CAPRIBICAMIQN OF THE FIG. a Lal ia 
crop if it is not caprificated. The second crop is always set and 
matured without caprification. 
WHERE CAPRIFICATION IS PRACTICED, 
Nowhere is caprification practiced more thoroughly, more constantly, 
and more successfully than in the home of the fig—Syria and Asia 
Minor. In the vicinity of Smyrna, the foremost fig region of the 
world, the figs of which are acknowledged superior to any grown else- 
where, caprification is a necessity. The fig crop without it would 
fail—at least the crops from all varieties which produce the Smyrna 
figs of commerce. The fact that some figs may be produced without 
caprification even there, must be attributed to the same cause which 
produces some fertile seed in the Italian figs without direct fertiliza- 
tion by caprification. The real cause of the setting of figs in either 
ease is the presence of caprifigs in the vicinity, from which the wasps 
carry the pollen irregularly and sparingly, but sufficiently to produce 
a few figs and a few seed. The importance of caprifigs in Syria and 
Smyrna is so great that they often command a higher price than the 
edible figs, and in cases of failure of the caprifig crop sailing vessels 
are sent to distant ports, to the Grecian islands, to bring whole cargoes 
of the fruit. This bringing of cargoes of caprifigs, at great expense, 
by intelligent growers, must point to the value of caprification there, 
and is in glaring contrast with the occasional practice of some ignorant 
cultivators in Greece and Italy, who, failing to procure caprifigs, sus- 
pended galls of elm trees among their figs. As the culture of figs 
followed the immigration of the Phoenicians, and later on that of the 
Arabs, so do we to this day find caprification practiced in all countries 
formerly occupied by those nations—that is along the north coast of 
Africa, in Algiers and Morocco, in the islands of the Mediterranean, 
Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, and the Malta group, and farther west, in the 
southern parts of Spain and Portugal. 
To this day eaprifigs are highly valued and bring a high price in 
Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, and parts of the Iberian Pen- 
insula, especially when the crop is scarce. Leclere tells us that in 
Algiers the profichi of the caprifig bring 2 sous per dozen (not quite 
a half cent). They are regular merchandise in all these markets. 
In Greece caprification has been in vogue since very ancient times, 
as has been mentioned elsewhere. From that country it spread to 
southern Italy first after the time of Pliny, and has there been prac- 
ticed ever since, principally in the territory of the old kingdom of 
Naples or in southern Italy generally. 
To the general rule that caprification is practiced in Greece and 
Grecian colonies, one exception is mentioned by Solms-Laubach. In 
Marseille (Provence) and vicinity caprification is not practiced. It is 
also not practiced in central and northern Italy, or in the territories 
occupied anciently by the old Umbrians, Etrurians, and Latins, nor is 
