nobles. He finally settled at his benefice of Chimay, and employed as usual the hours of his leisure in arranging and detailing the information collected in his travels. Four years brought him to 1399, when the melancholy fate of his benefactor Richard II. became the subject of his latest labours. It is uncertain how long Froissart survived the death of Richard and the conclusion of his 'Chronicle;' he was then about sixty years old, and died shortly after at Chimay, according to an entry in the obituary of the chapter. and Ferrara, where he received forty ducats from the king | of Cyprus, and thence to Rome. Instead of the modest equipage he travelled with into Scotland, he was now like a man of importance, travelling on a handsome horse, attended by a hackney. It was about this time that Froissart experienced a loss which nothing could recompensethe death of queen Philippa, which took place in 1369. He composed a lay on this melancholy event, of which, however, he was not a witness; for he says, in another place, that in 1395 it was twenty-seven years since he had seen England. According to Vossius and Bullart, he wrote the life of queen Philippa; but this assertion is not founded on any proofs. Independently of the employment of clerk of the chamber to the queen of England, which Froissart had held, he had been also of the household of Edward III., and even of that of John king of France. Having however lost his patroness, he did not return to England, but went into his own country, where he obtained the living of Lestines. Of all that he performed during the time he exercised this ministry, he tells us nothing more than that the tavernkeepers of Lestines had five hundred francs of his money in the short space of time he was their rector. It is mentioned in a manuscript journal of the bishop of Chartres, chancellor to the duke of Anjou, that, according to letters sealed December 12, 1381, this prince caused to be seized fifty-six quires of the Chronicle' of Froissart, rector of the parish of Lestines, which the histortan had sent to be illuminated, and then to be forwarded to the king of England, the enemy of France. Froissart attached himself afterwards to Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, duke of Brabant, perhaps in quality of secretary. This prince, who had a taste for poetry, commissioned Froissart to make a collection of his songs, rondeaus, and virelays; and Froissart, adding some of his own pieces to those of the prince, formed a sort of romance, under the title of Meliador; or, the Knight of the Sun; but the duke did not live to see the completion of the work, for he died in 1384. Immediately after this event, Froissart found another patron in Guy count de Blois, who made him clerk of his chapel, for which Froissart testified his gratitude by a pastoral and epithalamium on a marriage in the family. He passed the years 1385, 1386, and 1387 sometimes in the Blaisois, sometimes in Touraine; but the count de Blois having engaged him to continue his history, which he left unfinished, he determined in 1388 to take advantage of the peace which was just concluded to visit the court of Gaston Phoebus count de Foix, in order to gain full information of whatever related to foreign countries and the more distant provinces of the kingdom. His journey to Ortez, the chief residence of the count de Foix, in company with Sir Espaing du Lyon, is one of the most interesting parts of Froissart's Chronicle. The count de Foix (of whom we have already spoken in a former article) received and admitted him as a member of his household. Here Froissart used to entertain Gaston after supper by reading to him the romance of 'Meliador,' which he had brought with him. After a long sojourn at the court of Ortez he returned to Flanders by the route of Avignon. We learn from a poem referred to by Monsieur de St. Palaye, that on this occasion the historian, always in quest of adventures, met a personal one with which he could have dispensed, being robbed of all the ready money which his travels had left him. After a series of journeys into different countries for the sake of obtaining information, we find him in 1390 in his own country, solely occupied in the completion of his history, at least until 1393, when he was again at Paris. From the year 1378 he had obtained from pope Clement VII. the reversion of a canonry at Lille, and in the collection of his poetry, which was completed in 1393, and elsewhere, he calls himself canon of Lille; but pope Clement dying in 1394, he gave up his expectations of the reversion, and began to qualify himself as canon and treasurer of the collegiate church of Chimay, which he probably owed to the friendship of the count de Blois. The period of history embraced in Froissart's 'Chronicle' is from 1326 to 1400. The best of the old editions of the original is that of Lyon, in four volumes, in folio, 1559. The latest is that in the Collection des Chroniques Nationales Françaises, avec Notes et Eclaircissements, par J. A. Buchon,' in fifteen volumes, 8vo., Paris, 1824-1826. Froissart's Chronicle' seems to have been first printed at Paris by Ant. Verard, without date, 4 vols. in folio, and was reprinted by Guill. Eustace, Par. 1514. There are two English translations; one by Bourchier lord Berners, made at the high commandment' of king Henry VIII., fol. Lond., Pinson, 1525-6; reprinted in two volumes, 4to., Lond., 1812, under the editorial care of E. V. Utterson, Esq.; the other,' with additions from many celebrated MSS,' translated by Thomas Johnes, Esq., appeared from the Hafod press,' in four volumes, 4to., 1803-1805. The principal particulars of Froissart's life have been here condensed from that by St. Palaye, translated and edited by Mr. Johnes, 8vo., Lond., 1801, and revised and re-published in 4to., Hafod, 1810. There are several splendidly illuminated manuscripts of Froissart's Chronicle,' quite or nearly contemporary, preserved in the British Museum: one a complete copy, belonging to the old royal library of the kings of England, 14 Ď. ii.-vi.; another consisting of the second and fourth books in the same collection, 18 E. i. and ii. ; a third in the Harleian Library, MSS. 4379 and 4380, containing the fourth book only; the fourth copy is in the Arundel collection lately transferred from the library of the Royal Society, No. 97, containing the first, second, and third books; but this MS. is mutilated, and has lost many of its illuminations. FROME, a town in the parish of Frome Selwood and hundred of Frome, and in the county of Somerset, 105 miles west-by-south from London. It is agreeably situated on the river Frome, a branch of the Avon, and on the north-east declivity of several hills contiguous to the forest of Selwood, whence the town is frequently called FromeSelwood. It is lighted with gas, but irregularly built, and the streets are narrow and ill-paved. The borough of Frome was not represented before the passing of the Reform Act; it now returns one member. It is not incorporated. It was formerly governed by a bailiff, but is now under the superintendence of the county magistrates. Frome is in the diocese of Bath and Wells. The parish church, dedicated to St. John Baptist, is a handsome structure, surmounted by a quadrangular tower with a neat stone spire. The average net income of the vicarage is 7207.; patron, the marquis of Bath. The town is said to be prospering, and contains several extensive manufactures of woollen cloth, mills for rolling iron, and some considerable breweries. According to the census taken in 1831, its population was 11,240. There is a grammar-school of the foundation of Edward VI., besides several other institutions, among which is a good charity-school.. The market-day is Wednesday. The cattle-fairs are held 24th February, 22nd July, 14th September, and 25th November. (Carlisle's Top. Dict.; Collinson's Hist. and Ant. of the County of Somerset, Bath, 1791; Beauties of England and Wales; Parliamentary Papers, &c.) FROME, river. [SOMERSETSHIRE.] FROND, a botanical term intended to .express such organs as are composed of a stem and a leaf combined; the leaves of ferns and palms were thought to be of this nature; but as it is now known that the leaves of such plants are in no important respect different from those of other plants, the term frond has ceased to have any precise meaning, and is disused by the best botanists. FRONDE, the name of a political faction in France during the minority of Louis XIV., which was hostile to the prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, and to the queen regent, who supported him. In consequence of some disputes between the parliament of Paris and the court, on the occasion of some new taxes levied by the minister, the carVOL. X.-3 S dinal ordered the arrest of the president and of one of the FRONDICULA'RIA. [FORAMINIFERA.*] FRONTI'NUS, SEXTUS JULIUS, born of a patrician family, was prætor of Rome, A.D. 70, and about five years later was sent by Vespasian to Britain, where he seems to have remained three years, during which he conquered the Silures. (Tacitus, Agricola, 17.) About A.D. 78 he was succeeded by Agricola in the command of the troops in Britain. On his return to Rome he wrote, under the reign of Domitian, his work 'Strategematica,' in four books, in which he gives short anecdotes of numerous Greek and Roman generals, illustrative of the practice and resources of war. Nerva entrusted him with the superintendence of the supply of water to Rome, and while filling this office, which he retained under Trajan, he wrote his work on the aqueducts, which has been printed in the earlier editions under the title of De Aquis quæ in Urbem influunt,' but is now generally known by the title De Aquæductibus.' It contains much valuable information on the mode in which antient Rome was supplied with water, and on everything that concerned this important part of the economy of that city. Frontinus died under Trajan, about A.D. 106. Several other works have been attributed to him, such as De Coloniis,' De Limitibus,' De Qualitate Agrorum,' but seemingly without foundation. See the Bipontine edition of his works, with a life of Frontinus, 8vo., 1788. His work De Aquæductibus' was translated into French and illustrated by engravings, 4to., Paris, 1830. FRONTISPIECE, the front or principal face of a building; the front-view; anything seen in or at the front. Johnson says, id quod in fronte conspicitur.' Hence, by a figure, we call the engraved title of a book or the print which faces the title-page a frontispiece. In this article Rahizopoda' is erroneously printed for Rhizopoda,' in the column; and stirated' for 'striated' in two places in the second, FRONTO, MARCUS CORNELIUS, born at Cirta, in Africa, of an Italian family, after studying in his own country, came to Rome in the reign of Hadrian, and acquired great reputation as a rhetorician and grammarian. Antoninus Pius appointed him preceptor to his two adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, whose confidence and affection he gained, as is proved by their letters. After being consul, Fronto was appointed to a government in Asia, which his bad health prevented him from filling. His learning and his instructive conversation are mentioned with praise by Aulus Gellius, the historian Appian, and others of his contemporaries. He died in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, at an advanced age. Until of late years we had nothing of his works, except fragments of his treatise De Differentia Verborum,' being a vocabulary of the so-called synonymes; but in 1815 Angelo Mai having discovered in the Ambrosian library at Milan a palimpsest MS. on which had been originally written some letters of Fronto to his two pupils, deciphered the text wherever the writing was not entirely obliterated, and published it with notes. It happened, by singular good fortune, that Mai, being some years after appointed librarian of the Vatican, discovered in another palimpsest volume another part of Fronto's letters, with the answers of Marcus Aurelius and Verus. Both the volumes came originally from the convent of St. Columbanus, at Bobbio, the monks having written them over with the Acts of the 1st council of Calchedon. It happened that one of the volumes was transferred to Milan, and the other to Rome. Mai published the whole in a new edition: M. Cornelii Frontonis et M. Aurelii imperatoris epistula: L. Veri et Antonini Pii et Appiani epistularum reliquiæ: Fragmenta Frontonis et scripta grammatica,' 8vo., Rome, 1823. These letters are very valuable, as throwing additional light on the age of the Antonines, confirming what we know of the excellent character of Marcus Aurelius, and also showing his colleague Verus in a more favourable light than he had been viewed in before. The affectionate manner in which both emperors continue to address their former preceptor is very touching. Two or three short epistles of Antoninus Pius are also interesting. There are besides many letters of Fronto to various friends, a few of which are in Greek. The work was translated into French, and published with the text and notes, 2 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1830. FROSINO'NE, DELEGAZIONE DI, a province of the Papal state, is bounded on the north and west by the Comarca or province of Rome, east by the Terra di Lavoro in the kingdom of Naples, and south by the Mediterranean. Its greatest length from north to south, from the ridge north of Anagni, which divides the valley of the Sacco fron that of the Anio, which latter makes part of the province of Rome, to Monte Circello, which is the most southern point of the Papal state, is about 40 miles; its greatest breadth is about 30 miles, and its area is reckoned to be 1360 square miles. (Neigebaur, Gemälde Italiens.) Its population in 1830 was 123,300. (Calindri, Saggio Statistico dello State Pontificio.) This province includes also in its jurisdiction the small district of Ponte Corvo, which is in the valley of the Liris, within the territory of Naples, but belongs to the pope. The province of Frosinone consists of four natural divisions: 1. The Valley of the Sacco, which is fertile: 2. The mountains north of it, the Hernica Saxa, or Rocks of the Hernici, which are mostly barren; 3. The Mounts Lepini, Volscorum Montes, south of the valley of the Sacr which are partly cultivated; and 4. The Pomptine Marshes, extending south of the Mounts Lepini to the sea-coast s far as Monte Circello and Terracina. The province contains 7 towns and 45 terre, or villages, having a communal council, and 24 hamlets. (Calindri.) Frosinone, built on a hill above the junction of the river Cossa with the Sacco, is the capital of the province, and the residence of the delegate. An account of the principal towns of this province is given under CAMPAGNA DI ROMA. FROST. [FREEZING.] FROST-BEARER, or Cryóphorus, an instrument unvented by Dr. Wollaston for exhibiting the freezing of water in vacuo, and at a distance from the source of cola: his directions for making it and for its use are nearly this given in the Philosophical Transactions' for 1813- Let a glass tube be taken, having its internal diameter about one-eighth of an inch, with a ball at each extrem of about one inch in diameter, and let the tube be bent ta a right angle at the distance of half an inch from each ball. One of these balls should contain a little water, but if it as more than half full, it will be liable to be burst by the expansion of the water in freezing; the remaining cavity should be as perfect a vacuum as can be readily obtained. One of the balls is made to terminate in a capillary tube, and when water admitted into the other has been boiled over a lamp for a considerable time, till all the air is expelled, the capillary extremity, through which the steam is still issuing with violence, is held in the flame of the lamp till the force of the vapour is so far reduced, that the heat of the flame has power to seal it hermetically. When an instrument of this description has been successfully exhausted, if the ball that is empty be immersed in a freezing mixture of salt and snow, the water in the other ball, though at the distance of two or three feet, will be frozen in the course of a very few minutes. The vapour contained in the empty ball is condensed by the common operation of cold, and the vacuum produced by this condensation gives opportunity for a fresh quantity to arise from the water in the opposite ball, and with so great a reduction of its temperature, that the water freezes. According to the doctrine which does not admit of the existence of positive cold, we should represent the heat of the warmer ball to be the agent in this experiment, generating steam as long as there remains any excess of heat to be conveyed. But if we should express the cause of its abstraction, we must say that the cold mixture is the agent, and may observe in this instance, that its power of freezing is transferred to a distance by what may be termed the negative power of steam. FROZEN OCEAN, a term used to indicate the seas surrounding the Poles, in which great masses of ice swim about. It is consequently synonymous with Icy Sea, and in some degree also with what are called the Arctic and Antarctic Seas or Oceans. FRUIT, in botanical language, signifies that part of a plant in which the seed is lodged, whatever its size, colour, or texture may be, so that the seed-like grain of a sage, the grain of corn, the nut of a chestnut, the dry capsule of a lilac bush, are as much fruits as those of a peach, an apple, or a pine-apple. In the ordinary acceptation of the term however the word fruit is exclusively applied to seed cases which are eatable, and generally to such as require no preparation to render them fit for food. The eatable fruits known in this climate are of so much importance to the comfort as well as luxury of society, that without entering much into details we shall here introduce some general observations, which will inform our readers what are the kinds most deserving of cultivation in select or confined gardens. In doing which we have the advantage of producing in a condensed form the important results of the laborious and costly investigations conducted for so many years in the garden of the Horticultural Society of London at Turnham Green. These have already been made known to the public in the second edition of the Catalogue of Fruits,' cultivated in that establishment; and our only task is to make a judicious selection from the thousands of varieties included in the Society's list. The species of cultivated fruits are far from numerous; and most of those of the temperate regions have been introduced, at one period or another, into Britain. The genera from which these have sprung are comparatively few, and chiefly included in the natural orders Rosacea, Vitaceæ, Urticaceae, and Grossulaceæ. To the first of these are to be referred the genera producing the species called apples, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, peaches, and nectarines, quinces, medlars, raspberries, and strawberries; to the second, the vine; to the third, the fig and mulberry; and to the fourth, the gooseberries and currants. Moreover there are chestnuts and filberts belonging to Corylace; walnuts to Juglandacea, and the melon and pine-apple respectively to Cucurbitacea and Bromeliaceæ. In this place we shall briefly enumerate what may be considered the most valuable varieties of each as objects of cultivation. APPLES are the most numerous class in cultivation. It has been conjectured that they were brought to this country by the Romans; but it is doubtful whether the varieties then introduced would succeed in this climate, presuming on the fact that the Malo di Carlo, well known as being so exceedingly beautiful and delicious in the North of Italy, has, in one of our finest English summers, proved pale and insipid, and that the apples of the South of Europe are generally worthless in England. A hardier breed, it is more than probable, was introduced by the Normans, especially of such as were suited for the manufacture of cider. Apples are usually divided into three principal sorts, according as they are fitted for dessert, for kitchen use, or for cider. For dessert, the following are early varieties: Early Red Margaret, Early Harvest, Oslin, Kerry Pippin, and Summer Golden Pippin. In succession to these, the Wormsley Pippin, King of the Pippins, Golden Reinette, Ribston Pippin, Court of Wick, Pearson's Plate, a remarkably handsome dessert apple, Golden Harvey, one of the very highest excellence, Hughes's Golden Pippin, Herefordshire Pearmain, Lamb Abbey Pearmain, Court-Pendu plat, which blossoms late, thereby escaping the spring frosts, Reinette du Canada, Old Nonpareil, and Scarlet Nonpareil. For early kitchen use: Dutch Codlin, Keswick Codlin, Hawthornden, Nonesuch, which last deserves particular notice on account of its beautiful transparency when made into apple jelly, for which purpose it is the best sort known. For winter and spring use, from many excellent varieties, the following are selected: Blenheim Pippin, which may be also used at dessert, Dumelow's Seedling, Bedfordshire Foundling, Alfriston, Gloria Mundi. Royal Russet, Brabant Bellefleur, Northern Greening, Norfolk Beaufin, from which the 'Beaufins,' or 'Beefins,' so generally to be seen in the London shops, are prepared; and French Crab, which will keep above a year. For cider, Siberian Bitter- Sweet, Foxley, Red Streak, Fox Whelp, Golden Harvey, Coccagee, Hagloe Crab, and Cooper's Red Streak, are amongst the most celebrated. Of the varieties of PEARS, few, till lately, have originated in this country; most of the kinds in former cultivation were from France, but they generally required the protection of walls. The greater intercourse with the continent consequent upon the establishment of peace in 1815, led to the introduction of a number of new and hardy varieties o this fruit from Belgium, where its cultivation and improve ment had been, and still are, attended to with great assiduity, These new varieties, with some of equal merit, and even superior hardiness, raised within the last few years at Downton castle, in Herefordshire, now compose the principal part of the most select lists, and are at the same time rapidly excluding the old French varieties from cultivation. Pears are divided into three classes, dessert, kitchen, and perry. The following are amongst the finest: for dessert, Citron des Carmes, Jargonelle, which requires a wall; Summer St. Germain, Ambrosia, Fondante d'Automne, White Doyenné, if grown as an open standard; Seckle, Louise Bonne (of Jersey), Marie Louise, Beurré Bosc, Gansel's Bergamot, which also requires a wall; Duchesse d'Angoulême, Beurré Diel, Nelis d'Hiver, Althorp Crassane, Winter Crassane, Napoleon, Glout Morceau, Passe Colmar, Knight's Monarch, Neplus Meuris, Easter Beurré, Beurré Rance. These are enumerated in their order of becoming fit for use. For kitchen use: Bezi d'Heri, which is excellent for stewing and very free from grittiness; Bequêne Musqué, Spanish Bon Chrétien, Double de Guerre, Catillac, Uvedale's St. Germain. For perry: Oldfield, Barland, Longland, Teinton Squash. The best varieties of PLUMS for the dessert are, the Green Gage, Washington, Reine Claude, Violette, Drap d'Or, Kirke's, Coe's Golden Drop, Blue Imperatrice. For kitchen use: Orleans, White Magnum Bonum, Shropshire Damson, which last is excellent for preserving, as are also the St. Catherine, Coe's Golden Drop, Green Gage, and Quetsche; the latter is the sort of which the German Prunes of the shops are made, by slow and repeated drying in an oven. CHERRIES, it is said, were first cultivated in this country at Sittingbourn, in Kent, where they are supposed to have been introduced about the time of Henry VIII. That county is still famous for a sort called the Kentish cherry, identical with some of the varieties of the Montmorency cherries of the French. They are round, bright red, and acid, and much used for pies. They have also the peculiar property of the stalk adhering so firmly to the stone that the latter may be drawn out without breaking the skin, excepting at the base. The fruit is then dried in hair sieves in the sun, or otherwise placed in a gently heated oven; the cherries will then keep for a year, and have the appearance of raisins. The best cherries for dessert are the Elton, Downton, May Duke, Royal Duke, Knight's Early Black, Early Purple Guigne, Bigarreau, Florence. For preserving, the Kentish and Morello are best. APRICOTS in cultivation are of few varieties compared | let, which retains a fine colour, Downton, Elton, Old with any of the preceding kinds of fruits, and of those Pine, Prolific or Conical Hautbois, and the Large Flet do. the most useful are the following: Large Early, Breda, The alpine and wood strawberries require to be occa Moorpark, Royal, and Turkey. The Breda is the best for sionally renewed from seeds; the best varieties are the Red standards, and when the season is favourable, the fruit on Alpine and the White Alpine. Keen's Seedling, Roseberry, such, although smaller than that grown against a wall, is, and Grove End Scarlet, are proper for forcing. notwithstanding, higher flavoured. A variety called the GRAPES are brought to high perfection in this country, Musch-Musch may be noticed, although not recommended by the aid of hothouses; in favourable situations some for cultivation in this climate. It is the sort grown in the kinds ripen pretty well, even on walls in good seasons: but oases in Upper Egypt, where it produces in great abun- open vineyard culture is not practised to any extent in dance, the fruit being dried, and in this state forming an England at the present time, nor is it likely ever to become article of commerce for exportation. The apricot blossoms profitable. Varieties of wine grapes therefore need not be earlier than any other fruit-tree cultivated in this country; noticed here, farther than by stating that they are very nuhence, most probably, it was called Precocia among the merous; many of them form small compact bunches like Romans, a corruption of which name is traceable in the mo- the Miller's Burgundy,' which is indeed one of them, and dern one of Apricot. In consequence of the tree blossoming is the sort of black cluster grape with woolly, mealy leaves, so early, its blossoms, particularly in the case of young trees, commonly seen on the walls of houses near London. The are extremely liable to drop off in setting. This is not to be following are suitable for a vinery:-Black Frontignan, wondered at, when it is considered that the ground is fre- Black Prince, Black Hamburg, West's St. Peter's, Black quently at the time (March) in as cold a state as at any Morocco, Red Frontignan, White do., Grizzly do., Royal period of the whole season, neither the sun's heat nor the Muscadine, Chasselas Musqué, White Muscat of Alexanwarm rains having reached so far below the surface as to dria; the last requires a strong heat. For walls, perhaps warm the soil in contact with the roots; and thus, whilst none fruits better, or forms a handsomer bunch than the the latter are in a medium perhaps a little above freezing, Royal Muscadine; it is preferable to the Sweetwater, which the tops, exposed to a bright sun against a wall, are at that generally forms a ragged bunch in consequence of a great period of the season occasionally in a temperature as high as number of the berries being small and abortive; the Black 90° or 100° Fahr. The injurious effects of this disparity Prince and Esperione will sometimes succeed; and the must be sufficiently obvious to every one, and the only Early Black July and Burgundy Black Cluster will ripen remedy to be adopted is to have a very complete drainage still better, but the bunches of the latter are very small. below the roots, and the whole soil of the border, not The only fruits still remaining to be noticed, the varieties retentive, but of a pervious nature. If it could also be of which are of any importance, are figs, gooseberries and kept perfectly dry previous to the commencement of vege- currants, and pine-apples. tation, and then only allowed to receive the rain when warm, avoiding the cooling effects of melting snow and hail, the tree would thus be placed under circumstances comparatively more natural. PEACHES and NECTARINES require the aid of a wall to bring them to perfection in this climate; and in the more northern counties of Britain the protection of glass is also requisite. They likewise rank among the kinds of fruits which are considered of sufficient value to be forced. A selection of the best varieties of peaches is as follows:Noblesse, Red Magdalen, Royal George, Grosse Mignonne, Bellegarde, Late Admirable. The two very best nectarines are the Elruge, which has little or no red at the stone; and the Violette Hâtive, the flesh of which is rayed with red near the stone this serves as a principal distinction between these two varieties. For the sake of variety, the Pitmaston Orange and the White Nectarine may also be included. A selection of peaches for forcing may consist of the Bellegarde, Noblesse, Grosse Mignonne, Royal George, Royal Charlotte, and Barrington. Nectarines for the same purpose are the Elruge and the Violette Hâtive. The best variety of QUINCES is the common oue. The Portugal Quince is distinct; but its fruit does not ripen so well in this climate as the common quince. Its wood however swells more in conformity with that of the pear, and it therefore is preferable as a stock for pears. The principal varieties of the MEDLAR are the Large or Dutch, the Upright or Nottingham, and the Stoneless. The first is esteemed for its size, and sometimes for the form of the tree, on account of the rustic crooked appearance which it assumes. The second is of better quality as regards flavour; and the third is small without stones or seeds, and keeps longer than the others. In some parts of England the FIG bears in the open air ; but in order to ensure its doing so, a warm, or more strictly speaking, a dry subsoil is absolutely necessary, whether it be grown as a standard in the open ground or against a wall, or forced under glass. Wherever the soil is retentive of water, it will retain the coldness of winter till late in the spring. In fact, if the subsoil be very wet, its temperature will approximate to that of spring water, which in England is little above 50° Fahr. throughout the whole year; an amount of cold which the roots of the fig are certainly not accustomed to in summer in its native climate in Asia and Barbary, or even where it has been naturalised in the South of Europe. Or, if the springs should fall so low during summer, as to leave the roots of the Fig tree unaffected by their presence, the temperature of the surface will be suddenly raised by the first rain that falls. This often takes place towards the end of summer, and a superabundant growth ensues, too late for being completed before winter. Figs succeed well in Sussex, where the subsol is chalk, and the rain passes off as it falls; and in preparing borders for it, the whole should be composed of such materials as are pervious to water. Some of the finest varieties of figs for this climate are the Brown Turkey, Brunswick, White Marseilles, Nerii, Pregussata, White Ischia, Brown Ischia, Yellow Ischia. The Brown Turkey is well adapted for forcing, for which purpose the Pregussata, White Marseilles, and the White, Brown, and Yellow Ischias are also proper. GOOSEBERRIES are brought to greater perfection in Britain than in any other country. The varieties are numerous, and many of them have been raised in Lancashire, chiefly by the manufacturing population, with a view to prizes. Ít is to be regretted that the latter have generally been awarded solely with reference to weight; hence a number of large but coarse sorts have been brought into cultivation. În making the following selection, flavour and not size has been kept in view. Fruit, red: Red Champagne; Red Warrington; Keen's Seedling Warrington; Rough Red, used for preserving; Red Turkey; Rob Roy; Ironmonger. Fruit, yellow Yellow Champagne; Early Sulphur; Rumbullion, which is much used for bottling. Fruit, green: Early Green Hairy; Pitmaston Green Gage; Green Walnut; Parkinson's Laurel; Massey's Heart of Oak; Edwards's Jolly Tar. Fruit, white: White Champagne; Early White; Woodward's Whitesmith; Taylor's Bright Venus; Cook's White Eagle; White Honey. RASPBERRIES Compared with many of the fruits mentioned above, differ little in their character as cultivated varieties from that of the botanical species Rubus idaeus, from which they have arisen: for instance, the difference between the wild sloe and the green gage is very great; whereas the wild raspberry growing in the woods differs only slightly in flavour, and not widely in size and form from those cultivated in gardens. Good varieties are the Red Antwerp, Yellow ditto, Barnet, Cornish, and Red Globe. STRAWBERRIES are now considerably reduced in regard to the number of varieties in cultivation. By the introduction of Keen's Seedling,' the very coarse sorts have been mostly banished even from the streets of London; this variety having proved the best of all for the market, The varieties of CURRANTS preferable for cultivation are combining very good flavour with the properties of being very few. Of black currants, the Black Naples and the of a large size and very prolific. Other varieties deserving Black Grape are the best. The White Dutch, Red Dutch cultivation are the Grove End Scarlet, Roseberry, American Knight's Sweet Red, and Knight's Large Red, are the Scarlet, and where wanted for confectionary, the Old Scar-best sorts of white, and red currants. The PINE-APPLE is the only tropical fruit which is culti- | vated to any extent in this country. The best varieties are the Queen, Moscow Queen, Black Jamaica, Brown Sugarloaf, and Black Antigua; the Enville and White Providence are cultivated more for their size than flavour. FRUITS, PRESERVATION OF. The apple and pear, the two staple fruits of this country, are of so much importance to great numbers of persons, that we shall not dismiss this subject without giving some information concerning the best means of preserving them during the autumn and winter; for it is an object of no little moment to be able to prolong the duration of the season of these fruits even for a single month. A few early varieties may be eaten from the tree, or when recently gathered; but the greater and by far the most valuable portion require to be kept for some time until they acquire a proper degree of mellowness: thus, most pears are extremely hard when gathered; some even remain so during the winter, and only become melting, or of a buttery consistency, in the spring. Apples, although it is their property to remain a long time nearly as crisp as when gathered, yet are at first too acid for the dessert, and require to be stored up in the same manner as pears, until their juices acquire a rich sugary flavour. Many varieties indeed permanently retain their acidity, but such are only proper for culinary purposes, for which indeed their brisk ness renders them eligible. With regard to the gathering and storing of apples or pears, having in view their most perfect preservation, it is necessary that the gathering should be performed in all cases when the trees and fruit are perfectly dry. No precise time can be specified as to the period of the season when any particular variety ought to be taken; for this is influenced variously by circumstances connected with soil, climate, and situation. The best general rule is, to gather when the fruit-stalk separates easily from the spur, on the fruit being raised by the hand from its natural or pendulous position. There are scarcely any exceptions to this rule, unless as regards a few of the summer and early autumn varieties, in which the flavour is improved by gathering a little earlier than is indicated by the above criterion. The treatment of the fruit after gathering is by no means uniform; some lay it directly on the shelves of the fruitroom, or wherever else it is intended to remain till fit for use; others cause it to undergo a process of fermentation, called sweating, by throwing it in a heap, and covering it with some dry substance, generally straw; in some instances even blankets have been used for this purpose. After it has perspired for ten days or a fortnight, it is spread out at a time when the air is dry, in order to expedite the evaporation of the moisture. All unsound specimens, or even such as are suspected of being so, are then separated. In the case of particularly valuable sorts, it has been recommended to wipe off the moisture with flannel; but this proceeding, for reasons hereafter to be explained, is not advisable. With regard to the final storing up, as it has been proved by experience that certain methods successfully practised by some, have turned out a failure when attempted by others, and as these fruits are extensively cultivated by persons variously circumstanced, some of whom are compelled by necessity to practise perhaps not the very best mode, but the best they can command, it will be proper to detail the various methods that have hitherto been tried, in order that such as are most deserving of recommendation may be pointed out, as well as those which ought to be avoided in every possible case The following are the different modes in which apples and pears have been deposited for winter use-1. În single layers on the bare shelves of a fruit-room. 2. In the same manner, but covered with light canvass, which must be dried occasionally, as it absorbs the evaporation. 3. In close drawers; one layer, or several layers in depth. 4. In dry casks without any interposing material; a few weeks after they are first put in they require to be carefully picked over, the casks made perfectly dry and re-filled, the head closely fitted, and the fruit on no account disturbed till unpacked for use. 5 In boxes, casks, large garden pots, or jars, with pure and dry sand interposed between the layers of fruit. 6. In jars in which no sand or other substance is allowed to come in contact with the fruit, the mouths of the jars being covered with a piece of slate, and the whole plunged in a quantity of dry sand, so as to be several inches from the free atmosphere. The sand being a slow conductor of caloric, the sudden changes of temperature and their powerful effects in causing the decay of fruits are avoided. 7. In heaps in a dry airy loft, a slight covering of straw being given to protect them from frost. 8. In baskets lined with straw. 9. In close cellars excluded from the light, which is in all cases injurious. 10. In dark but airy vaults. 11. On a small scale, under a bell-glass cemented down air-tight; this must not be done on wood the least resinous, for even the white deal, which, when made into open shelves, communicates none of its flavour to the fruit, yet when supporting a close bell-glass, strongly taints whatever fruit is placed in it, by the confined and accumulating exhalation. 12. Buried in a box placed on four bricks, under another box inverted, in an excavation so deep that the upper portion of the fruit may be 1 or 2 feet below the surface of the earth. 13. In threshed grain, or in corn stacks. 14. Reposing on wheat straw, with or without a covering of the same. 15. In chaff of wheat or oats. 16. In flax-seed chaff. 17. In powdered charcoal; this, if it cannot prevent, will in no degree contribute to decay, either internally or externally. It is the substance in which the imported Newtown pippins are frequently packed, and they would arrive much sounder than they do were it not for the bruises they evidently appear to have received previous to exportation. 18. In dried fern leaves. Amongst so great a variety of modes, it is obviously of considerable importance to ascertain not only which are the best, but which experience has proved to be the worst. This inquiry is most advantageously pursued by settling in the first instance what the circumstances are that have been universally found detrimental to the preservation of fruits. As was remarked when mentioning the sixth mode, atmospheric changes have very great, if not the most powerful influences: firstly, as regards their calorific effects, and secondly, their hygrometrical. In the former respect, the expansion and condensation occasioned by the rise and fall of temperature must work a change in the state of the juices, doubtless often at variance with the gradual chemical change which these juices naturally undergo; hence, those fruits that are most exposed to vicissitudes of temperature are found to be most apt to fail in attaining their full sugary mellow perfection. Again, when warm weather suddenly succeeds cold, the air in the room is of a higher temperature than the fruit, until such time as the latter acquire from the former an equality of temperature; and until such time as this takes place, the fruit, from its coldness, acts as a condenser of the vapour existing in the warmer atmosphere by which it is surrounded, and the surface consequently becomes covered with a great deposition of moisture, as will be the case with a glass filled with water colder than the atmosphere of a room into which it is brought. The more smooth and glossy the variety of apple or pear, the greater is the condensation on its surface. Russeted apples and pears exhibit the least effects in this way, their rough dry coat being in less immediate contact with the cold juices of the fruit. From the above it is sufficiently evident that variations in the state of the atmosphere, as regards its temperature, have injurious effects by the expansion and condensation of the juices, and by the deposition of moisture on the surface, partly owing to atmospheric humidity, but chiefly to the circumstance of the latter being condensed upon the fruit, as above explained. This deposition of moisture tends to decompose the skin and to render it less efficacious as a protector. It therefore follows, that where fruit is not kept closely packed, it should be exposed to as little change of temperature as possible, and should also be preserved from the full effects of an atmosphere saturated with moisture. If a circulation of air could be secured of a uniform temperature and dryness, or nearly so, there is no doubt as to the superiority of flavour which the fruit would acquire. The watery particles would exhale, and at the same time shrivelling would not take place to any great extent, for this chiefly occurs in consequence of expansion and contraction, and alternate moisture and dryness of the surface, the results of irregularities in the state of the atmosphere. It may be here observed, that wiping the fruit is injurious. The skins of fruits are more or less covered with a secretion, technically called the bloom, which every one will have observed on grapes and plums, on both of which it is very conspicuous, and although less so on apples and pears, yet it does exist on them, and its use is to pro |