46 



ROBBING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



A three-year-old tree showing its current year's growth. 



ground. This will cause it to send out lateral branches 

 and the head will be formed at this point. Bear one 

 point in mind that fig trees are always grown from 

 cuttings and, therefore, when they start again from a 

 sucker growth the variety will be the same. Much of 

 the difficulty from freezing may be prevented by cutting 

 off a third of the tops of the trees in November, and then 

 wrapping the tree with corn-stalks or tule. This should 

 be done first by driving a stake not less than six feet 

 long, a foot into the ground. Then make a circular 

 trench three feet in diameter around the tree. Place 

 the butt ends of the stalks in this trench and fill in 

 with soil. This holds them in place. Bring the ends 

 of the material used to protect the tree at the top of 

 the stake and then tie them together by means of a 

 rope. This covering should remain until about the 

 middle of February, when it may be removed. 



PLANTING CAPRIFIG TREES 



It requires one caprifig tree, when planting an orchard 

 in a commercial way, to twenty-five Calimyrna trees. 

 These should be planted in a group by themselves in a 

 protected part of the orchard and never closer than 

 twenty-five feer apart. They may also be used to ad- 

 vantage as border trees. In planting it is a very good 

 plan to mix the varieties, for by doing this, in the event 

 of one variety being short of infested figs and another 

 one immediately adjoining having a good crop, the 

 supply of insects for any succeeding crops necessary to 

 perpetuate the wasp will be available. In explanation 

 of this I desire to call attention to the fact that it 

 frequently happens that Roeding's Capri No. 2 is short 

 of the Mamme or overwintering figs, and in order that 

 Profichi crop appearing on the tree in the spring 

 should become colonized with wasps, it is necessary 



to suspend figs from either the Roeding No. 1 or 3 

 for this purpose, in the No. 2 variety. If either one of 

 these varieties of figs happens to be in close proximity, 

 " it is not necessary to go to this trouble. The caprifig 

 makes a very desirable shade tree, and as there is no 

 mess from the dropping of the figs, growers will make 

 no mistake in planting them around their homes. The 

 additional protection from the buildings is a valuable 

 asset in years when low temperatures prevail during the 

 winter months. The Mamme crop will stand a tempera- 

 ture of twenty degrees Fahrenheit without injury, but 

 anything lower than this, particularly over a protracted 

 period, will freeze the figs on the outside branches. 



GATHERING 



Whenever you see figs and cream on the menu, does 

 it not make your mouth water? There is probably no 

 place in the world where figs may be harvested over a 

 longer period than California. This is made possible 

 by the diversity of climate and lack of rainfall from 

 May to October. The first crop of figs is gathered 

 .in June. These figs are not as well adapted for dry- 

 ing as they are for shipping fresh. The second crop 

 which commences to mature in the fig sections in 

 the latter part of July, continues to ripen its figs 

 until quite late in the season. In the southern part 

 of the state ripe figs may be picked as late as December. 

 One of the advantages of localities where temperatures 

 are moderate is that the figs ripen more slowly and for 

 this reason shiprr.ents may be made for a much longer 

 period. Figs for shipping purposes must be gathered 

 when they are still firm and are cut off the tree. They 

 are shipped in crates, either packed in single or double 

 layers with papers between. These should never ex- 

 ceed ten pounds in weight, and years of experience 

 leads me to believe that single layer packages are by 

 far the most satisfactory. I have demonstrated to my 

 own satisfaction that it is entirely practicable to pack 

 figs in kegs using redwood sawdust as a preservative. 



The same tree cut back and thinned. This method of 

 pruning develops trees such as you see in the 

 picture in the introductory chapter on the Fig. 



