THE FIG. 275 



Fig, fertilisation lias not been done awaA' with, and it 

 has been much to their advantage to retain it. 



This was found b\- experience to hold good ^-^hen 

 the experiment was tried of introducing the cultivation 

 of the Sm\rna Fig into America. :Man\' thousands of 

 trees were planted in California without producing a 

 single fruit during the first nineteen ^-ears. All the 

 young figs fell off. Results n-ere onh- obtained b\' 

 artiiicial pollination effected b\' hand. This led to tlie 

 introduction of the Capriiig and tlie Rlastophaga, and 

 since then Sm\Tna Figs have been -^'ielding rich har\-ests 

 in America. 



The careful stuch' of all these facts, and further 

 investigations of Tropical species of Fig, have resulted 

 in the discovery that the Caprifig and the cultivated 

 Fig belong to the same species, that is I^icus Carica, 

 and that in realit)- the Capriiig is tlie staminate, and 

 the cultivated Fig the carpellar-s' plant ; thus we are 

 dealing witli a dioecious plant. 



Even in ancient times the varieties of figs were so 

 numerous and continualh' increasing that l^lin^- wondered 

 whether this plant would not alter with time. There 

 were alreach' white and black iigs ; and next after the 

 Attic figs those from the neighbourhood oi Sm^u■na 

 were considered the best. The^■ came originalh' from 

 the province of Caria which included those districts 

 whence the Sm\-rna figs are now brought to us. This 

 is why Linnaeus called the Fig-tree Carian, Ficiis 

 Carica. In ancient times Carian figs were brought to 

 Itah' just as thev iire now, dried and packed in boxes. 



