CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



The tendency of the plants grown from Smyrna figs is to revert 

 to the wild type, and there is a small chance of securing good 

 varieties. 



PLANTING AND PRUNING THE FIG 



The chief point to observe in planting the fig trees is to get them 

 far enough apart, because of the great spread of branches which 

 they attain. Of course they may be planted twenty feet apart if 

 the owner intends to remove alternate rows, but to plant at forty 

 feet, or even farther apart, with other fruit trees or vines between, 

 on the plan of alternate or double squares, described in Chapter X, 

 would be the best way to lay out a fig orchard the intermediate 

 growths to be removed as the figs require more room. 



Very handsome effects are produced by planting the figs along 

 avenues to inclose orchards of other fruits. Fig trees are grand 

 for shade around buildings, and wild or Capri figs are desirable to 

 plant in this way for a purpose which will be mentioned later. 



In transplanting fig trees extra care must be taken to keep the 

 roots from drying. After planting, the stem must be diligently 

 guarded from sunburn, to which it is liable in the warmer parts of 

 the State. 



Pruning the Fig. The fig requires very little pruning after its 

 shape is outlined. There is difference of opinion and practice as 

 to the height at which the head should be formed ; some head nearly 

 as low as already advised for common orchard trees ; others, having 

 in mind the immense thickness attained by the limbs, and their dis- 

 position to droop, head as high as four to six feet, which is the better 

 way to proceed when the trees are wide-spaced and expected to 

 attain large size. This height system is particularly desirable with 

 the Mission fig. In planting varieties less disposed to great size it 

 is usual to retain four branches above twenty inches of clear trunk, 

 but some prefer to start with five branches above thirty inches of 

 trunk. The Kadota fig, chiefly grown for hand-picking for preserv- 

 ing, is often headed about at the ground-surface and grown as a 

 large bush rather than in tree form. 



In shaping the tree, branches should be brought out at a dis- 

 tance apart on the stem, so that there may be room for their ex- 

 pansion without crowding each other, and care should be taken not 

 to leave too many main limbs. The branches putting out on the 

 under side of these limbs should be suppressed, and those growing 

 upright, or obliquely upright, retained. As the fig has pithy shoots 

 it is very desirable to cover all cuts with paint or wax. After get- 

 ting the general shape of the tree fixed, there is little need of pruning 

 except to remove defective branches or those which cross and 

 interfere with each other and to prevent the interior of the tree 

 from becoming too dense. It is better to remove branches entirely 

 than to shorten them ; or, in shortening, always cut to a strong 

 lateral. Stubs left at pruning are very undesirable in the fig. This 

 refers particularly to trees given much distance and allowed free 

 growth. 



