FRUITS AND NUTS 111 



70.6 per cent, sugar. The seed constitutes about 10 per cent, 

 of the date by weight. 



The commercial date industry of the United States is still 

 in the experimental stage. Dates of excellent quality have 

 been produced in Arizona, New Mexico, and California. There 

 is a market in the United States for far more dates than can 

 be produced in the country for many years to come. The 

 United States imports about 25,000,000 pounds of dates an- 

 nually. 



FIG 



The fig (Ficus carica) belongs, as the botanical name indi- 

 cates, to a genus of tropical plants including more than 600 

 species of which many are familiar as species of rubber, 

 banyan, and related plants. The fig is a native of Turkey and 

 the Mediterranean. It is a shrub or tree of moderate size 

 with palmately lobed leaves and peculiar hollow compound 

 fruits. It is cultivated everywhere in the Tropics and sub- 

 tropics as well as in the Southern States and California. In 

 California the tree attains a large size. The fig tree is com- 

 monly propagated by cuttings. These cuttings are very easily 

 rooted and after they have rooted and developed a few shoots 

 carrying leaves, they are planted in the field at distances 25 

 by 25 feet. In the Orient, figs are planted much more closely 

 together. For fresh consumption the favorite varieties are 

 Celestial, White Adriatic, Golden, Black Ischia, Black Cali- 

 fornia, etc. 



The Smyrna fig is the fig of commerce and appears on the 

 market in the familiar dried condition. The Smyrna fig is 

 produced chiefly in the Mediterranean region and in California. 

 Numerous attempts were made to grow the Smyrna fig in Cali- 

 fornia before the introduction of the Capri fig and the fig wasp 

 known as Blastopkaga grossorum. The Smyrna fig in order to 

 attain its normal flavor must be fertilized by the fig wasp. This 

 insect was introduced into California in 1889, since which 



