26 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



that ought to engage the attention of experimenters, not only in the 

 Southwest, but also in the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast States. 



SMYRNA FIG CULTURE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



Many varieties of Adriatic figs are already successfully cultivated 

 throughout the great coastal plain from Texas to the Carolinas, chiefly 

 for home consumption, canning, and preserving. The home fruit gar- 

 den usually contains a few thrifty trees, which provide for the owner 

 liberal supplies of fresh figs from the middle of July to well into Septem- 

 ber. The varieties now in most general cultivation are Celeste, Magno- 

 lia, Ischia, Brunswick, and Brown Turkey. The first mentioned is the 

 favorite in Louisiana, especially in the neighborhood of New Orleans. 



The Smyrna fig on the Pacific coast is equally as frost resistant as 

 any of the varieties mentioned. In fact, some of the oldest and 

 largest fig trees seen by the writer in the Southern States are of the 

 Smyrna type. These trees, it is surmised, are accidental seedlings 

 from imported Smyrna figs and include the capri, or staminate, as 

 well as the Smyrna, or pistillate, trees, located at various widely 

 separated points. Through the lack of fig insects to pollinate their 

 fruits no crop is ever secured from such scattered Smyrna trees, the 

 figs dropping when about half grown. On this account, Prof. Reimer 

 (39), of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, advised 

 that all such seedlings in North Carolina be cut down and replaced 

 by varieties that do not require caprification. A caprifig tree was 

 discovered and identified in the business section of San Antonio, 

 Tex., through the assistance of E. B. Pauly. Other old Smyrna fig 

 trees were located with the assistance of George E. Murrell, the 

 horticulturist of a railway company. Prof. Boudousquie, of Spring 

 Hill College, Mobile, Ala., has half a dozen capri trees, 6 years old, at 

 Battles Wharf, on the east shore of Mobile Bay. Capt. Lawrence, 

 at Fairhope, in the same neighborhood, has grown Smyrna figs with 

 varying success for several years by using caprifigs containing ferti- 

 lizing insects, these caprifigs being sent to him from California, but 

 has not succeeded in establishing a colony of Blastophaga on his 

 capri tree, perhaps because it is not of a good variety. 



On Dauphin Island several old fig trees 8 to 10 inches in diameter 

 had suffered severely from a hurricane at the time the writer exam- 

 ined them, but showed no injury from frost. To the warm waters of 

 the Gulf of Mexico is due the immunity of the locality from frost. 



At Brunswick, Ga., a large capri tree was found at the home of 

 Mrs. L. M. Russell. The tree is supposed to be 18 years old. It is 

 5 feet in circumference 6 feet from the ground and has a spread of 

 35 to 40 feet. At Savannah a large Smyrna fig tree was discovered 

 on the premises of Mrs. S. D. Richards. This tree has a trunk 10 

 inches in diameter. Capt. S. G. Stoney, president of the Charleston 

 County Agricultural Society, C. F. Nevins, and M. L. Bissell rendered 



