FEUITS VARIETIES AND CULTUKE. 499 



varieties are recommended 

 by the Division of Pomology as suitable for North and 

 South Carolina and Georgia: Cherry, Fay, Versail- 

 laise, Victoria, and White Grape. The Cherry, Fay, 

 and White Grape are especially desirable in Eastern 

 Texas. 



Marketing. — It is customary to send this fruit to 

 market in 24 or 32-quart boxes. 



THE FIG. — (Ficus Carica.) 



The Fig is a large shrub, or a low, spreading tree, ac- 

 cording to the manner in which it is trained. Some 

 varieties grow to the height of twenty or thirty feet, in 

 favorable localities, but it generally does not reach above 

 half that height. The leaves are large, cordate, and 

 deeply sinuate, with three to five lobes, thick and pubes- 

 cent on the under surface. The blossoms are not appa- 

 rent, but concealed in the inside of the fleshy receptacle 

 that becomes the fruit, which consists of a pulp, contain- 

 ing numerous pericarps enclosed in a rind, which be- 

 comes variously colored in the different varieties. Though 

 the fruit is too sweet and luscious for those unaccus- 

 tomed to it, with use it soon becomes a great favorite, 

 and is perhaps the most wholesome and nutritious of 

 fruits. The fig is a native of Asia and Africa, and has 

 been cultivated from the earliest times. It is perfectly 

 at home in all the low country and middle portions of the 

 Southern States, and as universally cultivated below the 

 mountain section as the peach. Large quantities of dried 

 figs are imported into the United States, and are even 

 sold in our own section. At very little expense, they 

 could be put up at home and even exported at a profit. 



A good way to dry figs is to gather them when per- 

 fectly ripe, and boil them in a preserving kettle in a 

 syrup of nice sugar about five minutes. Take them out, 



