470 



FICUS FILBERT. 



two-celled, opening lengthwise. The ovarium is 

 either free or adhering to the calyx, and consists of 

 as many carpels as there are sepals. The styles are 

 distinct and short, and the stigmata simple. 



The fruit is a many-celled capsule, either free or 

 encompassed by the fleshy calyx. When drupaceous, 

 indehiscent : when dry, opening in a star-like manner 

 from the apex ; seeds indefinite, seldom definite, and 

 very seldom solitary by abortion. 



The flowers are generally beautiful, and the plants 

 are great favourites with many cultivators. Upwards 

 of 400 species are already known. The M. crystal- 

 linum is the common ice-plant, and M. uinbcllatum is 

 extremely showy. They are all innocuous ; and the 

 succulent leaves of M. cdule,sesuvium, Portulacaatrum, 

 Tetragonia cxpansa, &c. make excellent substitutes 

 for summer spinach ; and are used as such in South 

 Africa. The M. crystallinum is called in Spain 

 Barilla moradera, and is cultivated to a great extent 

 for the purpose of procuring alkali for the glass- 

 works ; and in one year the exports of its ashes from 

 the Canary Islands, amounted to 600,000 francs. M. 

 nudiflorum grows wild in Egypt, and is there burned 

 for the same purpose. 



FICUS (Linnaeus). A very extensive genus of 

 lofty trees and shrubs, chiefly tropical. Linnaean 

 class and order Polygamia Dioecia, and natural order 

 Urticecc. Generic character : receptacle fleshy, 

 closed, but permiable at top, androgynous ; florets on 

 footstalks, males three-parted ; stamens three, females 

 four, or eight-parted ; styles laterally divided ; seeds 

 contained in the pulp of the receptacle. Only one 

 (F. carica) of the many species yield eatable fruit, 

 and which is the cultivated fig of our gardens. In 

 the south of Europe figs are one of their most esteemed 

 and valuable fruits, not only from their forming an 

 article of diet in the season, but from their being an 

 important article for exportation to other countries. 



The fig-tree is remarkable for yielding, in its native 

 country, two crops of ripe fruit in the course of 

 twelve months. The young fruit which make their 

 appearance in the autumn of one year, ripen in the 

 beginning of summer in the next ; and the fruit which 

 show themselves in the spring, ripen in the following 

 autumn. In this country the spring-produced fruit 

 rarely or never ripen in the open air ; but the autumn 

 fruit, if they escape the frosts of winter, ripen per- 

 fectly, as well on standards as on walls. 



No tree is more easily increased than the common 

 fig ; suckers which the tree produces in plenty, make 

 good trees ; it also strikes root readily from either 

 layers or cuttings. Planted against walls, they are 

 usually trained with branches diverging from the root 

 like a fan ; but they may be trained in any form. 

 Standards in the open ground are trained in the 

 round bush form. 



The best soil for figs is a strongish hazel loam on a 

 dry bottom, but they thrive in any good garden soil. 



Much depends on pruning ; the young shoots pro- 

 duced in the spring do not ripen fruit, but if these 

 shoots be stopped by breaking off the point as soon as 

 they are from four to six inches long, they will pro- 

 duce other shoots which will bear plentifully, and ripen 

 fruit in the autumn of the next year. So that keeping 

 the tree free from old branches and stopping the 

 spring shoots every year, about midsummer, will keep 

 a constant supply of bearing wood to be depended 

 on. Large fig-trees on walls managed in this manner, 

 are well worth defending from frost by woollen net- 



ting, or some other temporary curtain, to be let down 

 or put up when necessary. All the fruit produced 

 on the spring shoots, and which never ripen, should 

 be pulled off the tree in September, causing very 

 frequently other young fruit to come forth on one or 

 both sides of the place where the first grew. This 

 second birth are sure to ripen in the following 

 summer. 



When hothouses are built for the cultivation of the 

 fig in this country they are brought to very great 

 perfection, not only as to quality and quantity at the 

 usual and natural seasons, but for the advantage of 

 having this fine fruit in every month of the year. 

 And this resulted only from a little extra care in prun- 

 ing, and the application of fire heat at the proper times 

 when required. The native climate of the tree is 

 imitated and maintained, so that its natural tendency 

 to produce double crops is favoured and assisted ; and 

 indeed, if the tree be well nourished at the root, mid 

 kept in a high temperature, it proves an everlasting 

 bearer. No fruit tree answers better in pots or tubs 

 than the fig ; and where there is a dozen or two of 

 potted plants, and a hothouse or pit always in work, 

 the manager may have ripe fruit at any time. 



There are fourteen or more varieties cultivated 

 at present in our gardens ; a few of the best are as 

 follow : 



Brown or chestnut-coloured Ischia. Large Genoa. 

 Black Genoa. Black Ischia. 



Small white early. Brown Italian. 



Black Italian. Brunswick. 



FIDDLE-WOOD is the Citharoxylum fjufKlrangu- 

 lare of Linnaeus, a genus of ornamental timber trees, 

 chiefly natives of the West Indies, and belonging to 

 the natural order Verbcnaceae. These stove plants 

 are easily propagated by cuttings struck in sand under 

 a glass. 



FIELD CRICKET, the Achcta campestn*. See 

 CRICKET. 



FIG TREE. See FICUS. 



FILBERT is the Corylus avdlana of Linnaeus. 

 The name filbert is only applied to the improved 

 varieties of the common hazel nut, of which there are 

 eight or nine in cultivation. A few filbert trees are 

 seen in every garden, but in the county of Kent fields 

 of many acres are planted with them ; and to the 

 owners yield remunerating crops. Filbert trees are 

 propagated by grafting it on the common hazel, or, 

 what is better, by layers. When these are rooted, 

 they are lined or bedded out in the nursery, and there 

 trained up with one upright stem pruned clear of 

 branches. When planted in their final stations, the 

 stem is cut down to eighteen inches from the ground. 

 This height will admit of a clear stem of twelve inches 

 below, and which part must at first and ever afterward 

 be kept free from shoots, as well as suckers from the 

 root, which last the tree is very apt to produce. The 

 deprivation of shoots and suckers will cause the buds 

 left at the top to shoot with greater vigour. If eight 

 strong shoots be produced in the first summer, they 

 must be carefully preserved, as that number is required 

 to form the head ; but if less than this number come 

 forth, then two or three of the strongest (or the whole 

 if necessary) must be shortened back to half their 

 length at the next pruning, in order to obtain the 

 requisite number. 



The full number being obtained, they are carefully 

 preserved and trained outwards and upwards; at first 

 nearly horizontal, but curving gradually upwards. 



