140 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
toward the cuttings. When he has caught up with the planter he 
should return and tamp the soil on both sides of the cuttings, not 
only by walking with one foot on each side of the row, but by using 
as much force as possible in pressing the soil hard. The soil can 
not be pressed too hard, provided it is not wet and soggy. If irri- 
gation can not be had at once, or if the weather is very warm and 
dry, it is advisable to pull loose soil to the very top of the cuttings 
after the tamping is over. 
This leaves only the very tops exposed or just in the soil, and pre- 
vents the cuttings from drying out. This entire covering over is also 
a most excellent way of reviving cuttings which have been planted, 
but which, from some cause or other, have become shriveled. <A few 
days of shade will revive them, and the soil may be either pulled 
away again or be left. The sprouts of the figs will be able to push 
through if the covering is not over 2 inches thick. 
In the directions above given the following points are to be noted 
as of special importance: 
(1) Uniform distance between the rows. 
(2) Absolutely straight rows. 
(3) The planting of cuttings at once, after the trench is scooped out. 
(4) Covering the trench at once after planting. 
(5) Tamping the soil very hard. 
(6) The shading of the cuttings by loose soil. 
(7) Prevention of the exposure of more than one eye. 
PLANTING SMALL CUTTINGS IN NURSERY. 
The planting of very small cuttings of 4 to 6 inches in length should 
be done in low beds in irrigated districts, or, if in moist places, in 
elevated beds. The low beds should be absolutely level and surrounded 
by a low ridge in order to check the water which is to be conducted by 
a small ditch to the bed in such a way that the whole bed may be flooded 
at onee. After the bed has been prepared the soil should be dug up 
and raked loose. Asmall V-formed trench is then excavated from one 
end of the bed to the other and the cuttings placed in this about 3 
inches apart. The whole bed is filled with cuttings in this way. Only 
one eye of each cutting should be left out of the ground. When 
planted the bed should be flooded at once and covered with well-rotted 
straw in which all seeds have been destroyed by fermentation. Fresh 
straw will bring too many weeds and will, besides, injure the cuttings 
by attracting and reflecting intense sun heat. Such beds of cuttings 
are apt to dry out very quickly and require a great deal of water. If 
properly cared for they will make fine but small trees, suited for plant- 
ing in nursery rows the following season. During the growing season 
the plants should be suckered and only one shoot allowed to grow. 
The terminal buds of the plants should be kept growing until the latter 
