178 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
covered with mats or wrapped in straw permanently for the winter, 
while for continued cold the dwarf trees are even buried in the soil. 
After the frost has caused damage to the branches there is no other 
remedy than to remove all injured parts at once and cut back until 
the flow of fresh milky sap indicates that healthy parts are reached. 
It might be necessary to cut back to the main trunk or even to cut 
the tree to the ground. If this be done in time new suckers will come 
up from which a new tree can be raised. If the tree is thus greatly 
injured it should be cut below the collar, the cut covered with graft- 
ing wax or pitch, and all the suckers allowed to grow the first year. 
The next winter these suckers should be covered by mats, straw, ete., 
in order to protect them. If they also are frosted there is very little 
hope for the tree. “The following spring the strongest sucker is to be 
nursed into a tree, while the others should be cut and kept cut back 
severely through the season. The tree may even die to the ground 
or succumb entirely. The preventive measures are not many and 
not very effective. Young trees may be defoliated if they show no 
signs of becoming dormant at the time frost is most to be feared. 
Defoliation hastens the maturity of the wood, checks the flow of the 
sap, and renders the tree less liable to be greatly injured by frost. In 
France smoking is commonly used in northern fig orchards, the smoke 
being started an hour before sunrise and kept up for an hour after 
the sun is up. Tar, straw, and damp chips of wood are used to create 
smoke, which should be started on all sides of the orchard. 
FUNGI. 
In France the fig plantations suffer greatly from the attacks of a root 
fungus of the genus Rhizoctonus. The roots alone are infected and 
are destroyed in a very short time, the ultimate effect being to destroy 
the whole fig tree. This disease spreads rapidly through the orchard 
and operates before the cultivator is aware even of the presence of 
the disease. Sulphur has been used with small success. In order 
to prevent the wholesale destruction of the fig trees it is advisable to 
plant them alternately with other trees which are not attacked by the 
disease, such as olives, pomegranates, or grape vines, or to plant the 
trees so far apart that the roots can not interlace. Intermediate 
crops are then necessary. Any other remedy than isolation has never 
been discovered for this fungoid disease. 
SOURING OF THE FIGS. 
The souring of the figs is directly caused by a fungoid ferment, 
undoubtedly related to the fungus which causes acute fermentation 
in other sweet substances, such as wine. A more distinct cause of 
souring is the want of proper sweetness in the figs, too much water in 
the soil, or unsuitable soil. Figs which grow in moderately moist 
ground sour less than those that grow in wet soils. The drier the soil, 
to a certain point, the sweeter the figs. Very sweet, sirupy figs seldom 
sour, and certain varieties sour more readily than others under almost 
