BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 957 



against caprification, believing himself warranted to do 

 so on account of the result of the experiments made by 

 himself. Gasparrini's experiments have been by many 

 considered conclusive and almost final, and his views have 

 been adopted almost unchanged by later writers on the 

 subject of caprification. While conceding that Gaspar- 

 rini's experiments were scientific and fairly carefully 

 made, and highly interesting and demonstrative, I hold 

 that the main conclusion which he drew was singularly 

 illogical, though it may have been warranted by the in- 

 sufficiency of his experiments. Gasparrini's almost only, 

 but fatal, error was, that he experimented only on a few 

 Italian figs, not suspecting even that there might be other 

 figs differently constructed. From his observation he 

 concluded that because " a few were so," therefore, " all 

 must be so." Gasparrini's experiments are too elaborate 

 to be here noticed in detail. Those who wish to further 

 study the subject are referred to his respective works, 

 one of which is partly translated in the California State 

 Horticultural Reports for 1891. 



Gasparrini formulates his conclusions in nineteen dif- 

 ferent paragraphs, answering as many different questions, 

 but principally concerning three different points: 



1. Does the caprifig fecundate the domestic fig, and 

 cause them to set (65)? 



2. Does the caprifig fecundate the female flowers of 

 the fig and produce seed (66)? 



3. Does the caprifig hasten the maturity of the fig? 

 We will shortly consider some of the more important 



points, as answered by Gasparrini, his answers being 

 given here : 



I. Does caprification hasten the maturity of late figs? 

 Answer, no. The experiments made by Gasparrini are 

 good, and I consider his conclusion correct (67). 



