CORRESP ONDENCE. 



117 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



FRUCTIFICATION OF THE FIG. 

 Messrs. Editors: 



DEAR SIRS : Some time ago I wrote to 

 my son, Grant Allen, to say that, in 

 that special portion of his article (" Queer 

 Flowers") which referred to the fructifi- 

 cation of the fig, there must, I thought, be 

 some mistake, for I had seen a fig-tree bear 

 a large crop of fruit, and was sure that no 

 such pains had been taken with it as that 

 referred to in the article in question. To 

 this I received yesterday (March 11th) the 

 following reply, which, though intended 

 only for myself, I think I break no confi- 

 dence in publishing : " The fig-tree ques- 

 tion," says he, "puzzled me myself much, 

 long ago, for the capvifico doesn't grow in 

 England, and fig-trees bear abundantly. 

 But all the authorities arc unanimous, and 

 I can't go against them. There is a vast 

 literature on the subject, caprification as 

 they call it, and Miiller in his ' Fertilization 

 of Flowers ' gives a list of ten separate works 

 dealing with it." So that, if he has erred, 

 he has erred cum patribus. So far for my 

 son. Now Miiller, who is a specialist on 

 this subject, and the latest and very highest 

 authority, tells Us (see " The Mechanisms 

 of Flowers," part iii, page 521) that "the 

 latest researches (377, Ficus carica, L.) con- 

 firm the fact, which Linnaeus (416 A.) was 

 aware of, that the so-called caprificus which 

 bears inedible fruit, and the fig-tree, culti- 

 vated for the sake of its fruit from time 

 immemorial, stand in the relation of male 

 and female to one another. Fertilization is 

 effected by a wasp. ... In most cases, 

 each crop of figs, whether of the fig-tree or 

 the caprificus, brings only flowers of one 

 sex to maturity." Again (p. 522): "While 

 the fruit of the caprificus, whose only use 

 is to supply pollen, remains hard and 

 withers on the tree, or falls off without be- 

 coming sweet, the fruit of the fig-tree, when 

 the seeds ripen, becomes sweet and juicy, 

 and so attracts birds which disseminate the 

 seeds. From the most ancient times, as 

 long as the fig-tree has been cultivated, its 

 artificial fertilization by means of the cap- 

 rificus, or so-called caprification, has been 

 practiced," and so on. 



How are we to reconcile all this with 

 the very lucid exposition and array of facts 

 of your able correspondent in the February 

 number of " The Popular Science Monthly." 

 I confess I think your correspondent is in 

 this particular right. Only that I do not 

 wish to venture a guess never permissible 

 on a question of science, save tentatively 



I might make one here as to how these dif- 

 ferences might be reconciled, but I forbear. 



Though my son is a keen and close ob- 

 server of Nature, and a good judge of the 

 men to be relied on for such facts as, in his 

 yet short life, he could not have scrutinized 

 himself personally, yet as his more especial 

 object is to get at the heart of his facts, to 

 read their hidden meaning, and to show how 

 whole continents of facts, apparently dis- 

 connected and unrelated, are yet bound to- 

 gether by the strongest ties of consan- 

 guinity or more close or distant relationship, 

 he has very frequently to go to the works of 

 able specialists of repute in order to learn 

 from them what they have observed. 



Thus, for example's sake, in a late article 

 of his in the " Cornhill Magazine " (" Go to 

 the Ant ") he had, as is obvious, to have 

 recourse to the vast stores of observations 

 accumulated by many able specialists in 

 many parts of the world. Now, it is quite 

 possible that some of these observations 

 may in time come to be questioned by more 

 exact observers ; still, in a case like this of 

 the fig-tree, when all practical men and 

 scientific observers have coincided in opin- 

 ion, and where " all authorities " have for 

 over a century been " unanimous,' 1 '' a writer 

 is to be pardoned for thrusting aside a diffi- 

 culty in his own mind, in deference to the 

 practical judgment of the ages and the de- 

 cision of all experts in the case. 



I sent my son by to-day's post the num- 

 ber of "The Popular Science Monthly" 

 which contained the letter of your corre- 

 spondent ; but I wish it to be borne in mind 

 that the reply here given is mine, not his, 

 save in the few words quoted from a, private 

 letter and dashed off by him in great haste. 

 His reply, on seeing your correspondent's 

 letter, might be very different. 



Yours very truly, J. Antisell Allen. 

 March 12, 1885. 



Messrs. Editors : 



In the February number of " The Popular 

 Science Monthly," Mr. George Pyburn, of 

 Sacramento, says, " I have yet to see the first 

 seedling fig," and suspects, therefore, that 

 the seeds are generally infertile. 



In 1878 I planted the seeds of an im- 

 ported white Smyrna fig. They germi- 

 nated abundantly, and, in the fourth year 

 from planting, my seedling fig-tree bore 

 fruit. I shall try this year a similar experi- 

 ment with a California fig. I anticipate a 

 similar result. The seeds are so small that 

 they require care. They should be planted 



