PLANTING A FIG ORCHARD. 169 
the best orchards, are always at a disadvantage. The branches 
should be low and the trees should be as shady as possible. 
After the first year the plowing and cultivation goes on very much 
as during the first year. The first plowing is done when the weeds in 
the orchard have attained some little size. This is generally in Jan- 
uary. At that time the orchard is plowed in such a manner that the 
soil is thrown from the trees toward the center of the land. Later 
on one, two, or three cultivations, with two or four horse teams, are 
made crosswise and lengthwise to the first plowing. By the end of the 
season the land will generally be found to be quite level. Next year 
the first plowing is made crosswise to the plowing of the previous year, 
andsoon. One plowing and three cultivations are generally suffi- 
cient each year. The plowing should be as deep as possible and not 
less than 6 or 8 inches, in order to prevent the formation of roots too 
near the surface. As regards irrigation the same rule holds good as 
the first year. The end buds must be watched and be kept growing 
until September, or until the crop is harvested. No pruning is 
required except keeping the trees in form, cutting dead wood and 
crossing branches, as has been described in its proper place. 
The caprifig trees are the first which require the attention of the 
orchardist. Inthe second year they will bear some caprifigs, and these 
should then be caprificated. Caprifigs containing Blastophaga wasps 
should be procured from the nurseryman who supplied the trees or 
from some other grower. The first caprification is done in the spring 
{probably in the end of March, when the mamme figs from older trees 
are suspended in the caprifigs), provided they have no insectiferous 
mamme of theirown. The insects soon hatch out and enter the capri- 
figs of the young trees. If from that time on there is such a succes- 
sion of the three crops of the caprifigs that these crops overlap each 
other in a proper manner, no further caprification is necessary, as the 
blastophaga wasps will take care of themselves. But in case there is 
found to be a considerable lapse between the profichi and the mam- 
moni—first and second crops—then a new caprification of the mam- 
moni will be necessary, and, similarly, if there is a lapse between the 
mammoni and the mamme, then the latter—the third crop—requires 
to be caprificated with figs introduced from some other place. In 
order to have such a succession of crops of caprifigs it is desirable to 
plant many kinds of caprifigs, as has been already pointed out. It is 
highly desirable that the cultivator caprify his caprifig trees as soon 
as they begin to bear, in order to acquaint himself with the nature of 
the process of caprification. It may be possible that he will have to 
caprificate his caprifig trees every year as long as he cultivates Smyrna 
figs, and not only once a year, but several times a year; in fact, once 
for every crop. But this supposition is an extreme one. If he has a 
proper number of good varieties of caprifig trees, it is probable that 
the wasps will take care of themselves, and that there will always be 
figs ready to use in caprificating the Smyrna varieties. 
