THK SMYRNA FIG 



CAPRIFICATION* 



Caprification consists in suspending the fruit of the wild or 

 Capri fig in the branches of the tree of improved variety, that the 

 pollen may be carried by an insect from the former to the latter. 

 Until the present decade California has never been able to pro- 

 duce dried figs equal to the fig of commerce or the Smyrna fig. 

 This was. at first, thought to be due to lack of the Smyrna variety. 

 After painstaking effort this variety was introduced. Trees grew 

 readily from the cuttings ; fruit appeared upon them and dropped 

 before maturity. Doubt then arose as to whether importers had 

 not been deceived, and other efforts were made which resulted 

 in other importations. These also cast to the ground immature 

 figs. Discussion turned then upon the fact of caprification the 

 necessity of having the fruit of the Capri or wild fig adjacent to 

 the fruit of the Smyrna fig so that insects from the Capri might 

 visit the fruit of the improved variety and pollinate its inclosed 

 flowers, which, appearing upon the inner wall of an almost closed 

 cavity, could not be reached by ordinary visiting insects. The wild 

 trees had already been introduced and were freely growing near the 

 others, but this fact availed nothing the figs fell just the same 

 from the Smyrna trees. In 1890 Mr. George C. Roeding, of Fresno, 

 essayed to demonstrate the fact that the lack of the pollination 

 was the secret of failure, and he succeeded in introducing the 

 Capri pollen into the eye of the Smyrna fig, and secured thereby 

 the retention of such pollinated figs upon the trees, and when 

 ripened and dried these had the Smyrna character. The demon- 

 stration was complete that California could not grow Smyrna figs 

 without the pollinating agency found to be essential to success 

 in Smyrna. This agent is a minute wasp called the blastophaga 

 an insect so minute that it can make its way through the mesh 

 of ordinary cheese-cloth and can enter the almost closed eye of 

 the young fig so minute that a magnifying glass is necessary 

 to give one any clear idea of its outline. For years constant 

 effort has been made by various parties to secure the introduction 

 of this insect. Urgent appeals were made to the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, after private undertakings failed, to 

 secure the insect alive or otherwise in form for permanent resi- 

 dence. In April, 1899, the feat was accomplished, the blas- 



*In a general treatise like this only a passing reference can be made to this 

 subject, which is perhaps the most interesting in the whole realm of entomo-horti- 

 culture. The fig grower should secure the following monographs: "Smyrna Fig 

 Culture in the United States," by L. O. Howard. Year Book of U. S. Dept. of Agr. 

 for 1900; "The Fig its History, Culture and Curing," by Gustav Eisen, Bulletin No. 

 9, Div. of Pomology, U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1901; "The Smyrna Fig at Home and 

 Abroad," by George C. Roeding, Fresno, Cal., 1903; "Some Points in the History of 

 Caprification in the Life History of the Fig," by W. T. Swingle; Report of River- 

 side Fruit Growers' Convention, 1908; "The Latest Development in Fig Culture," 

 by G. P. Rixford, Pacific Rural Press, December 18 and 25, 1909. 



