116 ' The Western Ponvologist and Gardener. 1872 



A Smyrna Fig — A Train of Thonsht. 



The editor of the Plantation has been presented with a few fine Smyrna figs, and 

 and while enjoying one of them, a train of thought was suggested, which he jots down 

 thus : 



" This fruit was plucked thousands of miles from this spot, by an Ottoman hand. It was 

 dried under an Oriental sun. It had sailed over the Mediterranean. Passing through the 

 Straits of Gibraltar, it had crossed the Atlantic Ocean to New York. From New York it 

 had sailed Southward, doubling Cape Hatteras and lauding at Savannah. From Savannah 

 it had traveled three hundred miles by rail to Atlanta, and, as the end of its perils by land 

 and sea, it was being devoured in his sanctum by a remorseless Georgia editor. 



"Well, why was this tig brought here? Is the fig a rarity with us, like the cocoa-nut 

 or pine-apple? On the contrary, in portions of the South it is the commonest of fruits, 

 growing like a weed without cultivation. Is our fig inferior? We cannot believe that 

 Turkey can produce it in greater perfection. Is there any mystery in the art of drying 

 and preparing it for market ? We are told that the process is cheap and very simple. 

 Yet, while this fruit grows so readily and in such perfection, thousands of dollars are 

 annually expended for figs from Turkey. We will venture to say, if the fig tree grew at 

 the North as it does with us, that no more figs would be imported from Turkey. 



" No doubt that some of our readers are familiar with the process of drying and prepar- 

 ing the fig for market. They will oblige us if they will furnish for The Plantation an 

 account of the drying process. 



" We suggest a fair trial of it during this spring. A fig orchard might be made a source 

 of large revenue. The subject commends itself particularly to those ladies in the lower 

 country who are suffering from straightened circumstances. No orchard can be so easily 

 planted and so easily matured as a fig orchard. Before the apple and pear have well begun 

 their growth, the fig would be in full bearing. 



" This is one of the smaller industries which we have heretofore overlooked. We must 

 not despise the day of small things. The fig, the olive, the sumac, the ground-nut, if cul- 

 tivated in situations suitable to tliem, in the aggregate would add materially to the wealth 

 of individuals and of the South." 



Seedling Apples— Tlieir Disposition. 



When our Horticultural and Agricultural Societies offer premiums for the best seedling 

 apples, it is not intended that seedlings, which have been named and which have already 

 been on exhibition for premiums at previous fairs, shall be considered the second time for 

 such honors. When a seedling has been introduced, and recorded in the records of the 

 State Horticultural Society and named, it ceases to be a seedling, but is put down in the 

 books as a standard apple, and takes its place along with the great list of the different 

 varieties of apples on this continent. The Baldwin was a seedling, as much so as the 

 Wealthy, or any other apple originated in Minnesota. No one would think of calling 

 the Baldwin a seedling now. So with these apples, which are the product of our own' 

 State. 



■ Hereafter all seedling apples placed on exhibition at our fairs should be named and 

 retired, from the date of the fair and from the date of the exhibition, from the seedling 

 list. They should be known after that period as a standard apple, originated by such a 

 man, named at sucfi a time, and it should not be allowed to compete at any subsequent fair 

 as a seedling. 



We write this because complaints have been made that seedling apples have been 

 allowed to take premiums as the best apple at several annual fairs. The only question is. 

 When does the apple cease to be known as a seedling? Evidently and certainly, after it 

 has been named and its name recorded in the proper books or papers. — Farmer's Union. 



A gentleman in the vicinity of Terre Haute, Indiana, reports seven hundred and forty 

 dollars net profit from one acre of grapes last season. 



