Lo? THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
male flowers, have fertile seeds, it is necessary to use seeds of imported 
Smyrna figs or seeds from figs caprificated in this country or else- 
where. Cut open the figs and remove all the pulp by washing out in 
warm water. Seeds which float are empty and worthless, while those 
which sink are generally fertile. Sow the fertile seeds in shallow boxes 
containing sand and loam mixed and place the boxes ina frame under 
glass or canvas. ‘The proper time for this operation is in the spring. 
In three weeks the seedlings will appear above the ground, and from 
that time on they must be sparingly watered. The next season they 
should be set out in nursery rows, the rows 10 inches wide and 4 feet 
apart. In three years such plants will be found to bear, but they will 
not necessarily mature the fruit. Very few, indeed, of these seedlings 
will produce valuable fruit. The majority will give fruits with male 
flowers, which are always a drawback to the edible qualities of the 
fig, as they and their part of the fig receptacle never soften. The 
‘aising of figs from seed is an interesting process, and by chance some 
valuable figs may be produced in this way. But, as there are several 
hundred fig varieties known, it is better first to experiment with them 
rather than to try to raise new varieties. Unfortunately for the 
grower, fig seedlings will mostly revert to the wild fig or caprifig, 
which, of course, always is the male parent. It is not proven with cer- 
tainty that more than one or two fig varieties of value have been pro- 
duced from seed, though it is probable that a majority of our fig 
varieties have originated in this way. According to observations 
made in Italy as well as here, it seems that fig seedlings produce 
both regular caprifigs and figs with mixed male and other flowers. 
Smyrna-fig seedlings raised by the writer produced trees with purely 
female flowers and others which contained male flowers in various 
proportions and development. The experiments made by other horti- 
culturists turned out in the same way. So far no edible variety of the 
common fig has been originated in California, and any statements of 
valuable varieties having been raised from seed in hothouses in Eng- 
land or elsewhere in Europe should be accepted with doubt. 
While it may be unnecessary at present to raise seedlings from 
edible varieties in order to produce other edible kinds, it is not only 
not unnecessary, but highly desirable, that we should raise new varie- 
ties of caprifigs from seed of caprifigs. In this way we may procure 
new caprifig varieties which will be more suited to local conditions 
than any which we can import from abroad. The figs which we have 
named, respectively, Mitchell and Maslin are undoubtedly such 
chance seedlings which may prove of much value. 
