928 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



State Board of Trade and have also been photographed 

 by B, M. Lelong in the State Reports so often referred 

 to (for 1891). 



Experiments in pollinating Smyrna figs have since been 

 carried on by me yearly with the same results — both 

 horticultural and botanical maturity. The proper time 

 for pollination in California changes frequently from year 

 to year according to seasons. I haye seen a difference 

 in the time when the figs were ready for the pollen, vary- 

 ing between several days to several weeks or a month. 

 Near the coast this difference is much greater than in the 

 interior valleys, where one year with the other the varia- 

 tion in time seldom extends to more than two weeks. 



Our experiment further proved without a doubt that the 

 figs in question, consisting of several hundred trees, im- 

 ported by G. P. Rixford in 1880 and 1882, through the 

 aid of Consul E. J. Smithers in Smyrna, were genuine 

 Smyrna figs, On account of the persistent dropping of 

 the figs the idea originated by the late Dr. Stillman be- 

 came prevalent that these figs were not what they pre- 

 tended to be, but simply wild figs sent us by the jealous 

 Smyrna growers, who were afraid that our fig production 

 would come in opposition to their own products. On that 

 account most of the "Bulletin" figs were rooted out 



(43)- _ 



I grieve to tell that I once shared this idea and did Mr. 

 Rixford a great injustice in publishing it in the Rural 

 Press, the retraction in the following number, upon find- 

 ing out my mistake, hardly undoing the wrong. However 

 Mr. Rixford has lived to see himself and those concerned 

 in the introduction righted, and his efforts and success in 

 being the first one to bring the genuine Smyrna fig to 

 California cannot be too greatly appreciated. Only the 

 future will demonstrate the true significance of this im- 

 portation and of Mr. Rixford's work. 



