182 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
SIGNS OF MATURITY. 
No figs should be picked before perfect and absolute maturity is 
attained, if the object is to produce a good dried fig. Figs picked 
before maturity will dry, but they will not be sweet and soft, the two 
indispensable qualities of a dried fig. It is therefore important that 
everyone should know when to pick his figs. Not all figs ripen at the 
same time; in fact, this successive ripening is considerable of an 
annoyance to the growers, as it necessitates the going over of the 
orchard several times. During the height of the season every tree 
must be looked over daily, or if the grower is fortunate enough to 
possess a variety which drops of itself when perfectly mature, these 
fallen figs must be picked up every day, because they spoil if exposed 
more than twenty-four hours on the bare and shaded ground. 
A perfectly ripe fig will not only be soft, but wrinkled, and hang 
down perpendicularly from its branch or twig. Many varieties show 
additional little white seams or cracks, which always indicate perfect 
maturity. These seams are especially noticeable around the peduncle 
or stalk end, but not all varieties show them. The above general 
signs are common to all figs, and figs suitable for drying should also 
be sweet or very sweet. 
The best Italian and Smyrna figs when dried show 60 per cent of 
sugar, equal to about 35 per cent before drying. Unlike grapes, figs 
will not become much sweeter after they have matured. The sugar 
will be more concentrated, but the quantity will not materially 
increase. <A sign of great excellence in figs is when a drop of very 
thick sirup is seen hanging from the eye. The fig is then in its prime 
and can not be improved by hanging any longer. Figs hanging any 
longer on the trees are exposed to various ferments, acid or otherwise, 
which as soon as they set in will ruin them. Genuine Smyrna figs 
when perfectly ripe drop to the ground. They should never be cut 
from the tree. 
OILING THE FIG. 
This operation consists in piercing the eye of the fig with a needle 
dipped in oil or by closing the eye of the fig with a drop of olive oil. 
This process is of very ancient origin, and must not be confounded 
with caprification. While the object of caprification is to cause the 
fruit to set and produce fertile seed, the object of the oiling is to 
hasten the maturity of the fruit several days. For the practical part 
of this oiling see article on ‘‘France.” The physiological effect of the 
oiling is not explained, and is probably to be found in something else 
than in the mere exclusion of air. 
The origin of the practice is very old. In the Old Testament the 
prophet Amos (chap. VU, v. 14) speaks of ‘‘bélés schiqmim,” which 
was translated by Luther as ‘‘ Who take off the mulberries.” But the 
true translation according to Solms-Laubach is ‘‘ Who performs an 
