172 THE FIG: -ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
forming an enormously wide but very short trunk. Trees grown in 
this way are not apt to split. When fig trees are planted wide apart 
in the orchard, and for fruit alone, this several-standard system is con- 
sidered a good one. It differs somewhat from the general custom, 
but it agrees perfectly with the nature of the tree. How this is best 
accomplished by planting two cuttings in one hole has been explained. 
If a single standard from the soil is desired, the trees should if 
possible not be cut back at planting lower than 4 feet from tlie 
soil, or better yet, allowed to remain at 6 feet from the soil. Side 
branches should be encouraged at least 1 foot or more apart, in order 
that the crotches may not come close together. If the planted tree 
has several good side branches, cut back the top to the uppermost 
of these branehes and cut out other branches, except those left for 
the main branches for the future head. All the smaller branches 
may be left to grow and the thinning out postponed to the next year, 
the object in leaving them being to enable the tree to shade itself as 
much as possible the first year. The side branches may be cut back 
if required, this cutting back doing no injury to the young tree. In 
after years, however, it can not be allowed, except under particular 
conditions—as, for instance, when it is desirable to balance an ill- 
shaped tree. This form is not suitable in the orchard. 
PRUNING BEARING FIG TREES. 
As has already been stated, most fig trees suffer if their branches 
are cut squarely back. In all old fig-growing countries, even in 
England, the saying is: ‘‘A fig tree cut back will give no good crop.” 
This has also been the experience in California, especially with heavy- 
growing kinds. The writer has known an instance where large 
fig trees which were cut back for cuttings did not again bear good 
figs, and several similar instances have been reported where for ten 
years the trees did not recover their producing power. After the first 
year, therefore, the fig trees should oniy be thinned out. Never cut 
back the fruit-bearing branches in such a way that the same branch 
can send out side shoots below the cut. If cutting be necessary in 
order to shape the tree, cut back to the fork in such a way that the 
whole branch will be cut off, either to the main trunk of the tree or to 
a main branch, and let it be remembered that the less heavily the fig 
tree is pruned the better for the bearing quality of the tree and the 
better for the quality of the fruit. 
When cut off squarely a branch sends out side branches from a 
number of eyes immediately below the cut and the end of the branch 
will look somewhat like a brush. These side branches will interfere 
with one another and with other branches of the tree, and most of 
them must be cut away the following season in order to shape the 
tree and to admit air, light, and heat. But if the branch in question 
be cut off further down close to a fork the remaining branch of the 
