PROPAGATION OF THE FIG. 135 
are allowed to get dry before being reset they are very liable to die 
back to the ground and thus become even of less value than cuttings. 
Many failures in fig plantations arise from this cause. The fault lies 
partly with the sender or the nurseryman; partly, or more frequently, 
with the receiver, whose knowledge of caring for the trees has been at 
fault. If the trees are cared for properly little or no loss is probable. 
A plantation started from trees will be more uniform, will bear 
quicker, but will cost more than one started from cuttings. It should 
be remembered that cuttings of the proper size for planting in the 
open ground must be much larger than cuttings to be first planted in 
nursery rows. For the former purpose long cuttings are required; 
for the latter even the smallest will prove valuable. Unlike other 
nursery-grown trees, fig trees are always started from cuttings. A 
cutting started direct in the orchard is therefore likely to make as 
good or even a better tree than one that has been transplanted. If long 
and proper cuttings can be had they are preferable to trees, but 
well-grown trees are preferable to small cuttings. 
FRESH AND DRY CUTTINGS. 
The main point in planting a fig orchard from cuttings is that the 
cuttings should be perfectly fresh. To be sure of this, each cutting 
should be clipped at both its upper and lower ends just before plant- 
ing, except in case the top of a cutting ends ina terminal bud. Of 
course, the clipping is only to learn the proper state of the cutting. 
The cutting is fresh if an abundance of milky juice exudes from the 
inner bark or cambium layer immediately when the cut is made. The 
freer the juice flows the better the cutting, while if only a few tiny 
drops exude here and there the cutting is unfit for planting and must 
be revived. If fresh, the cutting should be plump, and the year’s 
- wood should be glossy, bulging, and no sign of shrinkage should be 
be seen. The buds of a cutting which is in proper condition should 
also be plump and the outside scale of the bud should not be dried. 
When this seale is torn off the milky sap should exude from the wound. 
Such plump fig cuttings will readily grow, and if each cutting is 
examined before planting, and if the planting is done in proper soil 
and good care is given, there should be less than 1 per cent loss from 
failure to grow. 
A dry cutting may be easily detected. Its wood is shriveled, and 
when cut transversely little or no milky sap exudes, or the sap will 
be thin and watery. When the inner green bark and cambium are 
lifted with a sharp knife they appear dry and shrunken or even discol- 
ored. The buds on a bad cutting are more or less dry; the outside 
seales are shrunken and do not closely cover the interior ones, and 
they appear hard when pressed with the fingers. These characteris- 
tics of the buds are sure signs as to the quality of the cutting, as they 
can be detected at a glance, even at a distance. A dry cutting has a 
23740—No. 9—01——10 
