42 



ROBBING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



Under the Caprifigs; stringing the Capris on raffia fibre preparatory to suspending the figs in the Calimyrna trees. 

 This picture was taken in 1900, the year prior to the author's trip to Smyrna, Asia Minor. Today the figs are placed 

 in wire baskets, or grape baskets, eliminating the heavy labor expense and securing equally as good results. 



Smyrna so far as general appearances go, but on in- 

 vestigation it will be found that all the seeds are hollow, 

 while in the Smyrnas each seed contains a kernel, giving 

 the fig a nutty flavor and a delicious syrupy sweetness 

 found in no other fig. The great interior valleys of 

 Calif ornia, with their favorable climatic conditions (there 

 being no rain in the summer months, and the air being 

 both warm and dry) present possibilities which are not 

 equalled in any other part of the world. The output of 

 Smyrna is in the neighborhood of 30,000 tons annually. 

 California produces about 10,000 tons of dried White 

 Adriatic, Mission and Calimyrna. The United States 

 imports from 10,000 to 13,000 tons annually. The de- 

 mand for figs for shipping, preserving and drying is 

 growing by leaps and bounds, and it is up to the growers 

 to embrace their opportunities and engage in this, one 

 of California's most promising industries. 



CAPRIF1CATION 



To give even a short review of caprification would 

 occupy pages of a book several times as large as this 

 one. I merely wish to say that for years the subject 

 was regarded as an illusion by prominent horticulturists, 

 and I was subjected to criticism and met with discour- 

 agements too innumerable to mention, before I finally 

 after many years of persistent effort, succeeded in con- 



vincing the skeptics that Smyrna figs could not be 

 grown without caprification. Plant life has just as 

 many intricate problems as human existence. We have 

 in the fig a problem which is beyond human ken. It is 

 very difficult indeed to give any explanation why the 

 edible fig, Ficus carica, has within its range so many hun- 

 dred varieties of figs which do not require fertilization 

 of their flowers to produce edible fruit, while in the 

 Smyrna type of figs unless the flowers are pollinated 

 the figs drop off and never mature. The fig is a fleshy 

 receptacle to which is attached thousands of minute 

 flowers. Botanically, flowers grouped together like 

 this are characterized as an inflorescence. The fig 

 differs from practically all other classes of plants in that 

 no ordinary insect can reach its flowers, because the 

 receptacle in which they are enclosed has only one small 

 opening in the apex of the fig, which to all appearances, 

 as far as human intelligence and eyesight can discern, 

 it would be impossible for any insect to enter. For- 

 tunately for the thousands of people who enjoy eating 

 figs, a great many varieties mature their fruits and are 

 perfect from the standpoint of the consumer, although 

 scientifically imperfect, because the flowers have not 

 been fertilized and the seeds are hollow shells. 



When California, twenty years ago, began ttf engage 

 in the business of drying figs and shipping them to the 

 east, it did not take long to discover that there was 



