THE FIG. 



555 



luxuriant shoots produced, -whicli maybe called 

 shoots of sterility, for it is not on them that 

 fruit is to be looked for. The fig, when pam- 

 pered in even moderately rich soil, and pro- 

 tected by the shelter of a wall, will be found, 

 upon even a very superficial examination, 

 to consist of three kinds of wood; one of an 

 over-luxuriant character, long in the joints, or 

 spaces between the nodes : such wood is also 

 usually thick and succulent in substance. An- 

 other kind of wood will be found attenuated, 

 long-jointed, spongy, and pale coloured ; while 

 a third kindjwill be found short-jointed, stiff, 

 and strong, with the buds or nodes set tliickly 

 upon it. This last is the proper bearing wood, 

 and therefore should be retained at the general 

 pi'uning. A large portion of the second sort 

 should be removed, and all of the first, un- 

 less it be where wood is required for the exten- 

 sion of the tree, when the best situated shoots 

 should be selected. The trees should be gone 

 over in May, and a species of disbudding attend- 

 ed to, at which time an eye should be kept to 

 these three kinds of wood while yet in their 

 young state ; and such as are not required for 

 keeping up the necessary supply of young wood 

 should be removed from the first and second of 

 the above kinds; and even should the last be 

 overcrowded in places, some of them should be 

 removed also. All suckers from the root should 

 be removed as they appear, vmless a shoot or 

 two be occasionally required from amongst them 

 to fill up any vacancy on the wall. Where the 

 tree is trained to one clear stem, of course all 

 the suckers must be removed, and advantage 

 taken of the suckers only when the tree is 

 trained in the ordinary regular manner. In 

 September another general examination should 

 be attended to, at which time all superfluous 

 shoots should be removed to admit light and 

 air to the ripening fruit and wood intended for 

 future bearing. The shortest-jointed wood 

 only should be at this time retained, and such 

 of them as can be conveniently tied down upon 

 the older and naked branches should be so 

 done: indeed, they should be completely clothed 

 with young wood to protect their bark from 

 excessive sun, as well as to admit of the young 

 wood being so disposed of that portions of the 

 wall may be fully exposed to the sun that it 

 may absorb heat from'.its rays ; for it should be 

 borne in mind that a wall, be it ever so well 

 exposed, if completely covered with branches 

 and foliage so as to prevent the free action of 

 the sun upon it, is, so far as heat is concerned, 

 of little more use to the trees than if it did not 

 exist at all. Stopping the young shoots about 

 the end of August or beginning of September is 

 an important part of fig-tree management. _ The 

 very short spur-like shoots with short joints 

 referred to above do not require this, but there 

 are others which do, and they are such as are 

 retained and selected for their firmness of tex- 

 ture, moderate growth, and proper position, 

 after all the superfluous ones have been cleared 

 away. The stopping of such at this time should 

 consist of merely squeezing flat the terminal 

 point, which will have the effect of inducing the 

 formation of embryo fruit for the succeeding 



season. This stopping, Mr Errington very pro- 

 perly remarks, "is a matter of some nicety, 

 and the period of performing it must be de- 

 termined both by the kind and its condition and 

 habit. A too early stopping with some figs, 

 which are not very difficult to fruit, would cause 

 them to develop the fruit for the ensuing sea- 

 son too early ; for if they become as large even 

 as a black-currant berry, they will be almost 

 sure to perish with severe weather during the 

 ensuing winter. Stopping is, therefore, a mat- 

 ter of some nicety, and had better be performed 

 over late than early." 



Protecting during winter. — No fruit tree re- 

 quires protection in this country unless in the 

 most unfavourable situations, except the fig, 

 and these require it to some extent in most 

 places, more especially in very cold seasons, for 

 there are instances of almost every fig tree in 

 England having been killed to the ground dur- 

 ing intense frosts. Various means have been 

 adopted to prevent such casualties. On the 

 Continent, where the winters are more severe 

 than in Britain, the branches are detached from 

 the walls, and those of dwarf-standard trees are 

 bent ddwn and partially buried under ground; 

 others envelop the branches in straw or hay 

 bands, and leave them fastened to the wall. In 

 general, however, those that are grown as dwarf 

 standards have their branches tied together and 

 thatched over with straw or reeds. A covering 

 of light dry fern fronds or branches of ever- 

 green trees is found, in most seasons and most 

 situations, sufficient for them in the greater 

 part of Britain. Covering the surface over the 

 roots with littering matter, coal-ashes, or rotten 

 tan, and also winding hay-bands round the col- 

 lar of the tree, is also of vast importance to 

 them. Figs grown in cold localities would de ■ 

 rive great protection were the portable wooden 

 copings already referred to placed over them 

 towards the end of autumn, and allowed to 

 remain on until late in spring. These would 

 tend to keep the trees dry, and the drier the 

 wall and the wood of the trees are kept during 

 winter, the less likely are they to suffer from cold. 

 The best of all protections next to glass is un- 

 doubtedly canvass, suspended from the wooden 

 coping, and secured near the bottom of the wall. 

 By this means air and a, modified amount of 

 light are admitted, which are both denied them 

 when they are too thickly thatched with branches, 

 and still more so when under these branches hay 

 or straw is packed, offering an excellent winter 

 asylum for field-mice, which not only often 

 devour the embryo fruit and buds, but also 

 occasionally strip the bark also. Where the 

 fig will withstand the winter without covering 

 at all, it is in every sense better for the trees; 

 for when very thickly covered during winter, the 

 branches are so tender that when it is removed 

 in spring the check they receive is very injuri- 

 ous. The covering used must be in proportion 

 to the coldness or warmness of the situation. 



Accelerating the ripening of the fig artificially. 

 —The only rational, and therefore the best 

 means of hastening the ripening of the fig in the 

 open air in this country, is decidedly covering 

 them with a portable wooden structure fitted 



