THE FIG TREE ] 127 



course chance seedlings often turn out good fruiting 

 trees, producing fruit of good quality often equal to the 

 best cultivated sorts and therefore worthy of propagation 

 as a new and a valuable variety. However, the large 

 majority of seedlings produce uneatable fruits, partaking 

 of the nature of the caprifig, and often real caprifigs, 

 and therefore are destroyed, or if growing in a suitable 

 place are transformed into a good sort by budding. 

 Budded or grafted trees are usually more vigorous and 

 produce finer fruit, than trees grown on own roots from 

 layers or cuttings. 



The fig tree normally throws up numbers of suckers 

 around the base of the trunk, and these afford a ready 

 means of propagation, being almost always provided 

 with a few rootlets. Suckers produced by trees growing 

 on own roots naturally reproduce the same variety as the 

 mother tree, but when the tree is budded or grafted on a 

 seedling the suckers of course belong to the wild type, 

 and require to be budded with the desired variety as 

 soon as they have established themselves in their new 

 home. As the suckers must be removed from the 

 mother tree in order not to exhaust it and not to interfere 

 with its fruiting capacity, it is convenient to perform this 

 operation from November to March, when the suckers 

 provided with rootlets can be planted out as rooted 

 plants. Having no tap root, they should be planted at 

 least 30 c.m. deep to give them a better hold on the 

 ground and to favour the formation of more roots along 

 the stem. 



Propagation by layers is frequently practised by our 

 gardeners. Owing to the drooping habit of the tree, 

 the lower branches often touch the ground JOT are close 

 to it. These are layered all round the tree during 

 winter, and become rooted in the course of spring. The 

 rooted layers can be transplanted in the following 

 autumn or winter, but are usually allowed to remain for 

 two years to become strong plants. 



