10 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fact that the egg of the Blastophaga is just as essential to make the 

 cap ring hold on and mature as is the pollen to do the same for the 

 Smyrna fig. This fact was observed in California by E. A. Schwarz, 

 of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, as mentioned in the proceedings of the meeting of the 

 Entomological Society of Washington, D. C, December 6, 1900 

 (45, p. 503). 



. Careful investigations extending over a period of several years 

 indicate that the ability of a tree to support successfully the mam me 

 crop through the winter is more a question of variety than of climate. 

 Several instances are known where in the frosty portions of the San 



Fig. 5.— The Samuel Gates Milco caprifig tree, 10 miles west of Modesto, Cal., which has carried the 

 Blastophaga since 1868, unaided by any other tree. 



Joaquin Valley, Cal., single isolated trees near Modesto and Lathrop, 

 unassisted by others in the neighborhood, have carried the different 

 crops uninterruptedly for more than 40 years (fig. 5). The pos- 

 session of such trees by the grower is of supreme importance. 



THE FIG FLOWERS. 



Count H. G. Solms-Laubach and Dr. Paul Mayer, the German 

 botanists; Olivier, the Frenchman ; Gasparrini, Gallesio, and Ponte- 

 dera, the Italians; and later Dr. Gustav Eisen are all agreed that there 

 are four kinds of flowers in the fig. It may seem presumptuous to 

 take exception to these authorities, but it is nevertheless a fact, 

 easily demonstrable with the abundant material now accessible in 



