210 ON THE CAPRIFICaTION OF THE FIG. 



combined with heat, it causes it to throw out a great deal of 

 wood. It produces a good many early figs, which I have never 

 seen ripen, although they often attain a considerable size. The 

 leaves are deeply divided, the vegetation of the branches unequal 

 and without order — here and there coarse shoots, which grow in 

 a short time to a considei'able length (as much as four Neapolitan 

 palms), with twenty to thirty eyes; and whilst in other figs at 

 the end of August the shoots either cease to grow or lose much 

 of their vigour, those of the Lardaro continue to lengthen through 

 September, and not unfrequently through a good part of October, 

 having always figs in the axils of the leaves. These fruits are 

 very numerous, and many of them ill-shapen, distorted, lumpy, 

 and of irregular growth, often two of different ages in each 

 axil. In such a disorderly activity of vegetation, with such a 

 number of fruits of different sizes and forms, with so much sensi- 

 bility to atmospheric influences, it is not a matter of surprise 

 tliat this fig should promise much and perform little, when we 

 see that one only of the above-mentioned causes would produce 

 the effect ; for we have stated already tliat the Sarnese and Chiaja 

 figs lose a part of their fruits from producing too many.^ Mean- 

 while, I have not been able to correct the defect of the Lardaro 

 by pruning, nor by leaving uncultivated the ground where it is 

 growing ; for that has appeared always to give it new strength 

 to replace its pruned top, and throw out coarse shoots and make 

 wood. Age alone and the enfeeblement of decay tames it, and then 

 its branches, growing little and becoming less disorderly, preserve 

 their fruits better. The difference may be observed, also, among 

 the branches of one tree ; and this to such a degree, that whoever 

 makes comparative observations on different individuals of tliis 

 variety, sees that by diversity of age, soil, exposition, disturbed 

 vegetation, or seasons, they vary so much that he cannot easily 

 follow the thread of explanation. But essentially the facts are 

 the same as those observed in other trees, that is, that vigor- 

 ously growing individuals produce little fruit, and, like coarse 

 branches, only make wood, that those which produce an inordi- 

 nate quantity lose a good portion, and that generally a scanty 

 crop follows an abundant one. 



§ 17. Effects of grafting. 



After so many experiments had proved the nullity of any 

 supposed effects of the fly on the domestic fig in making it 

 retain its fruits, I one day, in a village of Ischia, came upon a 

 Colombro fig, which seemed to show the advantage of caprifica- 

 tion in a way to turn one's brains. It was in the centre of an 

 airy, open garden, with a good soil, situated in a flat, and far 

 from the sea — a large and beautiful Colombro fig, with a hand- 

 some, well-formed head, the bark uninjured, the wood every- 



