COMMON FIG-TREE. 475 



a muss of soil, to protect them from the effects of the frost. It is observed in the 

 " NoLiveauCoiirs d'Agriculturc," that tiio fii^s of xVrgenieail, are never brought to 

 such a degree of perfection as to please the palates of those who have been accus- 

 tomed to the figs of Marseilles. They are, according to the writer, always either 

 insi[)id or half rotten; and, even to bring them to this state, it is necessary to 

 pnich off tiie points of the shoots, in the same way as is done with the vine when 

 early grapes are wanted; or with the pea, to accelerate the maturity of the pods. 

 An additional process is requisite in cold seasons, and at the latter end of every 

 season ; and that is, the insertion of a small drop of oil, by means of a straw, into 

 the eye of the fruit; which has the effect of destroying the vital principle, and 

 causing the fig to part readily from the shoot, like ripe fruit; after which it soon 

 begins to decay. 



In British and American nurseries, the fig is generally propagated by layers; 

 though these do not ripen their wood the first season, so well as cuttings. When 

 the fig is to be planted as a standard tree, constant attention nuist be paid to 

 remove all the suckers from tiie collar, and all side shoots from the stem. Wlien 

 trained against a wall in a cold climate, the branches should proceed from a 

 single stem, and not from the collar, as is generally the case; because the [)lant, 

 when so treated, produces shoots v/liich are less vigorous, and, consequently, 

 more likely to ripen their wood. 



The process of aiprijiaition. which has been in use from time immemorial, in 

 the Levant, is described by Theophrastus, Plutarch. Pliny, and other authors of 

 antiquity, and more recently by Tournefort; and though it is laughed at by 

 many of the French physiologists of the present day, it is thought by many that 

 it must be of some important use. We think it too curious a circumstance, how- 

 ever, in a notice of this species, to be omitted, as it furnishes a convincing proof 

 of the reality of the sexes of plants. The operation consists in inducing a certain 

 species of insect of the gnat kind, (Cynips.) which abounds on the wild fig, 

 (Caprificus.) to enter the fruit of the cultivated varieties, for the purpose of punc- 

 turing its pericarp, in order to deposite its eggs, and thereby hasten its maturity. 

 By this means, the fertile flowers in the interior of the fruit become fecundated 

 by the farina of the barren ones near the orifice; but, without this operation, 

 though the fruit may ripen, but few effective seeds are produced. It is alleged 

 by Bosc, that there is no other object in this practice than that of hastening the 

 maturity of the crop; but others are of opinion that, by insuring the fecundation 

 of the stigma, it tends to increase the size of the fruit, and, by filling it wiih 

 mature seeds, to render it more nourishing; as appears to be the case with the 

 Osage orange. Olivier, the botanical traveller, asserts, that, after a long res- 

 idence in the islands of the Archipelago, he is convinced of the inutility of the 

 practice; and Bosc, though he allows that it may hasten the maturity of the figs, 

 as the larva of the Pyralis pomona accelerates the maturity of the apple, in France, 

 yet, he believes that it has no effect in improving either the size or the flavour of 

 the fruit. M. Bernard, the author of a " Memoire sur le Figuier," and of the arti- 

 cle of that tree in the Nouveau Du Hamel," goes farther, and asserts that the 

 figs, which have undergone the process of caprificaf ion, are inferior to the others, in 

 size, flavour, and the property of keeping. In liizypt. where the Ficus sycomo- 

 rus is the prevailing species, an operation is perl'ormed on the fruit, which is 

 said to answer the pinpose of caprification. as far as respects early ripening. 

 W^hen the fruit has accpiired a third part of its size, a slice is cut ofl" the end of 

 it, of a sufficient depth to remove all the stamens, which have not by this lime 

 matured the fertilizing dust. The wound is immediately covered with sap, 

 which thickens, and forms a mass that excludes the air from the interior of tlie 

 fruit ; and the consequence is, that it ripens or becomes ready to drop off. in half 

 the time usually taken by nature, withoiu losing any of its fize or of its flavour. 



