AtrGUST I, 1883,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



»3^ 



a fabulous fortune for him. He allowed the birclies to 

 lie a suitable time, aud liien pulled thtm up. Every 

 b<'Ugii aud twig was thick with half grown bivalves 

 but the weight of the growing shells had dragged 

 the bush down iuto the fatal nnid, and the oysters 

 had jjeiisbed by the million. Kuliglitened by his 

 failure he made another trial. He planted the birches 

 right up on the bottom, setting thtm at an angle 

 with the current. Their tops just pricked through 

 the waves at low tide. la the breeding season that 

 followed the planting of the birch trees, billions of 

 spat came iloating down the current. It was just 

 wiiat they wanted, a ready-made heme. They drifted 

 as thick as snow-flakes to the bending boughs and 

 pliant twigs. It requires- two years for an oyster 

 spawn or spat to reach maturity. The trees bowed 

 under their load of growing shells, but the slaetic 

 wood kept the fruit clear of mud. At the end cf a 

 few mouths it was seen that the oyster orchards pro- 

 mifed an astonishing harvest, and all the oyster 

 men along the river were anxious to try their hand 

 at the new style of oyster farming. Soon bulh sides 

 of Pi quonoc iiiver, from its heart for a long way 

 towards the sea, was bristling wiili sunken birches 

 waving and ebbing and flowering welcome to the 

 drifting spat. In consfquencc of an epidemic of 

 scarlet fever and diphtheria, which broke out in 

 the village and neighbcuihood, it was ordered that 

 the brush should be taken up out of the river, as 

 it was belifved the epidemic was caused by the de- 

 caye>l wood. Tins was done, ar,d the trees were 

 found to be covered with oysters in all stages of growth. 

 They were thrown in a rattling heap on the shore, 

 where they froze and died by the cart-loads. This 

 led to a law suit by the owners of the oyster trees 

 against the local authority, which is still in progress. 

 — London "Times'. 



THE EIG TREE. 

 Much misapprehension exists in various parts of the 

 world respecting the fig tree, f.'pfcially .as regards the 

 process of -nhat is termed c^piihcatiou, viliich is that 

 brarchts of a wild tig are placed over the iruit-bear- 

 ing vaiiefits, in order to cause the fruit to mature 

 earlier. The male and female organs of the fig exist 

 in dilTerent ficwtrs, and in the wild, or Caprilig, the 

 flowers are nearly all males, while in the cultivated 

 fig few of the varieties contain any but female fli.wtrs, 

 consecjuentiy tbey are unable to perfect seed.s until 

 fertilized by [loJlen frcm the ■wild tig; and thus it 

 is that figs, aviay fri in their native country, or from 

 wheie the wild fig grows, altboujih thty iiptn their 

 fruit perfectly, produce no seed, although abund; cce 

 of seea is found in dried figs fiom Asia Minor, wheie 

 the wild fig is ustd. It is g' nerally known that the 

 flowers of the fig are inside tb. fiuit, but the openng 

 is very narrow, and polltn flor;ting in the air could 

 hardly obtain access; but it so happens that the tiue 

 fruits of the fig, which are the small flei-hy bo. lies 

 found inside the fruit, the outer portion of which is 

 only a rectptacle, are liable to be infested with a small 

 iusect resembling a gnat, named Blastophaga {.rcissorum, 

 the eggs of which are deposited in the fruit, and 

 caprification consists lu the" funale insects, when they 

 have attained nialuriiy, enifrging from tie <iriiice of 

 the fig _ in a fecundated conoition— both male and 

 female insects being bred in the same receptacle, hut 

 only the female is winged. She then enters and de- 

 posits her eggs in the next crop of the same season 

 that is coming forward ; but in emerging from the 

 fig in which she was bred she brushes the pollen off 

 the male flowers, nearly the whole of which are 

 sitiialed near, or in the mouth of the orifice, nnd car 

 rying it into the fruit of the cultivated trees on which 

 the wild fig branches were laid, the female flowers 

 are thereby fertilized, and thus the presence of seed 



in the Smyrna and other dried figs from the East is 

 accounted for. The insect also produces another effect 

 upon the cultivated fig betides fertilizing its flowers ; 

 Ehe lays an egg in each cf the small fruits iiitide' 

 and the oviiry of each being pierc.d, the irritation 

 caused by the piercing inducee a rapid and voluminous 

 gall-lormation, without preventing the further devolop- 

 ment of the ovule into a seed. It is well known 

 that worm-eaten apples ripen earlier than those not 

 infested, and the .-ame 1 fleet is produced in fioa in 

 which the maggots of the Llastophaea exist, "they 

 ripen a week or a fortnight eailier ; but. as it has 

 been asked — who would bare either his apples or his 

 figs worni-.>aten merely that thty might ripen a fort- 

 night earlier? The practice of caprification is beine 

 giadually given up, it is not found to be necessary 

 anywhere, and even in Asia Minor, where it has been 

 the custom tor ages, it is being grailually given up 

 The tacts appear to be that the cultivated fig is the 

 result of seJectou ; the fruit of the wilrl fi.- hardly 

 ever swells and becomes fleshy, but occasionally a 

 tree is found on which the fruit swells to some extent- 

 and by breeding from such a tree gradually, and iii 

 course of time, by cultivation and selection of the 

 best varieties, the fruit has attaiued the condition in 

 which it now exists. Pioof of this may be obtained 

 through an examination of seeding figs, of which it is 

 found that a large proportion do not produce fruit 

 of the juicy and succulent character of the cultivated 

 fig, but merely a dry husk ; while in others the fruit 

 is partially swelled, thus showing the same tendency 

 to reversion as in the ease of apples, pears and other 

 fruits. Fiom the same causes— s. lection and cultiv- 

 ation—the fig, like the banana nnd several other fruits 

 ceases eii her entirely, 01- nearlj so, to produce seed. ' 

 A few words anent the pruning of the fig tree It 

 is almost a proverb that the fig tree shoidd not be 

 pruned at all, and pruning is ihertfore rarely practised- 

 hence the ugly foims under which the trees arc gener- 

 ally seen, and the stunted appearaneo they iresent 

 It IS fjuite true that by pruning the crop of fruit is 

 lessened, and may be altogether destroyed ; but it is 

 decidedly better to maintain a tree in health vigor 

 and pleasing shape than to allow it to become gnarled 

 and old before its lime, even though producing a great 

 number of fruit, which must of necessity be compar 

 alively poor; while that of a tiee that has been 

 pruned, and thus prevented from bearing to excess 

 is, if less numerous, superior in siz- and quality The 

 shoots of the fig, however, should rarely be shortened 

 atid never only when the-y are of extr. me length but 

 when the trees are young, they may, for the sake of 

 proper formation, have the shoots shortened as in 

 trees of other kinds, and afterwards, shou'd growths 

 ol unequal strength be mede, they ought to be equalised 

 by pruning, and the best period to perform the oper 

 ation 18 when the shoots to be operated upon is in full 

 giowth, and the best method is to merely ninch 

 out Its point. Fig trees ought to be mnre geneiallv 

 cultivated agairst walls or trellises ; main brat.chea 

 may be trained fan-shaped, and their laterals to tr,ow 

 outwards, mstead of being laid in to the waif as 

 in the case of the peach and other trees; but they 

 need not be allowed to extend bevond what r-rowth 

 tney make in a year : which mii"y he eflfected by 

 cut'iog out the alternate ones annually - thu- a 

 young shoot will produce an autumn ceoo,' and btinlr 

 allowed to remain, will bear another cop the fol- 

 lowing spring, but iis extension may be prevented 

 by piLcbmg out Its point ; at pruning time inaum-nu 

 this slioot IS to becntdo'vn almost to the base from 

 which 010 or more shoo' s will proceed the following 

 season, of which the best must he chosen, audwilln.ake 

 its LTowlh, while the alternate shoo-sarc bcarim' their 

 spring crops, and which are afterwards to be treated 

 lu the same manner as the arst—McWoiirnc Leader 



