118 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



but the larvae flourish just as well on rice 

 and bran, on dried apples, dried insects, maize, 

 and a great variety of other more or less 

 nutritive substances. 



But to return to the figs. So serious 

 was the trouble felt to be in the American 

 fig-market that, in 1910, the authorities at 

 Washington sent Mr. E. G. Smyth of the 

 Bureau of Entomology to investigate the 

 insect in Asia Minor, where the figs come 

 from, and from his report the following 

 account is taken : — 



The manner of the fig-harvest is as follows : 

 During August the figs are ripening on the trees, 

 and are gradually dropping off to be collected from 

 the ground and laid on strips of reeds, called ' serghi,' 

 a yard broad, and here for two to five days they 

 dry in the sun. When dried, they are packed in 

 goats'-hair bags or woven willow baskets, and carried 

 by horse or by camel to the fig-depots in the neigh- 

 bouring villages. Here they are collected from the 

 whole district, mixed together, and re-sacked for 

 transmission by railroad to the coast. At Smyrna 

 they are graded and prepared for the market: the 

 better kind being either ' layered ' or * pulled,' whilst 

 the inferior fruits are strung on strings or exported 

 in the form of a mashed cake to make the ' straw- 

 berry ' jam of the Western breakfast-table. 



Mr. Smyth*s object was first to find out 

 at what stage the figs become infected by the 

 moth, and then if possible to suggest pre- 



