746 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOEKIGM COUNTRIES. 



Planting and propagating.— IDManKe planted apart, 12 to 15 feet, 

 according to the quality of the soil. Pig-trees are propagated by cut- 

 tings from the branch of a large tree having three or four sprays, 

 which is to be placed in a hole dug for the purpose, then covered with 

 earth, allowing one of the sprays only to project, at a height of about 

 2 inches above ground. This should take place in the spring, i. e., from 

 the beginning of March to the end of April. Orchards are generally 



small. 



Maturity. — The age of fig-trees depends on the quality of the soil and 

 the care bestowed upon them. If good care is taken of a fig-tree it lives 

 up to one hundred years. 



Disease. — The branches of fig-trees are sometimes liable to a disease 

 that manifests itself in the shape of slight swellings called snails. The 

 remedy adopted is to make small cuts in the tree, which causes the dis- 

 ease to subside. 



Cuttings. — No plantations of young fig-trees exist in this country. 

 The way to plant fig-trees is to secure cuttings from large trees and 

 plant them as stated above. 



Erhard Bissinger, 



Consul. 



United States Consulate, 



Beirut, February 12, 1890. 



INDIA. 



BEPOBT PBEPARED FOB TIOM-OONSVL BODE, OF BOMBAY, BT MB. O. MARSHALL 

 WORDBOW; LBOTUBEB ON BOTAWZ AND AOBIOULTUBE AT THE OOLLEOE OF 

 SCIENCE, FOONAH. 



Varieties. — Pigs are not dried in India to any considerable extent, as 

 the local consumption absorbs the supply. The retail price of ripe figs 

 is about 2 annas per pound (say 6 cents) at Poonah, within 14 miles of 

 extensive gardens. Varieties of figs are not named in India except with 

 the name of the village they are grown at, and such a name is not dis- 

 tinctive. The variety grown in tlie Deccan is inverted conical, green 

 at the stalk and gradually deepening to brown at the broad end. Good 

 examples weigh one-seventh of a pound. 



Situation. — The village of Khed Shivapoor is an important center of 

 fig culture. It stands 14 miles south of Poonah, which city lies in north 

 latitude 18° 28' east longitude 74° 10'. The altitude of Khed Shivapoor 

 is about 2,200 feet above mean sea-level, but the fig thrives at Baroda as 

 low as 100 feet above the sea-level. The orchards are fully exposed to 

 the sun. 



The land of the orchards is nearly level, but they are situated on the 

 slope of a range of hills 3,500 feet in iiltitiulo, at a heiglit of 2,200 feet, 

 and about 50 miles from the sea. 



