34 THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 



fig crop. They are not only very strong, lasting many years, but the lint does not 

 come off from them, as in ordinary sacks. Either the owner himself or a trusted 

 employee travels with the figs, until they are delivered, and the returns are received 

 from the packing house. The maximum weight carried by the cars is seven tons, and 

 the fig trains are a mixture of Sat and box cars. Their general appearance reminds 

 one of the cars used in the Unued States when railroading was in its infancy. In 

 each car there are from five to ten guards, lounging on the sacks of figs, patiently 

 waiting for the train to pull out with its sweet and toothsome consignment. When 

 the train arrives at the Caravan Bridge Station, the camel trains are again brought 

 into requisition, and the work of unloading and carrying the figs to the fig bazaar 

 goes on without interruption all night, and by early morning they have all been 

 delivered to the brokers; or, if they have been consigned, are distributed to the 

 different packing houses. Early in the morning, the heads of the packing houses 

 in company with their brokers go to the bazaar and make their purchases. Hundreds 

 of camels are engaged in this work, and it was a novel sight as our train pulled into 

 Smyrna, to see row after row of these brutes, resting, and patiently waiting to 

 commence their night's work. 



The fig bazaar consists of a lot of rough adobe buildings and the bags are piled up 

 in them in a single tier, in many cases extending far out into the narrow streets. 

 To get through, it was necessary in mar.y instances to walk over the tops of the 

 bags. The packers, in company with their brokers, examine the various lots, make 

 their purchases, and by nightfall the bazaar is cleaned up, and the trusted guard re- 

 ceives his money for what he has delivered, and returns with his load of empty sacks 

 to his home. 



The average receipts of figs daily at Smyrna during the height of the season, is 

 from 1000 to 1500 tons per day. On the day of my return to Smyrna, from the 

 interior, I learned that the receipts had been so heavy there was a possibility of 

 breaking the market, and that the government had sent word to the growers not 

 to make such heavy shipments. 



i 

 VASTNESS OF THE INDUSTRY. 



While in Smyrna during June of 1901 I learned that conservative men estimated 

 the crop of figs at 100,000 camel loads. All estimates of crops are made in this 

 manner. In former years where camels were the only means of transportation, the 

 crop for that season of any agricultural product, was based on camel loads. Approxi- 

 mately a camel load is 500 pounds. The year 1901 was the first season in which the 

 Smyrna fig trees had recovered from the terrible freezes of 1898, and as the young 

 Smyrna figs had set well, and there was an abundance of the male figs, the estimate 

 no doubt was a conservative one, considering the favorable conditions prevailing at 

 that time. The rather unfavorable weather when the drying season opened caused a 

 great many figs to sour, hence, the estimate of the crop was reduced to 60,000 camel 

 loads; or, to make the matter more clear, 15,000 tons. It is difficult to realize that 

 such an enormous quantity of figs should all come from the Maeander Valley, where 

 the fig district proper is, not over ninety miles long and from a half to three-quarters 

 of a mile wide. What a contracted area when compared to the vast plains of the great 

 San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. The price of these figs is from 2% to 4 cents 

 per pound in Smyrna, the price varying according to the quality. 



PACKING HOUSES. 



The packing houses, of which there are fully fifty, are located not far from the 

 quay in the Frank quarter of Smyrna. All the figs go to these establishments, 

 none being packed in the fig districts. Many of them are rude affairs, old warehouses, 

 cleared out temporarily for the purpose of packing figs. The houses of the leading 



