586 



FIG 



FIG 



Dr. Eisen at Niles, Calif. The wasp was introduced 

 several times without success, but the Department of 

 Agriculture took hold of the matter in 1898, and in 1899 

 succeeded in establishing the insect (sent from Algeria 

 by Mr. Swingle) in Mr. Roeding's orchard at Fresno, Calif. 



For further notes on Figs, see Bulletin No. 5, Division 

 of Pomology. U. S. Dept. of Agric.by Gustav Eisen 

 (1897), Bulletin 20. new series, Division of Entomology, 

 Dept. of Agric, and various California writings. A re- 

 cent full account of Smyrna Figs, by J. Burtt Davy, is 

 in the Pacific Rural Press, Nov. 25, 1899. l. h. B. 



Fig Cultvre in the Carolinas. — Enthusiasm in re- 

 gard to Fig culture in the eastern part of the country 

 has been very much dampened by the two or three 

 severe winter spells of late years. Several methods of 

 winter protection have been tried. A plan, which was so 

 successful in northern Maryland, of bending them down 

 and mounding with earth, will not do in North Caro- 

 lina and southward. If the soil froze up and remained 

 frozen, as it does in northern Maryland, it would be all 

 right. But here there is more warm than cold weather 

 in winter, and during the warm and wet spells the 

 buried branches simply rot, and are worse off in the 

 spring than those to which no protection is given. In 

 noi'mal winters most varieties of Figs get along very 

 well without protection, but when the mercury drops to 

 10° or 12° above zero, even if the wood escapes, the 

 early crop is destroyed. When the trees are branched 

 in bush form from the ground, the best protection here 

 is to bend them down to the ground and cover thickly 

 with green pine boughs. If in standard shape and 

 kept pruned so, the best method of all is to thatch the 

 entire tree with corn stalks and broom sedge, placing a 

 thick layer of i-».rn stalks upright around the body of 

 the trees, and tying them in closely at the top and bank- 

 ing the earth up against the butts, and then to thatch 

 every limb separately with broom sedge, tying as we go. 

 The trees come out in better shape from this than from 

 any other mode of protection. There is a great deal of 

 difference in the natural hardiness of the different va- 

 rieties. The Celestial is one of the hardiest. Doree 

 Narbus is reputed the hardiest in California, but was 

 killed outright here. Next to Celestial comes the 

 Brown Turkey, the Brunswick and Pegustrata. Adria- 

 tic is too tender to be of any use in North Carolina. 

 Station Smyrna, from the California Station, seems to be 

 almost as hardy as the Celestial. A few years ago 

 Brown Turkey Figs were plentiful in the Raleigh mar- 

 ket at 75 cts. per bushel, but for two or three years past 

 hardly any have been offered. -^^ p_ Massey. 



Fig in California. — The Fig, anativeof southwestern 

 Asia, is one of the most ancient, beautiful and valuable of 

 all fruit trees, and its more general culture in suitable dis- 

 tricts of the United States is much to be desired. There 

 are several recognized botanical varieties of the Fig (Fi- 

 cus Carica), of which the following can be noted : (1) 

 Ficus Carica, var. sylvestris, the wild Fig of Asia Mi- 

 nor, commonly called the Capri Fig. The fruit of this 

 kind is not edible, but the little Fig wasp (Blastophaga 

 pse ne s ) hreeds therein. {2) Ficus Carica, var. Sniyr- 

 niaca, the true Smyrna Fig, which does not mature its 

 fruit unless the tlowers are cross-pollinated by hand or 

 by the friendly agency of the Blastophaga, which polli- 

 nating is termed caprification. (3) Ficus Carica, yslt. 

 Jiortensis, the common Fig of gardens and orchards. 

 (4) Ficus Carica, var. intertnedia, a type of Fig which 

 matures one crop, but needs cross-pollination for the 

 main, or second crop. 



The last three of the above foiir botanical varieties of 

 Figs, especially the third, have become the parents of 

 many horticultural forms. The best drying Figs of com- 

 merce belong to the second class, Smyrniaca, while 

 nearly all of the fine table and preserving sorts are va- 

 rieties of hortensis. Nearly all cultivated varieties of 

 Figs yield three crops, more or less distinct according to 

 the variety, the location and the season. The second 

 crop is the important one, bat the first crop in some va- 

 rieties is much estei'jiHMl f..r talde use. Ripe Figs can 

 be gathered in many California Fig orchards from late 

 in July until rains and frost destroy the fruit. 



Pigs have been grown on the Pacific coast for much 

 more than a century. Trees were probably at Loreto 



Mission, Lower California, before 1710, and reached the 

 Alta California Missions soon after their establishment. 

 Vancouver found Fig trees at Santa Clara in 1792. At 

 the present time the Fig is cultivated in almost all parts 

 of the state of California. The tree stands a range of 

 temperature of from 18° to 120° Fahr., and the only por- 

 tions of California really unsuited to its growth are cer- 

 tain cold or foggy districts. In the drier parts of the 

 state it needs irrigation, as do other fruit trees. Some 

 of the old Fig trees in California are of immense size. 



821 White Adriatic Fig 



It is not uncommon to see trees with trunks cf more 

 than 2 feet in diameter. One tree in Stanislaus 

 county is 60 feet in height, covers a circle 70 feet across, 

 and has a trunk that girths 9 feet. The great Banyan- 

 like Fig tree at General Bidwell's, Butte county, illus- 

 trated in the Century Magazine for October, 1892, has 

 trailing or descending branches, which have taken root 

 at many places, and the whole group now covers a cir- 

 cle more than 150 feet in diameter. 



Varieties. — Thei'e are many horticultural varieties of 

 the Fig, probably not h/ss than 150 distinct sorts in cul- 

 tivation under iniiuiiM rable synonyms. Their classifica- 

 tion is by shape. <■.>!, ir of skin and color of flesh. The 

 shape is round or turbinate in some sorts ; pyriform or 

 obovate in others. The skin varies in color in different 

 varieties from green, through pale yellow, buff, light 

 brown, reddish brown and purple, to black. The flesh is 

 almost white, opaline, or various shades of red ; it can 

 be described as melting, spicy, juicy, coarse or even dry 

 in a few old sorts which seem but a few removes from 

 the wild. The size varies from sorts hardly as large as 

 a green-gage plum to others that sometimes weigh 4 or 

 5 ounces apiece. The Fig most often planted in Cali- 

 fornia came from the old Missions, and is known as 

 California Black, a hardy and very productive sort. 

 Properly dried it is an excellent Fig, but the dark color 

 renders it less marketaV)le than the white varieties. It 

 is a very popular table Fig. The white Fig most gen- 

 erally planted in California is the so-called "White Ad- 

 riatic," which is the "Grosse Verte" of France and the 

 "Nebian" of Hogg. The best dried Figs yet pi'oduced 

 commercially in California are of this variety, which 

 does not need caprification. There is a large and in- 

 creasing demand for California dried Figs, which are 



