50 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
to and is not considered injurious if judiciously applied. Figs des- 
tined for drying are irrigated less than those for use in the fresh state. 
In the most favored localities the fig trees are planted 18 to 20 feet 
apart and smaller crops are grown between; but on account of the 
fungus which frequently and fatally attacks the roots of the figs and 
rapidly spreads from one tree to another where they are growing so 
close that the roots interfere with one another, most fig trees are 
alternated with almonds or olives. 
The closer to the Mediterranean the taller are the standards or 
trunks of the fig trees, and the farther away from those shores the 
less the trunks, both in height and circumference, until in the vicinity 
of Paris the trunks disappear entirely and give way to a cluster of 
branches issuing direct from the soil. 
The trees with high standards suffer most from heat and dryness; 
consequently high-standard fig trees are found only in localities where 
irrigation is practiced. After the tree has been planted, generally 
from a cutting, it is allowed to grow as it pleases for two years. The 
effect is the development of numerous suckers from the base. In 
March of the third season the largest of these is selected to form 
the future standard, while the others are cut away. On this standard 
-all side branches are cut until it has reached a height of 2.30 meters, 
or about 7 feet. The top bud is then pinched in the spring and side 
branches are allowed to form immediately below, constituting the 
coming head or crown of the tree. 
Pruning is very little practiced, although in some localities fig trees 
are pruned to some extent. Suckers are removed from the base; dry 
branches as well as branches which cross one another are cut away, 
and branches which bend too close to the ground, interfering with 
other crops, are cut off. But the general rule is that the less the fig 
tree is cut the better for the tree. Whatever pruning is required is 
done in March or April. The cultivation of crops between the trees 
also suffices for the figs. Where no irrigation is practiced a hollow 
basin of earth is formed around the base of the fig tree early in the 
fall in order to catch the winter rains. In exposed localities the trees 
are protected in the following manner: In the middle of December or 
the beginning of winter the space around the tree is dug up and the 
soil heaped around the stem as high as possible in order to protect 
it from cold. In the beginning of April this earth is again leveled 
down and the soil dug up anew. The succeeding labors are confined 
to irrigating the trees once a month untilthe end of August, when 
the harvest of the figs begins. 
It has been found that manuring greatly improves the figs. Light 
soils are manured with cow dung every two or three years, while for 
heavier soils sheep, horse, and pigeon dung are used every six or 
eight years. But the best manures for figs are offal from factories, 
such as wool waste from mills, as well as bone dust. 
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