38 THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 



WORMY FIGS. 



The packers one and all consider the figs as they place them on the market, 

 clean enough for the consumer. In reply to my question as to the reason why they 

 did not steam or pass the fruit through boiling hot water before packing, they in- 

 variably replied that they did not have the time. Knowing that all the fruit has 

 worms, which usually leave the figs before the shipment reaches its destination, they 

 flatter themselves that the consumer never sees the unwelcome intruder, hence it is 

 not necessary for them to incur any more expense in handling the goods. Never- 

 theless, it is a well known fact that Smyrna Figs always have worms, and it is said 

 that when a steamer loaded with a cargo of figs is several days out from port, it is 

 no uncommon occurrence to see worms issuing from the figs and crawling all over 

 the ship. It is safe to assume that it is a difficult matter to find a single packed 

 Smyrna Fig from which a worm has not issued. Like all improvements in the ori- 

 ental countries, changes in old methods are made with reluctance, and the same 

 methods of treating the figs will be followed until competition with the United States 

 will compel them to make a change. No more money is spent on the figs to make 

 them marketable than is absolutely necessary to make them pass muster. 



In reply to my many inquiries where the worm in the figs came from, the invari- 

 able answer was, that it was the egg of the little insect which was necessary for the 

 production of the Smyrna Fig, which hatched out just about the time the figs were 

 being packed, or shortly thereafter. That the worms should come from insects lay- 

 ing their eggs during the drying process, was never considered for a moment. 



MY WORK COMPLETED. 



Having now fully completed my investigations as to the methods employed in the 

 development of the Smyrna Figs, from caprification to the final packing and shipping 

 of the dried product, I made preparations to depart from Smyrna. In addition to my 

 regular baggage, I carried with me an assortment of fig and grape cuttings, which 

 I had to smuggle through the Custom House, as the exportation of such articles is 

 prohibited by the Turkish Government. 



Boarding my steamer, the Equateur, one of the large ships of the French Messar- 

 gerie Line, on September 7, I bade good-bye to the friends whose acquaintance I had 

 made during my brief visit in Smyrna. As we steamed out of the harbor of Smyrna, 

 I congratulated myself on having met with so much success in pursuing my investiga- 

 tions. As the familiar and striking points of interest in the suburbs, and the minarets 

 of the mosques, and the numerous buildings lining the quay faded away on the hori- 

 zon, I looked back and my thoughts wandered to the many enjoyable as well as the 

 slightly disagreeable incidents which occurred during my visit to the Ottoman Empire. 



The following day we arrived at Piraeus, the harbor of Athens, in Greece. It was 

 here that I first learned of the untimely and tragic death of President McKinley. 



Our next stop was made at Naples, where I disembarked, and from this point for- 

 warded the cuttings, etc., collected in Smyrna, to the Agricultural Department at 

 Washington. 



Space will not permit my touching at length on the many pleasurable instances 

 of my trip through Italy and France. Suffice it to say, however, I stopped on my 

 return to Berlin, at Rome, Florence, Monte' Carlo, Marseilles and Montpellier. At the 

 latter place I learned much of interest relative to the Phylloxera and resistant grape- 

 vines. From that point I went by train through France and Switzerland, and finally 

 arrived in Berlin on the 21st of September. After my hurried trip of investigation, I 

 felt that I was entitled to a rest, and my sojourn in Berlin was devoted to sight-seeing 

 in company with my wife and relatives. In the early part of October we took our de- 

 parture for home on another express steamer of the Hamburg-American Line, the 

 "Graf Waldersee." After a few days spent in New York and Washington, we returned 

 via the Southern route, passing through New Orleans, reaching Fresno the last of 

 October. 



After all, "there is no place like home." My trip, however, was of such an interest- 

 ing nature, and so much valuable information was gleaned from it, that I will always 

 regard it as one of the greatest events in my life. 



