for 
 that this oil will, every year afterwards, at 
 the proper season, produce both flowers and 
 ripe oranges. 
 
PEACH.-PERSICA, or AMYG- 
 DALUS. 
 
 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Mo- 
 nogynia Class. 
 
 
 ALL the ancient authors agree that the 
 peach-tree is a native of Persia ; and it ap- 
 pears that the fruit was thought to be of a 
 poisonous nature. It is evident there had 
 formerly been traditionary tales of this fruit 
 having been sent into Egypt to poison the 
 inhabitants. Columella says, in his 10th 
 book : 
 
 And apples, which most barbarous Persia sent, 
 With native poison arm'd (as fame relates) : 
 But now they've lost their pow'r to kill, and yield 
 Ambrosian juice, and have forgot to hurt; 
 And of their country still retain the name. 
 
 Pliny, in his 15th book, chap. 13, men- 
 tions, that they had been stated to have pos- 
 
282 
 
 sessed venomous qualities, and that this fruit 
 was sent into Egypt by the tings of Persia, 
 by way of revenge, to plague the natives ; but 
 he treats this story as a mere fable, adding, 
 that the name of Persica evidently bespeaks 
 them a Persian -fruit. Cato has not men- 
 tioned them; and Pliny adds, that it was 
 not long since peaches were known in Rome, 
 and there was great difficulty in rearing them. 
 He informs us they were brought from Egypt 
 to the isle of Rhodes, where they could never 
 be made to produce fruit; and from thence 
 to Italy. He says, moreover, that it was 
 not a common fruit in Greece or in Natolia. 
 This author states again, in book 23, chap. 7 
 that he considered it the most harmless fruit 
 in the world ; that it had the most juice with 
 the least smell of any fruit, add yet caused 
 thirst to those who ate of it. 
 
 Peaches were evidently cultivated in 
 France at an early period, as Columclla con- 
 tinues his account of this fruit, by stating, 
 
 Those of small size to ripen make great haste ; 
 Such as great Gaul bestows observe due time, 
 And season, not too early, nor too late. 
 
 Pliny says, book 15, chap. 12, " as for the 
 French and Asiatic peaches, they bear the 
 
283 
 
 name of the regions and nations from whence 
 they come/' 
 
 It is stated that the peach-tree was not 
 cultivated in England before the year 1562 ; 
 and by whom it was first introduced, or from 
 what country it was procured, we have no 
 authentic account, although Gerard wrote his 
 work soon after, which was published in 1597, 
 wherein he describes the white peach, the red 
 peach, the yellow peach, and the d'avant 
 peach, and adds, " I have them all in my 
 garden, with many other sorts." 
 
 The peach-tree, he continues, " soone 
 commeth vp ; it beareth fruit the third or 
 fourth yeer after it is planted, and it soone 
 decaieth ; and is not of long continuance." 
 From this account, and finding it in the list 
 of fruits, published in the year 1557 5 by 
 Thomas Tusser, who mentions peaches, 
 white and red, there can be little doubt but 
 that it was introduced as early as the reign 
 of Henry the Eighth. I am decidedly of 
 opinion that it was brought into England, 
 from Italy, by Wolf, the king's gardener, in 
 the year 1524, as at this time we find that 
 he brought the apricot from the latter 
 country. 
 
 Of this deliciously melting fruit we have 
 now a great variety, from the small nutmeg 
 
284 
 
 peach which ripens in July, to the large 
 October peach, which is more agreeable to 
 the sight than the palate. This fruit has been 
 almost equally multiplied in its varieties with 
 the apple, by sowing the stones, and lately 
 by the ingenious method of impregnating 
 the blossoms. T. H. Knight, Esq. President 
 of the Horticultural Society, has procured a 
 new peach by this operation : he impregnated 
 the pistillum of the blossom on an almond- 
 tree, with the pollen of the peach-flower; and 
 this almond, when planted, produced a peach- 
 tree instead of one of its own kind, and has 
 since ripened peaches. 
 
 The peach varies so much in quality, that 
 many sorts are not worth the growing ; it 
 is therefore to be hoped that we shall soon 
 have them exploded, and the better varieties 
 cultivated in situations most congenial to 
 their tender nature. At Montreuil, a village 
 near Paris, the whole population is exclusively 
 employed in the cultivation of peaches, which 
 has maintained the inhabitants for several 
 ages ; and the consequence is, that they raise 
 better peaches than any other part of France 
 affords. 
 
 I have often observed, that the finest 
 flavoured peaches have been gathered from 
 trees of the greatest age ; and I have met with 
 1 
 
285 
 
 many instances of these trees bearing amply 
 when they have been from forty to sixty years 
 old. These trees generally yield a crop, when 
 younger ones fail. 
 
 Father Hennepin, a religious missionary, 
 who first described the regions of Louisiana 
 in his voyage down the Mississippi, gives 
 an account of the numerous peach-trees 
 which he observed in every direction in that 
 part of America ; and as the latitude is the 
 same as that part of Asia, of which these 
 trees are the natural production, there can 
 be no doubt but they are indigenous to 
 Louisiana as well as to Persia, although in 
 many parts of America the peach is regarded 
 as a foreign fruit, it having been introduced 
 from Europe before Louisiana had been 
 explored. 
 
 This fruit is now cultivated with such suc- 
 cess in some parts of North America, that it 
 is not uncommon to see orchards containing 
 1,000 standard peach-trees, which are so pro- 
 ductive, that the fruit is used to fatten swine: 
 from a single orchard have been procured, 
 after the pulp is fermented and distilled, 100 
 barrels of peach brandy. 
 
 Peaches are forced with considerable suc- 
 cess. These of necessity must bear a high 
 price in the market, so long as glass continues 
 
286 
 
 an object of heavy taxation. The expense 
 of fuel, it appears, will not be so excessive, 
 since the heating of flues by steam promises 
 to answer. 
 
 It is observed, that the best peaches of 
 every kind are red next the sun, and of a 
 yellowish cast towards the wall : the pulp 
 should also be of a yellowish tint, and juicy ; 
 the skin thin, and the stone small. To have 
 them in perfection, they should not be ga- 
 thered until they will fall into the hand by the 
 slightest touch of the finger. 
 
 This is one of the fruits in particular 
 which is recommended to be eaten in the 
 morning, in preference to, the usual time of 
 dessert. Brookes says, " peaches agree well 
 with persons of hot constitutions and costive 
 habits, especially if they are eaten in a morn- 
 ing fasting/' 
 
 The flowers of the peach-tree are used in 
 medicine : when made into a syrup, they are 
 given as an aperient to children, and are re- 
 commended as a great destroyer of worms. 
 
 It should be observed not to get the flowers 
 from those peach-trees that have been grafted 
 upon almond-stocks, as the flowers partake of 
 the property of the stock, which greatly alters 
 their virtue. The plum is a purgative, the 
 almond not at all so. 
 
287 
 
 Gerard also, says,- "the leaves of the peach- 
 tree boiled in milk, will destroy the worms in 
 young children/' 
 
 The young leaves are used by cooks to 
 flavour blant>mange, custards, puddings, &c.; 
 and a liquor resembling noyau is made by 
 steeping peach-leaves in white brandy, and, 
 when sweetened with sugar-candy, and fined 
 with milk, it is difficult to distinguish it from 
 the flavoured cordial of Martinique. 
 
 Michaelmas is the time recommended for 
 the winter pruning of the nectarine, as well 
 as the peach-tree, when, with little attention, 
 the blossom-buds will be known from the 
 wood-buds ; the latter being less turgid, lon- 
 ger, and narrower, than the blossom-buds. 
 In shortening the branches, observe to leave 
 a wood-bud at the end instead of the fruit- 
 bud. Care should be taken to nip off the 
 ends of the strong shoots in the month of 
 May, which will cause them to throw out new 
 boughs in every part of the tree, as it pro- 
 duces its fruit from the young wood, either 
 of the same, or at the most of the former 
 year's shoot. 
 
 Peach-trees are often injured by a desire 
 to retain too full a crop on the branches, 
 which not only prevents the present fruit from 
 coining to maturity, but, by exhausting the 
 
288 
 
 tree, prevents its fruiting in future years. 
 When the peach has attained the size of a 
 small gooseberry, the trees should be carefully 
 thinned, leaving the fruit not nearer than 
 from four to six inches to each other. 
 
 From the wood of the peach-tree the 
 colour called rose-pink is procured. 
 
PEAR.-PYRUS. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Penta- 
 gynia Class. 
 
 THE accounts we have of this fruit are of 
 great antiquity, as the pear-tree was conse- 
 crated to Minerva previous to the olive. 
 
 The earliest writers mention it as a fruit 
 growing abundantly in Syria and Egypt, as 
 well as in Greece; and it appears to have 
 been brought into Italy from these places, 
 about the time that Sylla made himself master 
 of the latter country ; although there is no 
 doubt but the Romans had several kinds of 
 this fruit before that time. Virgil speaks of 
 pears which he had from Cato ; and Colu- 
 mella mentions a considerable variety of 
 pears. Pliny writes of them in his 15th book, 
 chap. 2, as being then exceedingly numerous 
 in Italy : " some have/' says he, " no other 
 name than the country from when ce they caine, 
 
 v 
 
290 
 
 as the Syrian, the Alexandrine, the Numi- 
 dian, the Grecian, the Picentine, the Numan- 
 tine, &c. &c.:" but of all the pears, he men- 
 tions the Crustumine as the most delicate 
 and agreeable; next to that the Falernian 
 pear was esteemed, and so called for the 
 abundance of juice it produced, which he 
 compares to wine. The Tiberian pears were so 
 named because they were the sort Tiberius the 
 emperor preferred ; others were named after 
 the persons who had introduced or cultivated 
 them; some from the season when they 
 ripened, as the barley pear, &c. ; and many 
 from their odour, as the aromatic and laurel 
 pears. " Some are reproached," says he, " with 
 the name of proud pears, because they are 
 earliest ripe, and will not keep :" there were 
 winter pears, and pears for baking, &c. 
 " Both pears and apples/' continues this author, 
 " have the properties of wine, on which ac- 
 count physicians are careful how they give 
 them to their patients; but when 'sodden in 
 wine and water, they are esteemed whole- 
 some/' Again he states, book xxiii. chap. 7> 
 " all pears whatsoever are but a heavy meat, 
 even to those in good health, and the sick 
 are debarred from eating of them ; and yet, 
 if they are well boiled or baked, they are 
 exceedingly pleasant, and moderately whole- 
 
291 
 
 some : when sodden or baked with honey? 
 they agree with the stomach." 
 
 Some pears were used as a counterpoison 
 against the venomous mushrooms ; the ashes 
 of the pear-tree wood are also used for the 
 same medicinal purpose. 
 
 The wild pear-tree, as well as the crab- 
 apple, appears to be a native of this country, 
 where it is often found growing, particularly 
 in Somersetshire and Sussex. 
 
 At what period the cultivated pear was 
 first brought into this country we have no 
 account ; but we may surmise that the Ro- 
 mans did not neglect the propagation of this 
 fruit when they were masters of Britain. 
 The pear is mentioned by all our early 
 writers. Gerard says, in his time, to write 
 of pears and apples would require a parti- 
 cular volume : every country, says he, " hath 
 his peculiar fruit ; myselfe knowe some one 
 curious, who hath in one peece of ground, 
 at the point of three score sundrie sorts of 
 pears, and those exceeding good ; not doubt- 
 ing but, if his minde had been to seek after 
 multitudes, he might have gotten togither the 
 like number of those of worsse kindes. Mas- 
 ter Richard Pointer/' he says, " has them all 
 growing in his ground at Twicknam, near 
 London, who is a most cunning and curious 
 
392 
 
 grafter and planter of all manner of rare 
 fruits; and also in the ground of an excellent 
 grafter and painful planter. Master Henry 
 Banbury, of Touthill Street, neere vnto West- 
 minster; and likewise in the ground of a 
 diligent and most affectionate louer of plants, 
 Master Warner, neere Hornsey Down, by 
 London ; and in divers other grounds about 
 London." 
 
 Miller mentions eighty varieties of the pear 
 in his day, and, at the present time, they 
 are so much increased, that Mr. Lee, of Ham- 
 mersmith, assured me that he possessed 213 
 kinds of pear-trees. We trust that, while 
 the Horticultural Society are seeking for new 
 varieties, those of established fame will 
 not be neglected. It is desirable to have our 
 orchards planted with a variety, that we may 
 have some for all seasons and for various 
 purposes ; but it is equally to be wished, that 
 the best of each sort should be selected, not 
 only of the dessert kinds, but those for 
 baking and preserving, as well as those for 
 making perry, which is one of the justly ad- 
 mired British beverages. 
 
 -And taste revived, 
 
 The breath of orchard big with bending fruit 
 
 Obedient to the breeze and beaten ray, 
 
 From the deep loaded bough a mellow shower 
 
293 
 
 Incessant melts away. The juicy pear 
 Lies, in a soft profusion, scattered round. 
 A various sweetness swells the gentle race, 
 By nature's all-refining hand prepared, 
 Of tempered sun, and water, earth, and air, 
 In ever-changing composition mixed. 
 
 Thomson. 
 
 Perry is considered the best liquor that 
 can be drunk after a surfeit of mushrooms. 
 
 An agreeable wine is made from the wild 
 pears and crab-apples. 
 
 In general pears are windy, and improper 
 for weak stomachs : those are best that are 
 quite ripe, and have a sweet juice, and then 
 they are seldom noxious ; unless eaten to ex- 
 cess. (Brooks.) 
 
 The pear-tree is liable to be much injured, 
 if pruned by those who do not understand 
 the nature of it. The blossoms are com- 
 monly produced from buds at the ex- 
 tremity of the last year's shoots, and, as 
 these are often cut off by the unskilful pru- 
 ner, it prevents their producing fruit, and 
 causes the boughs to send out new branches, 
 which overfill the tree with wood. The sum- 
 mer is the best time to look over pear-trees, 
 and to remove all superfluous and foreright 
 shoots, which would too much shade the 
 fruit. If this be carefully done, they will 
 require but little pruning in the autumn. 
 
294 
 
 Pears that are to be kept for the winter 
 use, should hang as long on the trees as the 
 state of the weather will allow. They should 
 then be put in a heap, in an open and dry 
 situation, for about ten days; then wiped 
 dry with a woollen cloth, and packed close 
 from the air and moisture. But to keep this 
 fruit in it's greatest perfection, small earthen 
 jars should be selected, about the size of 
 the pear, which should be packed separately 
 in clean oat chaff, and tied down with skin, 
 or brown paper cemented with pitch. These 
 jars should then be packed in a chest, or 
 dry closet, with the bottom upwards. Pears 
 are found more generally productive when 
 grafted[on quince stocks, than upon those of 
 their own kind or the white thorn. 
 
 The timber of the pear-tree is of a yel- 
 lowish colour, and is used for making car- 
 penters' tools, measuring rulers, picture frames, 
 and a variety of purposes. Gerard says, " the 
 timber of the wild pear is very firm and 
 solid, and good to be cut into moulds/' The 
 plates in his book were cut out of this wood, 
 as were, says he, " breastplates for English 
 gentlewomen/' 
 
PINE-APPLE PLANT.- 
 
 ANANAS. 
 
 A Species of the Bromelia, and of the Class 
 Ilexandria Monogynia. Natural Order, 
 
 Coronaritf, 
 
 THIS delicious fruit takes its name of pine-ap- 
 ple from the resemblance it bears to the cones 
 of the pine-tree. It is considered the king of 
 fruits, being second to none in flavour, and 
 always appearing at table with a crown. 
 
 The ananas is an herbaceous plant, with 
 leaves somewhat resembling those of the 
 aloe. It grows wild, in vast abundance, in 
 many parts of Africa and South America; 
 and is cultivated in the hotter islands of the 
 West Indies, where it requires but little at- 
 tention to procure this elegant fruit in per- 
 fection and plenty. 
 
 In Jamaica, pine-apples have become 
 so prolific, that they are often used to flavour 
 rum, and a wine is made from the fermented 
 juice of the sweeter sorts, nearly equal to 
 
296 
 
 Malmsey. Lunan observes, in his Hortus 
 Jamaicensis, that these plants grow most luxu- 
 riantly when they are associated together; 
 and the suckers from them are stronger and 
 finer, than when the plants are separated at a 
 distance from each other : by this their roots 
 are likewise kept cooler and moister. 
 
 It is stated, that the first pine-apples 
 raised in Europe, were by M. la Cour of 
 Leyden; and the Sloanean manuscripts in 
 the British Museum inform us, that the Earl 
 of Portland had the honour of introducing 
 this plant into England from Holland, in the 
 year 1690. 
 
 In the Fitzwilliam Museum, at the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge, is a painting by Nets- 
 cher, of a landscape with a pine-apple, and 
 there stated to be the first that ever fruited 
 in England, which was in Sir Matthew Dec- 
 ker's garden at Richmond, in Surry, grand- 
 father to the late Lord Fitzwilliam. Gough 
 says also, that it was Sir Matthew Decker, 
 Bart who first introduced the culture of the 
 ananas. 
 
 Brookshaw relates, that when the pine- 
 apple first produced fruit in England, it was 
 deemed so great a curiosity, and of so much 
 importance, that persons of rank came from 
 France, Holland, and Germany, to see it, 
 
297 
 
 but he omits to say, when and where it was 
 first fruited. I conclude it must have been 
 very rare, even had it in any instance pro- 
 duced fruit, before the year 1716; as Lady 
 Mary Montague, on her journey to Constan- 
 tinople in that year, remarks the circum- 
 stance of pine-apples being served up in the 
 dessert, at the electoral table at Hanover, as 
 a thing she had never before seen or heard 
 of; and from her ladyship's rank, we may 
 conclude that she would naturally have met 
 with them at the English tables, had they 
 not been very uncommon. 
 
 This fruit must have been known in 
 England long before it was attempted to be 
 grown here, as Lord Bacon mentions it in his 
 Essay on Plantations or Colonies, which was 
 published near a century before the intro- 
 duction of the ananas plant by the Earl 
 of Portland; but I am strongly persuaded 
 that the pine-apple had been cultivated in 
 this country at a much earlier period than 
 that mentioned by Sloane ; and this opinion 
 has been strengthened by a curious old pic- 
 ture, which the Earl of Waldegrave obli- 
 gingly showed me, in the breakfast-room of 
 his beautiful residence of Strawberry Hall, 
 Twickenham. The painting represents King 
 Charles the Second in a garden before his 
 
298 
 
 palace at Ham, attended by two of his 
 favourite breed of spaniels, where Rose, the 
 royal gardener, is presenting his Majesty with 
 the first pine-apple. This picture was in 
 the collection of the celebrated Horace Wai- 
 pole, whose descriptive account informs us, 
 that it was bequeathed by Mr. London to 
 the Rev. Mr. Pennicott, of Ditton, by whom 
 it was presented to himself. He adds, the 
 painting is supposed to be by Daneker. It 
 is probable that the method of raising the 
 ananas not being correctly understood, the 
 plants were, by some accident, lost in this 
 country, until they were introduced a second 
 time. 
 
 By an engraving of the pine-apple, which 
 was published by Robert Furber, gardener, 
 at Kensington, in the year 1733, we may 
 judge that the raising of pines was not then 
 brought to any degree of perfection, as the 
 fruit is represented short, having not more 
 than four or five protuberances in height, and 
 the crown appears small and weak. From 
 the drawings of the other fruits, which seem 
 to be from fine specimens, it is natural to 
 suppose that this fruit was also copied from 
 the best pine then produced. 
 
 We have now a considerable variety of 
 this exquisite fruit, and new kinds are fre- 
 
299 
 
 quently procured by the curious from the 
 seed, which is very small, of a kidney shape, 
 and lodged like the seeds of berries in the 
 tubercles ; but the pine is chiefly propagated 
 by planting the crowns or suckers, which 
 latter come more quickly to maturity, and 
 are therefore more generally preferred. The 
 most rare kind is the green pine, which was 
 brought from Barbadoes ; the black pine is 
 of late introduction. Of the older varieties, 
 the sugar-loaf pine, with a yellowish flesh, is 
 greatly preferred to the oval-shaped fruit of 
 a paler colour. The Welbeck-seedling is a 
 pine justly admired, as is the blood-pine, a 
 variety grown by Mr. Wilmot of Isleworth, 
 who makes the following just remark : " like 
 the strawberry," says he, " pines would be 
 better reduced to four or five varieties/' 
 
 Dr. Wright says, pines have a detersive 
 quality, and are better fitted to cleanse the 
 mouth and gums than any gargle whatever. 
 
 This fruit was long confined to the tables 
 of the rich and the luxurious, on account of 
 the expense of raising it in stoves, but the 
 cultivation of the pine-apple is now so well 
 understood in this country, that notwith- 
 standing the bar made by the high price of 
 glass, and the expense of fuel, this fruit is 
 seen in our markets, at one fourth of the price 
 
300 
 
 they produced a few years back ; and pine- 
 apple ices are already become as common as 
 those of raspberry, in the shops of the London 
 confectioners. 
 
 Should the heating of stoves, by steam, 
 answer to the expected extent, and the duty 
 on garden glass be relinquished, we shall soon 
 have African gardens of great extent on the 
 banks of the Thames, and pine-apples cried 
 through our streets two for a crown. 
 
 The late Sir Joseph Banks says, that it 
 does not require the foresight of a prophet to 
 foretell, that in less than half a century we 
 shall have forcing houses of such an extent, 
 that our markets will be supplied with the 
 aki, and the avocado pear of the West Indies, 
 the flat peaches, the mandarine orange, and 
 the Litchi of China ; the mango, (which has 
 already been ripened at Kew, in the autumn 
 of 1808), the mangostan, and the durion of 
 the East Indies, and possibly other valuable 
 fruits. 
 
 Since writing the above account, this fruit 
 has for the first time been imported as an 
 article of commerce from the Bermuda islands. 
 The importation consisted of about 400 pine- 
 apples of the species called the Green Pro- 
 vidence. These were purchased by Mr. Mart, 
 of Oxford Street, fruiterer, who informed me, 
 
301 
 
 that about two thirds of the quantity arrived 
 in good condition. As this experiment has 
 been found to answer, we may in future ex- 
 pect a regular supply of pine-apples, not only 
 from the Bermudas, but also from the West 
 India islands. I observed, that those pines 
 which were packed with the roots, arrived in 
 a better state than others that were cut off in 
 the usual manner. 
 
PLANTAIN.-MUSA PARA 
 DISIACA. 
 
 In 'Botany, of the Petygamia Mon&cia Class. 
 Natural Order, Scitamencce. 
 
 THIS tree received its generic name in me- 
 mory of Antonius Musa, the freedman and 
 physician of Augustus, who for curing his 
 imperial master of a dangerous disease, by 
 recommending to him the use of the cold 
 bath, was honoured by the senate with a 
 brazen statue, which was placed near that of 
 ^Esculapius. Antonius was a botanist, and 
 is supposed to be the author of the treatise, 
 De Herbd BotanicA. 
 
 The plantain is a native of Guinea, from 
 whence it was brought to the Canary Islands, 
 and from thence carried to the West Indies ; 
 where it is cultivated with much care in 
 all the islands, the fruit being regarded among 
 the greatest blessings bestowed upon the in- 
 
303 
 
 habitants of that climate. Dr. Wright says, 
 the island of Jamaica would scarcely be habi- 
 table without this fruit, as no species of provi- 
 sion could supply it's place: even flour, or 
 wheaten bread itself, would be less agreeable, 
 and less able to support the laborious negro, 
 so as to enable him to do his business, or to 
 keep up his health. 
 
 The fruit of the plantain-tree is about a 
 foot long, and two or three inches in dia- 
 meter ; it forms a principal part of the food 
 of the negros, who either roast or boil it, 
 when it becomes a palatable and strengthen- 
 ing diet : it is often boiled in their mess of 
 salt beef, pork, or fish, &c.; many Europeans, 
 when accustomed to it, prefer it to bread. 
 When ripe, it is lusciously sweet, and makes 
 good tarts. The Spaniards dry and preserve 
 it as a sweetmeat, and it is thought to be the 
 most wholesome of all confectionary. It is 
 one of the very best foods to fatten domestic 
 animals and fowls, giving a firmness and ex- 
 quisite flavour to their flesh. 
 
 The plantain is cultivated in Egypt, and 
 most other hot countries, where it grows to 
 perfection in about ten months from it's first 
 planting, to the ripening of it's fruit. This 
 tree is only perennial by it's roots, and dies 
 clown to the ground when it has fruited, after 
 
S04 
 
 which, it is cut down : several suckers then 
 soon come up from the roots, which in six or 
 eight months produce fruit, so that by cutting 
 down the stalks at different times, there is a 
 constant succession of fruit all the year. 
 
 When the plantain is grown to it's full 
 height, the spikes of flowers appear in the 
 centre, which is about four feet long. The 
 flowers come out in bunches, those in the 
 lower part of the spike being the largest; 
 each of these buriches is covered with a 
 sheath of a fine purple colour, which drops 
 off when the flowers open. The upper part 
 of the spike is made up of male flowers, 
 which are succeeded by the fruit, that is of 
 a pale yellow colour when ripe ; and the 
 spikes of fruit often weigh upwards of forty 
 pounds. This plant has been reared in our 
 stoves since the year 1690. 
 
 The Banana Tree: Musa Sapientum. 
 This tree so much resembles the plantain, 
 that it is only known at first by the dark 
 spots on its stem, which the other has not. 
 This is a wholesome fruit, and is used at 
 desserts. From it a pleasant drink is made, 
 exceeding our cider. When baked in tarts, 
 or boiled in dumplings, this fruit tastes like 
 
305 
 
 the apple : when dried in the sun, it re- 
 sembles a delicious fig. It also makes a good 
 marmalade, which is recommended as a great 
 relief for coughs. The fruit of the banana- 
 tree is said to comfort the heart, is cooling, 
 and refreshes the spirits. Labat states, that 
 when the natives of the West Indies under- 
 take a voyage, they make part of their provi- 
 sion to consist of a paste of banana, which, 
 in case of need, serves them for nourishment 
 and drink. For this purpose they take ripe 
 bananas, and having scjueezed them through 
 a fine sieve, form the solid fruit into small 
 loaves, which are dried in the sun, or in hot 
 ashes, after being previously; wrapped in the 
 leaves of Indian flowering reed. 
 
 The fruit of the banana-tree is about four 
 or five inches long, of the size and shape of a 
 middling cucumber; it generally grows in 
 bunches, weighing upwards of. twelve pounds. 
 The Spaniards have a conceit, that if you cut 
 this, or the fruit of the plantain athwart, or 
 crossways, there appears a cross in the middle 
 of the fruit, and therefore they will not cut 
 any, but break them. The Franciscans de- 
 dicate this fruit to the Muses, and therefore 
 call it musa. The Portuguese call it jftcus 
 derta. Lodovicus Romanus, and Brocard, 
 who wrote a Description of the Holy Land, 
 
 x 
 
306 
 
 call the bananas Adam's Apples, supposing 
 them to be the fruit that Eve took and gave 
 to Adam, which is as erroneous as the ac- 
 count of the Abb6 Poyart and others, who 
 state the leaves to be those of the tree from 
 which our first parents made themselves 
 aprons, as from their size, which is from five 
 to seven feet in length, and from one to two 
 feet in breadth, they could not have required 
 sewing together for that purpose. These 
 leaves are said to be as strong as parchment. 
 The leaves of the plantain, as well as the 
 banana, grow so rapidly, that by placing a 
 thread, they will be found to grow an inch in 
 an hour. The young leaves are so soft, that 
 the} r are employed in dressings for blisters, 
 &c. When full grown, they are so large that 
 they are used as substitutes for napkins and 
 table-cloths : when dried, they are made into 
 mats and stuffings for mattresses, &c. 
 
 If a knife be thrust into a plantain-tree, 
 there will come out a great quantity of clear 
 water, which is very rough and astringent, 
 stopping all sorts of fluxes. 
 
 The fruit of the banana-tree has been 
 ripened in our hothouses; but as the tree 
 grows very tall, the size of the leaves requires 
 more room than most gardeners are willing 
 to allow it in the stove. 
 
307 
 
 From the rapidity of the growth of the 
 banana, it is of too porous a nature to merit 
 the name of wood* and the Indians have 
 ever been accustomed to make cordage, and 
 a kind of cloth, -from its fibres. The cele- 
 brated circumnavigator, Dampier, notices 
 the process more than a century ago, as 
 follows : 
 
 " They take the body of the tree, clear it 
 of it's outward bark and leaves, cut it into 
 quarters, put it into the sun, when the mois- 
 ture exhales; they then take hold of the 
 threads at the ends, and draw them out : 
 they are as big as brown thread ; and of this 
 they make cloth in Mindanas, called sag- 
 gen." 
 
 In Jamaica, there have been upwards of 
 200 given by an order of the Assembly, for 
 the best specimens of this hemp. Dr. Stew- 
 art West gained a premium, and his process 
 may be seen in the Hortus Jamaicensis. 
 
 From experiments tried on the hemp 
 made from the plantain-tree fibre, which was 
 manufactured into rope at his Majesty 's dock- 
 yard, Port Royal, in Jamaica, the following 
 results were obtained : 
 
 Cwt. qr. Ib. 
 King's nine-thread inch-rope broke 
 
 by the weight of 6 1 14 
 
 x 2 
 
308 
 
 Cwt. qr. Ib. 
 Dr. West's specimen broke by the 
 
 weight of 6 2 
 
 Specimen from the parish of St. An- 
 drew 6 1 
 
 Do. Do. Portland ... 4 2 
 Do. Do. St. George ..320 
 The above specimens were all made of the 
 same size as the king's rope. 
 
PLUM.-PRUNUS. 
 
 In Botany, of the Icosandria Monogynia 
 Class. 
 
 PLUMS are so numerous in their varieties* 
 that to describe them separately would be 
 endless, as not only every country, but almost 
 every district, has its peculiar sorts of this 
 fruit. 
 
 The Grecians added to their native plums 
 those of Syria, Egypt, and Persia, and the 
 Romans not only possessed themselves of 
 the plums of all the known world, but em- 
 ployed their ingenuity in making additional 
 varieties. Columella, in his tenth book, 
 speaking of this fruit, says 
 
 then are the wicker baskets cramm'd 
 
 With Damask and Armenian, and wax plums. 
 
 Pliny states, in his fifteenth book, chap. 
 
310 
 
 13, that there was a great variety of this fruit 
 in Italy ; and it is not long, says he, since 
 the country about Grenada and Andalusia 
 began to graft plums upon apple stocks, 
 which were called apple plums ; others upon 
 almond stocks, which he calls a clever device, 
 as it produced both fruits, the stone being like 
 the kernel of an almond. Those grafted upon 
 nut-stocks, he states, retained the form of the 
 mother graft ; but they got the taste of the 
 stock wherein they were set. 
 
 The wild sloe and bullace are indigenous 
 to this country, and in all probability the 
 only kinds that are natives ; but, like the 
 wild crab-apple, they have furnished stocks 
 for every variety of their own species ; and 
 this fruit appears to have been attended to 
 in early days, if we may judge from the 
 variety that Gerard had in his garden at 
 Holborn, in 1597- " I have," says he, " three 
 score sorts in my garden, and all strange and 
 rare : there be in other places many more 
 common, and yet yeerely comrneth to our 
 handes others not before knowne. The great- 
 est varietie of these rare plums, are to be 
 found in the grounds of Master Vincent 
 Pointer, of Twicknam." 
 
 The Damson, or Damascene plum takes its 
 name from Damascus, where it grows in great 
 
311 
 
 quantities, and from whence it was brought 
 into Italy about 114 years B. C. Pliny says, 
 this plum required the warmer sun of Syria : 
 we may therefore conclude, it is still more in- 
 ferior in our climate. 
 
 The Orleans plum takes it's name from 
 the part of France so called. This is a hand- 
 some but an indifferent fruit, and not equal 
 to the common Muscle plum in flavour, 
 although it is more cultivated than even the 
 Green Gage, which is not only the most 
 agreeable, but also the most wholesome of 
 all the plums. This latter plum was called the 
 Heine Claude, from having been introduced 
 into France by Queen Claude, wife to Francis 
 the 1st of that country, but it bears various 
 names in different parts of France. It is often 
 called damas verd; at Tours it is named 
 abricot verd; at Rouen, where it grows abun- 
 dantly, they call it la verte bonne. This 
 plum received the name of Green Gage from 
 the following accident : The Gage family, 
 in the last century, procured from the mo- 
 nastery of the Chartreuse at Paris, a col- 
 lection of fruit-trees. When these trees ar- 
 rived at the mansion of Hengrave Hall, the 
 tickets were safely affixed to all of them, 
 excepting only to the Reine Claude, which 
 was either omitted to have been put on, or 
 
312 
 
 was rubbed off in the package. The gar- 
 dener, therefore, being ignorant of the name, 
 called it, when it first bore fruit, the Green 
 Gage. The compliment was justly due to 
 the family for the introduction of this excel- 
 lent plum, which is more acceptable to the 
 country at large, than the trifling respect can 
 be to the family of Gage. Lord Cromwell 
 brought several sorts of plums from Italy into 
 this country, in the reign of Henry VII. : 
 among them was the Perdrigoq. 
 
 The Bonurn Magnum is our largest plum, 
 and greatly esteemed for preserves and cu- 
 linary purposes. A plum of the same size 
 and shape, but of a yellower hue, has lately 
 beeh introduced by a Mr. Coe, of Brompton, 
 and is called Coe's Golden Drop. In flavour 
 it partakes both of the Green Gage and the 
 Apricot. I have several standard trees in my 
 garden at Bayswater, which are very pro- 
 ductive; and the fruit has the quality of 
 keeping perfectly sound and good until near 
 Christmas, if it be gathered with the stalk 
 or a part of the branch, and suspended in a 
 dry room. 
 
 Plums are now forced in the highest 
 perfection, which enables the gardener to 
 supply the spring desserts with the autumnal 
 fruits. 
 
313 
 
 Dried plums are principally imported 
 from Portugal, and the neighbourhood of 
 Marseilles in France; from whence also prunes 
 are brought : this latter variety is mostly 
 used in medicine. 
 
 Plums of all kinds are considered more 
 agreeable than wholesome, but like the pear, 
 they lose their bad qualities by baking. 
 Plums in general are moistening, laxative, 
 and emollient, except the bullaces and sloes, 
 which are astringent. They are cooling, 
 quench thirst, and create an appetite, and 
 therefore agree best with hot constitutions; 
 but they do not sit easy with those that have 
 weak stomachs. In years that plums are very 
 plentiful, and consequently much eaten, 
 fluxes generally abound; hence it appears 
 that they ought always to be eaten very mo- 
 derately, and then they should be quite ripe 
 and sound. (Brookes.) The damson plum 
 produces a tolerably pleasant wine, and an 
 exceedingly agreeable kind of jelly called dam- 
 son cheese. The wild plum was used in me- 
 dicine by the ancients, and the bark of the 
 tree is thought to be equal to the Peruvian 
 bark in cases of intermitting fevers. 
 
POMEGRANATE.-PUNICA. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Mono- 
 gynia Class. Natural Order, Pomacetf. 
 
 IT takes it's name from pomum granatum, a 
 kernelled apple. 
 
 The early part of the Bible notices the 
 pomegranate as a native of Syria. It is men- 
 tioned as one of the fruits discovered in the 
 Land of Promise ; previous to which disco- 
 very, while the Israelites sojourned in the 
 wilderness, it was selected as the ornament to 
 the robe of the Ephod. 
 
 " And beneath, upon the skirts of it, thou 
 shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of 
 purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem 
 thereof; and bells of gold between them round 
 about. A golden bell and a pomegranate, a 
 golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem 
 of the robe round about." 
 
 The sacred history also informs us, that 
 1 
 
315 
 
 the two large pillars of brass, made by Hiram 
 for the porch of Solomon's temple, were or- 
 namented with carvings of the pomegranate; 
 and by the writings of Solomon we may con- 
 clude, that a choice wine was made from it in 
 Judea : 
 
 " I would cause thee to drink of spiced 
 wine of the juice of my pomegranates/' 
 
 Again it is mentioned by the Prophet 
 Joel: 
 
 " The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree 
 languisheth ; the pomegranate-tree, the palm- 
 tree also, and the apple-tree; even all the 
 trees of the field are withered/' 
 
 The Grecians esteemed this fruit, and 
 mentioned it in their fabulous stories as 
 growing in the Elysian Fields. When Ceres 
 earnestly entreated Jupiter for the restitution 
 of her daughter Proserpine, who had been 
 carried off by Pluto, he promised to grant it 
 on condition that she had tasted no food in 
 the infernal regions. Unfortunately she had 
 gathered a pomegranate from a tree, and 
 eaten a few of the seeds, as she was walking 
 in the Elysian Fields. This was made known 
 by Ascalaphus, who alone had seen it; and 
 the enraged mother turned him into an owl 
 for his unseasonable information. 
 
 The pomegranate-tree was first brought 
 
316 
 
 to Rome from Carthage, in the days of the 
 murderous Sylla; and about thirty-three years 
 after this celebrated city was totally destroyed 
 by Scipio, the second Africanus. Pliny says, 
 in the 21st chapter of his 13th book, that 
 " the territory of Carthage claims to itself the 
 Punic apple, which some call pomegranate; 
 from the flowers of which we get the colour 
 to dye cloth, called puniceus (pink or light 
 red)/' He speaks of nine varieties, book 23, 
 chap. 6; and, in the former book, he de- 
 scribes the sweet sort, the sour, the tem- 
 perate, the styptic or austere, and one kind 
 tasting of wine. " The difference/' he says, 
 " between the pomegranate of Samos and 
 that of Egypt, consists in their flowers; the 
 one being white and the other red. The 
 rind of the sour kind," he says, " is the best 
 for tanners and curriers to dress their leather 
 with/' This author recommends pomegra- 
 nates to be divided into quarters, and steep- 
 ed in rain-water for three days; which he 
 states makes a good drink for those who 
 are troubled with weak habits. The flowers, 
 rind, and every part of the fruit, were used 
 medicinally by the Romans; on which sub- 
 ject he has written at large, book 6, chap. 
 23. 
 
 Some authors affirmed, that Grenada, in 
 
317 
 
 Spain, owes it's name to this fruit, which 
 was brought from Africa, and planted in that 
 part. The capital of this province has a split 
 pomegranate for its arms, which is seen on 
 the gate-posts of the public walks, and is re- 
 presented in carving, or by painting, on all 
 the public buildings. 
 
 The pomegranate-tree was first cultivated 
 in England in the year 1548, during the 
 reign of Henry the Eighth; and I find it 
 mentioned among the trees that fruited in 
 the orange-house of the unfortunate Charles 
 the First. 
 
 The pomegranate-tree blossoms well in the 
 warmer counties of England; but the fruit 
 comes to no perfection in the open air. The 
 kind generally planted for ornament is the 
 double scarlet, which is very beautiful when 
 in blossom. 
 
 Gerard writes on the medicinal qualities 
 of this tree, and informs us, that he reared 
 several plants from the seeds previous , to 
 
 1597. 
 
 The pomegranate has been planted in the 
 West-India islands, where the fruit grows 
 larger and finer flavoured than in Europe. 
 The French, in the island of St. Vincent, had 
 a riddle on the pomegranate, on account of 
 
318 
 
 the resemblance which the calix bears to a 
 crown. 
 
 " Quelle est la reine, qui porte tout son 
 royaume dans son sein?" 
 
 Lord Bacon notices this fruit, and re- 
 commends the use of the wine of the sweet 
 pomegranates for complaints of the liver, or, 
 if that cannot be had, the juice of them 
 newly expressed. He says, "let it be taken 
 in the morning, with a little sugar; and into 
 the glass into which the expression is made, 
 put a small piece of green citron-peel, and 
 three or four whole cloves : let this be taken 
 from February till the end of March/' The 
 juice of the pomegranate is preferred even to 
 that of oranges in cases of fever. The rind 
 of the fruit and the flowers are the parts 
 directed for medicinal uses: they are both 
 powerful astringents, and have long been suc- 
 cessfully employed as such, both internally 
 and externally for gargles, and in diarrfioeas, 
 &c. The dose in substance is froHn half a 
 drachm to a drachm, in infusion or decoction, 
 to half an ounce. (Woodvilk.) 
 
 As an astringent, the rind of the fruit, 
 boiled in water with cinhamon, port-winr 
 and guacJa jelly to be added, is recommended 
 in Dancer's Medical Assistant. 
 
319 
 
 The rind also produces as good ink as 
 that made from galls. 
 
 Sloane says, that the leaves beaten with 
 oil of roses, applied to the head, cures it's ach- 
 ing. The rind of the fruit, together with the 
 bark of the tree, is still used in some parts of 
 Germany, in the preparation and dyeing of 
 red leather, in imitation of Morocco. 
 
PUMPKIN, or POMPION.- 
 PEPO. 
 
 In Botany, of the Mon&cia Syngene$ia Class. 
 Natural Order, Cucurbitacecs. 
 
 THE pompion is a coarse, inferior kind of 
 melon, which has long been known in Eu- 
 rope, as Pliny mentions it in his IQth book, 
 chap. v. where he says, cucumbers of an ex- 
 ceeding large size are called pompions. 
 Again, in his 20th book, chap. ii. he says, " as 
 for the fruit, called pompions or melons, be- 
 ing eaten as meat to cool the body, and the 
 fleshy substance applied to the eyes assuaging 
 their pain," &c. 
 
 Aiton states it to be a native of the Levant, 
 and says it was first introduced into this 
 country in 1570. Gerard says, " as there 
 is a wild sort of cucumbers, of melons, citruls, 
 and gourds, so likewise there be certaine 
 wild pompions, which grow in Barbaric, 
 Africa, and most parts of the East and West 
 
321 
 
 Indies/' This author says, " the pulpe of 
 the pompion is neuer eaten raw, but boiled 
 in milk and buttered ; is not onely a good 
 wholesome meate for man's bodie, but, being 
 so prepared, is also a most phisicall medicine 
 for such as have an hot stomacke, and the in- 
 ward parts inflamed :" he continues, " the flesh 
 or pulpe of the same sliced, and fried in a pan 
 with butter, is also a good and wholesome 
 meate :" but he condemns the method of using 
 it with apples in pies. 
 
 This fruit has lately been raised in the 
 neighbourhood of London to an extraordinary 
 size, weighing nearly two hundred weight* 
 These are sold in the shops of the metropolis, 
 more as a curiosity than for use. I have found 
 them, when boiled in their own moisture, viz* 
 without water, an excellent vegetable with 
 meat, having a taste resembling artichokes : 
 with the addition of the peel and juice of 
 lemons, they make an agreeable pudding. 
 
 Pompions are used by the Jews in the 
 Feast of Tabernacles, when they form a kind 
 of cradles into which they put a great number 
 of pompions. 
 
 In Hughes's Natural History of Barbadoes, 
 he says, " Pumpkins make a great part of 
 the food of the poorer sort, in the summer- 
 time, as well in Asia and Africa as in Ame- 
 
322 
 
 i 
 
 rica." He adds, that they are distinguished 
 in Barbadoes by the names of the White, the 
 Blue, the Marbled, and the Garden Pumpkin. 
 The latter differs from all the rest by having 
 no seed, but is propagated by slips. He says, 
 also, that they are boiled and eaten with 
 flesh meat, and much used by the poorer sort 
 in soups. 
 
 The jugglers, or quacks, in some parts of 
 America, extract the pulp out of pompions, 
 and fill them with flint stones, with which 
 they make a great noise, and pretend to 
 frighten away all the complaints of their su- 
 perstitious patients. 
 
QUINCE.-CYDONIA. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Pen- 
 tagynia Class. 
 
 has joined this genus, as well as 
 the apple, to the pear, while Miller separates 
 it on this account : he says, " the pear will 
 take upon the quince by grafting or budding, 
 and so vice versd ; but neither of these will 
 take upon the apple, nor that upon either of 
 these/' But we have a particular account 
 transmitted to us by Pliny, that quinces were 
 grafted upon apple-stocks in his time, (book xv. 
 chap. 14) : he says, " as for the quince-apples 
 that come of a quince grafted upon an apple- 
 stock, they are called Appiana, after Appius, 
 who was of the Claudian House, and who first 
 devised and practised this mode of grafting; 
 these apples/' continues he, " have the smell 
 of the quince, are of a red colour, and the size 
 of the Claudian apple/' 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 The Quince was called Cydonia, after 
 an island in the Mediterranean, now named 
 Candia. It is a fruit that the ancients held 
 in high estimation: they considered it as the 
 emblem of happiness, of love, and of fruit- 
 fulness: it was dedicated to Venus, and the 
 temples of Cyprus and Paphos were deco- 
 rated with it. The statues of the gods also 
 who presided at the nuptial bed, were orna- 
 mented with this fruit ; and the bride, before 
 she entered into the marriage-bed, used to 
 eat of the quinces. Columella says, quinces 
 not only yield pleasure but health also : he 
 speaks of 'three kinds; the Struthian, the 
 Must Quinc 9 and the Orange or Golden 
 Quince. 
 
 The learned Goropins maintains that 
 quinces were the golden apples of the Hespe- 
 rides, and not oranges, as sbme commentators 
 pretend. In support of his argument, he 
 states, that it was a fruit much revered by the 
 ancients, and he assures us that there has 
 been discovered at Rome a statue of Hercules, 
 that held in it's hand three quinces ; this, he 
 says, agrees with the fable which states, that 
 Hercules stole the golden apples from the gar- 
 dens of the Hesperides. 
 
 Pliny speaks of quinces in his 1 5th book, 
 llth chap, and says, " there are many kinds 
 
325 
 
 of this fruit in Italy, some growing wild ia 
 the hedge-rows, others so large that they 
 weigh the boughs down to the ground, some 
 of a green hue, others inclining to gold 
 colour: these were called chrysomda, which 
 seems to give authority to the above account 
 ofGoropius. The : only kind that was eaten 
 raw, he states, to have been raised by graft- 
 ing the large quince upon the stock of a 
 small kind, called struthea (the pear-quince). 
 He adds, " all kinds of this fruit are in use 
 now-a-days, within the waiting Or presence 
 chambers of our great personages,, where, men 
 give attendance to salute .them as they come 
 forth eyery morning/' He also states, that 
 they were;! used to. garnish the images which 
 stand :about the bed's head and sides. 
 
 The same author, in his 23d book, chap. 
 6th, writes much on the medicinal qualities 
 of this fruit. " Quinces," says he, " when 
 eaten raw, if quite ripe, are good for those 
 that spit blood, or are troubled with he- 
 morrhage/' The juice .of raw quinces, he 
 states to be a sovereign remedy for the swoln 
 spleen, the dropsy, and difficulty of taking 
 breath, particularly to those who cannot draw 
 their breath but in an upright position. The 
 flowers, either fresh or dried, he tells us, 
 
326 
 
 are good for the inflammation of the eyes. 
 The root of the tree was used more as a 
 charm than a medicine for those afflicted 
 with the scrofula. 
 
 Quince-trees grow wild on the banks of 
 the Danube, and they are stated to have 
 been brought into this country from the island 
 of Crete, now called Candia. They have 
 long been cultivated in this kingdom, as our 
 earliest authors on this subject mention them. 
 Gerard says, they were often planted in 
 hedges and fences to gardens and vineyards 
 in his time. By the Hortus Kewensis it 
 appears that the quince was first introduced 
 in the reign of Henry the VHIth, 1537, 
 which is evidently an error, from the circum- 
 stance above related by Gerard, who was 
 then an old man. 
 
 Quinces are used in medicine, being of 
 an astringent and stomachic quality. The 
 expressed juice of this fruit, in small quanti- 
 ties, as a spoonful or two, is of service in 
 nausea, vomiting, &c. Lord Bacon says, " It 
 is certain that the use of quinces is good 
 to strengthen the stomach ; but we take them 
 to be better if they be used in that which 
 they call quiddeny of quinces, than in the 
 bodies of quinces themselves, because they 
 
327 
 
 lie heavy in the stomach; but those quid- 
 denies are best taken after meals, alone; 
 before meals, dipped in vinegar/' 
 
 Quinces grow in such abundance in some 
 parts of the Wealds of Sussex, as to enable 
 private families to make quince-wine in quan- 
 tities of from 1 to 200 gallons in a season. 
 It is an agreeable wine, that improves much 
 by keeping, and is greatly esteemed by 
 asthmatic persons. A gentleman residing 
 at Horsham, in Sussex, assured me, that 
 he was not only relieved in an asthmatic 
 complaint of long standing, but completely 
 restored to his health by the use of this 
 wine, which was made after the following 
 receipt: 
 
 " Cut large quinces in quarters, and core 
 them, as the seeds give the wine an unplea- 
 sant flavour; grind them in the same man- 
 ner as apples for cider, and put to every 
 gallon of pummis a gallon of water ; let it 
 stand a day or two, then strain it off. 
 Should the pummis smell very strong of the 
 fruit, it will bear a little more water, and 
 to every gallon put three pounds and a 
 quarter of moist sugar ; tun it and stop it 
 quite close in the following March ; rack it 
 off; cleanse the cask from the sediment, and 
 put it back again; and in the second year 
 
328 
 
 bottle it off/' Quince-marmalade is greatly 
 admired by those who are fond of the fruit. 
 
 The Portugal quince is the most es- 
 teemed. In the pruning of the quince-tree 
 little is required, except to keep the stem 
 free from suckers, and to cut all branches 
 that rub each other. 
 
RASPBERRY-BUSH.-RUBUS 
 ID.EUS. 
 
 Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Poly- 
 gynla Class. 
 
 THE raspberry was .but little noticed by the 
 ancients, and that principally on account of 
 it's medical virtues. Pliny does not consider 
 it of so much importance as the bramble, in 
 mentioning which he says, "there is a third 
 sort of bramble, which the Greeks call 
 Idcea, after Mount Ida. This fruit is 
 smaller than the other bramble-berries, with 
 less thorns on the stem, and these not so 
 sharp or hooked. The flowers of this ras- 
 pis," he continues, " being tempered with 
 honey, are good to be laid to watery and 
 blood-shotten eyes, as also the Erysipelas. 
 Being taken inwardly, and drunk with 
 water, it is comfortable medicine to a weak 
 stomach/' 
 
 The red-raspberry is indigenous to this 
 2 
 
330 
 
 country, and is often found wild in the 
 northern counties. I have also seen it in 
 the wild state growing freely in some woods 
 on the South Downs of Sussex. It is a fruit 
 that appears to have been much improved 
 by cultivation, as Gerard writes on it, pre- 
 vious to 1597? as not being equal to the black- 
 berry, although he says it is planted in gar- 
 dens. He calls it Raspis, or Hindberry : 
 " the fruit," he adds, " is in shape and propor- 
 tion like that of the bramble : red, when it is 
 ripe, and covered over with a little downi- 
 ness, of taste not very pleasant/' He does 
 not mention the white raspberry, nor has 
 Tusser, who wrote in the previous reign. 
 
 The large kinds of raspberries, both red 
 and yellow, were brought from Antwerp to 
 this country. 
 
 The yellow or white raspberry is most 
 admired at dessert: indeed all the white fruits 
 of the berry kind, are sweeter than the co- 
 loured, but other fruits that are coloured are 
 generally sweeter than the white. 
 
 The red raspberry is considered the finest 
 for flavouring ices, jams, &c. A third kind 
 is cultivated, which produces two crops a 
 year, but I have seldom met with the 
 October raspberry possessing much fla- 
 vour. 
 
331 
 
 Raspberries are much cultivated in the 
 neighbourhood of Isleworth and Brentford ; 
 from whence those are sent to London in 
 swing carts, which are used by the distillers for 
 making raspberry brandy, raspberry vinegar, 
 &c. as also those used by confectioners and 
 pastry-cooks ; but the raspberries which are 
 intended for the table, are brought by women 
 on their heads: their load consists of a round, 
 or basket, containing twelve gallons, of three 
 pints to a gallon ; and, although the distance 
 is ten miles from Isleworth to Covent-Garden 
 market, they regularly perform the journey 
 in two hours ; for which they are paid three 
 shillings and sixpence. From Hammersmith 
 these industrious women will take a load 
 three times a day, for which they receive 
 eigh teen-pence per load. These female fruit 
 porters come to the vicinity of London for 
 the season, from Wiltshire, Shropshire, and 
 Wales : in their long journies they seldom 
 walk at a less pace than five miles per hour. 
 
 The dietetic and medicinal virtues of 
 raspberries being the same as those of the 
 strawberry, will be noticed in the history of 
 that fruit. 
 
 " Raspberry and strawberry wines," says 
 Dr. Short, " are of all made-wines the most 
 delicious to the taste ; they lightly and plea- 
 
332 
 
 santly stimulate the nerves of the mouth and 
 nose with a most agreeable smell and taste, 
 which proceeds from a mixture of their es- 
 sential salt and fine oil." This author recom- 
 mends these wines in scorbutic disorders as a 
 purifier and swetener of the blood. " Mixed 
 with water," he says, "they make a good 
 reviving draught in ardent fevers," 
 
 The wood of the raspberry-bush produces 
 fruit but one year, therefore j that should be 
 carefully cut, down below the surface of the 
 earth, and the young shoots should be short- 
 ened to about two feet. in height: the middle 
 or end. of October is the proper time for this 
 pruning. The fruit is produced from young 
 branches out of the last year's shoots or 
 suckers. 
 
STRAWBERRY PLANT. 
 FRAGARIA. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the , Icosamlria Poly- 
 gynia Class. 
 
 THIS most agreeable fruit does not appear 
 to have been cultivated by the ancients ; and 
 it seems only to have grown in the moun- 
 tainous parts of Greece and Italy, the climate 
 being too warm in the other parts of these 
 countries. It is slightly mentioned by Virgil, 
 Ovid, and Pliny, and even the latter author 
 does not mention the fruit as a diet or medi- 
 cine. In speaking of the arbutus-tree, book 
 15, chap. 24, he saysj " the tree is termed the 
 strawberry-tree ;' and .there is not any other 
 tree that gives fruit' which resembles the fruit 
 of an herb growing by the ground/' Again 
 he says, speaking of the bramble-berry, 
 " as the ground strawberry differs in carnosity 
 from the fruit of the arbutus-tree/' 
 
334 
 
 The red-wood strawberry is a native of 
 this country ; and several modern writers 
 state, that the white strawberry, as well as 
 the green strawberry, are indigenous to these 
 kingdoms. The latter is often called the 
 pine-apple strawberry, from its excellent fla- 
 vour. 
 
 Gerard seems to consider only the red 
 strawberry as a native of this climate. He 
 says, " strawberries do grow upon hills and 
 valleys, likewise in woods, and other such 
 places that bee something shadowie. They 
 prosper well in gardens : the red strawberry 
 euery where ; and the other two, white and 
 green, more rare, and are not to be founde 
 saue onely in gardens." 
 
 Shakespeare says : 
 
 " The strawberry grows underneath the nettle ; 
 And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best, 
 NeigbbourM by fruit of baser quality." 
 
 The scarlet strawberry is a native of 
 Virginia, where it grows wild ; and was 
 brought to this country in 1629- It is the 
 earliest sort, and is the best strawberry for 
 forcing. 
 
 The hautboy-strawberry was procured also 
 from America; from which we have raised 
 the improved kind, called the globe-hautboy. 
 
335 
 
 The Chili strawberry takes it's name 
 from that part of America so called, from 
 whence it was brought by M. Frazier, 
 engineer to the French king. It was culti- 
 vated in the royal gardens at Paris, from 
 whence some of the plants were conveyed 
 to Holland, and from the latter place they 
 were brought to England, by Mr. Miller, in 
 the first year of the reign of King George the 
 Second, 1727. 
 
 The Alpine strawberry is a native of 
 Germany, and was planted in England in the 
 year 1768. 
 
 The varieties of the strawberry have, like 
 those of other fruits, been so increased, that, 
 to describe them distinctly, would be almost 
 impossible, even with the assistance of 
 coloured drawings. The President of the 
 Horticultural Society, Thomas Andrew 
 Knight, Esq., states, that he has at this time 
 not less than 400 varieties of this fruit in 
 his garden. Among those which he has 
 raised, is one from the white Chili strawberry 
 and the pollen of the black strawberry. 
 
 Mr. Keen of Isleworth, in the county of 
 Middlesex, who is one of the greatest grow- 
 ers of strawberries for the London market, 
 has obligingly furnished me with his ob- 
 servations on the culture of this fruit, which 
 1 
 
336 
 
 furnishes a strong instance of the advantage 
 of botanical knowledge. Mr. Keen states, 
 that the want of education deprived him of 
 the benefit of written information ; but it will 
 be found that he has studied the book of 
 nature to advantage. I observed, says Mr. 
 Keen, that some of my strawberry plants 
 g&ve out abundance of male blossoms, but 
 produced no fruit. I therefore, in the year 
 1809, had all these plants taken from my 
 beds, and had other beds, made with the fruit 
 bearing, or female plants only ; but finding 
 my crop entirely fail, and suspecting the 
 error I had made, I procured some . blos- 
 soms of the male plants, which having put 
 into a bottle of water, I placed on one of 
 my beds, and in a few clays perceived the 
 fruit began to swell and thrive on all the 
 plants contiguous to the bottle. 
 
 Having tried the same experiment in se- 
 veral parts of my garden with the like effect, 
 I was convinced of the necessity of the male 
 plants in producing fruit, since which time, 
 I have planted about one male plant to 
 ten female plants, which I find to be the 
 most profitable proportion, as my beds have 
 since been so productive, that it has been 
 scarce possible to gather the fruit without 
 bruising others. Some strawberry plants 
 
, 337 
 
 have both male and female flowers on the 
 same plant. These are not so profitable ; and 
 I find it more advantageous to raise my plants 
 from seed than by suckers. When the fruit 
 is quite ripe, I sow them in a rich moist soil, 
 and in one year the Alpines produce fruit, 
 but the other kinds require two years." From 
 the seed, Mr. Keen has procured a new 
 variety of this fruit, to which he has given 
 the name of Imperial Strawberry ; it is of a 
 dark ruby colour, and, in appearance, the 
 most beautiful of all the strawberries ; but I 
 find the flavour of it is not superior to that of 
 other kinds. Mr. Keen recommends the 
 month of March, as the best season for mak- 
 ing new beds. 
 
 The strawberry is our earliest fruit, arid, 
 as the harbinger of the fructus hortei, its ap- 
 pearance is as welcome, as its flavour is 
 agreeable. 
 
 I find that the old custom of putting clean 
 straw round strawberry plants, is still conti- 
 nued in some parts of Suffolk. The late Sir 
 J. Banks concludes, that their English name 
 was derived from the practice of putting straw 
 under them when the fruit began to swell, 
 as the plant has no relation to straw in any 
 other way ; and no other European language 
 applies the idea of straw in any other shape 
 
 z 
 
338 
 
 to the name of the berry, or to the plant. Sir 
 Joseph adds, although the custom of putting 
 straw round the plants is now very little 
 attended to, it's utility is very evident, as in 
 dry parching weather it would be the means 
 of keeping the plants moist, and, in wet 
 showery weather, it would both keep the fruit 
 clean, and prevent its rotting so rapidly. 
 
 As a dietetic fruit, the strawberry affords 
 but little nourishment ; the moderate or even 
 plentiful use of it is salubrious, and recom- 
 mended to those of inflammatory or bilious 
 habits. Boerhaave considers the continued 
 use of this fruit, as one of the principal re- 
 medies in cases of obstruction and viscidity, 
 and in putrid disorders. Hoffman furnishes 
 instances of some obstinate diseases being 
 cured by strawberries, and other mild sweet 
 subacid fruits. Strawberries should be taken 
 sparingly by those of a cold inactive dis- 
 position, where the vessels are lax, the circu- 
 lation languid, or digestion weak. 
 
 This fruit is generally sent to dessert in 
 its natural state, although often with cream 
 and sugar: but it is more esteemed when 
 Burgundy or claret wine is substituted for the 
 cream. Strawberry jam is much admired; 
 and for ice creams the flavour is generally 
 preferred to that of raspberries. 
 
339 
 
 The pine strawberries make an agreeable 
 dessert wine, equally rich as mountain ; but 
 possessing greater fragrance and acidity : the 
 latter quality is generally too predominant in 
 our English made-wines, which proceeds more 
 from the want of attention in the making of 
 wines, than from the quality of the fruits. 
 
 In the monastery of Bathalla, in Por- 
 tugal, is the tomb of Don John, son of King 
 John the First, of Portugal ; which is orna- 
 mented by the representation of strawberries, 
 this prince having chosen them for his crest, 
 to show his devotion to St. John the Baptist, 
 who lived on fruits. 
 
 z 2 
 
SERVICE-TREE.-SORB US. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Icosandria Tri- 
 gynia Class. 
 
 THIS fruit, which is a native of England, 
 is now as little known, and as rare in the 
 London market, as the fruits of the most 
 distant parts of the world; and the service- 
 berry-tree is now so thinly scattered over the 
 country, that many farmers do not even know 
 its existence. 
 
 Pliny writes of it as a fruit held in 
 estimation by the Romans. He mentions 
 four sorts, some round, resembling apples, 
 others shaped like pears, others like an egg, 
 and one variety which was only used me- 
 dicinally. He states, that Cato would have 
 service-berries preserved, (book xv. c. 21), 
 and in the 17th chapter of the same book 
 
341 
 
 he gives directions for preserving them in 
 two different ways : again he mentions them 
 in his 23d book, Ylth chap, and says their 
 medicinal virtues are the same as those of the 
 medlar. 
 
 Gerard describes two kinds, and says, 
 " they are found in woods and groves in most 
 places of England. There be many small 
 trees thereof, in a little wood a mile beyond 
 Islington : in Kent it groweth in great abun- 
 dance, especially about Southfleete and 
 Gravesend." 
 
 The service-tree is still occasionally to be 
 met with in the hedge-rows in Kent, and 
 in the Wealds of Sussex, of the size of a 
 moderate oak-tree ; as also in the north of 
 England and Wales. 
 
 The service-berry, which is an umbilicated 
 fruit, partakes of the quality of the medlar, 
 both in the green and in the ripe state. It 
 is gathered in bunches, and put into, or 
 hung on, a cleft stick of about a yard long, 
 which becomes a mass of berries : in this 
 state the fruit is sold by the country people, 
 and then hung up in a garden to receive the 
 damp air of the night, which causes it to 
 undergo a kind of putrefactive fermentation, 
 and in this soft state it is eaten, and has a 
 
342 
 
 more agreeable acid than the medlar. Chan- 
 cellor Bacon speaks of service-berries in his 
 time as a garden fruit. In Italy and the 
 south of France, they are still served up in 
 the dessert. 
 
 I conclude, that the great size of the 
 service-tree has been the cause of excluding 
 this fruit from our gardens : but it is, from 
 it's beauty, particularly when in blossom, a 
 desirable tree for planting in parks or pad- 
 docks ; and as the timber is so valuable, and 
 now become so rare, I hope to see it more 
 cultivated. There is a remarkable fine tree of 
 this kind now growing at Kingsfold farm, in 
 the parish of Rusper, near Horsham in Sussex. 
 
 I know many noblemen and gentlemen 
 object to fruit-bearing trees being planted on 
 their estates, on the principle that it encou- 
 rages depredators to injure their plantations ; 
 but this seems but a poor excuse for depriving 
 themselves and the public of the beauty and 
 variety which the blossoms give at one season 
 of the year, and the fruit at another, particu- 
 larly to those who have park-keepers or 
 bailiffs on the premises. 
 
 Furber of Kensington, who in 1733 pub- 
 lished his twelve engravings of fruits for the 
 desserts of each month, gives a representation 
 
343 
 
 of the Italian services for October, and the 
 English maple-leaved service-berries for the 
 month of November. 
 
 This fruit is reckoned to be very restrin- 
 gent, and useful for all kinds of fluxes; but 
 when ripe it is not altogether so binding. 
 
 The timber of the service-tree is of a fine 
 hard grain, and the variations pleasing when 
 wrought into cabinet goods : it is esteemed 
 by the turner and carver, as well as for the 
 making of gun-stocks. It is used by mill- 
 wrights for cogs to wheels, &c. in preference 
 to any other wood : it is also a very durable 
 wood for buildings that are exposed to a 
 northern aspect. 
 
TAMARIND.-TAMARINDUS. 
 
 In Botany, of the Monadelphia Triandria Class, 
 and not of the Triandria Monogynia, as 
 classed by Linnaus. Natural Order, io- 
 mentacecB. 
 
 THIS name is derived from tamar, the Arabic 
 name for the date ; and it is to the Arabians 
 that we owe a knowledge of the use of this 
 fruit in medicine. The ancient Greeks knew 
 nothing of it, and the first authors who pre- 
 scribe the tamarind are Serapion, Mesue, and 
 Avicenna. 
 
 The tamarind- tree is a native of both 
 Indies, and thrives also in Egypt, Palestine, 
 Arabia, and other parts of Asia ; and it 
 appears, by Johnson's edition of Gerard, 
 to have been cultivated in England previous 
 to 1633. Miller states, that he has had 
 it grow upwards of three feet high in one 
 summer, and produce flowers the same year 
 
345 
 
 it was sown ; but this must have been acci- 
 dental, for none of his older plants blossomed, 
 although he had them twelve feet high, and 
 eighteen years old. There is a fine healthy 
 tree of this species now in the Royal Botanic 
 Gardens at Kew, which flowered a few years 
 back for the first time. 
 
 The tree grows to a great size, with large 
 spreading branches, and a thick and beau- 
 tiful foliage. The leaves are pinnate, com- 
 posed of sixteen or eighteen pairs of leaflets, 
 without a single one at the end : they are 
 ovate-oblong, quite entire, smooth, sessile, 
 of a bright green, spreading during the day, 
 but closing, so as to lie over each other in 
 the night : they have an acid taste. The 
 flowers come out from the sides of the 
 branches, on a long, upright, common pe- 
 duncle, six or eight together, in loose bunches, 
 of a yellow colour, veined with a reddish 
 purple. 
 
 What we style the fruit of the tamarind 
 is only the pistil of the flowers, which be- 
 come pods, that are thick and compressed, 
 from two to five inches in length, with from 
 two to four or six seeds : these pods become 
 of a reddish brown as they ripen. The fruit 
 is, properly speaking, composed of two pods: 
 the outer pod is fleshy, and the inner one 
 
346 
 
 thin as the finest parchment; between these 
 two there is a space of about a quarter of an 
 inch all the way, which is filled up with a 
 soft pulpy substance, of a tart but agreeable 
 taste, which is what we use as the fruit: this, 
 and the stones which are enclosed in the inner 
 pod, are fastened together by a great many 
 slender fibres from the woody stalk which 
 runs through the pod, and conveys the vinous 
 juice, that afterwards hardens, into the viscous 
 matter of the pulp. Lunan says, the tree is 
 exceedingly common in Jamaica, where it 
 grows to vast bulk; and he gives the follow- 
 ing account of preparing the fruit. " The 
 pods are gathered when full ripe, which is 
 known by their fragility, or easy breaking 
 on a small pressure between the finger and 
 the thumb. The fruit is taken out of the pod, 
 cleared from the shelly fragments, and placed 
 in layers in a cask; and the boiling syrup 
 from the teache, or first copper in the boiling- 
 house, just before it begins to granulate, is 
 poured in till the cask is filled: the syrup 
 pervades every part quite to the bottom, and, 
 when cool, the cask is headed for sale. The 
 more elegant method is with sugar, well cla- 
 rified with eggs, till a clear transparent syrup 
 is formed, which gives the fruit a much plea- 
 santer flavour. 
 
347 
 
 The East-India tamarinds are preserved 
 generally without sugar, and are better adapt- 
 ed for an ingredient in medical compositions. 
 The best method of preserving them is said to 
 be by putting alternate layers of tamarinds 
 and powdered sugar in a stone jar : by this 
 means the tamarinds preserve their colour and 
 taste more agreeably. 
 
 In the Indies, and in some parts of Africa, 
 tamarinds are used as food, and are made 
 into a sort of confection with sugar, and 
 eaten as a delicacy, which in the violent 
 heats of these climates is cooling, and, at the 
 same time, keeps the bowels in a proper 
 state of laxity. The fruit is also frequently 
 made an ingredient in punch, and seldom 
 fails to open the body. A very agreeable 
 cooling drink is made by simply mixing 
 water with a few spoonfuls of it when pre- 
 served. Dr. Cullen was of opinion, that it 
 was best to preserve tamarinds in the pods. 
 They contain a larger proportion of acid, 
 with saccharine matter, than is usually found 
 in the acid dulcet fruits, and are therefore 
 not only employed as a laxative, but also 
 for abating thirst and heat in various in- 
 flammatory complaints, and for correcting 
 putrid disorders, especially those of a bilious 
 kind, in which the cathartic, antiseptic, and 
 
348 
 
 refrigerant qualities of the fruit have been 
 found equally useful. When intended merely 
 as a laxative, it may be of advantage to join 
 them wih manna,, or purgatives of a sweet 
 kind, by which their use is rendered safer and 
 more effectual. Three drachms of the pulp 
 are usually sufficient to open the body; but 
 to prove moderately cathartic, one or two 
 ounces are required. The leaves are some- 
 times used in sub-acid infusions; and Alpinus 
 says, a decoction of them kills worms in chil- 
 dren. (Wright.) Dr. Zimmerman prescribes 
 tamarinds in putrid dysentery. 
 
 The sour taste of tamarinds proves that 
 acid particles abound greatly in them, and a 
 chemical analysis gives further proof of this. 
 There is indeed no alkali to be obtained from 
 this fruit, otherwise than by distilling it in 
 a retort with quicklime. A simple analysis 
 of it yields no other principle but acid and 
 sulphur. 
 
 It is not uncommon to find an essential 
 salt crystallized on the branches of the tama- 
 rind-tree, which greatly resembles cream of 
 tartar in all respects, and is no other than 
 the genuine salt of the plant, formed by the 
 sun's drying up the accidental extravasated 
 juices. 
 
 The leaves of the sycamore, in hot sea- 
 
349 
 
 sons, are often found thus covered with crys- 
 tals of their essential salt, which is sweet, 
 and very much of the nature of sugar. The 
 lime-tree produces a like saccharine matter, 
 which, being given to a person to drink, will 
 be found of the same purgative virtue as 
 manna. 
 
 Tamarinds are an ingredient in the well- 
 known medicine called lenitive electuary. 
 
WALNUT.-JUGLANS. 
 
 In Botany., a Genus of the Moimcia Polyandria 
 
 Class. 
 
 THE walnut-tree is evidently a native of the 
 northern parts of Persia and China, where 
 it grows wild; and the Grecian names for 
 this fruit, Persicon and Basilicon, Persian or 
 Royal Nut, bespeak it to have been brought 
 from Persia, either by the monarchs of 
 Greece themselves, or sent thither from the 
 kings of Persia. According to Pliny's ac- 
 count, book 15, chap. 22, " the Greeks after- 
 wards called them caryon, on account of the 
 heaviness of the head which their strong smell 
 caused." 
 
 " Walnuts were first brought into Italy by 
 Vitellius, a little before the death of Tiberius 
 the emperor; and the Romans," continues 
 Pliny, "honoured them with the name of 
 
351 
 
 Juglamles, viz. Jupiter's nuts/' They were 
 much used at weddings by this people. 
 
 This author has written much on their 
 medical virtues, book 23, chap. 18, wherein 
 he says, that " the more walnuts one eats, 
 with more ease will he drive worms out of 
 his stomach ; and that, eaten before meals, 
 they lessen the effects of any poisonous food ; 
 eaten after onions/' he states, " they keep 
 them from rising, and prevent the disagree- 
 able mell." 
 
 The bark of the walnut-tree was consi- 
 dered a sovereign remedy for the ringworm. 
 The leaves bruised and stamped with vinegar, 
 and so applied, put away the pain of the 
 ears. 
 
 After Mithridates was vanquished, Cneius 
 Pompeius found in his secret closet or cabinet, 
 among many precious jewels, the receipt of 
 a certain antidote against poison, written in 
 the hand-writing of Mithridates, in his private 
 note-book, as follows : 
 
 " Take two dry walnut kernels, as many 
 figs, of rue twenty leaves ; stamp all these 
 together into one mass, with a grain or corn 
 of salt/' Under which was written, " who- 
 ever accustoms himself to eat of this confec- 
 tion in a morning, next his heart there shall 
 no poison hurt him that day/' 
 
352 
 
 Walnuts are considered stomachic : their 
 oil is a good medicine for the stone and 
 gravel. The bark of the tree is a strong 
 emetic, either green, or dried and powdered. 
 The unripe fruit is used in medicine for the 
 destruction of worms, and is administered 
 in the form of an extract. I find, if the water 
 in which the outside covering of walnuts has 
 been steeped, be thrown on the ground, the 
 worms will immediately come out of the 
 earth : anglers often use this means to obtain 
 bait for fishing. 
 
 The ancients considered that walnuts 
 chewed by a person fasting, would, if applied, 
 cure the bite of a mad dog. 
 
 The green nuts are cordial, alexipharmic, 
 and said to be of great use in all contagious, 
 malignant distempers, and the plague itself. 
 
 The nuts, preserved young, are an excel- 
 lent sweetmeat, and are good to be eaten in a 
 morning, in time of pestilential distempers, to 
 prevent infection. I have been favoured by 
 the following receipt for preserving young 
 walnuts, by a family who assure me that they 
 have known them succeed in obstinate cos- 
 tiveness when all other remedies have failed : 
 even a small part of one of these sweetmeats 
 will give relief. 
 
 Take green walnuts, in the proper state 
 
353 
 
 for pickling, and boil them till tender; take 
 them out, and stick a piece of lemon-peel to 
 every nut; and to every fifth one, a clove and 
 a small piece of mace. To every pound of 
 nuts, add one pound of moist sugar with water 
 enough to make a good syrup ; put in the 
 nuts, and simmer them till the syrup is thick, 
 and let them stand ten days; then clarify half 
 the above quantity of sugar, and boil as be- 
 fore; and, when cold, cover them close for 
 use. By keeping, the syrup will shrink, so 
 that after a year or two a little more syrup 
 will be required to be added. 
 
 Gerard says, " the green and tender nuts, 
 boyled in sugar, and eaten as suckarde, are a 
 most pleasant and delectable meate, comfort 
 the stomache, and expell poyson." 
 
 The effluvia of walnut-trees is hurtful to 
 the head, on which account it is not safe to 
 sit uncovered beneath them, nor is it desirable 
 to plant them too near dwelling-houses. Pliny 
 says, " the oak will not thrive near the wal- 
 nut-tree;" and Mr. Keen, who is so justly ce- 
 lebrated for growing of strawberries, informs 
 me, that the walnut-tree is so injurious to 
 strawberry beds, that they seldom bear fruit 
 in the neighbourhood of that tree. 
 
 These trees require but little pruning; 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 and they are often injured by cutting and lop- 
 ping the branches while growing. 
 
 The largest plantation of walnut-trees in 
 England, at the present time, is in the county 
 of Surry. 
 
 Gerard says, " the walnut-tree groweth in 
 fields neere common highwaies, in a fat and 
 fruitful ground, and in orchards/' It there- 
 fore appears to me, that it must have been in- 
 troduced earlier than the date mentioned in 
 the Hortus Kewensis (1562), as this was only 
 about thirty years before Gerard wrote his 
 account, when these trees seem to have been 
 very common in the fields. 
 
 The walnut-tree was formerly cultivated 
 in England for the sake of the wood, which 
 was in great esteem for cabinet goods, before 
 mahogany and other curious woods were 
 imported from America into this kingdom, 
 which was about the beginning of the eigh- 
 teenth century, when the use of mahogany 
 was discovered by the following chance : 
 Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician, was 
 building a Jhouse in King Street, Cownt 
 Garden. His brother, who was a West-India 
 captain, brought over some planks of this 
 wood as ballast, which he thought might be 
 of service in his brother's building ; but the 
 
355 
 
 carpenters finding the wood too hard for their 
 tools, it was laid aside as useless. Soon after, 
 Mrs. Gibbons wanting a candle-box, the Doc- 
 tor called on his cabinet-maker (Wollaston, in 
 Long Acre) to make him one of some wood 
 that lay in his garden. Wollaston also com- 
 plained that it was too hard ; but the Doctor 
 insisted on having it done; and, when fin- 
 ished, it was so much liked, that the Doctor 
 ordered a bureau to be made of the same 
 wood, which was accordingly done; and the 
 fine colour, polish, &c. were so pleasing, that 
 he invited all his friends to see it. Among 
 them was the Duchess of Buckingham. Her 
 Grace begged some of the same wood of Dr. 
 Gibbons, and employed Wollaston to make 
 her a bureau also. On tfeis the fame of ma- 
 hogany and Mr. Wollaston was much raised ; 
 and furniture made of. this wood became ge- 
 neral. 
 
 The timber of the walnut-tree is much 
 esteemed by aachnhuUd^,and also for mak- 
 ing gun-stocks. 
 
 A A 
 
 
WHORTLE-BERRY.-VACCI 
 NIUM: 
 
 Often called HURTS, or HURTLE-BERRY, and 
 BILBERRY. 
 
 In Botany, a Genus of the Octandria Mono- 
 gynia Class. 
 
 THERE are several varieties of this fruit, 
 some of which are black, others red, and some 
 white. The whortle shrub is a native of this 
 country, and grows on most of our wild 
 heathy commons and uncultivated hills : it is 
 found in great abundance on Leith Hill, which 
 is the most elevated part of Surry. The fruit 
 seldom reaches the London market, although 
 it is much admired by many people either in 
 tarts or with cream. The berries are gathered 
 by the children of the cottagers, and by them 
 carried to the nearest market towns, and often 
 in quantities that load several asses. 
 
357 
 
 Gerard says, they formerly grew in Finch- 
 ley Wood, near Highgate, and on Hampstead 
 Heath. The red kind, which makes the fine 
 purple dye, is found abundantly in several 
 parts of Westmoreland, and the white whortle- 
 berries principally in Lancashire ; but most 
 of our northern hills abound with some of the 
 varieties. From their growing in high bleak 
 situations, they are often called wind-berries. 
 
 I have never seen this shrub cultivated, 
 although it is more ornamental than many fo- 
 reign shrubs that are raised with great diffi- 
 culty. The berry, which is a size larger than 
 that of the juniper, is covered with a fine blue 
 powder, similar to the bloom of our finest 
 purple plums. 
 
 There is also another species of heath-berry, 
 growing on the mountainous parts of the 
 northern counties, as well as in Scotland, on 
 which the heathcocks and grouse feed. 
 
 There have been no less than fifteen va- 
 rieties of the whortle-berry brought into this 
 country from North America, between the 
 years 1761 and 1796. (Hortus Kewensis.) 
 
THE 
 
 FRUIT OF THE LOTUS-TREE 
 
 OP 
 
 THE ancients has been made so interesting 
 to us, by the inimitable pens of Homer and 
 Ovid, as well as the mention made of it by 
 Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and other authors 
 of antiquity, that I am induced to give their 
 accounts of this celebrated fruit ; although it 
 is now either entirely lost, or so much dege- 
 nerated, as not to be known by their descrip- 
 tions. 
 
 Some authors suppose it to have been a 
 fabulous fruit, and only to be found in the 
 poet's imagination. This idea is absurd. 
 Ovid has described it as particularly, or more 
 so, than any other fruit mentioned in his Me- 
 tamorphoses. 
 
 The Lotus-tree was evidently a native of 
 Africa ; and in all probability was improved, 
 by being cultivated on the sands of the 
 coast, where, not being indigenous, it has 
 been lost from the neglect of the inhabitants, 
 
359 
 
 during the revolutions which that part of the 
 world has undergone. If this fruit has not 
 already been discovered under some other ap- 
 pellation, we may still expect that our re- 
 searches in the interior of Africa will restore 
 the lost treasure. It is now about 2700 years 
 since Homer related the enchanting effects 
 this fruit had on the followers of Ulysses : 
 
 Nine days our fleet th' uncertain tempest bore, 
 Bar in wide ocean, and from sight of shore ; 
 The tenth we touch'd, by various errors tost, 
 The land of Lotus and the flowery coast. 
 We climb'd the beach, and springs of water found, 
 Then spread our hasty banquet on the ground. 
 Three men were sent, deputed from the crew, 
 (An herald one) the dubious coast to view, 
 And learn what habitants possess the place. 
 They went, and found a hospitable race ; 
 Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest. 
 They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast ; 
 The trees around them all their fruit produce, 
 Lotos the name, divine, nectareous juice! 
 (Thence called Lotophagi), which whoso tastes, 
 Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts, 
 Nor other home, nor other care intends, 
 But quits his house, his country, and his friends : 
 The three we sent from off th' enchanting ground 
 We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound ; 
 The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore, 
 Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no more. 
 
 Horn. Odyss. 
 
360 
 
 From Ovid's elegant fable of Dryope, we 
 learn from whence this tree is supposed to have 
 derived its name. 
 
 Not distant far a wat'ry lotus grows; 
 
 The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs, 
 
 Adorn'd with blossoms, promis'd fruits that vie, 
 
 In glowing colours with the Tyrian dye. 
 
 #######* 
 
 Upon the tree I cast a frightful look, 
 
 The trembling tree with sudden horror shook. 
 
 Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true,) 
 
 As from Priapus* lawless lust she flew, 
 
 Forsook her form ; and fixing, there became 
 
 A flow'ry plant, which still preserves her name. 
 
 Theophrastus mentions the lotus fruit in 
 his 4th book, where he says, that it is of 
 the size of a bean, and changes it's colour as 
 it ripens. This author affirms, that the tree 
 is by it's nature everlasting. 
 
 Strabo, in his 17th book, informs us, that 
 Syrtis as well as Menynx was said to be 
 Lotophagitis. The compass of the gulph, 
 says this geographer, where the lotus grows, 
 is almost 1600 furlongs; the breadth of the 
 mouth 600: by the capes there are islands 
 near to the main land. It is thought, con- 
 tinues he, that Menynx was the country 
 of the Lotophagi, or those that feed on the 
 lotus-trees, of which country Homer makes 
 mention; and there are certain monuments 
 
361 
 
 seen, and Ulysses's altar, as well as abundance 
 of lote-trees, the fruit of which is exceedingly 
 sweet. 
 
 Pliny has furnished us with an account 
 of the lotus-tree, in his 13th book, c. 17- 
 According to this author, the finest trees 
 of this kind grew on two large sand banks 
 on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, not 
 far from Leptis and Carthage. He mentions 
 them as being the size of pear-trees, but 
 states that Nepos Cornelius described them 
 as shrubs. The leaves, says Pliny, are thick, 
 cut, and indented: otherwise they are like 
 those of the ilex or holm-tree. There are 
 many varieties of this fruit, but he describes 
 the generality of them as being the size of 
 a bean, and of the colour of saffron, yet, 
 says he, before it is quite ripe the fruit 
 changes into a variety of colours like grapes. 
 It grows thick among the branches of the 
 tree, in the manner of myrtle-berries, and not, 
 says he, like cherries. This fruit in Africa, 
 continues Pliny, is so sweet and pleasant, that 
 it has given the name both to a nation and 
 country, as the people are called Lotophagi ; 
 and so welcome are all strangers there, and 
 so well contented with their entertainment, 
 that they forget their own native soil, for the 
 love they have for this fruit, when once they 
 
362 
 
 have taken to it. By report, (adds this au- 
 thor,) those who eat of it, are free from all 
 diseases of the stomach. 
 
 Those lotuses were accounted the best that 
 had no kernels within; for there is a kind, 
 says Pliny, that has a kernel as hard as a bone. 
 From this fruit was pressed a wine similar to 
 mead, which he states, on the authority of 
 Nepos, would not keep above ten days. The 
 Lotophagi pressed the berries of this fruit, 
 with wheat or frumenty, into a paste ; and so 
 put it up in great barrels or vessels for food. 
 We have heard, says Pliny, that whole armies 
 passing to and fro through Africa have fed 
 upon it, having no other food. 
 
 The wood of the lotus-tree, according to 
 the account of Pliny, was of a black colour, 
 and was, says he, much sought after for 
 making musical pipes. Shafts of daggers 
 and knives, &c. were made of the roots. 
 This author says, " it is growing in Italy, but 
 with the change of soil it has changed it's 
 nature;" but in his I6th book, chap. 30th, 
 he says, " the lotus-tree is planted about the 
 finest houses in the court-yards, because the 
 boughs spread so large. Although the body 
 is short and small, it affords much shade; yet 
 there is not a tree that gives shade for so short 
 a time, as the loaves fall at the approach of 
 
363 
 
 winter, when it admits the sun/' The bark is 
 described as of a pleasing hue, and was used 
 to colour skins and leather ; the root to dye 
 wool. 
 
 " The fruit," says he, " resembles the 
 snouts or muzzles of wild beasts, and many 
 of the smaller berries seem to hang to those 
 that are larger/' 
 
 The same author, in writing on the age 
 of trees, (book I6th 9 chap. 24/*,) says, " at 
 Rome, in the court-yard belonging to the 
 chapel of the goddess Diana Lucina, there 
 is yet to be seen a lote-tree standing before 
 the chapel, which was built in the year of 
 the Anarchy, when Rome was desolate of all 
 magistrates, which was 369 years after the 
 foundation of the city ; but how much more 
 ancient this tree is than the chapel, God 
 knows! for older it is without all question, 
 as from the trees there growing, which the 
 Latins call Lucus, the goddess Diana took 
 her name Lucina, which was about 450 years 
 back, and doubtless this tree is so old." 
 
 " Another lote-tree there is," says he, 
 " still older, but the age of it is likewise un- 
 certain: it is known by the name of Capil- 
 lata (hairy), and so called, because the hair 
 of the vestal virgins' heads is usually brought 
 thither to be consecrated. There is a third 
 
364 
 
 lotus at Rome, in the court-yard and cloister 
 about the temple of Vulcan, which Romulus 
 built for a perpetual monument and memorial 
 of a victory, and defrayed the charge out of 
 the tenth of the pillage and spoil that he ob- 
 tained from his enemies ; and this tree is at 
 least as old as the city of Rome." 
 
 Pliny writes on the medicinal qualities 
 of the lotus, in his 24<th book, chap. 2d, 
 and says his countrymen called it the Greek 
 bean. He says the fruit is sweet, but that 
 nothing is more bitter than the shavings of 
 the wood. 
 
 Mr. Mungo Park discovered what is sup- 
 posed to be the lotus of the ancients, and says 
 it abounds in all parts of the interior of Afri- 
 ca. Agreeable to his account, it is rather 
 a thorny shrub than a tree. The fruit is a 
 small farinaceous berry, which being pounded 
 and dried in the sun, is made into excellent 
 cakes, resembling in flavour and colour the 
 sweetest gingerbread. This traveller observes, 
 that a sweet liquor is obtained from the lotus, 
 which, we may conclude, had the bewitching 
 qualities described by the ancients. 
 
 A species of the lotus, or nettle-tree, eel- 
 tis, has long been cultivated in this country: 
 as Gerard says, " this is a rare and strange 
 tree in both the Germanics : it was brought 
 
365 
 
 out of Italy, where there is found store there- 
 of, as M athiolus testifieth : I have," says he, 
 " a small tree in my garden : there is likewise 
 a tree thereof in the garden vnder London- 
 wall, sometime belonging to M. Gray, an 
 apothecary of London; and another great 
 tree in the garden neere Colman streete, 
 being the garden of the queen's apothecary, 
 called Mr. Hugh Morgan, a curious coseruer 
 of rare simples. The lote-tree doth also grow 
 in Affricke, but it some what differeth from 
 the Italian lote in fruit." Gerard adds, that 
 the fruit ripens in September: the berries, he 
 says, are round, and hang on stalks like cher- 
 ries, and not like the African lotus. " They 
 are," says he* " of a yellowish white colour 
 at the first, and afterwards red, but when they 
 be ripe they be somewhat blacke." 
 
 The lotus-flower, that is now become so 
 fashionable in ornamenting furniture, from 
 the circumstance of it's having been selected 
 as the decoration of the superb Chinese chan- 
 deliers made for his Majesty's Pavilion at 
 Brighton, is not the blossom of the lotus T 
 tree, but of the Nymphtea Nelumbo, or Chi- 
 nese water-lotus. This water-lily is called 
 Nymphcza, from it's growing in the water, 
 which the poets feign to be the residence 
 of the Nymphs. In China, where it was 
 
366 
 
 always held in such high value, that at length 
 it has become regarded as sacred, it is called 
 Lien-wha. Puzza, a Chinese divinity, is re- 
 presented as seated on the flowers of the lotus. 
 The gods of Japan, which are exhibited of a 
 gigantic figure, are also seated on the blossoms 
 of this plant. The ponds in China are gene- 
 rally covered with this beautiful aquatic blos- 
 som, which is also grown in large vases in 
 the houses of the Mandarins. The roots and 
 seeds are served up on ice at their break- 
 fasts as a delicacy, mixed with the kernels of 
 fruits. 
 
 The Romans made repeated efforts to raise 
 this plant, without success, which the ancients 
 have celebrated iu their writings. Homer Men- 
 tions it with other flowers, as composing the 
 genial bed of Jupiter and Juno; and the lotus- 
 herb is said to have formed the green food of 
 Achilles's horses. 
 
 Antiquarians assure tts, that they recognise 
 this flower oil the head of Harpocrates. 
 
 Pliny describes the Egyptian lotus as a 
 plant which grows in the marshes of that 
 country, and which came up io ttae flats 
 whfca the waters of the Nile je&tf ned to theft 
 iratural channel. " They foave heads," says 
 he, "like those of the poppy, within which 
 are seeds resembling millet, of which the 
 
 1 
 
367 
 
 inhabitants make bread/' He relates, that 
 " it is reported that when the sun goes down, 
 those heads close up with leaves, and sink 
 under the water, where they remain shut 
 until the morning, when they appear above 
 the surface and open, continuing this course 
 until they are ripe, when the flowers (that 
 are white) fall off of themselves. This lotus," 
 says he, " has a root as big as a quince, co- 
 vered with a black rind or bark, much like 
 the husk of a chesnut. The substance 
 within is white, and delicious to eat, par- 
 ticularly boiled in water or roasted in embers. 
 The bread made from the seeds of this lotus/' 
 says Pliny, " is worked with water or milk. 
 There is not any bread in the world (says 
 report) more wholesome and lighter than this, 
 so long as it is hot; but once cold, it is 
 hard of digestion, and becomes weighty/' 
 
 This plant was introduced into this 
 country by the late Sir Joseph Banks, in 
 1787, and is of the Polyandria Monogynia 
 Class. 
 
AN EXPLANATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TECHNICAL TERMS 
 
 Kn Botany, 
 
 USED IN THIS WORK. 
 
 1 THE Sexual System, as invented and given 
 to the world by Linnaeus/' says Miller, " is 
 built or founded on the male and female 
 parts of fructification. By fructification 
 is meant flower and fruit; and is disposed 
 according to the number, proportion, and 
 situation of the stamens or pistils, or the 
 male and female organs. 
 
 " For the sake of brevity of expression, 
 he has had recourse to the Greek language. 
 Aner, a husband, he has applied to the sta- 
 men ; and Gyne 9 a wife, to the pistil. The 
 stamen consists of two parts. The 1st. Fila- 
 ment, is that part which elevates the anthera. 
 2d. The anthera is the part that bears the 
 pollen, or ferina fecundans, that impregnates 
 the pistillum or germen. 
 
369 
 
 " First, the pistillum consists of three 
 parts : the germen, or embryo, of a future 
 fruit. 2d. The style, which elevates the 
 stigma. 3d. The stigma or summit, which 
 is covered with a moisture, that dissolves the 
 farina fecundans of the anthera; fitting it 
 for vivification. 
 
 " The orders are taken from the females or 
 pistils, as the classes are from the males or 
 stamens/' 
 
 Androgynous plant. Bearing male and fe- 
 male flowers on the same root, without 
 any mixture of hermaphrodites. 
 
 Anther. A part of the flower, big with 
 pollen or farina, which it emits or ex- 
 plodes when ripe ; or, big with granu- 
 lated pollen, and that with favilla. It 
 forms a part of the stamen, and is 
 placed on the top of the filament. 
 
 Calyx. The outward covering of the flower, 
 or the first of the seven parts of fructi- 
 fication. 
 
 Chive. Properly the stamen. 
 
 Decandria. Ten stamened. 
 
 Diwcia. The twenty-second class in Lin- 
 naeus's system, comprehending those 
 plants which have no hermaphrodite 
 B B 
 
370 
 
 flowers ; but male and female flowers on 
 distinct plants of the same species. 
 
 Favilla. A fine substance, imperceptible to 
 the naked eye, exploded by the pollen 
 in the anthers of flowers. 
 
 Hermaphrodite flowers. Having both anther 
 and stigma. An hermaphrodite plant is 
 that which has only hermaphrodite 
 flowers. 
 
 Hexandria. The name of the sixth class in 
 Linnaeus's system; comprehending those 
 plants which have hermaphrodite flowers 
 with six equal stamens. This is a natural 
 class. 
 
 Icosandria. The name of the twelfth class 
 in the Linnaean system ; comprehending 
 those plants which have hermaphrodite 
 flowers, with twenty or more stamens, 
 growing on the inside of the calyx, not 
 on the receptacle : the situation, and 
 not the number of the stamens, is here 
 to be attended to. The calyx also is 
 monophyllous and concave in this class ; 
 and the claws of the petals are fixed into 
 the inside of the calyx. 
 
 Monacia. The name of the twenty-first class 
 in the Linnaean system; comprehend- 
 ing the androgynous plants, or such as 
 produce male and female flowers on the 
 
371 
 
 same individual, without any mixture of 
 hermaphrodites. 
 
 Monogynia. The name of the first order in 
 each of the thirteen first classes of the 
 Linnaean system; comprehending such 
 plants as have no pistil, or stigma only, 
 in a flower. 
 
 Monophyllum. A monophyllus, or one-leafed 
 perianth. All in one ; if cut, not sepa- 
 rated to the base. 
 
 Octandria. The name of the eighth class in 
 the Linnaean system ; comprehending 
 those plants which have hermaphrodite 
 flowers with eight stamens. 
 
 Pentagynia. Comprehends those plants 
 which have five pistils in a hermaphro- 
 dite flower. 
 
 Pentandria. The name of the fifth class in 
 Linnaeus's system ; comprehending those 
 plants which have hermaphrodite flowers 
 with five stamens. 
 
 Pistillum. Pistil or pointal ; a viscus or 
 organ adhering to the fruit, for the recep- 
 tion of the pollen. It is the fourth part 
 of the fructification. It's appearance is 
 that of a column, or set of columns, in 
 the centre of the flower ; and when per- 
 fect, it consists of three parts, 1st. Ger- 
 B B 2 
 
372 
 
 men, germ, or ovary; 2d. Stylus, the 
 style; 3d. Stigma. 
 
 Pet alum. A petal : the corollaceous integu- 
 ment of the flower. 
 
 Polyandria. The name of the thirteenth 
 class in the Linnaean system : compre- 
 hending those plants which bear herma- 
 phrodite flowers with many stamens 
 (from twenty to a thousand) growing 
 single on the receptacle. 
 
 Polyadelphia. The name of the eighteenth 
 class in the Linnaean system; compre- 
 hending those plants which bear herma- 
 phrodite flowers with three or more sets 
 of united stamens. 
 
 Polygamia. The name of the twenty-third 
 class in the Linnaean system ; compre- 
 hending those plants which bear herma- 
 phrodite flowers, accompanied with male 
 or female flowers, or both ; not inclosed 
 within the same common calyx, but 
 scattered either on the same plant, or on 
 two, or on three distinct individuals : 
 whence the three orders of this class, 
 1. Mon&cia, %. Diaecia, 3. Tricecia. 
 
 Polygynia. The name of one of the orders 
 in the fifth, sixth, twelfth, and thirteenth 
 classes in the Linnaean system; compre- 
 
373 
 
 bending those plants which have flowers 
 with many pistils. 
 
 Ribcs. See currant-tree. 
 
 Receptacu/um.- A receptacle; the base by 
 which the other parts of the fructification 
 are connected. 
 
 Stamen. An organ, or viscus, for the pre- 
 paration of the pollen; and formed from 
 the wood. It is the third in the fructi- 
 fication, and consists of the filament and 
 anther. 
 
 Syngeucsia. The name of the nineteenth class 
 in Linnseus's artificial system ; compre- 
 hending those plants which have the an- 
 thers united into a cylinder. 
 
 The following anecdote, as related by Ray, 
 will prove how necessary it is for all classes of 
 men to be in some measure acquainted with 
 botany : the counsellor who would be a judge, 
 the student who would be a pleader, the jury- 
 man who would give an honest verdict, and 
 the defendant who would gain his cause, will, 
 in this instance, see the importance of botani- 
 cal information. 
 
 " Baal, who was a gardener at Brent- 
 ford, in Middlesex, having cultivated a re- 
 markable fine cabbage, sold a large quantity 
 of the seeds to several gardeners about the 
 
374 
 
 suburbs of London. They committed them 
 to the ground after the usual manner; but 
 instead of the sort Baal had made them be- 
 lieve would spring up, they proved to be 
 chiefly the brassica longifolia, instead of the 
 florida. His incensed customers, in a body, 
 instantly commenced, in Westminster Hall, 
 a prosecution against him. The unfortunate 
 man being unable to prove his innocence be- 
 fore the judges, the Court found him guilty 
 of fraud ; and he was condemned, not only 
 to restore the price given for the seeds, but 
 was likewise obliged to pay each gardener for 
 the loss of time, and for the ground that had 
 been uselessly occupied. His character and 
 circumstances were consequently ruined ; 
 which impaired his health, and caused him 
 to pay an untimely debt to nature. Had the 
 judges been at all apprized of the sexual hypo- 
 thesis, or had this honest man known, from 
 careful observation, the use of the farina in 
 rendering the pistillum productive, Baal 
 would not have been found guilty of a crime, 
 but the accident would have been attributed 
 to the true cause, the fortuitous impregna- 
 tion of the brassica florida by the farina of the 
 brassica longifolia growing in the neighbour- 
 hood." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
Y* / 
 
 THE APPIiE BLOSSOM 
 
 00 
 
 THE STAMEN 
 
 \ 
 
 THE Pis*m*i,uM 
 
Monandna 3>ian3ria TriaTicJria Xetranciria 
 
 Heacatxdria 
 
 O ctanctria 
 
 Dec andr i a 
 
 Dodecanclrra Icosadria TolyanJria 
 
 1 
 
 JDitfynia Tri^ynia Tetraoynia 
 
xU/v 
 
 ^v 
 
 
 Pen.tacfyuia 
 o- 
 
 Hexagynm 
 
 Dioecia 
 
 ami a 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Acorn -----------11 
 
 Almond 32 
 
 Apple -----------37 
 
 Apricot ----------27 
 
 Banana ---------- 304 
 
 Barberry ----------60 
 
 Beech 64 
 
 Bilberry - 356 
 
 Blackberry -- 69 
 
 Botffe Gourd - - - 182 
 
 Brandy - - - - 212 
 
 Byzantium-nut -------- 173 
 
 Cacas, or Chocolate -------72 
 
 Cashew-nut ---------78 
 
 Cherry -----------84 
 
 CAwwttf ----- 93 
 
 Ceder ---- 55 
 
 Citron 233 
 
 Cocoa-nut - 102 
 
376 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Coffee - . . - - ....... 109 
 
 Cranberry ----...---123 
 Cucumber ---..-.-.. i%Q 
 Currant -------.-_ 135 
 
 Damson ------- -..310 
 
 Date -----.._.. 142 
 
 Dewberry --------- -71 
 
 Elder ........... 153 
 
 Filberts --------... 
 
 Gooseberry ---.---.-.175 
 Gourd ----------.] si 
 
 Grope .......... .185 
 
 Green-gage - - - - - - - ., -311 
 
 Hazel-nut --------- - 221 
 
 Horse-chesnut ---------99 
 
 Hurtleberries --------- 356 
 
 Juniper ---------- 223 
 
 Lemon ----------- 227 
 
 Lime ----------- 232 
 
 Locust ------ ..... 234 
 
 iotas - - - - ....... 358 
 
 Love-apple ---------- 237 
 
 Mahogany - - - .- -- - - - 354 
 
 Medlar ..... ------ 241 
 
 Melon - - - . ...... - 244 
 
 Mithridate ----- .-..351 
 
 Mulberry ---- ...... 251 
 
377 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Nectarine - - - - -261 
 
 Oak - - - - - - 11 
 
 Oil - - 268 
 
 Olive 264 
 
 Orange 271 
 
 Orleans Plum 311 
 
 Palm 124 
 
 Peach - - 281 
 
 Pear - - 290 
 
 Perry ----- 292 
 
 Pine-apple --------- 295 
 
 Pippins ----- 40 
 
 Plantain - 300 
 
 Plum - - - 309 
 
 Pomegranate - - 314 
 
 Pumpkin ----- 320 
 
 Quince 323 
 
 Quince Wine --------- 327 
 
 Raspberry 329 
 
 Scurvy cured by Oranges - - - - - 231 
 
 Service-berry - - -- 340 
 
 Seville Orange -------- 279 
 
 Shaddock 233 
 
 Silk 258 
 
 Squash-gourd - 183 
 
 Snowberry --.- 125 
 
 Strawberry ---------- 338 
 
 Sympathy of Plants - - 89 
 
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