FIGS IN MESSINA. 759 



orange and lemon groves which are subject to irrigation the fig pro- 

 duces a large crop but its fruit is inferior in quality and is lacking in 

 keeping qualities. 



Cultivation. The fig might well be called the pariah amongst plants. 

 It is rarely worked occasionally the soil is stirred around the base of 

 the tree (in November). When grown with orange and lemon trees, 

 vines, etc., being worked when they are worked, it comes into bearing 

 early and dies early. 



Fertilizers. In this district the fig is not even fertilized with its own 

 leaves, which are gathered and fed green to cattle. Stable manure 

 does not suit the fig ; ashes and rags are better adapted to it. 



Pruning. The fig is never pruned, as pruning causes the wood to 

 rot; dead branches only are removed. 



Picking and curing. Figs for drying are left on the trees until they 

 are overripe and soft. The season for gathering depends upon the time 

 of flowering. The varieties that produce two crops a year, such as the 

 fico albo and the fico petrociano, bear their first crop in June and July 

 and their second crop in September and October. The fruit of the one 

 crop varieties, the brogriotto, graziano, catalano, ripen in September 

 and October. 



Figs for market are gathered at sunrise or at sunset. Figs for drying 

 are gathered at noon. 



A small plot of land, near the farmer's house, is carefully swept and 

 inclosed by a temporary brush fence. In this space large flat trays, 

 made of reed cane, are laid on the ground, an<J the figs to be dried are 

 spread out upon them. The figs are turned over daily at noon until 

 they are thoroughly dried. They are left out at night unless it rains. 

 Some figs are dried whole, others are cut in two. When dried the figs 

 are strung on pieces of split cane 24 inches in length. If a tig does 

 not split open when pressed between the first finger and thumb, it is 

 thoroughly dried and ready for exportation. 



Should it rain on figs put out to dry, they are put in an oven and 

 dried. Figs dried in an oven are inferior to those dried in the sun. 

 These figs are never dipped in any kind of solution whatever. They are 

 cured simply as above stated. The exporter, not the grower, boxes this 

 fruit. 



Planting and propagating. Properly speaking there are no fig planta- 

 tions. Figs should be planted from 24 to 36 feet apart dwarf varieties 

 from 15 to 24 feet. 



The best varieties are propagated by budding. The fig is also propa- 

 gated by cuttings the cuttings are set out in winter ; no manure is 

 used. Old fig-trees are cut down and the most vigorous shoot sent up 

 by their roots takes their place. 



Maturity. Very few trees live forty years. The fig begins to bear 

 the year it is set out and goes on bearing as long as it lives. At twenty 

 it produces its maximum crop. 

 156A 24 



