26 



called " bleaching," as it bleaches the fruit. It is only the outer surface 

 of the fruit that is exposed to the sulphurous fumes. These fumes 

 destroy any germs that are attached to it, or produced right on the 

 fruit. 



The chemical action of the sulphur fumes is to bleach the fruit on the 

 exterior surface; it does not enter the interior surface, as the fig, whether 

 or not it be opened at the bloom end, is generally full of air, which pre- 

 vents the sulphur fumes from entering, and even if they found entrance 

 no damage would be done. The sulphur fumes determine the color of 

 the dried fruits, and sulphur is used simply to stop discoloration of the 

 outside and brighten the fruit. 



The common method of burning sulphur under fruit and leaving it 

 burn for a considerable length of time, to render the fruit transparent 

 and of a light color, rather tends to detract from its true flavor than to 

 add to its quality. Fruit should only be confined in sulphur fumes 

 with the objects above stated. Figs are not cooked for eating, and differ 

 in this respect from other fruits; therefore, the process should be one to 

 retain that flavor so essential in a marketable article for consumption 

 in a raw state. 



The best method I know of for generating sulphur fumes, in the least 

 time, consists in placing a heavy one and one half or two-inch iron plate 

 on a small kerosene stove in the smoke house. When this iron plate 

 becomes hot, but not so hot as to cause the sulphur to flame, the fire is 

 extinguished, and the sulphur is spread on the plate. As soon as the 

 sulphur comes in contact with the plate a dense smoke is liberated, 

 which fills the smoke house in a few minutes, and in much less time 

 than when ignited. It has also the advantage that gases and sulphur 

 are not liberated and deposited on the fruit as when allowed to burn. 



FOREIGN VARIETIES. 



In the report of the Minister of Agriculture of Italy, for 1886, the 

 following very interesting account appears concerning varieties: 



We have the Fico gentile and the Fico portoghese, both precocious. 

 The first is common, under the indicated name, in the Neapolitan dis- 

 trict, in the province of Rome, and in the Tuscan province, in some 

 parts of which, as at Pistoia, Lucca, and in Lunigiana, it is known 

 under the name of Fico d'oro (golden fig). According to some, this fig, 

 the earliest of all, would be the Tiburtinus of Pliny, or at least an anal- 

 ogous variety. The Fico portoghese is very common in the Florentine 

 country, and does not seem to have issued from Tuscany, as it is not 

 found in Liguria, nor in Milanese, nor in Umbria, nor in Romagna, nor 

 in the neighborhood of Rome. It is uncertain whether it be cultivated 

 in the southern provinces or in the islands. 



The following varieties are backward and uniferous (yielding only one 

 crop yearly) : The Verdini, very common in Tuscany, and different from 

 the Verdini of the Veronese and from the Verdecci of the Bolognese; 

 the Brogiotti neri (black September figs), universally appreciated 

 throughout Italy; the Brogiotti bianchi (white September figs) of Li- 

 guria, which some people esteem nearly as much as the delicious figs 

 which come from Smyrna in the dried state; the Fichi brianzosi, native 

 of Brianza, and much cultivated in Milanese, and finally, the Datteri 

 (date) and the Dottati, the latter of which is deemed one of the most 



