1 84 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



lection is impracticable, I recommend as the most 

 constantly prolific and otherwise excellent, the varieties 

 I first named. They are medium-sized and of excellent 

 flavour. 



PROPAGATION. 



The fig is perhaps the most easily propagated of all 

 the more tender fruit-bearing trees or bushes. Where- 

 ever a branch touches the soil in the growing season, it 

 there very speedily throws out roots, and can therefore 

 be veiy readily increased by layering. It also produces 

 Slickers freely, and these can be detached and trained 

 into any form required. It is easily increased by eyes 

 or cuttings in spring, much the same as is practised in 

 vine-propagation. I, however, prefer plants propagated 

 by cuttings, for all purposes and forms of training. The 

 cuttings should be selected and detached from the trees 

 while in a dormant state, laid in by the heels in moist 

 soil, where severe frost cannot affect them, and where 

 at the same time they will be kept cool. The straight- 

 est, shortest-jointed, and best-ripened growths of the 

 previous season, about 8 inches long, having a strong 

 terminal bud, are best. In detaching them from the 

 parent plant, take with them an inch or two of the two- 

 year-old wood. All that is necessary in preparing them 

 for the cutting-pots is to cut them tjleanly through just 

 at the union of the one year's growth with the other. 

 The middle of February is a good time to put them into 

 heat. Drain the required number of 4-inch pots effi- 

 ciently, and fill them firmly with sandy loam. Make 

 a hole in the centre of each for a single cutting, and 

 place a little sand under their base and round them. 



