554 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



The horizontal mode of training the fig is 

 recommended by Mr G. Lindley, who says, 

 " Horizontal training appears the most eligible 

 for the fig, as it checks its Ivixuriauce, and by 

 this means adds materially to the ripening of its 

 wood; for unless this be accomplished, it will 

 be in vain to look for fruit." — Guide to the 

 Orchard, p. 171. Harrison approves of the 

 horizontal manner of training, and observes, 

 " The trees will thus be more fruitful than if 

 trained more erect; but in those oases where 

 the trees trained horizontally are still too lux- 

 uriant, let the branches be trained in a pen- 

 dulous manner, and the more luxuriant the tree 

 the greater must be the declination. In prun- 

 ing and training the great object must be to 

 keep a regular supply of young wood in every 

 part ; the shoots must be trained so far apart 

 that the sun and air will be properly admitted 

 to every part. In those kinds which have very 

 large leaves — the Brunswick, for example — the 

 distance must be 12 or 14 inches at least. The 

 principal crop of figs is produced upon those 

 shoots that are made after midsummer; and 

 there," Harrison says, " care should be taken to 

 preserve the fruit through the winter, and they 

 will come to perfection in June or July follow- 

 ing. When a sufficiency of lateral bearing 

 shoots is not produced, they may be attained by 

 attending to the following directions : When the 

 spring shoots have done growing, which will 

 generally be by the end of May or beginning of 

 June, let each shoot, where wood is required, 

 be stopped by pinching the end betwixt the 

 finger and thumb so hard as to feel that the 

 shoot gives way to the pressure, but not so sa 

 to break it. This vrill cause shoots to push 

 below where it was stopped. If a shoot thus 

 desired to be stopped be a long one, let it be 

 bruised or broken nearly in two about the 

 middle, or a piece of string be twisted very 

 tight round it, and the end of the shoot above 

 the string be brought nearly parallel down by 

 the side of the remaining part of the shoot, and 

 this will cause shoots to push where desired. 

 These lateral shoots generally show plenty of 

 fruit during the months of August, September, 

 and October, but appearing late in the year 

 they will not ripen in this country the same 

 season, but some of the fruit wUl attain to half 

 their size or more. Such as attain to the size 

 referred to, or even much larger than a large mar- 

 rowfat pea, wiU very seldom survive the sever- 

 ity of the winter." This being usually the 

 case, " it is a very general practice, at the end 

 of autumn, to take away all figs that are of the 

 size described. The removing them is certainly 

 proper, but they ought to be taken away at a 

 much earlier period, even as soon as they are 

 discovered to be figs. By doing so, the sap is 

 diverted to the formation of one, or occasion- 

 ally two, embryo figs at the side of the fruit 

 removed, and which will be so small as to 

 escape injury by covering them during winter, 

 but will ripen well the following summer." 

 Differing in opinion from Harrison, the Rev. 

 George Swayne, in " Horticultural Transac- 

 tions," p. 430, recommends displacing, as soon 

 as they can be recognised by the eye, all em- 



bryo figs produced after midsummer on the 

 same year's wood ; his object being to prevent 

 unnecessary exhaustion to the tree by allowing 

 it to produce embryo fruit, which would never 

 ripen without artificial heat in our climate, but 

 rather to employ the energies of the tree in the 

 preparation of new embryo figs for the follow- 

 ing year. His words are : " If this operation 

 be performed in due time, it vrill not fail to pre- 

 pare on one, and often on both sides of almost 

 every fig so displaced, such embryos. For this 

 purpose the trees should be examined once 

 a-week from the beginning of August, at which 

 time the figs of this second crop usually begin 

 to show themselves, and this examination must 

 be repeated as long as they continue to make 

 their appearance. Most gardeners omit remov- 

 ing these late figs at all, or delay the practice 

 till October or November, when no benefit is 

 derived from it." Like Harrison, he approves 

 of horizontal training, and defers pruning till 

 late in spring, when the leaf-buds and fruit-buda 

 can be clearly distinguished. 



Knight's mode of training differs from most 

 others, and no doubt has much of the advan- 

 tages expected, in moderating the flow of the 

 sap. He says, in the work last quoted, vol. iii., 

 p. 307 : " Let the stems, if there be, as usual, 

 many within a narrow space, be gradually re- 

 duced to one only ; and from the top and parts 

 near it of this let lateral branches be trained 

 horizontally and pendantly in close contact with 

 the wall. Under such treatment all trouble- 

 some luxuriance of growth will soon disappear. 

 The pendant shoots will not annually extend 

 more than a few inches, and few or no more 

 leaves will beproduced than those which the buds 

 contain before they expand. The young wood 

 consequently ceases to elongate very early in 

 the season, and hence acquires perfect maturity, 

 while, by being trained close to the wall, it is 

 secure, or nearly so, from injury by the sever- 

 est frost. The quantity of mature and produc- 

 tive wood thuS; necessarily becomes very great, 

 relatively to the size of the tree ; and the fruit 

 being in contact with the wall, and not shaded 

 by excess of foliage, acquires an early and per- 

 fect maturity." In fact, Knight's theory 

 amounts to this : Train the fig to one stem until 

 it reaches the top of the wall or espalier, lay in 

 a shoot horizontally on both sides, and train the 

 shoots they produce in a downward direction ; 

 or, slightly modified, train the fig in the stel- 

 late form {vide fig. 149.) Much of all this, 

 however, may be accomplished at less trouble 

 by root-pruning, limiting the range of the roots, 

 and using a soil rather poor than over rich. 

 The fig seems to draw a large share of its nour- 

 ishment from its leaves. They present a much 

 larger surface to the atmosphere than those of 

 most of our fruit-bearing trees do, decidedly 

 more so than any cultivated in the open air in 

 this country; hence less dependence is placed 

 on the roots, which, if placed in rich soU, and 

 allowed to range to a great distance, throw into 

 the system of the tree more nourishment than 

 it absolutely requires, and in disposing of this 

 extra food the tree is induced to form wood and 

 leaves in proportion, and hence the strong and 



