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FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON. 49
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
T. Pacts And Fictions Co^Stceening Pigs....
meter of three hundred and seventy feet , it seems questionable whetherin the limited space between the four _Edenite rivers , a
tree would , have been included which required so very large a field for the extension of its single self ; and the _shajDe of the leaftoo
, — -a simple oval , from five to six inches long , and from three to four inches broad—seems less fitted for the purpose intended than the
spreading lobes of the broad-leaved _" carica . " The banyan figs grow in pairs , and are only about the size of an ordinary cherry ,
which they also resemble in color ; and being useless as food , except to birds , the tree seems in every respect less likely than the
common species to have been favored with a place in Eden . Indeedif the claims of the latter be rejecteda more formidable *
rival than , the banyan might be found in the variet , y Ficus religioso _, so called because sacred to the idol Vishnu , and which is chiefly
remarkable for its very singular leaves , shaped like a heart , but "with the tip drawn out into a slender attenuated point , several
inches in length ; an appendage which would certainly favor their Ibeing sewn or interwoven to form a connected web . Both kinds
are held in great veneration in India , the banyan being called the Ci priests' tree" and to cut or break a twig from it is reckoned
a crime equal , in enormity to that of breaking a cow ' s leg . The other most notable variety of the _Hg is the Ficus elastica _, which
iurnishes us with the caoutchouc of commerce ; indeed , the possession of a milky juice is one of the characteristics of the whole
genus ; and Lindley is of opinion that india-rubber might be made in England from our common fig-treethe sap of which possesses
like properties . In the ripe fruit this , secretion is decomposed , and becomes sweet and harmless ; but if eaten unripethe milky juice
, makes its presence known by corroding the lips and tongue , causing a burning sensation in the throat , and producing dysentery . Yet
In some varieties the milk , even drawn from , the tree direct , is perfectly bland and wholesom , e ; most of what are called cow-trees
being , really varieties of the fig . The Ficus dcemona , however , as might be inferred from its name , yields a virulent poison , and the
famous Upas tree of Java is another enfant terrible of the family whose The claim most to curious cousinshi specimen p yet cannot in the be New denied World . is the Ficus
nym-2 ) 7 icefolia or American fig-tree , described by Humboldt , who was much struck with its ligneous excrescences or ridges , which
surround the trunk to a height of about twenty feet , increasing its bulk so considerably that he found some of the trees measuring
twenty-two and a half feet in diameter . These ribs sometimes separate from the trunk at a heiht of eiht feet from the ground
and take the form of lindrical g roots two g feet thickwlien the tree , looks as if supported cy by flying buttresses . The larger , roots creep
along the surface of the ground , and seem to have a plethora of sap to their extremities ; for if cut at a distance of twenty feet
from the very trunk , their milk , y juice immediately gushes out .
VOL . VII . E
Fruits In Their Season. 49
FRUITS IN THEIR SEASON . 49
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1861, page 49, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031861/page/49/
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