471 FICUS CARICA. 



would seem, from some (>f the old Ihiglisli writers, and indeed from a connnon 

 expression even of the present day, that, from some association of ideas, the fig 

 was an object of contemjit. Pii^o for thy friendship,", says Pistol, in Henry JV 

 Steevens. the conimeiitalitr on Shaksi)earf. thinks that tin; " Cvj^ of Spain," men- 

 tioned by many of the old British |)oets, alluded to the enstom of givni^ j)oisoned 

 figs to those who were the objects of Spanisli or Italian revenge;" and iicnce, 

 [>roliably. a vulgar prejudice against this fruit. 



Pr<)iui'j;itl\cm, Mdnn'^cniont, (.\'c. The connnon fig-tree is easily propuLMted by 

 cuttings of the shoots or roots, (not one of which will fail.) and also by suckers, 

 layers, and seeds. In France, more particularly about Marseilles, where the fig 

 is extensively grown as an article of commerce, an open situation is made choice 

 of, for a plantation, near the .sea, and exposed to the south and east. The ground 

 is trenche^l two or three feet deep, and richly mannred; and the trees are planted 

 in squares, or in the quincunx-form, at from twelve to fifteen feet apart. The 

 plants are watered frequently during the first summer, and left without any prun- 

 ing whatever; but in the winter of the second year, they are cut down to the 

 groimd. The third year, they throw up vigorous shoots, five or six oi which are 

 retained to form a bush ; and in the following, or fourth year, the tree is suffered 

 to ripen fruit. In some cases, the trees are trained to single stems; and this is 

 also generally the case in Italy and Greece, where the climate is milder, and the 

 tree attains a larger size than in France. In the subsequent management, the 

 trees require but little pruning, except when they become loo much crowded with 

 branches. In the south of France, they always suffer more or less, during very 

 hot summers, for the want of water, which they require in abundance, on account 

 of the excessive transpiration that takes place from their large leaves, and very 

 porous, thinly-covered bark. Hence in seasons of very great drought, the 

 branches are sometimes completely scorched and killed by the powerful rays of 

 the sun. Severe frost has a similar effect on the branches in winter, even at 

 Marseilles, as extreme drought has in summer. In all countries, which may 

 properly be called fig climates, two crops are produced in a year. The first is 

 from the old wood, and corresponds with the crops of England and some parts 

 of the United States ; and the second from the wood of the current year, the figs 

 produced by which, in the last-named countries, are never ripened except in hot- 

 houses. In Greece, Syria, and Egypt, a third crop is sometmies produced. 'I'he 

 first crop is ripened, in the south of France and in Italy, in May ; and the second 

 crop in September. Those which are to be dried, are left on the tree till they are 

 dead ripe, which is known by a drop of sweet liquid that appears hanging from 

 the eye. The figs, being gathered, are placed on wicker hurdles, in a dry, airy 

 shed: and, when the dew is off, they are exposed every morning to the sun. 

 during the hottest part of the day. To facilitate the progress of drying, the figs 

 are occasionally flattened with the hand ; and in moist, dull weather, they are 

 placed in rooms warmed by stoves. When they are thoroughly dried, they are 

 packed in rush baskets, or in boxes, in layers, alternately with long straw and 

 laurel leaves, and in tliis state they are sold to merchants. In some parts of the 

 south of France, figs are prepared by dipping them in hot lye. made from the, 

 ashes of the fig-tree, and then dried; the use of the lye being to harden their 

 skins. 



In the north of France, except in tlie gardens of amateurs, where the fig is 

 generally trained against walls, as in Britain, and in some parts of the United 

 States, there are only two or three places where it is grown for its fruit as a 

 standard: and the principal of these is at Argenteuil. in the neighbourhood of 

 Paris. The trees are kept as low bushes, and the shoots are seldom allowed to 

 acquire more than three or four years' growth; because it is necessary to bend 

 them down to the ground, and retain them there, by means of stakes or stones, or 



'^Ttf/ 



