51 



above-mentioned causes will produce the effect; for we have stated 

 already that the Sarnese and Chiaja figs lose a part of their fruits from 

 producing too many. Meanwhile, I have not been able to correct the 

 defect of the Lardaro by pruning, nor by leaving uncultivated the 

 ground where it is growing; for that has appeared always to give it new 

 strength to replace its pruned top, and throw out coarse shoots and 

 make wood. Age, alone, and the enfeeblement of decay tames it, and 

 then its branches, growing little and becoming less disorderly, preserve 

 their fruits better. The difference may be observed, also, among the 

 branches of one tree; and this to such a degree that whoever makes 

 comparative observations on different individuals of this variety, sees 

 that by diversity of age, soil, exposition, disturbed vegetation, or sea- 

 sons, they vary so much that he cannot easily follow the thread of 

 explanation. But, essentially, the facts are the same as those observed 

 in other trees that is, that vigorously growing individuals produce 

 little fruit, and, like coarse branches, only make wood; that those which 

 produce an inordinate quantity lose a good portion, and that generally 

 a scanty crop follows an abundant crop. 



16. Effects of Grafting. After so many experiments had proved the 

 nullity of any supposed effects of the fly on the domestic fig in making 

 it retain its fruits, I one day, in the village of Ischia, came upon a 

 Colombro fig, which seemed to show the advantage of caprification in a 

 way to turn one's brain. It was in the center of an airy, open garden, 

 with a good soil, situated in a flat, and far from the sea, a large and 

 beautiful Colombro fig, with a handsome, well-formed head, the bark 

 uninjured, the wood everywhere sound, and of a vigor and health 

 without equal. From its foot arose a fine, large caprifig, its boughs 

 intermingling with those of the Colombro. This tree, which had ripened 

 its early figs, had, towards the middle of August, an abundance of the 

 late crop, almost all with the fly withinside, firmly attached, and many 

 approaching towards maturity. At some distance were other trees of 

 the same fig, some with few, some with many of the late fruits, but 

 none which approached in beauty to the other. 



The circumstance of its having ripened two good crops, which, in the 

 Colombro, so rarely happens, induced me to try and ascertain the cause. 

 In the first place, I thought of the strength and vigor of the tree, the 

 moderate and regular growth of its branches, the fact of its being at 

 such a distance from the sea as not to be affected by its breezes, and the 

 fertility of the soil, all of which together might account for the abun- 

 dance of fruit. But, after some consideration, I did not feel satisfied, 

 and had the tree cleared at its base to ascertain whether these two trees 

 of different natures might not be naturally united, or, as cultivators 

 term it, grafted by approximation. I found that such was the case; 

 and further, that the two were both united in the same manner just 

 below the surface of the soil with a Dottato fig, a few of whose suckers 

 grew up at a little distance. 



Here were two subjects of consideration suggested: first, whether, 

 among the various effects of the stock upon the graft in influencing the 

 abundance of size of the fruits, a similar effect might be produced by 

 the above-mentioned intergrafting of three different things. The second 

 point appeared to me of more importance. The vegetation of the domes- 

 tic fig, by the effect of atmospheric vicissitudes, never flags nor rests, at 

 least sensibly, from spring to autumn, whether with the growth of the 



