188 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
turning, all such figs should be removed and used for vinegar or be 
thrown away. No pulling or pressing of the figs while turning is 
necessary, and no one can afford to put too much labor on them. 
The pulling and flattening is done after dipping and at packing. 
The sour or fermenting figs may be easily recognized by their puffed 
up appearance and by the fermenting froth issuing from the eye. 
While turning, each fig may be given a slight pressure to ascertain its 
condition. If fermenting or sour, a wheezing sound is heard or “‘ felt,” 
the fig being watery and frothy in the center. Such sour figs will 
spoil the value of the box, being disagreeable and nauseous to the 
taste. 
COVERING. 
Figs, more than almost any other fruit, are susceptible of being 
injured by dampness, either in the form of rain or dew. Not only 
does dampness retard the drying of figs, but it spoils their color, or 
may even cause them to mold and rot. Rain is especially damaging 
both to figs on the trees and on the trays. It is therefore neces- 
sary to cover the figs not only when rain and fog are threatening, but 
every evening, as a protection against dew. If rain is expected it 
is best to stack the trays, placing one tray on top of another in 
stacks about 5 feet high. Four empty trays are placed on the ground, 
leaning against the stack, in order to keep off splashes of rain and 
sand, and the whole stack is then covered with a strip of canvas. In 
places where the fig industry is permanent, money and labor will be 
saved in having permanent drying beds made of brick and cement or 
filled with gravel. As such beds have appliances for quickly running 
the canvas over the trays, no stacking is necessary. Early at sunrise, 
or, better yet, half an hour afterwards, the covering should be removed. 
WHEN SUFFICIENTLY DRIED. 
It isof great importance that the figs should be exposed long enough 
to become sufficiently dried, but not so long as to be overdried. <A 
fig when sufficiently dried and ready to be removed from the tray 
should, when slightly pressed between the fingers, be soft and pliable. 
The contents should be distinctly pulpy, and when pressed should not 
resume their former position, but remain as pressed. In other words, 
the pulp or meat should be plastic (not elastic), hard, and dry. If not 
sufficiently dried the fig will burst at the stalk end if pressed even 
moderately hard. 
Underdried figs will spoil, sour, and mold, and will become useless. 
Overdried figs will be hard and leathery and tough; will lose their 
flavor and color, the white ones becoming darker and the black ones 
turning a dirty brown. The overdried figs may be partly improved 
by dipping, but the underdried figs can in no way be improved. In 
order to produce only figs which are properly dried and cured, it will 
be found absolutely necessary to remove daily all those figs which are 
properly dry, allowing the remainder to be exposed to sun and air a 
