FIG CAPRIFICATION. 



11 Thus we see that the flowers, which we vainly tbiiik are " ; V; ; 



' born to blush unseen, 

 And waste tbeir fragrance on the desert air,' 



though unvisited by the lord of creation, who boasts that they were 

 made for him, have nevertheless myriads of insect visitants and 

 admirers, which, though they pilfer their sweets, contribute to their 

 fertility." 



The question of fig caprification has been the all-absorbing 

 topic of the day among the fig-growers in this State, and especi- 

 ally since the introduction of the fig wasp, Blastophaga psenes 

 from Asia Minor, by means of which insect it was hoped that 

 the fertilization of the Smyrna fig could be successfully accom- 

 plished. 



I listened with much interest to the lecture on the Blastopbaga 

 by Gustav Eisen, before the Academy of Sciences, at San Fran- 

 cisco, August 3, 1-891, and expressed the fondest hopes of it 

 demonstrating that caprification is an absolute necessity. I 

 procured various specimens of Smyrna figs from early spring to 

 late fall, and carefully examined the eye or blossom end and 

 could find no opening, nor even a possibility for any insect to 

 enter the fig. I so reported what my conclusions were at that 

 time, and further stated that while these investigations were 

 still in progress I did not wish to speak dogmatically; but I had 

 so far found what seemed to me evidence that in some cases, at 

 least of the Smyrna fig, the fruit was found to have gone beyond 

 the point of fertilization of the interior inflorescence before 

 there was any opening whatever in the eye or blossom end of 

 the fig. Even in figs quite small 1 found the seed formation so 

 far progressed that the seed had a well-defined shell, and at that 

 time I believe the time for fertilization had passed. Mr. Shihn 

 disputed some specimens I exhibited as not being the Smyrna, 

 and brought me several of his Smyrna or so-called Bulletin figs. 

 I carefully examined them and also compared them with the 



