BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FIGS. 973 



must be supplied later on, if their maturity is required, 

 and the quantity of caprifigs necessary at any time must 

 be regulated according to the number of figs to be polli- 

 nated. 



Prober Time for' Caprification. — Caprification should 

 always take place when the female flowers of the fig are 

 receptive. This can be easily ascertained by cutting 

 open the fig. With a magnifying glass the stigmas of 

 the female flowers should be seen to be bright and light 

 greenish with a peculiar fresh luster, as if they had been 

 lightly varnished or moistened. Further the stigmas and 

 styles should be erect, if bent and brownish they are too 

 old to receive the pollen and past their receptive state. 

 This occurs in Smjama and in the Mediterranean districts 

 in the middle of June. The second crop, the only one 

 used, is then in proper state of development to be capri- 

 ficated. In California the tiiue for caprification will vary 

 with the locality. In the Bay district, around San Fran- 

 cisco, the Smyrna figs are receptive in the end of July, 

 in the interior earlier. The edible figs when ready for the 

 caprifigs are about one-third grown, hard and green. The 

 caprifig again should be cut when the pollen is properly 

 developed and just before it has burst from the anthers. 

 The caprifigs are then almost full grown, though in 

 opening them the female and gall flowers will not be 

 found developed. The size of the fig varies with va- 

 riety — as there are many varieties in caprifigs — but the 

 average size would be an inch and a half long by three- 

 quarter inch wide. Soiue caprifigs are much smaller. 

 Thus the caprifigs received from Smyrna and taken there 

 from the fig trees in which they had been suspended, 

 were almost twice as large as those brought from Palermo 

 (81). The various races of caprifig vary in size and 

 softness, some remaining always hard, while others grow 

 larger and become soft and pulpy. 



