FIGS. 327 



CULTIVATION, SOIL, &c. 



The fig tree is raised from seeds, from layers, and from 

 cuttings. They require a friable, loamy, but not wet soil, 

 and an airy, warm situation. They differ from most other 

 trees in producing several crops annually. Even in the 

 climate of Boston, I am persuaded that figs of good quality 

 may be raised, if the trees are placed in warm situations, 

 south of walls or buildings, on the declivities of hills, as at 

 Argenteuil, near Paris. Mr. Knight has obtained, in his 

 hot-house, eight successive crops in a year, by bending the 

 limbs in a position below the horizontal. And Mr. Lowell, 

 in his experiments, has succeeded in obtaining four crops. 

 The tree will produce tolerable crops in the second year, 

 if rung or decorticated ; and by this process the maturity of 

 the fruit is accelerated, and its size increased. Its matu- 

 rity is also hastened by a practice which prevails in France, 

 which consists in pricking the fruit with a straw or quill 

 dipped in olive oil. In Italy, according to Loudon, a 

 wound with a knife is sometimes made on the broad end 

 of the fig, or a very small part of the skin is removed for 

 the same purpose. Lastly, by the mode communicated to 

 the public by the Hon. John Lowell, which is as follows : 



" The fig, like the fruit of the vine and peach, attains a 

 certain size, and then remains stationary for several weeks, 

 until it begins to color, when its volume, in three or four 

 days, is greatly increased, often doubled, and even trebled. 

 My figs [in a hot-house, 28th August] were dark green, 

 showing no tendency to ripen. I took about a third of a 

 tea-spoonful of sweet oil, and, dipping my finger in it, I 

 rubbed it very slightly over every alternate fig, leaving the 

 others untouched, as a test of the effects. At the end of 

 three days, the color of most of those touched with oil 

 began to change, and the size to increase ; and now, on the 

 fifth day, they have nearly the color of mature figs, and are 

 twice and three times as large as those not touched with 

 oil, which still remain of a dark green color" 



Mr. Phillips recommends that for a cold climate, like 

 England, the tree should be table-trained ; that is, to keep 

 the branches tied to stakes about two feet from the ground ; 

 thus forming a regular star from the trunk. In the winter 



