206 THE FIG: ITS HISTORY, CULTURE, AND CURING. 
often turn bright golden yellow, ete. This variation in color is the 
greatest obstacle to a proper description of the fig, and it is therefore 
of importance to always state where the description was made. 
Pulp and meat.—The pulp is the inner soft part of the fig surround- 
ing the seeds. Between the pulp and the skin is found the meat. 
While the pulp is often red, the meat is rarely so, though it is often 
streaked red or violet. The pulp may be ‘‘ white,” ‘‘ yellow,” ‘‘red,” 
‘‘pnurple,” ‘‘opaline,” ‘‘ rose,” “streaked,” ete., and may be “‘ coarse” 
or ‘‘fine.” The pulp and the meat should never be confounded, but 
mentioned separately. 
Seeds.—The seeds are either ‘‘large” or ‘‘small,” ‘‘few” or ‘‘many”— 
relative terms, of course, but terms which may be used to great advan- 
tage. The size of the seeds of the imported Smyrna figs may be con- 
sidered as a standard with which to compare others. 
Growth.—The growth of the tree may be ‘‘strong” or ‘‘ weak,” 
“upright,” with many or few branches, or with drooping branches, 
etc. The leaves are either “large” or ‘‘small,” ‘‘entire” or ‘“‘deeply 
lobed,” ‘‘dark” or ‘‘light,” ‘‘glossy” or ‘‘ hairy,” ‘‘ regular” or “‘lop- 
sided.” The lobes are either 3, 5, or 9 in number, or the margin may 
be ‘‘ent?re.” They may be ‘‘acute,” ‘‘ pointed,” ‘‘ rounded,” ‘‘ obtuse,” 
‘‘cuneate,” ‘‘wavy,” or ‘‘smooth.” As the leaves vary on each tree, 
an average leaf adjoining a fig should always be taken as a model for 
description. Finally, it should be stated whether the stalk of the 
leaf is unusually ‘‘short” or ‘‘long,” ‘‘ dark” or ‘‘ light. ” 
ce 
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