62 THE SMYRNA FIG AT HOME AND ABROAD 



answers the purpose just as well. The best results have been secured by using a 

 wax made of one pound of beeswax, three pounds resin and three ounces of raw 

 linseed oil by weight. Place the beeswax and resin in a kettle and cook same until 

 thoroughly dissolved, then add the oil and allow the ingredients to cook slowly for 

 ten or fifteen minutes longer. Remove from the fire, and as soon as the wax has 

 cooled some, pour a small quantity into a bucket of lukewarm water. Grease the 

 hands and take the congealed mass and knead and pull it until it becomes very tough; 

 wrap in oiled paper and it is ready for use. By preparing the wax beforehand the 

 ingredients are mixed in proper proportions, which is not easily done when you have 

 a large amount of work to do in the field. This wax is also far superior to wax 

 which has not been pulled. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



INSECT PESTS AND DISEASES. 



It is pleasant to note the fact that among all the fruits now grown commercially 

 in California, and, for that matter, in sections with similar soils and climates, t,he 

 Smyrna Fig is strikingly alone in being almost wholly exempt from the attacks of 

 injurious insects and immune from many of the diseases to which general orchard 

 crops are subject. In so far as the writer's observations and experiences go now 

 covering nearly a score of years the Smyrna Fig in this State is practically exempt 

 from attacks of this nature. The same may be said of the Smyrna Fig orchards in 

 Asia Minor. So striking is this fact that the statement seems almost Utopian; never- 

 theless, it is borne out by the facts. The Smyrna Fig in this respect presents an 

 anomaly in California horticulture, instead of being the subject of attack from in- 

 jurious insects its well-being and commercial importance depend wholly on the at- 

 tacks of what must be considered the greatest beneficial insect which ever found its 

 way into the realm of an enlightened horticultural practice, viz.: the little fig wasp 

 Blastophaga grossorum. 



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