August, 12] RIXFORD: FIG FRUCTIFICATION 351 



pollinated and therefore call them mule flowers. Pontedera and 

 Gallesio call such flowers fico niula and fico semi-mula, the latter a few 

 of which are susceptible of pollination and the former not at all. 

 This idea has become so fixed in the minds of some horticulturists 

 that they are calling this class of figs ''mule figs," a positive misnomer 

 and entirely unwarranted by the facts. 



The staminate flowers of the caprifig are arranged in a zone or cluster 

 at the upper part of the fig, just within the eye. The remainder of 

 the receptacle is filled with gall flowers which are nothing more than 

 female flowers, the pistils of which are modified for the purposes of the 

 female Blastophaga. The styles of these flowers are short and thick 

 compared to those of the Smyrna and other female figs and are pro- 

 vided with a duct down which the female wasp pushes her ovipositor 

 into the ovary where she deposits the egg. These styles are surmounted 

 usually by forked stigmas, the surfaces of which are provided Avith the 

 usual cells or glands and the viscous coating to which the pollen grains 

 adhere. With sufficient magnifying power the pollen tubes can be 

 seen pushing their way from the surface down through the cellular 

 tissue into the ovary. The gall flowers of all caprifigs are alike except 

 for slight variations in the shape of the stigmas. 



We now come to the regular female flower of the Smyrna fig, upon 

 the character of which all are agreed. The style is long and slim — two 

 or three times longer than the style of the caprifig and this is the reason 

 that it is unsuited for the purpose of the insect. It is divided at the 

 summit usually into two stigmas and thej' appear to be identical with 

 those of the Adriatic class to which belong all those figs which reach 

 an edible condition without pollination. The stigmas of the latter, 

 the books say, are mostly malformed and cannot be fertilized. 



To show how erroneous is this conclusion it may be mentioned 

 that during the spring of 1909 the writer by applying the Blastophaga 

 to the so called "mule figs" in more than forty cases found that in 

 every instance heavy fertile seeds were produced and in as large pro- 

 portion as in the Smyrna fig. From these seeds thousands of plants 

 were grown at the U. S. Introduction Garden at Chico. It is believed 

 that such plants will be the means of producing some interesting varie- 

 ties. The breeder does not have to wait long for results for most of 

 the seedlings bear fruit at the age of two and three years. 



A striking instance of the fertilization of common figs occurred last 

 year at Loomis, Placer county, where a fruit grower had grafted a por- 

 tion of an Adriatic tree with Smyrna scions. The Smyrna branches 

 set quantities of figs and wishing to secure a crop the owner hung 

 caprifigs in them containing Blastophaga ready to issue. Some of 

 the wasps entered the Adriatic figs on the ungrafted part of the 



