i24 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



THE BROWN TDEKEY FIG TEBE. 



THE FIG. 



The history of the Fig is coeval with that of the 

 human race; frequent mention is made of it in the 

 Sci'ipture and other writings that liave been handed 

 down to us from antiquity. It lias always been 

 higlily esteemed as an article of food, and in those 

 countries well suited to its culture, it forms an 

 important item of produce and exportation. As 

 an article of diet, it is used both green and in the 

 dried form. The fresh fig, just plucked from the 

 tree, is sweet and cloying to the taste and not 

 particularly agreeable, until a relish is acquired for 

 it, when it becomes a favorite and wholesome fruit. 



In warm climates, the fig tree attains a height 

 of .ibout twenty feet, with numerous branches, and 

 bears two successive and distinct crops of fruit 

 during- the season; the first ripening in June and 

 July, and the last crop during the autumnal months. 



The flowe.r of the fig is remarkably curious, 

 being numerously produced within a fleshy, hollow 

 receptacle, and consists merely of a single.style and 

 three stamens. 



When the ofiice of the flowers has been per- 

 formed the receptacle which contains them increases 

 in size and becomes, in time, the perfect fruit. 



In the Middle and Western States, the culture of 



the fig is seldom attempted, except in greenhousea 

 and graperies; but there is no difficulty in produc- 

 ing the fruit in the*' open air, by merely taking up the 

 plants with a ball of earth attached in the autumn, 

 before the frost nips them, and putting them away 



FRniT AND LEAVES OF THE BROWN TUtKET FIG. 



in a cellar that will not freeze, and then re-planting 

 each spring. They will bear this apparently rough 

 treatment remarkably well ; the only eflfect it has 

 being to diminish the growth of the wood and 

 increase the fruitfulness — two results, in this case, 

 quite desirable. 



