328 NEW AMERICAN ORCHAKDIST. 



they are easily lowered to the earth, and secured by hooks, 

 and protected. 



Mr. London seems persuaded that by combining the sys- 

 tem recommended by Mr. Knight with that recommended 

 by the Rev. G. Swayne, the most desirable results would 

 be produced; they are both calculated for cold climates. 



Mr. Knight highly disapproves of training the branches 

 of fig trees perpendicularly. If the stems are many, he 

 reduces them to one only. And from the tops and parts 

 near it, lateral branches are trained horizontally and pen- 

 dently, and secured close to the wall. All troublesome 

 luxuriance is thus restrained, and the wood becomes ex- 

 tremely fruitful. 



Mr. Swayne trains his trees horizontally. His " specific " 

 is designed to remedy the deficiency of bloom, in the early 

 spring, on the whole of the last year's wood, excepting on 

 a few joints at its extremities. The remedy which he has 

 for a long time successfully practised, is, to simply rub off, 

 as soon as they can -be discovered, all the figs which are 

 produced after midsummer on the same year's shoots. 

 Those figs which thus exhaust the tree, and will never 

 ripen without artificial heat, are thus removed, and new 

 figs are formed, in embryo, for the crop of the following 

 year, on one, if not on both sides of every fig thus displaced. 

 The tree should be examined once a week from the com- 

 mencement of the operation, which should be begun early 

 in August or September, and continued to the end of the 

 season, according to latitude and climate. 



PROTECTION. In the north of France, fig trees are 

 protected in winter by being secured to the earth by hooks, 

 and covered with soil. This is the mode adopted at Ar- 

 genteuil, near Paris, where almost the whole population 

 are employed exclusively in their cultivation. In England, 

 Forsyth and others recommend to protect with straw, 

 meadow hay, moss, &c., and over this branches of pine or 

 other evergreen are secured. They flourish with little 

 care and no protection in the Southern States. They will 

 even ripen their fruits in open culture near Boston, but 

 require greater heat to give them flavor. 



