4 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



a large shipment of cuttings which it was found could be had at a 

 reasonable price from one of the best orchards in the Meander Valley, 

 the most important fig district of Asia Minor. Every precaution had 

 been taken to assure the safe arrival of this consignment, even by 

 shipping moss from New York in which to pack the cuttings. The 

 cases on arrival in New York were repacked before being shipped 

 across the continent by the southern route, as the season was mid- 

 winter. 



The shipment consisted of 14,000 cuttings, including several varie- 

 ties of the best Smyrna figs. It weighed several tons and arrived in 

 excellent condition. W. B. West, of Stockton, James Shinn, of Niles, 

 Gov. Leland Stanford, of San Francisco, and Dr. J. D. B. Stillman, of 

 Lagona, Cal., had shares in the importation, but the San Francisco 

 Bulletin Company had the larger portion and paid the greater part of 

 the expense. A large number of cuttings were distributed to 3,000 

 county subscribers of the Bulletin, while the individual shares went 

 to the different partners in the enterprise. Gov. Stanford planted 

 most of his cuttings on his ranch near Vina, Cal., now the property of 

 Stanford University. The trees resulting from this importation are 

 now growing in all parts of California and other Southwestern States. 

 Some have attained gigantic size, a number recently measured by the 

 writer having trunks 3 feet in diameter. 



CLASSIFICATION OF CULTIVATED FIGS. 



The cultivated varieties of Ficus carica include more than 100, 

 most of which have been successfully established in the Southern and 

 Southwestern States and California. The Lob Ingir variety, the 

 Turkish name of the common Smyrna fig (fig. 1), is unique in requiring 

 pollination in order to bring its fruit to perfection. Linnaeus and 

 other botanists as early as 1744 reached the conclusion that the 

 capri fig is the male form and all the common varieties, including 

 the Smyrna, the female forms of a dioecious species. The caprifigs 

 are male, because they contain male or staminate flowers; the com- 

 mon varieties and Smyrnas are female, because they contain only 

 female or pistillate flowers. These fertile or female figs may be 

 again divided into two classes, namely, the Smyrna figs, the flowers 

 of which must be pollinated in order to mature fruit, and the other 

 large class, frequently called the Adriatic class, the fruits of which 

 reach maturity without pollination. The latter race includes most 

 of the varieties cultivated in all fig-growing countries. Some of the 

 best and most extensively grown in this country are the Adriatic, 

 Brunswick, Barnissotte Black, Barnissotte White, Dottato or Kodato, 

 White Genoa, Gentile, Large Black Douro (one of the largest in culti- 

 vation), Mission or California Black, Pastelliere (Eisen says if he 

 could plant only one blue variety it would certainly be this fig), Black 



