CHAPTER XXX 

 THE FIG 



The fig is, perhaps, the grandest fruit tree of California. Its 

 majestic size and its symmetry make it a crowning feature of the 

 landscape, and its dense foliage renders the wide space embowered 

 by it a harbor of refuge from mid-summer heat, both for idlers 

 and for the industrious. On adjacent farms in Pleasant's Valley, 

 Solano County, there are large fig groves ; one serves as a shelter 

 for the packers of fruit from the contiguous orchard, and the other 

 incloses and shades a croquet ground. Measurements of large 

 trees are abundant, for old trees are numerous in the interior of 

 the State, both in the valley and on the slopes of the Sierra 

 foot-hills. At Knight's Ferry, in Stanislaus County, there is a 

 fig tree sixty feet in height, with branches of such length as to 

 shade a circle seventy feet in diameter. The trunk at the base 

 is eleven feet around, and nine feet at a distance of three feet 

 from the ground. A little higher the trunk divides into seven or 

 eight large branches, each of which is nearly five feet in circum- 

 ference. At thirty feet from the ground the limbs are seven 

 and eight inches through. The largest grove is in the neigh- 

 borhood of Knight's Ferry, and consists of fifteen massive black 

 fig trees, which, though set sixty feet apart, mingle their branches 

 overhead and form a network through which, in the summer, 

 hardly a beam of light can pass. 



Such groves are frequently seen in the older settled parts of 

 the State. Perhaps the most interesting single fig tree is that on 

 Rancho Chico, quite near the residence of General Bidwell. It 

 was planted in 1856, and has attained a marvelous growth. One 

 foot above the ground the trunk measures eleven feet in circum- 

 ference; the widespreading branches have been trained toward 

 the ground and, taking root there, banyan-like, they now form 

 a wonderful inclosure over one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, 

 the tree is loaded every year. 



The crop on these large trees is proportionate to their size 

 and, entering their area in the morning during the ripening season, 

 one can scarcely step without crushing figs, though the fruit may be 

 gathered up each day and placed in the sun for drying. 



REGIONS SUITED FOR THE FIG 



Though there are still many fine points to be determined as 

 to what situations and conditions favor the production of the 

 very finest figs, and there are indications that there is possibly 



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