specimens I had procured from different places, and called Mr. 

 Shinn's attention to the fact of their being much closer or 

 tighter at the blossom end than mine. Mr. Shinn could not 

 account for this and said in reply, jokingly, " the insect will get 

 in ; they know their business." 



The following I quote from my own report of the year 1889? 

 '** {j& a 8 e , 'k3f>:fa>"l*ow the stand I have taken on the question ; and 

 jr^y con elusions *aie not theories, but are based upon the reports 

 '/-.* 'Suffd'invfefitigatte'n's of modern scientific writers, viz.: 



" In the fig the organs of fructification are hidden from view: 

 therefore we cannot tell exactly when fertilization is effected ; 

 but it is supposed that it takes place when the eye assumes a 

 pinkish hue and expands and admits a little air into the interior, 

 where the flowers are. 



" In many parts of Italy and the south of Europe, in olden 

 times, cultivators paid much attention to setting the figs by the 

 method of caprification. This practice was much believed in, 

 but is condemned by most modern scientific writers as absurd. 



"Caprification, according to the experience of practical 

 growers, is altogether a delusion; and many of the largest planta- 

 tions of the old world have continued to bear fruit without the 

 aid of the Capri fig. 



" Professor Gasparinrii, a learned botanist, carried on very 

 extended experiments, covering a period of six years, and in an 

 essay written for the Royal Academy of Sciences of Naples 

 detailed the number of experiments which he had made and 

 repeated in different years. Their results lead to the conclusion 

 that caprification is useless for the setting and ripening of the 

 fruit, and that instead of making the figs remain on the tree it 

 either causes or facilitates their fall, especially when the insect 

 had penetrated into the inside and produced decay by its own 

 death. When the insect ever entered a fig, the maturity of it 

 was hastened as apples and pears are when attacked by a grub. 

 Professor Gasparinni recommended the abolishment of the prac- 

 tice, as it only entails expense and deteriorates the flavor of the 



" In the islands of the Archipelago the practice has been 

 abandoned, according to the French naturalist Oliver, but in 

 which islands excellent figs are produced. 



" The process, stripped of all its mystification, is a simple one, 



