THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 43 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 INTRODUCING THE INSECT. 



Having become fully satisfied of the genuineness of my trees, all that now 

 seemed necessary in order to produce the Smyrna Fig on a commercial scale was to 

 introduce the fig insect, in which no difficulty was anticipated. That expectations in 

 this direction were not to be very promptly fulfilled, the following will show. 



In the fall of 1891, in corresponding with Mr. Thos. Hall of Smyrna, who had as- 

 sisted Mr. West in obtaining the fig cuttings, arrangements were made with him to 

 send several consignments of Capri Figs containing insects, the first of which was 

 received June 30, 1892, in very fair condition. Those which followed, however, 

 arriving in July, were mostly rotten and the insects dead. The first figs were 

 cut open and placed in glass jars, and thousands of insects were seen to emerge from 

 them. These were then taken to the orchard and hung in branches in which young 

 figs were growing, the same having been previously covered with cloth in order to 

 prevent the insects from escaping. 



In the same year, during the months of April and May, a number of consignments 

 of Capri Figs with insects were received from Mr. E. W. Maslin, the same having 

 been forwarded to him from Mexico, by Dr. Gustav Eisen, who was there at that 

 time making investigations in the interest of the California Academy of Sciences. 

 These figs, like the others, were given every attention, but the Blastophaga evidently 

 objected to making Fresno its abode, for it failed to establish itself. 



No further consignments of insects were received until April, 1895, when a pack- 

 age containing half a dozen specimens of Capri Figs in an excellent state of preserva- 

 tion, arrived from Smyrna, the same having been forwarded to me by Mr. M. Denoto- 

 vich, a resident of that place. These figs were green and hard, and upon cutting 

 them open were found to be full of galls, the insects being in the pupae state. One fig 

 each OTit of this lot were sent to Mr. Alexander Craw. Prof. W. C. Woodworth and Dr. 

 Hermann Behr, in the hopes that one of these gentlemen would succeed in breeding the 

 insect, but they, as well as myself, were unsuccessful. A very important point was 

 brought to light through the receipt of this shipment. Knowing that the Capri Fig, 

 as well as the Smyrna, were deciduous trees, it was quite evident that the figs re^ 

 ceived were obtained in a locality free from frost; in other words, it proved that the 

 insect hibernated in the Mamme or fall crop of figs, which remained on the trees 

 during the winter months in a dormant condition, the insects during this period re- 

 maining in the pupae state, in the galls. 



Following out these deductions the writer in the year 1896 planted a number of 

 Capri trees in a canon in the foothills in a place known to be almost entirely free 

 from frost. Several of these trees are now in full bearing and producing regular 

 crops. In addition, two old fig trees at this place had been grafted, one of which is now 

 completely worked over, and many of the grafts are 4 inches in diameter, and from 

 12 to 15 feet long. 



In the year 1896, another series of consignments were received from Dr. Francis 

 Eschauzier, of the State of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which were also failures. 



Learning that Mr. Koebele was in Mexico in the employ of the Hawaiian Govern- 

 ment, another attempt was made, with his assistance, to establish the insect, but as 



