In a warm climate the autumn crop will yield most figs, which are 

 sweeter, less watery, and better suited for drying than summer fruit. 



The fig is the faithful companion of the olive and the vine, and where 

 these two plants thrive it also grows and fructifies. It is necessary, 

 though, that the plants be never subjected to a cold more intense than 

 14 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature exceeds this limit it is neces- 

 sary to head the fig very low, as is practiced at Argenteuil, in France. 



VARIETIES. 



The long cultivation to which this plant has been subjected, in greatly 

 different countries, has given rise to a very large number of varieties, a 

 few of which only were known to the ancients. In fact, Cato mentions 

 but six, and Pliny, two centuries later, carried the number to about 

 thirty. Thus, by the side of the figs of Tivoli and Herculaneum, men- 

 tioned by this writer, are indicated those from Rhodes, Lydia, Hyrcania, 

 and others, which, like the Liviani, the Pompeiiani, got their names 

 from their introducers and propagators. 



To-day the number of fig varieties is so great that it would require a 

 long study to be able to describe them all, and such a task would not be 

 one of the easiest, inasmuch as a great many of these varieties possess 

 some peculiar characters and habits, which might be observed and recog- 

 nized through experience, but could not be described exactly without 

 much difficulty. Suffren, who lovingly devoted himself to the study of 

 the varieties of figs which were cultivated in Provence in his time, 

 found that their number exceeded several hundred. The figs may be 

 classed into two large groups, the first of which comprises the varieties 

 that yield only one crop of fruits a year, be they early or late, and the 

 second, the other varieties which to the first yield add . another, called 

 September fruits, to distinguish them from the first, which are called 

 flower, or first figs. 



The fig will do well in any soil, but prefers a dry, friable earth. In 

 fact, it will do well on a greater range of soils than will most of our 

 orchard trees. Black, heavy adobe soil, however, should be avoided, as 

 should also damp, marshy land. The fig tree requires a good deal of 

 moisture, but not too much, and will frequently show its best results 

 in the irrigated foothills. 



The conditions required for the production of figs for drying purposes 

 are far more exacting than are those required in the production of fruit 

 for table use. The latter will thrive and yield good results under con- 

 ditions unfavorable to the former. Table figs can be produced over a 

 large area of the United States, covering most of the Southern States; 

 but it is not probable that California will ever meet a formidable com- 

 petition in the production of dried figs, in which she will yet excel. 

 Travelers who have visited both sections remark on the great similarity 

 of the soil and climate of our interior valleys and- those of Asia Minor, 

 where the best dried figs are produced. The seasons there, as here, are 

 divided into the wet and dry. The winter rains commence in Novem- 

 ber, and continue until the following May; frpm May until October is 

 the dry season, during which season rain rarely falls, and the ripening 

 and drying of the fruit is not retarded. Occasionally heavy showers 

 fall during the summer months, and these are as much dreaded there 

 as are their counterparts in California. In the favored localities of 



