o the
hands and face, or any exposed part of the body, and let it [194] dry:
no mosquito or fly will then touch you." Or if two teaspoonfuls of
the tincture are mixed with half a pint of cold water, and if all parts
of the body likely to be exposed to the bites of insects are freely
sponged therewith they will remain unassailed. Feverfew is
manifestly the progenitor of the true Chamomilla (_Anthemis
nobilis_), from which the highly useful Camomile "blows," so
commonly employed in domestic medicine, are obtained, and its
flowers, when dried, may be applied to the same purposes. An
infusion of them made with boiling water and allowed to become
cold, will allay any distressing sensitiveness to pain in a highly
nervous subject, and will afford relief to the faceache or earache of a
dyspeptic or rheumatic person. This Feverfew (_Chrysanthemum
parthenium_), is best calculated to pacify those who are liable to
sudden, spiteful, rude irascibility, of which they are conscious, but
say they cannot help it, and to soothe fretful children. "Better is a
dinner or such herbs, where love is; than a stalled ox, and hatred
therewith."

FIGS.

"In the name of the Prophet 'Figs'" was the pompous utterance
ascribed to Dr. Johnson, whose solemn magniloquent style was
simulated as Eastern cant applied to common business in _Rejected
Addresses_, by the clever humorists, Horace and James Smith,
1812. The tree which produces this fruit belongs to the history of
mankind. In Paradise Adam partook of figs, and covered his
nakedness with the leaves.

Though indigenous to Western Asia, Figs have been cultivated in
most countries from a remote period, and will ripen in England
during a warm summer if screened from north-east winds. The fig
tree flourishes best with [195] us on our sea coasts, bathed by the
English Channel, by reason of the salt-laden atmosphere. Near
Gosport, and at Fig Valleys, in the neighbourhood of Worthing,
there are orchards of figtrees; but they remain barren in this country
as far as affording seed to be raised anew from the ripened fruit. The
first figtrees introduced into England are still alive and productive
in the gardens of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, having
been planted there by Cardinal Pole in the time of Henry the Eighth.
We call the Sunday before Easter "Fig Sunday," probably because
of our Saviour's quest of the fruit when going from Bethany the next
day.

By the Jews a want of blossom on