FICUS 



FIG 



585 



leaf, the leaf being curled up arid tied with raffia, and 

 the small piece with the eye set into the propagating 

 bed. This is a bed of sharp sand, or sometimes of sand 

 and chopped sphagnum moss or fine cocoa-fiber. Fre- 

 quently the single-eye cuttings are put at once into the 

 smallest sized thumb-pot, with a mixture of very finely 

 ground potsherd and charcoal filling about one-half the 

 pot, and either soil or sand for the balance. A small 

 stick is used to hold the leaf upright. These pots are 

 plunged into the propagating benches in either sand, 



620. Ficus elastica, the Rubber Plant of florists. 



moss or fiber, and a steady bottom heat of from 75 to 80 

 is applied and kept up until the plants are rooted. As 

 a rule, such beds are inclosed in a glasshouse, in or- 

 der to keep about them close, warm and moist atmos- 

 phere. Only ventilation enough to permit the moisture 

 caused by the evaporation to escape is allowed on these 

 beds. In this country, propagation by the first described 

 method can be continued nearly alt the year round. 

 From experience of both methods, the writer can say 

 that the top-cutting and mossing process is better by far, 

 especially where plenty of stock plants can be main- 

 tained. 



After being shifted from the smaller sized pots into 

 3- or 4-in. pots, the young plants will stand a great deal 

 of liquid manure as soon as they are rooted through or 

 become somewhat pot -bound. Many propagators plant 

 out the young plants from 3- and 4-in. pots into cold- 

 frames after the middle of May, or when all danger of 

 night frost is past, They do very well in the bright, 

 hot, open sun, but must receive plenty of water. After 

 being planted out in frames, they should be potted not 

 later than September, and for early marketing as early 

 as in August. The plan of planting out and potting in 

 the later part of summer or early autumn is a very prac- 

 ticable one, as the plants do not suffer so much from the 

 severe heat during the summer. jj A. SIEBRECHT. 



Within recent years a much-branched or tree-shaped 

 style of Rubber Plant has attained a considerable de- 

 gree of popularity. It is possible to produce such a 

 plant by topping it at any desired height while it is in 

 a free growing condition. However, the best shaped 

 plants are obtained only by natural branching. In order 

 to induce Rubber Plants to branch freely without the 

 intervention of topping, it is necessary to keep the 

 plants dry and cool for two or three months in the 

 spring, in order to get them thoroughly rested. Then 

 plant them in a frame or in open ground that has been 



highly fertilized, and give plenty of water. When the 

 plants start into growth they will be inclined to "break;" 

 that is, to make branches from the axils of many of the 

 leaves all along the stem. By this method handsome, 

 tree-shaped specimens of the Rubber Plant may be 

 secured by the following autumn. -^ R HARRIS 



FIG is Ficus Carica, a native of Asia. See Ficus. 

 It is a warm-temperate fruit, although it will stand 10 

 to 20 degrees of frost under favorable conditions. It 

 was early introduced into North America, but excepting 

 on the Pacific coast it has never been more than an 

 amateur fruit. It has been known to fruit in the open in 

 Michigan without other protection than a high board 

 fence inclosure, but usually if grown north of Phila- 

 delphia the plants are lifted in early November, with 

 good balls of earth, kept in a dryish cellar over winter, 

 and planted out the next spring. From Philadelphia to 

 the Carolinas they may be bent to the ground and covered 

 with earth or pine boughs. The fruit is borne on the 

 young wood, and often on young trees. This fruit is 

 really a hollow pear-shaped receptacle with many mi- 

 nute seeds (botanically fruits) on the inside ; it grows 

 like a branch from the side of the shoot. Inferior, run- 

 wild forms are frequent in the southern states, where 

 they are sometimes called "old man and woman" by the 

 negroes. Figs may be grown under glass, being planted 

 permanently in a border after the manner of hothouse 

 grapes. They usually bear better if the branches are 

 trained more or less horizontally. Two or more crops 

 may be expected in one year under glass. Eastern nur- 

 serymen sell Fig trees. As early as 1833 Kenrick ("New 

 American Orchardist") described 23 varieties. Popular 

 varieties for amateur cultivation in the east are Turkey, 

 White Genoa, Black and Brown Ischia. In order to fa- 

 cilitate the ripening of the fruit in cool climates or un- 

 der glass, it is a custom to dress the surface of the 

 nearly full grown Figs with sweet oil. As a dessert 

 fruit Figs are usually eaten in the fresh state, in which 

 condition they are scarcely known to people in cool cli- 

 mates. They are also cooked. The commercial Fig is 

 the dried fruit. 



The Fig is propagated very easily from hardwood cut- 

 tings, as grapes are. Take cuttings in the fall, cutting 

 just below a bud. If wood is scarce, single-eye cuttings 

 may be used, being started preferably in a frame. 

 From cuttings, bearing plants may be expected in 2 to 4 

 years. New varieties are obtained from seeds. 



Various fruit books give directions for the growing of 

 Figs. Publications in California and of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture discuss them. But 

 the only independent American writing seems to be 

 James T. Worthington's "Manual of Fig Culture in the 

 Northern and Middle States," Chillicothe, Ohio, 1869. 

 Although regularly copyrighted, it is a pamphlet of only 

 10 pages. It recommends the laying-down of the trees 

 in late fall and covering them with earth. This practice 

 gave better results than covering with other material, 

 or carrying the trees over winter in cellars, either in 

 tubs or transplanted from the open. 



Incident to the commercial cultivation of Figs in Cali- 

 fornia, there has been much discussion of the necessity 

 of caprification or fertilization by means of the Fig wasp. 

 The necessity for caprification, as well as the nature of 

 the process, was first established by Dr. Gustav Eisen; 

 see "Biological Studies on Figs, Caprifigs and Caprifica- 

 tion " ( Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. Ser. 2, Vol. V. 1896) . In this 

 paper Dr. Eisen demonstrates for the first time that there 

 are three distinct classes of edible Figs, those which 

 here have been termed Smyrniaca, Hortensis and Inter- 

 media, and that some of these required caprification and 

 others not. Another point established by him was that 

 caprification was entirely a process of pollination, and 

 not due to the sting of the Fig insects, as had been 

 previously held by certain investigators. In this and 

 other Fig work, the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture has taken an active part. Dr. Howard, U. S. 

 Entomologist, has done much towards introducing the 

 wasp. As early as 1890, H. E. Van Deman, then U. S. 

 Pomologist, introduced a few cuttings of the Smyrna 

 Fig and large quantities of the Capri, and these were 

 distributed in the Fig-growing sections of the country. 

 The Smyrna Fig was first hand-pollinated in 1891 by 



