The first crop, called !ri«5 bikkilrAh, vpbSpoixoi, begins to redden in March and is ripe by June ; unripe figs are called o'j? paggim (hence the place-name Bethphage, ' house of green figs '). LXX calls the unripe figs in Ca 2'^ (AvfdoL ; hut according to Theophrastus (vi. 8) and Hippocrates (574. 23) these are winter figs, which grow under the leaves and do not ripen. The early figs are the most delicious and refreshing (Is 28*, Jer 24-, Mio7', Hos9"), and are easily shaken oll'(Nah 3'=). See Macrobius, ii. 16. The untimely figs of Kev 6'^ are uli/nlhi.
The summer figs, rp (2 S 16'), ripen in August and September (see also Mic 7', Am 8'). These are either eaten fresh or dried in the sun [Shabbatk, viii. § 6), or made into cakes called c'^g^ debelhn (1 S 25" 30"', 2 K 20', 1 Ch V2^, Is 38-'). tu making these the figs are sometimes first beaten in a mortar, then pressed into acake(raanj<A,xxviii. 1). Thesecakes, called by LXX iraXidri, were either round or square (see Terumiith, iv. § 8; Baba mesia, ii.). Herodotus uses the name iraKaO-q of other fruit cakes (iv. 23), but Athena;us distinguishes fig cakes as tt. ^vplaKn. Such cakes are still used by the Arabs (Burck- hardt, i. 51), and with barley-bread are the common food of poor travellers in the East. The town Beth-diblathaim means the house of the two cakes of figs. On the two crops of figs see the 5i06/joi/ ffuK^s of Arist. Eccles. 708.
A third crop of winter figs appears in August, and ripens at the end of November. These some- times hang on the tree when the leaves are shed, unless the tree be exposed to frost.
Figs are liable to disease, both from parasitic fungi and from insects. There are several species of both, which attack the fruit and cause it to be shed prem.-iturely, or to shrivel and become uneat- able (Jer 24* 29"). For rellections on this vision see Hieron. Comment, in Jer., on 5H
Sycomore Figs (i:pc', pi. shihmim or shil;m6th in Ps 78*') are the small fig of the Fictis sycomortts, a bluish-purple fruit eaten by the poorer classes, but
considered nnwholesorae and indigestible (Dioscor. 1. 182). The tree grows to a large size, and is found in Palestine in the lower lands from Joppa to Egypt (1 K lO^", 2 Ch 1"; see Bartenora in Shchiith, ix. 2). Jerome notes that they are easily killed by frost, and so they were destroyed by the «torm-plague in Egypt (Ps 78"). As in the hollow receptacle the flowers which bear stamens are at the upper and those bearing pistils at the lower part, it ensures fertilization to pinch or incise them, thereby facilitating the entrance of the insects whose movements in the plant promote fertilization ; this is known as caprihcation (Pliny, xiii. 14 ; Theophrastus, iv. 2). Amos calls himself a oVia bole^, or scratcher of sycoraore fruit, in allusion to this (LXX kvI^uiv avKi/um, RV 'dresser of sycomore trees '). The superintendence of this was probably the function of Baalhanan (1 Ch 27"'*). This tree is abundant in Egypt, and of its wood most mummy coffins are made ; as its branches generally arise from the trunk low down, it is easily climbed (Lk 19''). The fruit was free from tithing among the Jews (Demni, i. 1).
Mulberries (n;; bacn, LXX ffi'^d/ii^os) are not mentioned as fruit ; but as the tree is common in Palestine, and as the berries are now eaten freely, they were probably used in Bible times. The trees are named in 2 S 5^'- and 1 Ch H'", and tlie place named from them ' Baca's vale ' in Ps 84''. Our Lord refers to the tree under the name sycamine in His lesson on faith (Lk 17*). For a description of the marvels of this tree see Pliny, xvi. 41, where it is described as being as remarkable as a creature posse.ssed of animation (see also xxiii. 7).
Nuts (0M23 botnim, LXX Tep4jji.vdo$) are the fruit of the PUiaria vera. This tree is a native of Syria, although not very abundant, and was brought into Europe by the Romans. The nut is the stone in the centre of the greenish drupe, and its kernel is oily, soft, and not unpleasant to taste. It is mentioned only in Gn 43". Die tree is often mentioned, but its name n^x 'cMA or 'el6n is trans- lated oak or teil tree, as Is 6" (RV terebinth tree).
Olives (n'l zayith, LXX Aai'a), the same name for botli tree and fruit. These are often mentioned in Scripture (37 times in OT and 18 in NT), and the Olca Europcea is a native of Palestine, and much cultivated for the sake of the oU extracted from its (Irupes. In Egj'pt tlie tree was called degam, and was esteemed in early days as a specific for all ailments (see Papyrus Ebers, p. 47 ; in the Harris Pap. it is called dcgetu). The tree is small, slow of growth, and irregularly branched. Its wood is hard and fine-grained, and its leaves like those of a large privet, but whitish beneath. It has a small white flower growing in racemes, and its fruit is well known. The wild plants of the olive are sometimes used as stocks on which to graft cultivated varieties with larger fruit (Ro 11"). The low size of the tree made tlie olive leaf brought by the dove to Noah significant (Gn 8"). These trees are cultivated in orchanls or olive yards (Ex 23"); wlien ripe they are beaten (Dt 24^) in order to strike ott' the fruit (in la 17* and 24" badly tr. 'sliaken '), and the fruit is brought to the oil mills, which consist of circular stone basins in which the drui)es are crushed by a heavy stone wheel that is rolled over them. The mass is then put into small wicker baskets, which are piled over each other in a m'azerah or handpress, in which they are squeezed either by means of a Ion" lever or a screw. The ancient presses were all lever presses. After the first pressing the pulp is put into copper pans, sprinkled with water and heated, and then pre.ssed again. Where there is water-power the press is larger, and the mill is called a mutriif; in this the olives are pre.ssed in a •tone cylinder, within which an iron-shod shaft