PLANTING A FIG ORCHARD. 163 
After the hole is nearly filled some loose soil should be thrown on top, 
in order to serve as a mulch. In very dry seasons the trees may be 
set a little lower than the ground and a small basin left around the 
trunk. The advantages of this system are many. It insures correct- 
ness in lining the trees, as the positions of the laths indicate the exact 
places of the trees before planting; it obviates the filling in and redig- 
ging of holes if dug in the wrong place; it makes the pulling out and 
resetting of trees unnecessary; it is a quicker and simpler method 
than the old one of using the guide board with one peg on each side 
of the hole, and, finally, it is a cheaper method than any other in use 
which insures absolute accuracy. 
PLANTING CUTTINGS IN THE ORCHARD. 
The planting of cuttings directly in the orchard differs but little 
from planting the trees. The same method should be followed, but 
the holes should be deep enough to suit a very large cutting. Such 
cuttings are the best to plant out, as they are more able than small 
cuttings to care for themselves. The cuttings should be allowed to 
protrude only a few inches above the soil, and in times of very dry 
and warm weather even the top may be covered with a small amount 
of soil to prevent drying out. 
PLANTING TO AVOID SPLITTING THE TRUNK. 
The fig tree is more liable to split than any other of our fruit trees. 
Pruning may greatly obviate this evil, but a much better way and, 
in the opinion of the writer, the only proper way to prevent fig trees 
splitting is to plant two cuttings in the same hole, the cuttings cross- 
ing each other in the center of the hole. This method has been 
employed in Smyrna for this reason, and also in France, with a slightly 
different object in view. The effect of such planting may be seen at 
once, as the only branches that split off from a fig tree are those which 
are too heavy for the tenacity of the wood. While the branches never 
break off entirely, they split from the main stem and always injure the 
tree, and often ruin it. 
The more upright the fig trunk, the greater the pressure of the 
limbs and the more readily will they split off. The less horizontal and 
the more downward sloping the branch, the less it is apt to split away 
from the trunk. By setting two trees or two cuttings in one hole, 
with the tops a short distance apart, the two trees or trunks resulting 
from them will lean outward, away from each other, and so will all 
their branches. The effect will be that none of them will ever split 
away. In course of time the two trees will grow together at the base 
and form one large tree of the same form as that possessed by a wild 
fig tree, which is after all the most suitable shape that can be given a 
fig,tree. In planting in this manner the tree or cuttings should be 
