FIG CULTURE IN VARIOUS FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 31 
These assorted figs are carried away by men to the packing rooms 
and are now known as ‘‘maccaronia.” The packing proper is done 
by men in separate rooms and on rough tables. This process consists 
of two operations—pulling and splitting, and packing. Each packer 
has in front of him a jar with salt water for moistening the hands, 
which are always kept wet in order that the figs may not stick. Next 
the figs which are packed as ‘‘eleme” are pulled and drawn between 
the fingers and thumb into a flat dish-like form and then the back 
part is split, which allows still more spreading of the ug. In pulling 
the fig the ‘‘eye” part is brought into the center of the disk, which 
gives to the other part a handsome appearance, the coarse and thicek 
part of the fig being centered around the eye. All the best figs are 
packed in boxes containing from 23 to 50 pounds. They are placed 
in regular rows, without any guide, and so skillfully is this done that 
the lines between the rows are perfectly straight and even to such a 
degree that a sheet of paper may be dropped between them. The 
rows all consist of layers, one on the top of the other, all through the 
box. When finally the box is filled it is passed out to women, who 
place laurel leaves between the figs of the top layer, after which the 
earpenters nail the boxes and trim them off. (PI. II.) 
Another and better mode of packing is employed with so-called 
locoum figs. These are not pulled and split, but pressed between 
the fingers until they become almost square, and are then packed 
closely together. In all this packing no presses are used. The 
“‘eleme” boxes are simply piled upon the floor, one on the top of the 
other, which presses them sufficiently. The poorer grades are packed 
in barrels in concentric rows. When such a barrel is full a loose 
bottom is put in and the packer gets in and tamps it down in order 
to compress the figs solidly. By the middle of October the packing 
is generally over and the packing establishments are closed for the 
year. In some of these large packing houses as many as 500 hands 
are employed; 150 of these are women, 50: boys and girls, and 300 men. 
BRANDS AND BOXES. 
ec 
There are two great brands of Smyrna figs—the ‘‘eleme” and the 
“locoum.” The former are always packed flattened out, the latter 
like little cubes. The word ‘‘eleme” means “‘select,” or better, the 
‘‘cream,” as it were, skimmed out of a lot of common figs. Through 
habit this brand of fig is always first pulled, flattened, split, and 
pressed, and on this account it has been repeatedly stated that ‘‘eleme” 
means ‘‘ pulled,” which, however, is not the true meaning of the word. 
Locoum indieates.a square cube of so-called fig paste, a kind of 
sweetmeat made of sugar and starch and a little coloring matter, with- 
out any particle of fig in it. This very stuff is also sold in many 
American cities under various names, as sugar figs, fig paste, ete. It 
generally comes as a square sack, or cube, probably originally 
23740—No. 9—01——3 
