ON THE CAPEIFICATION OF THE FIG. 187 



fig- and sucks out the superfluous humours ; and that the air 

 penetrating through the aperture, it follows that by its warmth 

 and fermenting qualities the fig sets and ripens. Nevertheless 

 tiiat there are races of domestic figs which do not require the aid 

 of the caprifig to ripen ; and treating of these, this diligent ob- 

 server is of opinion that that may arise from the quality of the 

 soil or of climate as well as from the particular nature of certain 

 figs which can ripen their fruits without assistance. He believes 

 that a poor dry soil with a northern aspect, the deficiency of 

 moisture in such a soil, the cool wind which is usual in such a 

 situation, and even the dust wliich would cover the fruit and 

 absorb its superfluous humours, would all tend to open the mouth 

 of the fig and produce the same effects which in the other case 

 are brought about by the flies ; and that if in Italy and some 

 other countries caprification was not knov.n, it was because, 

 for the above reasons, the figs in those countries set and ripened 

 naturally : and Pliny, speaking of this subject, says that the 

 caprifig is of a wild nature and does not ripen its fruit, but that 

 it imparts to tiie fig that virtue which it does not itself possess, 

 for such is the course of Nature, that even from putrefaction 

 something should be generated. It produces midges which, de- 

 prived of any nourishment from their own parent, fly to the 

 allied fig, and by continual biting at the mouth enlarge it, and, 

 penetrating withinside, facilitate the admission of light and fer- 

 tilising air {aura cerealis), thus transforming the milky Immour 

 into a sweet honeyed juice. On this account the caprifig should 

 be planted near tlie fig, and on that side from whence the wind 

 might carry the fertilising breath. Now this description is but 

 little more than a copy of what Theophrastus had written so 

 long before. These were the opinions of the learned as well as 

 the usages of the country in the times of Herodotus, Aristotle, 

 Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny ; but however ancient was 

 the practice in Greece, it remained there ; for there is no tra- 

 dition of its having ever been introduced into Syria or Palestine : 

 and Pliny remarks that even at his time it was only in use in tlie 

 islands of the Archipelago. It may, therefore, be affirmed with 

 tolerable certainty that it was only brought from thence into our 

 country (Italy), although, owing to the long rule of barbarians, 

 it is impossible to fix the period of its introduction with any 

 degree of probability. 



After the revival of science, Csesalpinius, about the year 1-583, 

 discovered the sexual organs in flowering plants, and thus the 

 conjectures of the ancients became a certainty. Nevertheless the 

 opinions on the effects of caprification did not change in the 

 least, and none of the botanists or agriculturists of the time, who 

 treated of the fig, differed in this respect from Theophrastus, as 



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