FIGS IN AUSTRALASIA AND FIJI. 749 



McKay gives tbe black Province and blaclt Italian as the best varietie ; 

 for drying in Australia, but says very little drying i-a done here. 



The wliite and yellow lacliia are favorite varieties. Then theie arc 

 the Morocco and the white and brown Turkey. Different names iiro 

 given to the same variety of figs and, as no systematic attempt has been 

 made to classify them, there is some confusion in tiie nomenclature and 

 it is almost impossible to say which is the best. The fig grows on the 

 sea-coast and also many niiles inland. It has been found to do fairly 

 well at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the level of the sea. Excellent 

 flgs are, I am informed, grown in the Forbes and Parkes districts of 

 New South Wales, but the finest tigs I have seen wei'e grown at Tumut, 

 also in this colony, where the soil is of a dark rich loam to a depth of 

 about 10 feet. Figs also grow at Port Stephen, where the average an- 

 nual rain-fall is about 62 inches. Mr. Angus McKay says the tig thrives 

 best in hilly country, and as to soil, it seems that they do very well in 

 poor sandy soil ; where the temperature is 100° figs are produced and 

 where it is not less than 20° above zero. When the rain-fall is not less 

 than 12 inches or more than 30 inches they appear to succeed best. 

 When the rain fall is heavy the trees run to wood. When cultivated 

 here both plowing and digging are practiced ; the trees are usually 

 20 feet apart each way and are propagated principally from cuttings. 

 The only insects yet observed consist of a small beetle. The tree fruits 

 in the third year. Gaprification is said to be practiced in New Zealand, 

 but it is not done, so far as I have been able to learn, in Australia, and 

 Baron von Mueller says it is unnecessary and in some instances injuri- 

 ous and objectionable. 



G. W. Geiffin, 



Consul, 



United Stateh Consulate, 



Sydney, January 21, 1890. 



FIJI. 



Figs are not cultivated. The very few experimental trees that have 

 been planted have proved a decided failure. The fruit has not been 

 grown in these islands. A blight, black in appearance, strikes the tree 

 before it comes into bearing, which, if it does not kill the tree, so retard.s 

 its growth that it never bears any fruit. 



Andrews A. St. John, 



Commercial Agent. 

 United States Commercial Agency, 



Levulca, January 11, 1890. 



