210 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



of the same fig tree grows well & turns out better in our southern provinces without the 

 help of caprification. Besides, is it clear that caprification ripens the figs while it fertilizes 

 the seeds? Or is it that the insects that penetrate the figs merely accelerate & complete 

 their ripening, more or less in the way that worms promote that of pears, apples, or other 

 fruit? Caprified figs, like wormy fruit, are much inferior in quality. Regardless of the 

 explanation, this procedure is performed only in the countries mentioned above on a type 

 of fig tree that bears fruit only once a year in the summer & on some other kinds that 

 need it only to ripen their autumn figs. The method has been known since Pliny's time, & 

 several writers on botany & agriculture, both ancient and modern, mention it. Details 

 about it are in the section on fig trees in Treatise on Trees & Shrubs, [Translator's note: 

 also by Duhamel (1755)]. 



In our southern provinces & in warmer countries about thirty types of fig trees, 

 including their varieties, are cultivated. We'll limit ourselves here to the few that succeed 

 in all climates where fig trees can exist. 



SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



I. Cultivated FIG TREE, with round, white mellifluous fruit. Inst. 



White FIG. (PL I) 



THIS FIG TREE is the most common one around Paris & the one most suited to that 

 climate. 



Its leaves are large, about seven-&-a-half inches long & slightly wider. Almost all 

 are divided into five lobes less deeply defined than those on most other fig trees, & their 

 crenations aren't very deep. 



The fruit is two inches in diameter by about the same or a little 



