HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS 



abundant. Alongside the rich fig trees, or in 

 close proximity, are other trees, caprifig trees, 

 so called, which are the resort of a wasp whose 

 chief duty in life is to lay its eggs where they 

 will hatch out upon the early fruit and blossom 

 of the caprifig. Laden with pollen from the 

 caprifig, the young wasps seek other fig trees 

 to lay their eggs, and as there are edible figs in 

 abundance in the region, they deposit the fruc- 

 tifying pollen they have collected upon the 

 edible figs and, as a result, seeds develop in 

 abundance, the figs are greatly enriched and 

 take on a most delightful taste. Without the 

 aid of the wasp, even the edible figs would be 

 of little value. This led long ago in Smyrna to 

 caprification, which consists in suspending a 

 branch of the profichi, or first-crop figs of the 

 caprifig, upon the branches of the edible fig. 

 The wasps hatch out on the caprifig, seek other 

 figs, find the edible ones at hand, — the caprifig 

 trees in this instance being grown some dis- 

 tance from the edible ones, — and the result is 

 that the pollination is complete, the wasp has 

 done its work, commerce has been aided, man 

 has been given a toothsome and healthful food. 

 The wasp has been given a name of formidable 



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