164 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
made to cross each other in the hole a little below the soil. This will 
give a greater inclination to the main trunks, which is just what is 
desired. In training such trees after planting very little labor is 
required. The trunks will bend out by themselves, and the branches 
of each tree will complement one another and form one uniform head 
or crown. No pruning is necessary, except to cut out some branches 
which grow too closely together. The interior branches will be com- 
paratively very few, and the principal limbs will grow outward. 
Such trees require less pruning than those planted in the regular or 
orthodox way, as they will shape and care for themselves. This 
mode of planting should be adopted for all fig orchards. Fig trees 
destined to give shade in avenues and ornamental grounds may, how- 
ever, be set singly. 
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CARE OF TREES AFTER PLANTING. 
Whether the recently set fig trees should be irrigated or not must 
depend upon circumstances. If the soil be moist, irrigation should 
be postponed until necessary. The trees should be inspected every 
two or three days. When in proper condition the buds and the top 
branches should be plump and the outside scales of the buds should 
be full of sap if punctured or broken. If any of them show dryness, 
water should be applied at once, and if, after irrigation, no improve- 
ment is seen within a day, there is no alternative but to cut the trees 
back to the point where they will bleed freely. If, after being cut 
back, the tree shows signs of continuing to dry, it should be cut back 
close to the surface of the soil, in order that a shoot may be encour- 
aged to start up and form a new tree. This cutting back to the 
ground may prove an heroic measure, but it nearly always has the 
desired effect of causing new shoots to form below the soil, whereas if 
a drying tree be allowed to remain unpruned it will generally die. 
Much complaint is heard from planters about fig trees dying, and 
many prefer on this account to set out cuttings instead of trees. But 
if this system of heavy pruning back is adopted at the first sign of 
drying the loss will be greatly reduced. 
If the fig tree has been planted for shade and when it is desirable, 
if possible, to save the standard, this can often be done by closely 
covering the tree with sacking and excluding as much wind as pos- 
sible and all the sun. It is wonderful how a sickly tree will recover 
if properly shaded and evaporation prevented. This process is appli- 
cable also to citrus trees and olives, and indeed to all evergreen trees. 
By watering or sprinkling the covering morning and evening the 
evaporation of the sap is considerably retarded. The roots should be 
kept moist, but not wet, for if too wet they will rot. After every 
irrigation the soil should be dug up and pulverized around the roots 
in order to admit the necessary air to the roots, as well as for acting 
asa mulch. The practice of mulching the trees with fresh yelfow 
Straw is to be condemned, as the reflection from the straw causes the 
