490 FORCING THE FIG IN BRITISH GARDENS. 



kept under by watering copiously over the leaves ; or, if that is not suf- 

 ficient, by washing the flues or hot-water pipes with a mixture of flowers 

 of sulphur and lime. Brown scale, and even mealy bug, are also partial 

 to the fig, and the best way of exterminating such pests is by dressing 

 the whole tree with a similar mixture to that recommended for the 

 peach ; or to wash every portion of the tree with spirits of wine. 



The forcing of fig-trees in pots is perhaps the best mode, at least 

 for small establishments, because, by having an abundant stock of 

 plants, fruit may be obtained nine months in the year, as indeed it is 

 at Preston-hall, in East Lothian, where forty varieties are cultivated 

 under glass. " The plants should be low and bush}'-, so that they 

 may stand on the kerb of the tan-bed, or they may be plunged in a 

 gentle tan heat, or in a bed of leaves of trees. The best way to pro- 

 pagate plants for this purpose is to take layers or slips which have 

 good roots : plant them in pots in good earth, one plant in each pot, 

 and plunge them in a bed of tan or of leaves of trees, in which is a 

 very gentle heat : a brick bed will answer the purpose very well ; or 

 they will do in the forcing-house, if there be room for them. Let 

 them be put into the house in the latter end of February or beginning 

 of March, and keep them sufficiently watered. When they are two 

 years old, they will be able to bear fruit ; the pots in that time having 

 become full of roots. In the month of November or December, turn 

 the plants out of the pots, and with a sharp knife pare off the outside 

 of the ball, by which the plant will be divested of its roots matted 

 against the inside of the pot ; then place them in larger pots, filling 

 up the vacancy round the balls with strong loamy earth. During 

 the winter, let them be kept in the greenhouse, or in a glazed pit 

 of a like temperature, till the month of February, which will be 

 a means of preventing the fruit from falling off before it comes to 

 maturity. In this manner let them be treated every year, till the 

 plants become too large for the pots ; then move them into the forcing- 

 house, where it is intended they shall ripen their fruit." (' Gard. Rem.') 



Of figs in pots, Mr. Pearson, of Chilwell, writes as follows to the 

 ' Field ' : " The cultivation of the fig is evidently on the increase. This 

 is not at all to be wondered at. Though there are some persons 

 who do not like the large black or purple figs the first time they eat 

 them, yet I have often noticed these very persons acquire a taste for 

 them after a little time; and those who do like them soon get to 

 like them very much. This may be accounted for, perhaps, on the 

 principle that we like what agrees with our constitutions, and soon, as 

 a rule, dislike what disagrees with us. Now the fig, from the absence 

 of acid, is a peculiarly wholesome fruit to most persons, and even 

 people subject to gout can eat it with impunity, I believe. Then, 

 though the peculiar flavour of some of the dark-coloured figs makes 

 them distasteful to some till a taste for them has been acquired, yet 

 few fail to appreciate a fine white fig in good condition. The absence 

 of any strong flavour, and its peculiar luscious sweetness, is liked by 

 almost every one the first time, unless a bad specimen is tasted. Then, 

 again, the fruit ripening in succession almost the whole season is a 



