746 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



Planting and propagating. --"Distance planted apart, 12 to 15 feet, 

 according to the quality of the soil. Fig-trees are propagated by cut- 

 tings from the branch of a large tree having three or four sprays, 

 which is to be placed in a hole dug for the purpose, then covered with 

 earth, allowing one of the sprays only to project, at a height of about 

 2 inches above ground. This should take place in the spring, i. e., from 

 the beginning of March to the end of April. Orchards are generally 

 small. 



Maturity. The age of fig-trees depends on the quality of the soil and 

 the care bestowed upon them. If good care is taken of a fig-tree it lives 

 up to one hundred years. 



Disease. The branches of fig-trees are sometimes liable to a disease 

 that manifests itself in the shape of slight swellings called snails. The 

 remedy adopted is to make small cuts in the tree, which causes the dis- 

 ease to subside. 



Cuttings. No plantations of young fig-trees exist in this country. 

 The way to plant fig-trees is to secure cuttings from large trees and 

 plant them as stated above. 



ERHARD BISSINGER, 



Consult, 



UNITED STATES CONSULATE, 



Beirut, February 12, 1890. 



INDIA. 



REPORT PREPARED FOR VICE-CONSUL BODE, OF BOMBAY, BY MR. O.MARSHALL 

 WORDROW, LECTURER ON BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE AT THE COLLEGE OF 

 SCIENCE, POONAH. 



Varieties. Figs are not dried in India to any considerable extent, as 

 the local consumption absorbs the supply. The retail price of ripe figs 

 is about 2 annas per pound (say 6 cents) at Poonah, within 14 miles of 

 extensive gardens. Varieties of figs are not named in India except with 

 the name of the village they are grown at, and such a name is not dis- 

 tinctive. The variety grown in the Deccan is inverted conical, green 

 at the stalk and gradually deepening to brown at the broad en^. Good 

 examples weigh one-seventh of a pound. 



Situation. The village of Khed Shivapoor is an important center of 

 fig culture. It stands 14 miles south of Poonah, which city lies in north 

 latitude 18 28' east longitude 74 10'. The altitude of Khed Shivapoor 

 is about 2,200 feet above mean sea-level, but the fig thrives at Baroda as 

 low as 100 feet above the sea-level. The orchards are fully exposed to 

 the sun. 



The land of the orchards is nearly level, but they are situated on the 

 slope of a range of hills 3,500 feet in altitude, at a height of 2,200 feet, 

 and about 50 miles from the sea. 



