1 82 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



be procxired, common garden-soil that is not highly- 

 impregnated with manure can be substituted with suc- 

 cess — for, as has been already remarked, the fig is not by 

 any means fastidious. 



Where the subsoil is clayey, or cold and damp, the 

 roots should not have access to it, therefore the whole 

 of the site should be effectually concreted. To have the 

 individual trees entirely under control, the site for the 

 soil should be intersected by walls formed of brick 

 to separate the roots of each tree entirely from 

 those of its fellows. This leaves the cultivator every 

 chance of treating individual varieties and trees as cir- 

 cumstances may suggest, without interfering with any 

 other. The width of these spaces should be determined 

 by the length of roof or rafter. For such as is repre- 

 sented by fig. 18, each compartment may be from 10 

 to 12 feet, that being sufficient space for each tree. 

 Immediately over the concrete two efficient tile-drains 

 from each compartment should be led into the main drain 

 running underneath the pathway. Over the whole 

 bottom broken bricks or road-metal to the depth of 8 

 inches should be laid, and blinded with some finer 

 material, such as coarse sandless gravel. With a turf 

 grassy side downwards all over this drainage, the site is 

 ready for the soil ; and, to begin with, it should not be 

 filled in more than 20 inches deep, rather firmly packed, 

 leaving 4 inches for the addition of top-dressings when 

 such become necessary. 



VARIETIES OF FIGS. 



In order to keep up a constant succession of ripe figs 

 for a good many months of the year, as shall be 



