732 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



Planting and propagating. The fig is propagated from seed, shoots, 

 suckers, slips, stakes, layers, and by grafting. From seed is only prac- 

 ticed by some to discover new varieties. In raising from slips or stakes, 

 these should be chosen from vigorous branches of the shoots of the pre- 

 vious year, and about 26 inches in length. The proper time is either in 

 February or November. A hole is opened about 2J feet deep ; good 

 manure and a little lime should be well mixed with the soil which is 

 dug out of the hole. The slip or branch is then laid horizontally, leav- 

 ing out the last eye perpendicularly, which on shooting out will form 

 the tree. Budding or grafting is seldom practiced in fig trees. The 

 distance between trees should be 16 feet. During the heat of summer 

 of the first two years the young plants should be watered. 



Fertilizing. Manuring the trees will greatly increase their crops. 

 They require no pruning, only removing dry branches and new shoots 

 from the trunk. When the tree obtains age it requires no cultivation. 

 It is well to cover with straw the branches of the trees while from one 

 to three years old, in the winter in cold climates, to protect the eyes from 

 frost, after which the trees become hardier as advancing in age. There 

 are male and female trees ; the male is the wild or goat fig. 



Male and female fig. There should be amongst the fig orchards 

 some of the masculine species, as those trees producing the small vari- 

 ety of fig and which yield so abundantly require the proximity of the 

 male sort to come to full maturity and size, otherwise the fruit drops 

 before coming to maturity. In the absence of male trees in an orchard 

 where these varieties are growing the male figs, which are very small 

 and unfit to eat, are brought and hung to the branches of the feminines. 

 The wild fig produces a multitude of small insects of the genus Cynips, 

 which settling on the fruits of the cultivated trees convey the pollen 

 with which they are infected. This is a practice from time immemorial. 



Maturity. The fig trees commence to yield fruit when they are three 

 years old, and come into full bearing when they are twenty years of 

 age. From one hectare of land the yield generally is about 4,000 kilo- 

 grams of dry figs, at value of $5 per 100 kilograms ; total, $200. 



Yield. As an example of the great yield of the fig-tree, I may cite 

 some trees at San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain, which produced ^ach as 

 much as $12 of early figs, besides 150 pounds of dried sold for $3, and 

 7 quintals of second-size figs sold for $9.50, which make the yield of 

 each of these trees in full bearing annually to the amount of $20.50. 



Curing the fig. The fruit must be gathered when quite ripe, when 

 they commence to dry on the tree, on a clear sunny day, after the dew 

 has d issipated. They are exposed to the sun in lattice work made of canes 

 or slips of boards, or in rough straw mats placed from the ground, 

 allowing, if possible, the air to circulate under. The figs after a few 

 days are pressed one by one into shape, to facilitate their curing. After 

 sunset the fruit is removed to a dry and well- ventilated place for the 



