F 1 C 



run!ii ilvdll he found to (lop Its blocJ/ing in one day's 

 time, or Icfs : whereas tliat cut in the fprinji will often 

 iiow ;■ week or more, and th.e wound will be proper- 

 ticnably longer before it heals. 



Of hue years there has been fome of thefe trees 

 planted againft fire-v.-alls, which have fucceeded very 

 well where they have been properly managed; but 

 where they ha/e been kept too clcle, and drawn by 

 glafies, they hive not produced much fruit ; therefore 

 whenever this is praflifcd, the heat lliould not be too 

 great, nor the glaffes, or other covering, kept too 

 clofe, but at all times, when the weather is flivourablc, 

 a good fliare of free air fhoukl be admitted ; and if 

 the trees arc young, that their roots are not extended 

 beyond the reacli of the covering, they muft be fre- 

 quently watered when they begin tofhew fruit, other- 

 wife it v/ill drop off; but old trees, whofe roots are 

 extended to a great diftance, will only require to have 

 their branches now and then fprinkled over with wa- 

 ter. If thefe trees arc properly managed, the firft crop 

 of fruit will- be greater than upon thofe v/hich are ex- 

 pofed to the open air, and will ripen fix wx^eks or two 

 months earlier, and a plentiful fecond crop may alfo 

 be obtained, which will ripen early in September, and 

 fometimes in Auguft, which is about the feafon of 

 their ripening in the warmer parts of Europe -, but the 



F I C 



" continue to do fo. 



fires fhoukl not be ufed to thefe trees till the begin- 

 ning of February ; becaufe when they are forced too 

 early, the weather is frequently too cold to admit 

 a fufficient quantity of frefli air to fet the fruit ; 

 but the covers fhould be put^over the trees a month 

 before, to prevent the fhoots from being injured by 



the froft. 



It may not be improper in this place to mention the 



great pains which the inhabitants of the Levant are at 

 m the culture of their Figs ; and without which (it is 

 generally faid by all the travellers' who have vi^ritteh on 

 this fubjecl, as alio by Pliny, and ptjjer ol(i naturali/ls) 

 their fruit will fall off, and be good forjiothing.' I 

 fhall here let it down, as' I find it in' the' "travels" of 

 Monf. Tournefort, ""chief bofanift to the late king of 



France - -. . : " . ; - 



" Pliny, fays he, obferved. That in Zia they ufed 



" to drefs the Fig-trees with much care ; they ftill 



To underfband aright this huf- 



bandry of Figs (called in Latin, Caprificatio) we 



^^ are to obferve, that in molV of the iflands of the 



" Archipelago, they have two forts of Fig-trees to 



" manage ; the firft is called Ornos, from the old 



" Greek, Erinos, a wild Fig-tree •, or Caprificus, 



" in Latin ; the fecond is the domeflic, or garden 



" Fig-tree ; the wild fort bears three kinds of fruit, 



" Fornites, Cratitires, andOrni, of abfolute necefTity 



'^ towards ripening thofe of the garden Fig. 



" The Fornites appear in Auguft, and continue to 



" November, without ripening ; in thefe breed fmall 



" worms, which turn to a fort of gnats, no where to 



" be feen but about thefe trees. In Odtober and No- 



** vember thefe gnats of themfelves'make a punfture 



" into the fecond fruit, which is called Cratitires, 



" and do not fhew themfelves till towards the end 



'' cf September ^ and the Fornites gradually fall away 



'' after the gnats are gone ; the Cratitires^ 'on the 



'' contrary, remain on the tree till May, and inclofe 



*' the eggs, depofited by the Fornites, when they 



'< pricked them."^' In May' the third fort of fruit be- 



V gins to put forth froni' the fame wild Fig-trees 



" which produced the other .two_^ this is much 



" bigger, and is "called Orni y when it grows to a 



" certain fize, and its bud begins to open, it is pricked 



" in that part by the gnats of the Cratitires,' which 



'• are flrong enough to go from one fruit to the 



'^ other, to difcharge their eggs. ■ . 



" It fometimes happens, that the gnats of the Crati- 



'' tires are (low to come forth in certain parts, while 



*' the Orni in thofe very parts are difpofed to receive 



" them ; in which cafe the hufoandman is obliged to 



*-' look for the Cratitires in another part, and fix them 



" at die end of tlie branches of thofe Fig-trees, whofe 



■' Orni arc in fit difpofition to be pricked l^y the gn;jtsi 



" if they mifs the opportunity the Crni faU^ ^^j ^y^ 

 " gnats of the Cratitires fly away. >:ope butrhn'r 



c 



thcle 

 turc, 



'' that are well acquainted v/ith this fort of cu] 

 "•*■ kncv/ the critical minutes of doing this-, and"''* 

 " order to it, their eye is perpetually fix.d on th'^^ 

 *' bud of the Fig ; for that part not only indicate^ 

 "■ the time that the prickers' are to ifllie forth, bu 

 " alfo when the Fig is to be lliccefsfuUy pricked ■ i 



ut 



" the bud be too hard, and too compact, the pnar 



'' cannot lay its eggs, and th.e Fig drops when\h's 



" bud is too open. 



" Thefe three forts of fruit are not eocd to eat- 



'' their office is to help to ripen the fruit cf the o-ar* 



" den Fig-trees, in manner following: during^the 



'^ months of June and July, the peafants take the Orni 



" at a time that their gnats are ready to break out 



" and carry them to the garden Fig-trees ; if they do 



'' not nick the moment, the Orni fall, and the fruit 



" of the domeftic or garden Fig-tree not ripening 



" will, in a very little time, fall in like manner. The 



" peafants are fo well acquainted w^ith thefe precious 



" moments, that every niorning, in making their 



" infpeftion, they only transfer to their garden Fig- 

 " trees fuch Orni as are v/ell conditioned, otherwife 

 " they lofe their crop. It is true, they have one re- 

 " medy, though an indifferent one, which is, to 

 " ftrew over the garden Fig-trees the Afcolimbros, 

 " a very common plant there, and in v/hofe fruit 

 " there is a fort of gnats proper for prickinc^; 

 " perhaps they are the gnats of the Orni, which are 

 '' ufed to hover about and plunder the flowers of this 

 " plant. 



' " To fum up all in one word, The peafants fo well 

 " order the Orni, that their gnats caufe the frukof 

 ;. 'V the garden F'ig-tree to ripen in the compafs of forty 

 ' " days. Thefe Figs are very good green ^ when they 

 *' would dry them, they lay them in the fun for fome 

 " time, then put them in an oven to keep them the 

 " refl of the year. Barley bread and dried figs are 

 " the principal fubfiftence of the boors and monks of 

 " the Archipelago ; but thefe Figs are very' far from 

 " being fo good as thofe dried in Provence, Italy, 

 " and Spain > the heat of the oven deflroys all their, 

 " delicacy arid good tafte •, but then, on the other 

 " hand, this heat kills the eggs which the prickers 

 " bf the Orni difcharged therein, which eggs would 

 " infallibly produce fmall worms that would preju- 

 " judice thefe fruits. i 



"What an expence of time and pains is here for a 

 " Fig, and that but an indifferent one at lafl ! I 

 could not fufhciently admire the patience of the 

 " Greeks, bufied above tv/o months in carrying thefe 

 " prickers from one tree to another. I was loon told 

 "r,the reafon, one of their Fig-trees ufually produces 

 " between two and three hundred pounds of Figs, 

 " and ours in Provence feldom. above twenty-five. 

 " The prickers contribute, perhaps, to the maturity of 

 " the fruit of the garden Fig-tree, by caufing them to 

 " extravafate the nutritious juice, whofe veffels they 

 " tear afunder in depofiting their eggs ; perhaps too, 

 " befides their eggs, they leave behind them fome 

 " fort of liquor proper to ferment gently with the 

 " milk of the Fig;, and to make their flefh tender. 

 " OurFigs'in Provence, and even at Paris, ripen much 

 " fooner for having their buds pricked with a Straw 

 " dipped in olive oil. Plumbs and Pears, pricked by 

 " fome infedls likewife ripen much the faller for itj 

 " and the flelhrbiind fuch punfture is better tafted 

 " than the reft. It is not to be difputed but that con- 

 " fiderable change happens to the contexture of fruits 

 " fo pricked, juft the fame as to parts of animals 

 " pierced with any fliarp inftrumiCnt. 

 " It is fcarce pofTible well to underftand the antient 

 " authors who have treated of caprification (or hui- 

 " banding and dreffing the wild Fig-tree) if one is 

 " not well apprifedof the circumftances, theparticu- 

 " lars whereof were confirmed to us not only at Zia, 

 " Tinos, Mycone, and Scio^ bu^in moft of the other 

 " iflands." 



C( 



Fig- 



