THE FIG. 205 



To have the first crop of fruit ripe on planted-out 

 figs between the time that the first crop is over and 

 the coming in of the second in pots, the time to begin 

 forcing the former must be regulated by the time at 

 which those in pots have been started. If they are 

 started at the new year, the fig-house proper should be 

 started in about eight or ten weeks after. 



' INSECTS AND DISEASES. 



Eed-spider and thrips are the chief insects that infest 

 the foliage of the fig. The former is sure to attack 

 them if they are kept too dry at the root and the syringe 

 not freely used, but it rarely becomes formidable when 

 the trees are sufficiently supplied with moisture. Thrips 

 must be kept in check by occasional fumigations with 

 tobacco-smoke, but never when the fruit are ripe, as 

 they wUl taste of the tobacco. The fig, as far as I 

 know, is exempt from disease. 



PACKING FIGS. 



To pack ripe figs to go safely to a distance requires 

 great care. Tin boxes divided into compartments, as 

 directed in the case of peaches, are indispensable, if the 

 fruit are to be allowed to ripen and to be carried with- 

 out mutilation. The compartments, of course, need not 

 be so large as for peaches. Into each put some fine 

 paper-shavings, then a layer of cotton wadding, and 

 over the wadding a square of tissue-paper sufficiently 

 large to come up the sides of the compartments to the 

 top. Wrap each fruit in a tender dry vine-leaf and lay 

 it in its place, covering it over with another leaf to keep 



