Date fruit

“ TO E.M.—A BALLAD OF NURSERY RHYME. Strawberries that in gardens grow Are plump and juicy fine, But sweeter far as wise men know Spring from the woodland vine. No need for bowl or silver spoon, Sugar or spice or cream, Has the wild berry plucked in June Beside the trickling stream. One such to melt at the tongue's root, Confounding taste with scent, Beats a full peck of garden fruit: Which points my argument. ”

“ THE FRUIT, AND ITS FLAVOR.
The time for wild apples is the last of October and the first of November. They then get to be palatable, for they ripen late, and they are still perhaps as beautiful as ever. I make a great account of these fruits, which the farmers do not think it worth the while to gather,—wild flavors of the Muse, vivacious and inspiriting. The farmer thinks that he has better in his barrels, but he is mistaken, unless he has a walker’s appetite and imagination, neither of which can he have. ”

“ About the month of April the young fruit begins to advance, but the usual season for ripening does not commence till July, and the fruit is in greatest perfection from the middle of August to the end of September. ”

“ For when May Day comes, the seed has long been committed to the earth; and when November opens, the harvest has long been reaped and garnered, the fields lie bare, the fruit-trees are stripped, and even the yellow leaves are fast fluttering to the ground. ”

“ April—You may graft some sorts of fruit-trees in the beginning of this month; sow all garden-seeds in dry weather; and plant all sorts of garden-herbs in wet weather. You may yet sow those sorts of seeds spoken of in march: sow tender seeds, as sweet marjoram, basil, pinks, carnation, hyslop, thyme, savory and purslain, Dutch and English savoys. Set all sorts of winter greens in this and the former month, set sage and rosemary, sow lettuce, spinnage, chervil and cresses once in three or four weeks to have it young. Plant cucumbers, melons, and artichoaks. ”

“ Figs, dates, French plums, &c., are all served on small glass plates or oval dishes, but without the almonds.
Seasonable at any time, but more suitable in winter, when fresh fruit is not obtainable.
DATES.—Dates are imported into Britain, in a dried state, from Barbary and Egypt, and, when in good condition, they are much esteemed. An inferior kind has lately become common, which are dried hard, and have little or no flavour. They should be chosen large, softish, not much wrinkled, of a reddish-yellow colour on the outside, with a whitish membrane between the fruit and the stone. ”

“ There are few sights pleasanter than the last hour of apple-cropping on a sunny October afternoon, when the house is deserted, and all the family, and a few neighbours, and perhaps a beggar or two are standing in the sun, and peering into the trees for the last bit of gold-green or russet fruit, or rejoicing over the basket and barrow loads, and broad piles of apples. ”

“ It is only after mid-summer, when the days grow shorter and hotter, that fruit begins to appear. Then, the heat of the day brings forward the harvest, and after the harvest, the leaves fall, and there is a gray frost. ”

“ February—Now is a very good time for grafting the forward sort of fruit trees: If the weather be temperate, sow hardy seeds, as pease, beans radishes, parsnips, carrots, onions, parsley, spinnage: make up hot beds for onions, cucumbers, and such like: Lay branches of vines, roses, wood (illegible text) nes, jessamines, lauriestinus, phileroy, pyracutha, &ct. plant goose-berries, currants, raspberries, and begin to plant herd herbs towards the latter end of the month: transplant cabbage and colliflowers, and sow asparagus. ”

“ There is not only sufficient sunshine, however, to ripen every English fruit, but figs, peaches, grapes, nectarines, melons, and maize thrive well in the open air. Spring begins in September, summer in December, autumn in April, and winter in June. ”

“ Surely my fruit garden would be not only a place of beauty, of pleasant sight and pleasant thought, but of leisurely repose, a repose broken only faintly and in welcome fashion by its own interests—in July, August and September a goodly place in which to wander and find luscious fruits in quantity that can be gathered and eaten straight from the tree. There is a pleasure in searching for and eating fruit in this way that is far better than having it picked by the gardener and brought in and set before one on a dish in a tame room. ”

“ A frost that destroys the potatoes and other roots only makes the apple more crisp and vigorous; it peeps out from the chance November snows unscathed. When I see the fruit-vender on the street corner stamping his feet and beating his hands to keep them warm, and his naked apples lying exposed to the blasts, I wonder if they do not ache too to clap their hands and enliven their circulation. But they can stand it nearly as long as the vender can.
Noble common fruit, best friend of man and most loved by him, following him like his dog or his cow, wherever he goes. ”

“ Autumn affords its fruit; summer is beauteous with its harvests; spring produces flowers; winter is made cheerful by the fire. At stated periods the rustic pulls the ripened grape, and beneath his naked foot the juice flows out ”

“ This apple ripens early, and remains sound till the end of April.—The tree, though not growing tall, bears ample fruit, even in those seasons which are unfavourable to the blossoms; it thrives in situations where other orchard-trees will not prosper. ”

“ Fruit ripening from August to October, elongated, ellipsoidal, hexagonal, 3′—4′ long, 11⁄4′—11⁄2′ thick, light green when fully grown, and in ripening turning dark purple, the outer and inner coats forming a thick succulent mass of bitter-sweet juicy flesh, finally becoming black and drying on its stalk ”

“ September—Transplant colliflowers and cabbages that were sowed in August: plant tulips, and othe bulbous roots you formerly took up, take off your carnation layers, and plant them where they are to stand the winter, remove fruit trees from September till March, except in frost: set cuttings of bays, laurels, &c. Transplant most sorts of herbs and flowers, gather hops the beginning of this month, and sow your wheat and rye. ”

“ They do not all flower at the same time, but in succession. The fruit begins to ripen in October in the same manner, so that the crop lasts from October to February. In Ceylon the blossom begins to appear in November. ”

“ Yes, the blossom and the fruit are so far as the untutored mind can see the beginning and the end of the short chain of apparently commonplace events which make up the annually returning life activity of the humble fruit-tree. Who cares what happens between so beautiful a beginning and so satisfactory an end? The scientist cares; his trained eye detects here an enchanting tale. Every one of those fruit-trees on the golden May day appears to him like a bride arrayed in the gayest of wedding raiment, waiting for the approaching bridegroom. ”

“ In eight or ten days, that is, from the last of September to the middle of October, the moth of this third generation will appear, from which the generation of the following February will have origin. The damage caused by the moth we have already stated. Those of the first generation injure only a portion of the leaves, those of the second consume the blossoms which would be transformed into fruit, those of the third take the fruit itself. ”

“ Fifty plants or divisions of a good tender variety planted 3 to 4 feet apart will supply an average household with more delicious fresh fruit and juice for six months of the year than five times the space of ground devoted to currants, gooseberries or any other fruit, and if you have from 50 to 100 plants you can afford to pick the first stalk that sprouts up in April and still figure on having an abundance to keep you well supplied all summer. ”

“ The ground is then prepared for carrots and turnips, which are gathered in November or December.
Of great moment are the fruit crops. All European fruits are produced profusely, in many varieties and of excellent quality. Fresh or preserved, they form a principal food of a large class of the people, and the dry fruit is largely exported. ”

“ Keep the ground free from weeds, earth up the plants a little in the process of cultivation, and by the last of August, or beginning of September, abundance of fruit will be produced for the table.
If no hot-bed is at hand, sufficient seedling plants for a small garden may be easily raised by sowing a few seeds in March in common flower-pots, and placing them in the sunny window of the sitting-room or kitchen. ”

“ The proper time to set the fruit is in the morning, as it always comes in bloom at night, and if left until the afternoon the blossom of the fruit closes a little, in consequence of which it is doubtful whether fruition will be effected. ”

“ Then we have some few apricots, nectarines, plums, cherries, loquats, etc., all yielding bounteously. [Pg 226]
The last are a very delicious fruit, ripening about October or November. Figs we have till late into the winter, and they begin again early; we are very fond of them. Oranges, lemons, and shaddocks grow fairly well, and are fruiting all the year round. Apples do badly, being subject to blight, though the young trees grow rapidly, and, if freely pruned, will yield enormous crops. To obviate the blight we keep a constant succession of young trees to replace those that are killed. ”

“ An experienced framer, however, can grow plants at any time of the year, and from those sown at the above time, he may expect to cut fruit by the twentieth of March or towards the latter end of that month, according to the weather ”

“ The fruit is remarkably fair, and the tree is very productive. It is rather large, oblong, narrowing to the eye. Skin, clear, glossy, bright yellow, and when exposed, with a dull blush next the sun. Flesh, fine-grained, and abounding with juice, of a sprightly agreeable flavor. Ripens in September, and deserves general cultivation.—Down. ”

“ In the checkered area of human experience the seasons are all mingled as in the golden age: fruit and blossom hang together; in the same moment the sickle is reaping and the seed is sprinkled; one tends the green cluster and another treads the winepress. Nay, in each of our lives harvest and spring-time are continually one, until himself gathers us and sows us anew in his invisible fields. ”

“ About the midst of June you may inoculate Peaches Abricots, Cherries, Plums, Apples, Pears, etc.
You may now also (or before) cleanse Vines of exuberant branches and tendrils, cropping (not cutting) and stopping the joynt immediately before the Blossoms, and some of the under branches which bear no fruit; especially in young Vineyards when they first begin to bear, and thence forwards.
Gather Herbs in the Fall, to keep dry; they keep and retain their virtue, and smell sweet, better dry’d in the shade than in the Sun, whatever some pretend. ”

“ There are whole forests of 75mulberries, whose ripened fruit we begin to eat in the month of May. Plums are found in great variety, many of which are not known in Europe. Grape-vines and pomegranates are common. Three or four crops of corn can be raised in a year. ”

“ Fruit matures the last of June, attached in twos or threes, with from two to eight fruits per cluster; variable in size, roundish, flattened at the extremities; suture prominent; color clear red becoming darker at maturity; skin tough, transparent; stem long, inserted in a deep cavity; flesh nearly white, transparent, with abundant juice which is usually uncolored but sometimes tinged red, very tender, sour, yet agreeable; quality fair ”

“ A valuable market fruit. Four trees, in one county, sent eighty dollars’ worth to market in one season. Not mentioned by eastern writers, nor found in eastern catalogues, but described at the West by Hampton and Plummer, and found in Ohio and Indiana nurseries.
2. Sweet June.—Tree upright, wood moderately strong; ripens its wood early in fall; not subject to frost-blight; flourishes on all soils, even if quite wet; bears very young, often while in nursery rows; bears every year and abundantly. The fruit is of medium size; color a pale yellow; form globular; flavor sweet and pleasant. ”

“ At our annual Cattle Shows and Horticultural Exhibitions, we make, as we think, a great show of fair fruits, destined, however, to a rather ignoble end, fruits riot valued for their beauty chiefly. But round about and within our towns there is annually another show of fruits, on an infinitely grander scale, fruits which address our taste for beauty alone.
October is the month for painted leaves. Their rich glow now flashes round the world. As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint just before they fall, so the year near its setting. October is its sunset sky ”

“ December is the time when the fruit ripens; it is then eaten, but not much relished; the seeds are also eaten when roasted. There are also other trees in different parts of the world, mostly of the palm species, which yield bread of a similar kind.
Is there not a tree which produces a substance resembling the Butter which we make from the milk of the cow?
The Shea, or Butter Tree, a native of Africa: it is similar in appearance to the American oak, and the fruit, (from the kernel of which the butter is prepared,) is somewhat like an [88] olive in form. ”

“ Basin rather deep, abrupt, regular or wavy; Eye small, closed.
Cavity wide, wavy or regular, green; Stem medium to long, slender.
[394] Core large, regular, closed; Seeds numerous, some are imperfectly developed; Flesh yellow, fine grained, juicy; flavor sub-acid to sweet, very aromatic, agreeable, fitting it admirably for a dessert fruit, as which it is nearly first rate. Season from September to December.
Connett Sweet.
Fig. 62.—CONNETT SWEET.
The tree grows vigorously, is upright and productive, bearing early. ”