CHAP. VII.] FIG TREES. 181 



thrive and bear in many street gardens in the 

 city. The fig requires less care in training and 

 pruning than any other tree; it should, indeed, 

 rarely be touched with the knife, and only the 

 ill-placed shoots removed by disbudding. The 

 fruit is produced on the young wood at the ex- 

 tremity of the branches, but it does not ripen 

 till the wood on winch it grows is a year old. 

 The best soil for figs is a fresh light loam, not 

 above a foot or fifteen inches deep, on a hard 

 well-drained bottom. This is essential; as the 

 fig will not grow with any stagnant water 

 about its roots, though it requires" to be con- 

 stantly and abundantly supplied with moisture. 

 Many country persons throw soap-suds on the 

 roots of their fig trees with very great success. 

 The tree may be trained in any shape ; and the 

 long branches should be bent backwards and 

 forwards, not only to make them throw out 

 side shoots, but to cover the wall. The best 

 figs for general bearing are the Black and 

 Brown Ischias and the Large Blue or Purple 

 Fig. A tree of the last kind which is trained 

 against our house at Bayswater, under the 

 glass veranda, has never failed, during the last 

 twenty years, to produce a good crop every 

 summer. Fig trees should be thirty feet apart, 

 if the branches are trained horizontally ; but 

 they may be placed rather nearer, if the 

 branches are bent backwards and forwards to 

 :*over the wall. 



Espaliers. — Espaliers, though they are 

 nearly as troublesome to train as wall 'trees, 

 have none of their advantages. They are, 

 inaeed, only superior to standards in taking 



