50 



there would be no need of further argument, as it is natural that different 

 species distinguished by external characters should also have different 

 constitutions. But I will admit, although I am not convinced, that all 

 our figs are varieties of one species. The varieties raised from seed are 

 numerous, and in some plants infinite in some respects; but that which 

 has now to be noticed as more especially relevant to the present question 

 is, that sometimes the constitution is altered, so that some varieties arise 

 which feel certain influences more or less than the natural or primitive 

 type from whence they proceed, for in a wood of chestnuts or oaks we 

 often see variations from one individual to another. By this I mean to 

 say that the White and the Dottato figs, whether you consider them as 

 species or as mere varieties, cannot be denied to have been endowed by 

 nature with a power of carrying nearly all their fruits. But difference 

 in habit, however slight, is usually indicated by external characters or 

 signs; and these, caused themselves by the diversity of habit, are again 

 the causes of other differences. So the White and the Dottato figs are 

 the strongest and most vigorous of all those to be found in the neighbor- 

 hood of Naples, and thrive in any soil Their leaves are large, not much 

 divided, coarse, especially those of the Dottato, and support well the 

 vicissitudes of the seasons; and the leaf is the mother and nurse of the 

 fruit. Vegetation in these varieties usually proceeds regularly, as they 

 shoot in March. They set no early flowers, and the shoots are not slen- 

 der, unequal, nor attenuated, but thicken and lengthen moderately; the 

 fruits grow regularly from the base upwards, and in the order of their 

 age; they are, moreover, of a fair size, well proportioned, and, though not 

 few in numbers, are not crowded so as to interfere with each other's 

 nutriment. All these circumstances together produce, according to my 

 opinion, the above effect; and the proof is clear on seeing what are the 

 effects produced when, from the vicissitudes of the season or other causes, 

 the leaves suffer; or when, the sap being irregularly distributed, the 

 branches lengthen moderately, and produce a great deal of wood. Then 

 the trees lose many fruits, but always less than other varieties, being 

 supported by their intrinsic qualities. 



15. For what Reason does the Lardaro Fig Lose the Greater Part of its 

 Fruits? The circumstances stated under the last two heads explain 

 readily the cause of the Lardaro. This variety, though coarse in 

 appearance, suffers by nature much from changes in temperature and 

 from moisture in the atmosphere; and if the moisture is combined with 

 heat, it causes it to throw out a great deal of wood. It produces a good 

 many early figs, which I have never seen ripen, although they often 

 attain a considerable size. The leaves are deeply divided, the vegeta- 

 tion of the branches unequal, and without order here and there coarse 

 shoots, which grow in a short time to a considerable length, with twenty 

 or thirty eyes; and whilst in other figs at the end of August the shoots 

 often cease to grow, or lose much of their vigor, those of the Lardaro 

 continue to lengthen through September, and not infrequently through 

 a good part of October, having always figs in the axils of the leaves. 

 These fruits are very numerous, and many of them ill-shapen, distorted, 

 lumpy, and of irregular growth, often two of different ages in each axil. 

 In such a disorderly activity of vegetation, with such a number of 

 fruits of different sizes and forms, with so much sensibility to atmos- 

 pheric* influences, it is not a matter of surprise that this fig should 

 promise much and perform little, when we see that one only of the 



