THE KADOTA FIG 33 



Description of Kadota Fruit 



The fruit of the Kadota fig is rather of the oblong type, yet specimens 

 very flat often occur. The color is golden yellow, tinting to green, and 

 reaches its perfection in color and flavor in August and September of each 

 year. Earlier and later fruit due to climatic conditions shade less to golden. 

 The texture of the skin is very "elastic," which virtue added to the solid for- 

 mation of the interior of the fruit makes possible the fresh fig being shipped in 

 refrigerator cars to Eastern seaboard cities and also Eastern Canadian destina- 

 tions. 



On young trees, the second summer after planting, a crop of figs may 

 be gathered small in sizes and lacking in flavor, but very sweet. 



The absence of seeds, or rather the infinitely small size of the seed found 

 in a Kadota fig, is the secret of this fig's long distance shipping. The fruit is 

 not broken in transit by the incessant jar of a car, as the seeds having no weight 

 do not break down the tissues and cause the fruit on arrival at destinations to 

 be classed as a "leaker," as is the usual case with other varieties when their 

 long distance shipment is attempted. 



In the Eastern shipment of the Kadota we have secured fancy prices even 

 though the figs have been 1 7 days in transit. That is an exceptional case, 

 however, as 1 to 14 days is usually the limit. The circulation of air in a 

 car containing figs is an absolute essential, and if any delay in transit is occa- 

 sioned, the air becoming stagnant, molding of the fruit will invariably follow. 



As I have said before, young trees bear a crop of small-sized, well-col- 

 ored figs, yet as the trees increase with age the size of the fruit also increases 

 until the fifth or sixth year, at which age the maximum sizes seem to have 

 been attained, and perfection of the fruit in color and flavor has been secured. 



With the age of tree and size of the fruit comes also the sealing of the 

 fig at the blossom end. A drop of clear, slightly sweetened wax will then fill 

 the eye of the fig, the wax hardening and thus absolutely sealing the fig against 

 the intrusion of insect and moisture, insuring the consumer of this fig, either 

 fresh or dry, a perfect product, which may be eaten out of hand or in cooked 

 forms, there being removed the fear that something undesirable may be con- 

 sumed with the fig. 



There is another point regarding this fig which I wish to emphasize right 

 here. No Kadota fig up to the present time has ever been known to sour, split, 

 or contain black mold. Hence, a consumer need never fear of biting into a 

 big luscious fig and find the interior filled with a googling mass of vinegar cr 

 a bunch of black mold, and a grower can safely plant and grow this fruit 

 without the haunting fear that his land or some portion of it will cause his 

 future crops to be unmarketable, or at least cause him a partial loss of profits. 

 He also is in a great measure insured against adverse weather conditions, as 

 rain, fog, or dew have but little bearing on the harvesting of the crop. Rain 

 will delay the ripening and perhaps delay the picking of a few figs at that time 

 ready for market, and the return of favorable weather means a resumption of 

 gathering and marketing of the fruit. 



Young trees produce small fruit, of a size and color greatly desired by 

 canners and preservers, as well as confectioners for glace and candy pur- 



