FIG 



FIG 



1237 



The California Experiment Station, under Hilgard, 

 found that several varieties which are no longer in 

 ordinary cultivation were important. Chief among 

 these was a French fig of compact growth, Hirta du 

 Japon, a medium-sized, turbinate, dark purple fig of 

 high quality. It is excellent for house culture and for 

 small gardens. 



Smyrna figs. 



The story of the introduction of the fig-wasp, the 

 indispensable Blastophaga, to California fig orchards 

 is one of the amusing, pathetic and fascinating romances 

 of outdoor life. Smyrna figs were planted early, and 

 they did not bear; the trouble was indistinctly charged 

 to "the climate;" growers laughed at the absurd "book 

 notion" that the Asia Minor Greeks depended on 

 "some sort of an insect" to secure abundant crops of 

 fruit. The late John Bleasdale, who had been in Por- 

 tugal, told many persons about fig-caprification early 

 in the 1870's. Some of the nurserymen took it up with 

 energy and managed to secure cuttings of Smyrna figs 

 and of Capri figs, but no insects. The San Francisco 

 "Bulletin," between 1880 and 1882, secured and dis- 

 tributed over California about 14,000 cuttings. The 

 fig-growers in Asia Minor became anxious to prevent 

 importation of the insects to California or of the Capri 

 fig cuttings, and the difficulties grew worse. Eisen and 

 Rixford cross-fertilized figs by hand as soon as the 

 wild fig trees blossomed. This was done on the James 

 Shinn farm at Niles and at the California Nursery 

 (managed by John Rock) in the same neighborhood. 

 Then the Roedings of Fresno became interested, 

 through Eisen, and planted a Smyrna fig orchard, but 

 had no Blastophaga. Meanwhile the Department of 

 Agriculture took hold. Walter Swingle was detailed 

 and in 1899 secured the Algerian Blastophaga for the 

 Californians. James Shinn, of Niles, had also obtained 

 the Blastophaga in 1891, but his location was not 

 suitable so that it perished and the work was done 

 over again by both Swingle in 1899 and George Roed- 

 ing, of Fresno, in 1896, working separately at different 

 points of the problem. But all this time, the fig-wasp 

 had accidentally become established near Modesto, 

 about 1869, on the Gates farm. The wild fig tree there 

 was, possibly, imported by West, of Stockton, in the 

 form of cuttings carrying some of the "mamme" or 

 winter generation of fruits containing the Blastophagas. 



The literature of this whole subject is fascinating. 

 It may be studied in the reports of the Department 

 of Agriculture and in the following papers: "Some 

 Points in the History of Caprification and in the Life 

 History of the Fig," Walter T. Swingle, before the 

 Thirty-fourth Fruit-Growers' Convention of Cali- 

 fornia (1908); also his paper on the Maslin seedling 

 fig orchard in the report of the thirty-fifth convention; 



also papers of his in the thirty-sixth and thirty-eighth 

 reports; an essay by G. P. Rixford, read before the 

 Forty-first Convention of California Fruit-Growers, 

 in Santa Barbara, in 1912. His botanical and entomo- 

 logical paper, read in 1911 before the Pacific Associa- 

 tion of Scientific Societies, on the "Fructification of 

 the Fig by Blastophaga" traces the whole subject 

 down from the days of Linna?us. A practical paper on 

 the subject is to be found in George C. Rpeding's 

 "California Horticulture," a pamphlet issued in 1909. 



Caprification. 



The work of study and experimentation has gone 

 forward steadily since the first importation of the 

 Blastophaga; it is likely that more has been done in 

 this line in California in the past twenty years than in 

 all the rest of the world put together. The practical 

 methods of keeping the fig insect prosperously estab- 

 lished so that every fruit can be fertilized are now well 

 founded, and as the profits of the industry are gen- 

 erally recognized, large plantings can be expected. 

 There are some obscure problems still undetermined 

 relating to the different crops of figs and the fructi- 

 fication of some of the non-Smyrna types. But in 

 California the industry as a whole finds possibly the 

 most favorable soil and climate known to exist any- 

 where. It seems probable, therefore, that fig-growing 

 will soon rank in importance with the growing of 

 citrous fruits. The cultivated varieties of Smyrnas are 

 doubtless capable of much improvement as regards 

 size, crop and season. 



Only thirty Capri figs are needed to caprify a large 

 fig tree, so abundant are the insects and the pollen in 

 good seasons, and one tree of the wild fig is sufficient 

 for one hundred Smyrna trees. The male of the fig- 

 wasp is without wings, but the female has wings and 

 saw-like mandibles; she cuts her way through scales 

 which interlock over the apex of the half-grown Smyrna 

 fig. She loses her wings in entering, dies in the fig and 

 is absorbed by the vegetable cells. If she lays her 

 eggs they also perish and the continuance of the spe- 

 cies depends upon those individuals that remain upon 

 the wild fig trees. 



Propagation. 



The fig grows readily from cuttings. Use well- 

 ripened wood of the previous season's growth, cut at 

 the joint, and give them the same treatment required 

 for grape cuttings. They will even grow from single- 

 eye cuttings. Bottom heat is not necessary in Cali- 

 fornia where the cuttings are set in nursery in Decem- 

 ber or January and are ready for the orchard in a year. 

 In the eastern states, winter-made cuttings can be 

 started with bottom heat, or, in April, in the open air. 



Budding is best done by the annular or ring method, 

 so useful for the chestnut and walnut. The fig can be 

 cleft-grafted in February in California, but extreme 

 care must be taken to exclude the air. Seedlings are 

 easily grown from the fertile seeds of the imported 

 Smyrna figs, and from the few fertile seeds occasionally 

 appearing in common varieties. Maslin, of Placer 

 County, began to raise seedlings from imported dried 

 figs in 1885 and these are now bearing. 



Forcing. 



The fig requires more heat under glass than does the 

 grape. The temperatures preferred are, at first, 50 F. 

 at night and, 65 for the day; later increase to 60 or 

 65 at night and 75 or more in the day. Figs must have 

 mu,ch air and moisture till the crop is set. The best 

 varieties for forcing are Early Violet, the White and 

 Brown Ischias, White Marseilles, Hirta du Japon and 

 Negro Largo. A soil of turfy loam with plenty of top- 

 dressing is suitable for pots and tubs. Brown Turkey, 

 Marseilles and Brunswick are the standard varieties 

 for walls. 



