54 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



growth and to promote early fruitfulness. At the time of planting the border 

 should be made firm, and in the course of four or five years' time this temporary 

 wall may be removed, and the roots given greater space. If the ordinary soil of 

 the garden is good all the work necessary for extending the border will be 

 to trench the new part, adding at the same time a liberal sprinkling of quarter- 

 inch bones and of the other ingredients recommended above. The object of 

 the cultivator should be to secure short-jointed, well-ripened growth during the 

 summer, as on the success or failure in accomplishing this depends success or 

 failure as regards securing a good crop the ensuing season. It is these shoots 

 which produce the fruit. The current year's growth will also produce fruit, 

 but too late to ripen out-of-doors in our climate. Although rich soil is not 

 recommended for the growth of the fig, when a good crop is secured a mulching 

 of rich short manure should be placed over the roots, and in hot weather, while 

 the fruit is swelling, liberal waterings of diluted manure water from the farm- 

 yard should be given every ten days or a fortnight until the fruit approaches 

 maturity. 



Pruning. — After the fruit is gathered what pruning is necessary should be 



carried out. It will consist in cut- 

 ting out branches where they are 

 too thick, leaving only enough to 

 furnish the tree with bearing wood 

 for the next year's crop. When the 

 leaves fall in the autumn many half- 

 ExTENsioN Growth (Pinched), Leafless formed fruits will be found on the 



, , „ ■ . f . • /« . ■ , ■ , current season's growth ; these will 



(a) Point of stopping ; (^) extension of shoot after ,.° ' , ,, , 



pinching ; (c) embryonic figs. come to nothmg, and should be 



taken off. If pruning has been 

 carried out as recommended above there will be little or no winter pruning to 

 do. Still, the trees must be looked over and the growths . properly regulated 

 and superfluous shoots cut away. This should be deferred until the end of 

 March, as the tree being tender cut shoots are more liable to damage by frost. 

 The fan form of training is the best. 



Protection. — Success or failure depends perhaps more upon the way in 

 which this work is carried out than any other detail of culture. There are 

 many different ways in which this can be done ; some untie the branches and 

 bind them round with ropes of hay or straw. The best way, in my opinion, is 

 to cover the border with a layer of bracken fern or dry leaves one foot deep, 

 and quite close to the stem, and then to have hurdles of straw or fern long 

 enough to reach from the border to the ridge of the wall, and say four feet 

 wide. These can be made to fit tightly together and be an effective protection 

 against the most severe frost. They can easily be removed in warm and bright 

 weather to the great advantage of the trees, and as easily returned on frosty 

 nights. 



Culture under Glass. — There are two well-known methods of growing 

 this fruit under glass, one by planting the trees out in prepared borders, allowing 

 the branches to extend to almost any limit which the grower may be able to 



