State Agricultural Society. . 427 



FIG CULTURE. 



BY I. N. HOAG. 



The fig is the most delicious and healthy fruit known in the world. It 

 requires a tropical or semi-tropical climate. It flourishes well in most 

 all pj,rts of California, producing and maturing two crops of fruit each 

 season. The first crop grows on the last grown wood of the previous 

 season. Having started to form in the Fall, the embryo fruit is checked 

 by the first frost or cold weather, and remains dormant until the return 

 of warm weather in the Spring. The small figs are then seen swelling 

 before the leaves make their appearance on the trees. 



With us this crop ripens in the forepart of July, and the fruit is gen- 

 erally larger than the next or Summer crop, though not usually so 

 numerous. We have both the common blue or black fie; and the brown 

 ischa. The latter, when ripe, is of a greenish brown color', and we have 

 had them average a quarter of a pound apiece as they were picked from 

 the tree. We think this the most delicious kind of figs we ever saw. 

 While it is very rich and melts in the mouth like a delicate peach, it is 

 entirely free from that sickish taste always present in the blue or black 

 varieties. While we have heard many persons say they did not like the 

 fig because it was too rich, we believe we never saw one who did not 

 like the brown ischa on first taste. 



DRYING AND PRESERVING PIGS. 



Figs have not heretofore been properly utilized in this State, for the 

 reason that our people have not understood the proper method of dicing 

 or preserving them. Dried fruit generally, such as apples, peaches, 

 plums, etc., are cooked before eating, and however thoroughly or hard 

 they may have been dried the cooking softens them up and brings out 

 the original flavor. Not so with the fig. This fruit is best uncooked, to 

 eat as a dessert, and in preparing it for this purpose arises the difficulty. 



It will not do to dry the fig to a crisp, as we do other fruit, for that 

 renders it tasteless and useless. The (hying process must proceed to a 

 certain point and then must be checked and the fruit preserved for use. 

 In other words, the water must be so far evaporated that the sugar in 

 the fruit itself will preserve it or prevent decay. To determine exactly 

 when the drying process should be checked requires judgment and 

 experience, which can only be attained by actual practice. 



Another great difficulty has to be overcome — to prevent the fruit 

 when packed away from becoming wormy. Flies and other insects are 

 very fond of figs when drying, and will lay their eggs in the cracks of 

 the skins, and unless these eggs are killed your fruit will be destroyed 

 and your labor lost. After a number of unsuccessful efforts to dry or 



