SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 7 



them when they have reached the size of filberts. By December these 

 mamme fruits are the size of small walnuts and change but little 

 during the winter. The insect hibernates in them in the larval con- 

 dition and will endure a temperature of 14° or 15° F. without injury. 

 As the weather becomes warm in spring, the insects develop rapidly 

 and are ready to issue in April (fig. 4), when the spring (profichi) 

 crop on the same or other capri trees is in a receptive condition. This 

 crop grows in clusters on the old wood at the extreme ends of the 

 branches and, unlike the mamme, which is nearly spherical, is much 



Fig. 3.— Mammoni (fall) caprifigs. (About one-half natural size.) 



larger and usually has a pronounced neck. It is produced in enor- 

 mous numbers, many times greater than any other crop, a wise pro- 

 vision of nature, as it is the one which is most abundantly supplied 

 with pollen and also the one which is exclusively used to pollinate 

 the main Smyrna fig crop. The late summer crop of the capri tree, 

 known as mammoni, unlike the others, pushes from the axils of the 

 leaves on the new wood and matures from August to the middle of 

 November. This crop serves to carry the Blastophaga through the 

 late summer and fall months. The Blastophaga from these mammoni 



