BIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON FIGS, CAPRIFIGS AND 

 CAPRIFICATION. 



BY GUSTAV EISEN, PH. D. 

 INTRODUCTORY. 



Caprification of figs is a practical process based on 

 scientific principles, which latter are as interesting and 

 have been as misunderstood as those connected with the 

 practical part of the process. Since time immemorial 

 caprification has been practiced in certain countries, and 

 practical results have been claimed for it. As regards 

 the practical value of caprification, there are two distinct 

 and opposite views held by different investigators. Some 

 claim that caprification is necessary and valuable, others 

 hold that it is useless. As regards the scientific principles 

 involved, there are also various views put forward, as will 

 be explained further on, some of which are radically op- 

 posite to the others. The chief reason why this question 

 has not been solved long ago has been two-fold. First, 

 many of the scientific investigators have not been prac- 

 tical horticulturists, while others have not been aware 

 that they experimented on figs which really did not re- 

 quire caprification, and which would not be benefited by 

 it. 



Every investigator began and ended his researches with 

 the erroneous idea that all cultivated figs were alike, and 

 he drew his conclusions accordingly. This alone explains 

 the indifferent results achieved so far. 



The many points involved in these interesting questions 

 are both practical and scientific, and the two groups are 

 so interwoven that the one cannot possibly be understood 

 without a full knowledge of the other. 



I am anxious that this may be understood in the begin- 

 ning, as in the following pages practical details will be 



2d Sek., Vol. V. ( 58 ) January 11, 1896. 



