house, and seeing that my figs did not bear and that I was get- 

 ting uneasy about it, one of the ladies, my wife's sister, said she 

 knew a lady from Syracuse, N. Y., who was then in Smyrna, 

 and if she would write to her she would fix up a few of the fig 

 cuttings and send them. The lady sent for them, and instead of 

 sending a half dozen cuttings sent a whole box of cuttings, on 

 which I paid about $100. After I received this box here comes 

 another little box and a letter saying, ' The figs must be capri- 

 fied, if not you will get no figs. I sent you a little box of figs 

 that are full of the Blastophaga, and hope you can do well with 

 them.' The moment we got them my son went out to the Capri 

 fig tree, opened the box and set it out there. Some of the in- 

 sects were dead and some were alive. I saw Mr. Eisen the next 

 day and told him about the Blastophaga and the figs. He and 

 Mr. Masliii came to my place the Sunday following, July 26th. 

 We examined and found some live insects, but most of them 

 were dead. The Smyrna figs that were caprified, that is, that 

 had the pollen put in artificially, came to perfection, but no 

 others did. Two crops have all gone to the ground and are now 

 on the ground, except about ten figs. The pollen that was in- 

 jected into the figs was from the Capri figs grown on my place 

 at Niles. There are two varieties of the Smyrna fig. One has 

 a three-lobed leaf, and the figs small and elongated. The other 

 is a five-lobed leaf, and the figs are flat and roundish." 



ARTIFICIALLY CAPRIFIED FIGS. 



Mr. Shinn then exhibited three figs which were caprified by 

 means of a quill toothpick,* two roundish and one elongated. 

 In answer to a question as to the opening of the figs at the time 

 they were fertilized, Mr. Shinn could not remember, but said : 

 li The insect knows how to get in if it must ; that is a provision 

 of nature. Only the figs that were caprified have come to per- 

 fection : the others all dropped off." 



Question : Were those figs caprified by the insect or arti- 

 ficially ? 



Mr. Shinn: Artificially. 



Question : Then there is 110 fig that has come to maturity 

 known to have been caprified by the insect ? 



Mr. Shinn : None at all. 



* This operation was first conceived of by Geo. C. Roeding, of Fresno, and tlm* matured Smyrna 

 figs in 1890, and also in 1891. 



