CAPRIFICATION OF FIGS 339 



In handling fig orchards of the Smyrna and other smaller grow- 

 ers, more systematic pruning is followed. The following is the 

 practice in the Markarian orchard at Fresno : 



If trees are allowed to grow more than two feet of trunk they are liable 

 to become bent and to be sunburned for lack of shade. Trees having the 

 best shaded trunks are the most vigorous and frost resisting. Trees that 

 are once sunburned are practically ruined; but few recover. Stunted trees 

 are very hard to develop into good trees. 



When the trees come into maturity, after the fifth or sixth year, they 

 must be pruned back by cutting the top branches off from about ten to 

 fourteen inches, so that the tree will throw out more lateral branches, with 

 a larger proportion of new lateral fruit wood. 



Ordinarily if this method of pruning fig trees to a bush form is used 

 it will only be necessary to prune once every two years. The season to 

 prune fig trees depends upon the age of the trees. Young trees should not 

 be pruned before the month of March as they are very susceptible to 

 frosts. Larger trees can be pruned as early as January 15 and not later 

 than March 15. 



Unlike other trees, the bearing fig trees need little pruning. They 

 should be topped about every two years. Go over the upper quarter of 

 them and cut back the terminal branches, in no case more than twenty 

 inches. With most branches a few inches is enough. The shaping of the 

 trees enters into the pruning. The terminals cut back will send out several 

 lateral branches of new fruit wood. By keeping up this system of pruning 

 larger fruit and larger yields are obtained. 



Cultivation. Young fig orchards are cultivated as are other 

 fruit areas. Irrigation is governed by local conditions, as already 

 stated. In starting the orchard it is exceedingly important that 

 the young trees should not be allowed to suffer from drying out 

 of the soil. 



Bearing Age of the Fig. The fig often, and, perhaps, usually, 

 begins its bearing very early, in the most favorable situations in 

 this State. Some fruit is often had the second year, and a crop 

 worth handling the third year. Still, it is wiser not to calculate 

 definitely upon such returns, for four or five years sometimes pass 

 without a satisfactory crop. 



CAPRIFICATION* 



Caprification consists in suspending the fruit of the wild or Capri 

 fig in the branches of the tree of improved variety, that the pollen 

 may be carried by an insect from the former to the latter. The old 

 mission fig and the more recently introduced White Adriatic and 

 many other varieties matured fruit regularly and freely, but until 

 1900 California was never able to produce dried figs like the fig 

 of commerce or the Smyrna fig. This was, at first, thought to be 

 due to lack of the Smyrna variety. After painstaking effort this 



*In a general treatise like this only a passing reference can be made of this subject, 

 which is perhaps the most interesting in the whole realm of science as applied to fruit 

 growing. The literature of the subject is very large and cannot be even indicated in this 

 connection. The materials and methods of caprification are also numerous. The latest 

 available exposition of the whole subject, its literature, science and practice is given in 

 "Smyrna Fig Culture." by G. P. Rixford, of San Francisco, which is Bulletin 732 of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture and can be had by sending 10 cents to the Superintendent 

 of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. A detailed account of 

 caprification and the methods and agencies employed may be had by application to the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture at Berkeley for Bulletin 319, "Caprifigs and Caprification," by I. J. 

 Condit, 1920. 



