BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 945 



efforts of man to cultivate and propagate only the best or 

 what proves most suited to his purposes has caused him 

 to gradually discard, first all inferior trees, later all infe- 

 rior varieties, all which either did not suit his taste or 

 which in other respects did not prove as profitable as 

 others. This progress in selecting varieties has been 

 continued to our own day with nearly all kinds o-f fruit, 

 progressing more or less rapidl}^ according to the intelli- 

 gence and civilization of the cultivators. As the fig is one 

 of the oldest of fruits mentioned in the history of the hu- 

 man race, the selection and improvement of varieties must 

 have taken place at an early date ; in fact, at the dawn of 

 higher civilization. No barbarous people could evolve the 

 luscious edible fig from the insignificant and, for eating, 

 worthless caprifig, even if we suppose that some chance 

 seedhng of the female type with superior fruits had been 

 found. The likelihood that caprification was invented 

 simultaneously with the cultivation of the first edible fig 

 makes it more probable that the civilization of the people 

 in question was considerable. The origin of the edible 

 fig of the Smyrna kind must be traced to some one of 

 those ancient nations whose history and remains are the 

 most obscure and the least unravelled of any. 



It is more than probable that the Smyrna race was first 

 originated and that later the other class of edible figs was 

 evolved. Or it may be possible that both originated simul- 

 taneously, or nearly so, in separate countries. The truth 

 and facts of this we will never know, and our assertions 

 can only have the value of more or less probable con- 

 jectures. 



The first figs of either class must have been very infe- 

 rior to those now considered our best. The class which 

 descended from seeds of the male caprifig must, to begin 

 with, have possessed some male flowers in at least one of its 



2d See., Vol. V. ( 61 ) January 11, 1896. 



