Tin: MONTHLY BULLETIN. 6 



IRRIGATION. 



After a iHoiitli or si.K weeks iiTii;;ile llie trees or water witli tank 

 waKon. If irrigation i.s pos.sil)le, run furrows on eaeli side of the row 

 Ihree feet away, and let the water rim; but care must be taken not to 

 let the water run into low places and form deep pools, as yonna: trees — 

 especially tliose planted the first year, can be as easily drowned as dried. 

 After each irrigation, hoe around the trees as deei)ly as po.ssible and 

 cultivate deeply from three to four times. The trees should be irrigated 

 the first year during the months of June, July and August; the 





.7 r V - • 



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Fig. 2. — Tree the same age as the one shown in the previous illustration, but 

 the trunk is half dead from frost and sunburn. (Original.) 



second year during July and August, and the years thereafter during 

 May and July. When the orchard is eight to ten years old irrigation 

 by flooding, similar to the method used in alfalfa fields or orange 

 orchards, is recommended. The ground should be thoroughly soaked 



each time it is irrigated. 



PLANTING. 



I should like to warn fig growers that they must be very cautious in 

 buying trees from nurseries. Insist upon the true "Lob" variety. 

 This is the real world-famed Smyrna fig of commerce. 



The Smyrna — or sometimes so-called Calimyrna — figs have over a 

 hundred varieties in this State, nearly all of which are seedlings. As 

 a rule the seedlings are defective in many ways: they may be poor, have 

 smaller fruit, or be lacking in sugar. A few of the varieties will make 

 fairly good table figs. 



The fig ha.s many peculiarities; one of them is that fig trees grown 

 from seeds will become two-thirds female, and one-third male. Almost 

 everv one of the seedlings represents a different kind of tree. 

 2—21019 



