196 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
to protect them from severe freezing. This is not difficult to accomplish, 
the most simple and effectual method being that of bending down the 
branches, and fastening them as close to the ground as practicable, in 
which condition they can readily be covered with 8 or 10 inches of soil, 
or an equally thorough coating of forest leaves protected by a covering 
of boards to exclude rain. 
The fig bears most satisfactorily when it is planted in gravelly or 
sandy soils; in strong rich soils, luxuriant growths are produced, and the 
young fruit will drop prematurely ; the wood will also ripen imperfectly, 
and thus diminish the number of perfect fruit-buds. After the fruit 
makes its appearance, and all during its progress toward ripening, the 
plants require an abundance of water; if the roots are kept dry at any 
time during this period the fruit will probably drop; but when the fruit 
becomes soft, indicating ripeness, a less supply of water will improve 
its flavor, and further tend to harden and ripen the annual growths of 
the tree. 
THE APRICOT. 
Inquiries have been made as to the value of the apricot as a fruit 
and its culture as an orchard tree. 
Although the apricot is one of the most delicious of stone fruits, and 
ripens earlier than the peach, yet it is a scarce fruit in our markets and 
is rarely seen on the dessert table. This may be accounted for by any 
one or all of the following reasons: First, the tree is easily excited to 
growth in spring, and a week or two of mild weather will start the 
flower buds, which are afterwards destroyed by cold or frosty weather. 
This is a very common occurrence north, and even south, of the Poto- 
mac, and may be measurably modified by planting on the north side of 
buildings or groves of trees, and thus retard the starting of the buds, 
and shield them from the morning sun after a cold night. Then, when 
the fruit is set, a second trouble is encountered in the attacks of the 
eureulio, which punctures the fruit of the apricot with a regularity simi- 
lar to that with which it addresses the plum. Unless measures are 
taken to check the ravages of this insect the crop will certainly be de- 
stroyed, and probably the most decidedly effectual method of checking 
its progress and propagation is that of planting the trees in an inclosure 
where poultry and hogs are allowed torun at large. Good crops of 
plums are secured under these’ circumstances, the animals destroying 
the grubs as they occur in the fallen fruit. 
The third and greatest drawback to apricot culture is the liability of 
the trees to loss of branches by a blight somewhat similar to that which 
destroys the pear tree. The earliest history of apricot culture makes 
mention of this malady; branches will suddenly wither and die with- 
out any apparent cause, and so fatal does it become that orchards of 
considerable extent have rapidly become extinct from this fatality, for 
which no effectual remedy has yet been discovered. 
NATIVE GRAPES. 
It is very generally conceded that the culture of native grapes is not 
so promising a remunerative industry as could be desired. New varie- 
ties, some of them possessing merit, are still being announced, but there 
is no improvement in their adaptability to general culture in ordinary 
localities. It was formerly the custom to compare the grape zone, as it 
was called, to that of Indian corn; which was intended to convey the 
idea that where this crop would mature, the native grape would also, 
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