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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

immediately covered with sap, which thickens, and forms a mass that excludesthe air from the interior of the fruit; and the consequence is, that it ripens,or becomes ready to drop off, in half the time usually taken by nature, withoutlosing any of its size or of its flavour. This process, Bose observes, deservesa trial in France .

The Process of Caprification is described by Tournefort ; and his descriptiondiffers very little from that given by Pliny . It consists in inducing a certainspecies of insect of the gnat kind, which abounds on the wild fig, to enterthe fruit of the cultivated fig, for the purpose of fecundating the fertile flowersin the interior of the fruit by the farina of the barren ones near its orifice. Thedetails will be found given at length in Rees’s Cyclopedia ; under the wordCaprification in Martyn’s Miller; and in the Encyclopedia of Geography,

Propagation and Culture. The fig is easily propagated by cuttings of theshoots or roots, not one of which will fail; and also by suckers, layers, andseeds. In British nurseries, it is generally propagated by layers ; thoughthese do not ripen their wood, the first season, so well as cuttings. When thefig is to be planted as a standard tree, constant attention must be paid toremove all suckers from its collar, and all side shoots from its stem. Whentrained against a wall in a cold climate, the branches should proceed from asingle stem, and not from the collar, as is generally the case; because theplant, when so treated, produces shoots which are less vigorous, and, con-sequently, more likely to ripen their wood.

Insects, Accidents, and Diseases. The fig, in hot countries, and in dry seasons,especially when at a distance from the sea, is apt to have its leaves and fruitscorched and shriveled up by the sun. It is scarcely subject to any diseases;but it is liable to the attacks of the cochineal, the kermes, and psylla. InBritish gardens, it is very seldom injured by insects in the open air; but it isvery liable to the attacks of the red spider, the coccus, and the honey-dew,under glass. Abundance of water, and a moist atmosphere, like that of itsindigenous habitat, the sea shore, are perhaps the best preventives.

Statistics. The largest standard fig trees that we know of in the neighbourhood of London are atSyon, Chiswick , and in the Mile End Nursery, where they are about 15ft. high. In Sussex,atArundel Castle , there are several standard trees in the'old garden, 25|ft. high ; at Tarring, nearWorthing , in the largest fig garden, there are 70 standard "trees, from 12 ft. to 15 ft. high. At Black-down House, near Haslemere, there are some fine old standard fig trees, which ripen fruit every yearIn France, in the neighbourhood of Nantes , the tree, as a standard, seldom exceeds 18 ft. in height: atAvignon it attains the height of 20 ft. or 25 ft.; and, in 1819, we observed some very fine specimens inthe garden of the Military Hospital there. In Italy, at Monza , a tree, 60 years old, is 30 ft. high ; thediameter of the trunk 1£ ft., and of the head 60 ft. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from Is.to 5s. each, according to the variety ; at Bollwyller, 2 francs each; and at New York , from 50 cents to1 dollar.

Genus V.

BO'RY^ W. The Borya. Lin. Syst. Dice'cia Di-Triandria.

Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p.711. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., vol. 5.; Lindl. Nat. Syst. ofBot.,p. 178. „ , 9

Synonymes. Adfelia Michx. Ft. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 223.; Bigel 5 vm Smith in Rees’s Cyclop., Addenda.Derivation. Named in honour of Bory de St. Vincent who visited the Mauritius and the Isle 01Bourbon, to examine their botany. Smith, in Rees’s Cyclopedia , objects to the name of Borysbeing applied to this genus, because La Billardifere had previously given the same name to anothergenus ; and he suggests the substitution of the name of BigeKma, in commemoration of Dr. Bigelow of Boston, author of the Florula Bostoniensis, and of the American Medical Botany. The genuBbrya Lab., and the genus B5ry« Willd., are both cited in Lindl. Natural System of Botany , andiis most probable that another name will be instituted for one of them.

Description, S,c. Deciduous shrubs, growing to the height of from 6 ft-12 ft. in common garden soil, with a dark brown or purple bark, and small,deep green, opposite leaves. Propagated by cuttings, and quite hardy.

S 1. B. Z/gu'strina Willd. The Privet-like Borya.

Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 711.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., voL 5. ... ; n

Synonymes. Adfelia Zigfistrina Michx. FI. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 224.; Bigelbvict Zigustrina SmmRees’s Cyclop. Addenda , Lodd. Cat. , ed. 1836.

The Sexes! The plants bearing this name in Loddiges’s arboretum have not yet flowered.