FER 



224 



FIG 



closed in the papers, which should be 

 well secured and kept perfectly dry." — 

 Gard. Chron. 



FERRARIA. Eight species. Green- 

 house and hardy bulbs. Offsets and 

 seeds. Sandy loam and peat. 



FICARIA. Three species. Hardy 

 tubers, tubers, shaded. Common soil. 



F I C U S. Fig Tree. Seventy-seven 

 species. Chiefly green-house and stove 

 evergreen trees and shrubs. Cuttings. 

 Light rich ioam. 



F I E L D I A australis. Green-house 

 evergreen creeper. Cuttings. Loam and 

 peat. 



FIG MARIGOLD. Mesemhryanthe- 

 mum. 



FIG. Ficus carica. 



a warm cucumber-frame, and re-potting 

 them two or three times, they will 

 attain a large size in one summer. 

 With these cuttings, as with the trees 

 at all ages, bottom heat and water is 

 every thing." — Gard. Chron. 



Soil. — Mr. Markham says, "The 

 best soil for this fruit is sandy maiden 

 loam and turf mixed together, without 

 manure of any kind, over-luxuriance 

 being a great evil "in their culture. I 

 would advise all who are about to plant 

 a fig wall, to form the borders about 

 three feet deep, having a good drainage 

 of any rough material. At the front of 

 this, a wall four inches and a half thick, 

 running parallel with the other should 

 be brought up to within two inches of 



Varieties for open walls, and time of' the surface, the intervening space being 



ripening. — Brown Ischia, Large White 

 Genoa, and Green Ischia, (August.) 

 Brown Naples, Brunswick, White Mar- 

 seilles, (September.) Black Provence, 

 Yellow Ischia, and Genoa, (October.) [ 

 Propagation may be effected by 

 seeds, and cross impregnation to get j 

 varieties ; the seedlings will be pro- 



walled across so that each tree may 

 have its own division. This prevents 

 over-luxuriance, and causes them to 

 fruit more freely. Any old trees that 

 are growing strong and that do not bear 

 well, might have their roots pruned 

 back in autumn and walled in as above 

 described. By doing this early it would 



ductive when six years old ; by layers, afford the tree time to provide itself 



suckers, slips, and grafting, but by 

 cuttings is the mode usually practised. 

 These must be of young wood, about 

 eight inches long, with two inches of 

 old wood attached. Plant in October, 

 in a sandy loam and warm situation, 

 the surface covered with ashes, to ex- 

 clude the frost and drought. " The 

 tops of the cuttings will require the 

 additional protection of haulm or litter 

 during winter; give water and keep 

 clear of weeds during summer, and by 

 the following autumn the plants will be 

 fit to be transplanted into nursery rows, 

 where they must again be mulched at 

 root, and protected at top. They re- 

 quire no pruning farther than to rear 

 them with a single stem, and keep their 

 heads of a regular shape ; the second or 

 third year they may be removed to 

 where they are finally to remain. Cut- 

 tings of roots readily make plants, but 

 the process is too slow for general use, 

 and the plants so produced are not 

 likely to come so soon into bearing as 

 by the layers or cuttings." — Loudon^s 

 Enc. Gard. 



Cuttings of the shoots may be of 

 well-ripened wood, which Mr. Mark- 

 ham, of Hevvell Gardens, says may be 

 also " taken off in spring and potted 

 singly in small pots ; plunging them in 



with new feeders, and by opening a 

 trench in the front of the wall, about 

 the end of March or beginning of April, 

 and applying a pretty brisk lining of 

 leaves and long litter for a few weeks, 

 it would greatly assist the crop for 

 that season, and establish the trees 

 for the following. Water occasionally 

 with soft water ; and, after the fruit has 

 attained three-fourths ofits size, two or 

 three good waterings of liquid manure 

 will assist materially in bringing the 

 fruit to a large size." — Gard. Chron. 



Good drainage is also very important; 

 an excess of root-moisture making the 

 plants over-luxuriant. 



Standards must have a single stem, 

 and require no other pruning than to 

 remove irregular growths, suckers, and 

 decayed branches. The soil should be 

 forked over annually, and kept con- 

 stantly freed from weeds by the hoe. 



Wall-trees and Espaliet's. — Mr. Mark- 

 ham says that of these, " The requisite 

 pruning is merely to thin the branches 

 where they are too thick, and to admit 

 plenty of light and air. The points of 

 any branches that indicate too luxuriant 

 a growth are pinched out. The tree 

 will show how young bearing wood is 

 procured, when the branches get too 

 long, or begin to have a naked appear- 



