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fast and to a great size, and ripens two or three immense crops each 

 season. It is suited to a great number of economical uses, and not as 

 yet properly appreciated and utilized as it should and will be. It is a 

 rich, nutritious fruit for man, beast, or fowl. Crops are as regular as 

 the seasons. 



The fig does best in this State back from the coast, and some of the 

 best results in its cultivation have been secured in the Sierra foothills. 

 Some very excellent figs have been produced in Fresno and Tulare 

 Counties, while some of the best drying fruit in the State is grown in 

 Placer, San Bernardino, Solano, and Ventura Counties. At Downey, in 

 Los Angeles County, is a very large fig orchard, devoted to the Marsel- 

 laise fig, a small, white, sweet fruit. Some of these trees are sixteen 

 years old and bear quite heavily. These figs are disposed of in Los 

 Angeles, where there is a good demand for this fruit for crystallizing 

 and glace purposes. Growers receive $50 per ton for this purpose. 



George C. Roeding, of Fresno, in a paper read before the Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Convention at Marysville, gives the history of the introduction of 

 the Smyrna fig in this State, as follows: 



" Among those who have taken a lively interest in this country in the 

 fig business, I may say that the Fancher Creek Nursery has done a 

 considerable share by importing and planting numerous varieties of 

 cuttings from Smyrna and other places, and it is only during the last 

 two years that any practical results have followed its exertions. 



" With the introduction of the White Adriatic variety it was thought 

 the problem had been solved; and while it cannot be denied that this 

 kind produces one of the finest of table fruits, it must, at the same time, 

 be admitted that when dried it does not come up to the standard of the 

 imported fig from Smyrna, lacking in its most essential points, viz.: 

 tenderness of skin and the flavor. 



"The early conviction of this truth induced the proprietor of the 

 above nursery to send his foreman, in the year 1886, to Smyrna for 

 the purpose of investigating the fig. business on the spot and obtain a 

 variety of cuttings and all possible information for the successful prose- 

 cution of the business in this State. He remained in Smyrna four 

 months, and, after considerable difficulty, succeeded in securing several 

 thousand of the Smyrna fig cuttings, as well as quite a number of wild 

 figs and a few of such varieties as are grown for home consumption, 

 some being used in the green state, others dried. His trip and experi- 

 ence will probably be of interest, and the following is a copy of his letter 

 of November 6, 1886: 



"I am having no end of trouble. I find that I have been watched by the people here 

 since first landing. The parties from whom I first engaged cuttings have refused to let 

 me have any at any price, and I do not know what to do. I went to the American 

 Consul for assistance. He informed me that I could only obtain the cuttings through 

 a foreign resident, as the Smyrna people were much opposed to sending cuttings of any 

 kind out of the country, for fear of competition. Seeing the utter uselessness of trying 

 to secure the cuttings directly, I took out a hunting license, and, with a passport which 

 I had used on a former trip, 1, with Mr. Hall, a gentleman who had resided a number of 

 years in Smyrna, started for the interior, and was successful in getting cuttings from 

 Erbold (this is the valley where the finest figs are grown). 1 did not appear in the trans- 

 action at all, but was snooting in the orchard where the cuttings were being gathered, 

 and kept watch of the Turks all the time, to see that the cuttings were cut from the 

 right trees. From the valley I shipped them by the Aidin Railroad to Smyrna as licorice 

 roots, the company refusing to talce them unless consigned in this manner. On the 

 arrival at their destination the packages were placed in the warehouse of the English 

 Steamship Company, and there packed with sawdust, in boxes lined with thick paper, 

 and shipped on a steamer bound for London. 



" With the assistance of Mr. Van Lennip I secured the wild fig cuttings, and also quite 

 a number of other varieties. 



