390 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



tophagas being received from Algiers as collected and forwarded 

 by W. T. Swingle to Mr. Roeding. Their offspring appeared in 

 large numbers during the summer and fall of the same year. ( )n 

 the basis of this achievement the commercial production of a 

 true Smyrna fig in California began and has rapidly developed. 

 Mr. Roeding gave his product the musical patronymic "Cali- 

 myrna," which now adheres also to the variety from which it is 

 produced. 



It is an interesting fact that after this strenuous work was 

 successfully accomplished it was ascertained that the fig wasp 

 had really reached California without assistance before 1880 and 

 has been established in San Joa.quin county since that remote date. 



To avail himself of the benefits of caprification, every grower 

 of varieties which require it must also grow suitable Capri figs 

 and establish the insect in them. California nurserymen supply 

 these and the insects also when the trees are of suitable age to 

 receive them. 



FOES OF THE FIG 



The fig is freer from insect pests than other fruit trees, and 

 yet it is a mistake to consider it wholly free. The writer has 

 seen the leaves well covered with a lecanium scale and has found 

 a moth larva boring in the pith of the young shoots; still, prac- 

 tically, the fig tree in California has not yet suffered from insects. 



The gophers have a pronounced appetite for fig roots, and their 

 presence should be carefully watched for. Swine have a liking 

 for fig bark. The trees of the grand grove planted at Hock Farm, 

 on the Feather River, by General Sutter, were completely girdled 

 from the ground as high as a pig could reach by standing on its 

 hind legs. Figs make good food for hogs, and plantations have 

 been made with this in view, but if the hogs are to be harvesters, 

 it will be well to protect the stems of the trees from them. 



VARIETIES OF THE FIG 



The fig presents what may be termed an aggravated example 

 of the confused nomenclature which pervades California fruits. 

 Dr. Eisen has made a commendable effort to bring order out of 

 chaos by a study of foreign records and locally-grown fruit, and 

 has published a catalogue of varieties chiefly grown in California, 

 with descriptions of each in Bulletin 5 of the Division of Pomology 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.* The following enumera- 

 tion is largely restricted to varieties which have been commercially 

 propagated : 



* A much fuller discussion of fig varieties is to be found in Dr. Eisen's Bulletin P, 

 already cited. Many notes are made of the fruiting in the late John Rock's collection 

 on the grounds of the California Nursery Co., at Niles, Alameda County, of many 

 introduced varieties which have not been commercially propagated in California. 



