THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 



usual nothing materialized. Finally Mr. Koebele wrote that he was satisfied that 

 each species of Ficus had its own species of Blastophaga, and in his opinion it would 

 be necessary to import the insect from the locality from which the fig cuttings were 

 taken, to succeed. 



Cross-section of Roeding's Capri Fig No. .3, Proflchi crop. What appear to be seeds are galls con- 

 taining insects. From an original photograph. 



In the year 1897, through the efforts of the State Board of Trade of San Francisco, 

 the importance of introducing the fig wasp and establishing it here, was forcibly pre- 

 sented in a letter to Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. This was referred 

 to Dr. L. O. Howard, chief of the Division of Entomology, who communicated with 

 Mr. Walter T. Swingle of the Division of Botany and Pathology, who, at that time, 

 was in the South of Europe, studying at the International Zoological Station at Na- 

 ples. Mr. Swingle had become interested in the subject of caprification, and had 

 made a number of investigations on his own account, so that he was well prepared 

 to carry out instructions given him by Dr. Howard. 



In April, 1898, several consignments of the Mamme or winter crop of figs, with 

 ^insects, were received from Mr. Swingle, the first of which were in good condition; 

 those which followed were mouldy and rotten. 



A Capri Fig tree had been previously covered with sheeting so that immediately 

 upon receiving the figs, they were cut open, placed in jars and suspended by strings 

 on the branches of this tree. However, none of the insects became established. 



In the year 1899 another attempt was made by Mr. Swingle, each fig being wrapped 

 in tin foil and packed in cotton in a wooden case. A series of consignments were for- 

 warded by him to Dr. Howard at Washington, and the same were remailed from 

 there, arriving at Fresno between the 6th and 15th of April. The figs arrived in ex- 

 cellent condition, due to Mr. Swingle's painstaking method of packing. They were 

 quite firm, plump and green, and looked as if they had just been picked. On cutting 

 them open it was found that they contained many live and fully developed insects. 



So many experiments had been made in former years to establish the insects in 

 a similar manner, without success, that the writer foresaw no better prospects in 

 this ir stance, and the following is an extract from a letter written to Dr. Howard at 

 about that time: 



