FRUITS 243 



Ischia are the best for general planting. The Celeste 

 is a small fig, but very sweet and delicious, and the 

 tree is exceedingly hardy and productive. It is more 

 planted than all the other kinds combined. It is an 

 early fig, ripening during July. The Green Ischia is 

 somewhat larger and later, ripening in August and 

 September, thus making a desirable succession. It is 

 of high quality and seems to be equally as hardy and 

 productive as the Celeste. It is comparatively little 

 knoAvn, but deserves to be much more widely planted. 

 None of the varieties grown at the South produce fer- 

 tile seed, since they all belong to the class that pro- 

 duces fruit without poUenization. The wild pollen- 

 bearing Capri fig, with its curious insect parasites, 

 wdiich convey the pollen to the hidden pistillate 

 flowers, are therefore not needed. All the figs are 

 readily propagated by means of cuttings. 



Nematode root galls {^Heteroderci) constitute by 

 far the worst disease of the fig. These trees are par- 

 ticularly susceptible to the attacks of this pest, which 

 occurs so abundantly in all the sandier lands at the 

 South, and it is probably responsible for most of 

 the failures that have occurred with figs. The in- 

 fested roots soon rot away, and the tree quickly 

 loses vigor and finally dies. No practicable remedy 

 is known. If nothing whatever is allowed to grow 

 on the land for eighteen months, the nematodes will 

 be exterminated by starvation. This probably ac- 

 counts for the comparative immunity of trees grown 

 under dooryard conditions. 



The fig rust ( Uredo fiei) and another leaf disease 

 (caused by Cercospora Bolleana) often do consider- 



