FIG CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. to 
asked if he would undertake the journey. In the spring of 1896 Mr. 
Walter T. Swingle, then studying at the Zoological Station at Naples, 
became interested in the problems of caprification, which had been so 
much investigated in that region. In 1898, during a second. stay at 
the Zoological Station, he made more extended studies, in which he 
had the benefit of the advice and help of Count Solms-Laubach and 
Dr. Paul Mayer, the recognized authorities on the subject. During 
March and April he secured and sent at his own expense the first ship- 
ment of mamme caprifigs, which were packed by a new method. 
This was the first time the mamme generation of caprifigs had been 
sent to America. They reached California in April in good condition, 
but although the insects came out by hundreds they failed to become 
established. Shortly afterwards Mr. Swingle was appointed an agri- 
cultural explorer in the newly established section of Seed and Plant 
Introduction. Since he was on the spot and was so well fitted for the 
work, it was considered unnecessary to send another investigator 
abroad, and Mr. Swingle was instructed to continue on behalf of the 
Department his efforts to introduce the fig insect and suitable varie- 
ties of the caprifig tree. 
Mr. Swingle studied the methods of fig culture and caprification in 
Algeria, Sicily, Naples, Greece, and Smyrna, and forwarded a num- 
ber of mamme ecaprifigs from Algiers in the spring of.1899. These 
eaprifigs arrived in good condition and were sent by the Department 
of Agriculture to Mr. George Roeding, of Fresno, whose large and 
healthy fig orchard had been selected as the best for the purpose by 
Dr. Howard, after a personal examination in the spring of 1898. Mr. 
Roeding, by the way, had also repeatedly imported the Blastophaga, 
but all had failed to establish themselves in the caprifigs. As a 
result of the last Government introduction of Blastophagae to the 
Roeding orchard, it is most gratifying to know that at last the fig 
wasps have been properly established in California, both at Fresno 
and at Niles, and there is now every prospect that, with proper care 
and with proper distribution of caprifigs in frost-free localities, these 
insects will become so acclimated that no more introductions will be 
required. In order to study the intricate problem of the relationship 
of the Blastophaga and the ecaprifig, Dr. L. O. Howard, chief ento- 
mologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, directed 
Mr. E. A. Schwarz to proceed to California in the spring of 1900, 
As a result of the investigations of Dr. Howard and Mr. Schwarz, the 
former has contributed to the Yearbook of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for 1900 a most important account of caprification 
in California.! 
1The article has also been reprinted in separate form, and copies of the same 
may be obtained upon application. 
