586 



FIG 



Dr. Eisen at Niles, Calif. The wasp was introduced 

 several times without success, but the Department of 

 Agriculture took hold of the matter in 1898, and in 1899 

 succeeded in establishing the insect (sent from Algeria 

 by Mr. Swingle) in Mr. Roeding's orchard at Fresno, Calif. 



For further noteson Figs, sei- Bulletin N.i. '.. Division 

 of Pomology, U. S. Dept. ..i \:y,i, . !,. i.n-i.n l.iscn 

 (1897), Bulletin 20, new Ml , ,|i i i ."l.igy, 



Dept. of Agric, and vari.il 1 ■ ■ \ re- 



cent full account of Smvi-ii:( lU-. I - .1 I;mim h:i\v, is 

 in the Pacific Rural Press, Nov. 2."., 1S99. i,. jf. b. 



Fig Culture in the Carolinas.— Enthusiasm in re- 

 gard to Fig culture in the eastern part of the country 

 has been very much dampened by the two or three 

 severe winter spells of late years. Several methods of 

 winter protection have been tried. A plan, which was so 

 successful in northern Maryland, of bending them down 

 and mounding with earth, will not do in North Caro- 

 lina and .southward. If the soil froze up and remained 

 frozen, as it dues in northern Maryland, it would be all 

 right. But here there is more warm than cold weather 

 in winter, and during the w.irm and wet spells the 

 buried branches simply r"t, nii.l :irf i-irse off in the 

 spring than those to wlii'l: ' .i..r,.iiMi is given. In 

 normal winters most v;iri. I :. ^. t along very 



well without protection. I.ui i.ury drops to 



10° or 12° above zero,t\rii ,i iIm « 1 escapes, the 



early crop is destroyed. Wlii'ii tlie trees are branched 

 in bush form from the ground, the best protection here 

 is to bend them down to the ground and cover thickly 

 with green pine boughs. If in standard shape and 

 kept pruned so, the best method of all is to thatch the 

 entire tree with com stalks and broom sedge, placing a 

 thick layer of corn stalks upright around the body of 

 the trees, ami tying them in closely at the top and bank- 

 ing tlie eartli up :ii.'.Tin«t the butts, and then to thatch 

 everv liiiili -rpririit. Iv with broom sedge, tying as we go. 

 Tlie'tr.M - e..iii. lilt III I II Iter shape from tiiis than from 

 any other iieMli ot j'li 'teetion. There is a great deal of 

 differeuee in tlie natural hardiness of the different va- 

 rieties. The Celestial is one of tin- lianlje-t. Doree 

 Narbus i.s reputed the hardiest in i 'alit..i iiia. Imt was 

 killed outright here. Next to c. le-tml e.-ims the 

 Brown Turkey, the Brunswick and Peu'ii^trtita. Adria- 

 tic is too tender to be of any use in North Carolina. 

 Station Smyrna, from the California Station, seems to be 

 almost as hardy as the Celestial. A few years ago 

 Brown Turkey Figs were plentiful in the Raleigh mar- 

 ket at 75 cts. per bushel, but for two or three years past 

 hardly any have been offered. f^_ p, Masset. 



Fig in California. — The Fig, a native of southwestern 

 Asia, is one of the most ancient, beautiful and valuable of 

 all fruit trees, and its more general culture in suitable dis- 

 tricts of the United States is much to be desired. There 

 are several recognized botanical varieties of the Fig ( Fi- 

 cus Carica), of which the following can be noted : (1) 

 Ficus Carica, y.tr. .;-/''i '.' . tlir- wild Fig of Asia Mi- 

 nor, commonly eall ' •' I Fig. The fruit of this 

 kind is not edilil- Vii; -wasp {Blasfophaga 

 psenes) breeds tie 1. ,:,, ' <>■ CnWcn, var. .Smi/r- 

 niaca, the true t-m;. ma r _ , ; :■ li does not mature its 

 fruit unless the flowers ai. i-lliiaiecl by hand or 

 by the friendly agency <ii i ' -'i. which polli- 

 nating is termed capritie ii / < rartca.var. 

 horfensis, the common I'il- "t Larltus and orchards. 

 (4) Ficus Carica, \&T. iiiterninlia . a type of Fig which 

 matures one crop, but needs cross-pollination for the 

 main, or second crop. 



The last three of the above feur botanical varieties of 



Figs, especially the thir.l, 1i > , I... tie ,mi-, iit- .,f 



many horticultural forms. '[ ' ', ■ ! r 



merce belong to the s.r , ^ 



nearly all of the fine taMe 1 1 i , ii ,_ i ..i' ,. 



rieties of ;,-.,7,.»y;s. N.ii.;> ,i!, .a;::.,i;.u iainu,. .,£ 

 Figs yield tlii-.-e ,•,■., |.s. iie.n -r 1, -~ili-tinet aecordiug to 

 the variety, the l.,rati..ii an.l tlie sea-.m. The second 

 crop is tile iiii|iiiftaiii line, liui tlie tif-f iTup lu soiuc Va- 

 rieties is intleli esteeine.l f.if taMe u^e. Ripe FlgS CaU 



be gathered in many Ctilileinia li- "I'liards from late 

 in July until rains and fn-t iie~iiey tlie fi-uit. 



Figs have been grown en tin I'aeiti ast for much 



more than a century. Trees were probably at Loreto 



FIG 



a, before 1710, and reached the 

 ceei) rtffer tltelr establishment. 

 . - IT ^ iiiia Clara in 1792. At 

 I il ill almost all parts 

 1 i II stands a range of 



111 IJ'i la lir.. .and the only por- 

 tions of California roallv iinsuited to its growth are cer- 

 tain cold or foggy districts. In the drier parts of the 

 state it needs irrigation, as do other fruit trees. Some 

 of the old Fig trees in California are of immense size. 



Mission, Lower Califor 

 Alta California Missiei 

 Vancouver found Fil- i 

 the present time tin I 

 of the state of Calilm 

 temperature of from 1- 



821 White Adriatic Fie 



It is not uncommon to see trees with trunks of more 

 than 2 feet in diameter. One tree in Stanislaus 

 county is 60 feet in height, covers a circle 70 feet across, 

 and has a trunk that girths 9 feet. The great Banyan- 

 like Fig tree at General Bidwell's, Butte county, illus- 

 trated in the Century Magazine for October, 1892, has 

 trailing or descending branches, which have taken root 

 at many places, and the whole group now covers a cir- 

 cle more than 150 feet in diameter. 



Varieties.— There are many horticultural varieties of 

 the Fig, probably not less than 150 distinct sorts in cul- 

 tivation under innumerable synonyms. Their classifica- 

 tion is by shape, color of skin and color of flesh. The 

 shape is round or turbinate in some sorts ; pyriform or 

 obovate in others. The skin varies in color in dift'erent 

 varieties from green, through pale yellow, buff, light 

 brown, rediiisli brown and pur]>le. to black. The flesh is 

 almost whit. . ni. ihin . -ir \ neii. -liailes of red ; it can 

 bedescrili.e , . .-oarse or even dry 



in a few nl. I i : - : , a few removes from 



the wild, i: 1,1,1 It s hardly as large as 



n ^-rii II _M.;, :,i ,i , ,, , I , i- liii -i njietimes weigh 4 or 

 ,,, ,, a , |i ! J I 1 It. u planted iu Cali- 

 ■ i , ,,!,! \i i - -i,iiis, and is known as 



1 ;,,,., ! : !.,i. : 111,: I 1 y productive sort. 



l'r,,.iin.iii ijiiii! 11 1- an exe' Uent l'i;;,'but the dark color 

 renders" it less iiiarketal.le than the white varieties. It 

 is a very popular table Fig. The white Fig most gen- 

 erally planted in California is the so-called "White Ad- 

 riatic," which is the"Grosse Verte"of France and the 

 "Nebian" of Hogg. The best dried Figs yet produced 

 commercially in California are of this variety, which 

 does not need caprification. There is a large and in- 

 creasing demand for California dried Figs, which are 



