1096 



PBACTIGAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



FIG 



from the old wood, in the same way as the 

 Eed and White varieties, but in irregular 

 clusters on the new wood produced the 

 year before. The point therefore to be 

 remembered in pruning Black Currants is 

 to cut away the old wood and leave the 

 young, as it is from the latter the fruits 

 are developed. If the shoots are very 

 long they may be just topped, and all 

 intercrossing branches should be cut out. 



Fig. 162 shows how the young wood 

 of the Black Currant at A is furnished 

 with fruit-buds, while the older wood 

 shown at B is without fruit-buds. 



Insect Pests &c. — Currants, like Goose- 

 berries, are not often troubled with insect 

 pests so long as they are kept fairly well 

 cultivated. Sometimes, however, the 

 Black Currant, even when well cultivated, 

 is attacked by a mite {Phytoptus ribis) 

 which attacks and feeds upon the unopened 

 buds, and completely destroys them and 

 the prospect of fruit. In autumn and 

 winter the presence of this mite may be 

 detected by the much swollen and abnormal 

 condition of the buds. Hand-picking and 

 immediate burning of such buds is the 

 only real remedy at this period, but where 

 attacks are expected, the bushes may 

 be sprayed with Paris green (see p. 1047) 

 in early summer when the females are 

 depositing their eggs. 



In the case of caterpillars from the 

 Gooseberry, or other moths, the bushes 

 may be dusted with lime and soot early 

 in the morning when the dew is still on 

 them, or in the evening after syringing the 

 plants to wet the foHage, so that the lime 

 and soot will adhere to it. Birds destroy 

 the buds in spring and may be checked 

 by netting the bushes with black cotton. 



VARIETIES OF CURRANTS TO GROW 



BlacJc—Ihe frmts of the Black 

 varieties are mostly used for cooking and 

 preserving, being somewhat too pungent 

 for dessert. The best kinds to grow are 

 (1) Lee's Prolific, which usually bears 

 very heavily, the berries being tender, 

 sweet, and richly flavom-ed; and (2) 

 Baldwin's or Carter's Champion, which 

 is almost equally good. Where another 

 variety is required. Black Naples should 

 be grown. 



Red. — The fruits of the Eed varieties 

 are valuable for tarts &o. in conjunction 

 with Raspberries, but may also be used 

 with the White varieties for dessert. 

 Perhaps Baby Castle and Bed Dutch are 



the two very best varieties to grow for 

 flavour. Comet, however, is a grand Bed 

 Currant which has appeared within the 

 last few years. The brilliant red berries 

 are as large as small Cherries, and there 

 are often as many as 26 on a bunch. 

 They have an excellent flavour. It is a 

 variety worth growing. 



White Cv/rra/nts. — These are used 

 almost exclusively for dessert, and one 

 variety called the White Dutch is quite 

 enough to grow. The bunches and berries 

 are large and freely produced, while the 

 flavour is mild and sweet. 



THE FIG (Picus Carica).— Although 

 the Fig tree is hardy in most parts of 

 England and Ireland and the south-west 

 of Scotland, still it is not extensively 

 grovra in the open air as a fruit tree, but 

 rather as an ornament for covering bare 

 walls with its luxuriant lobed and leath- 

 ery foliage. It is a native of the Medi- 

 terranean region and south-western Asia, 

 and under cultivation in those regions 

 usually produces two and sometimes 

 three crops of fruit in one year. The 

 result of these we see chiefly in a pre- 

 served state in this country. 



The familiar Fig fruit (which is botani- 

 cally called a ' syeonus ') is really a hollow 

 receptacle — somewhat hke a Strawberry 

 would be turned outside in — nearly closed 

 at the top, and bearing staminate and 

 pistillate flowers separately on the inner 

 surface. The pistillate flowers occupy 

 the lower portion of the cavity, and are 

 fertilised by the pollen from the upper 

 staminate ones. Fertihsation, however, is 

 not essential to the ripening of the fleshy 

 receptacle which is eaten as the fruit. 



If the Fig is grown in the open air 

 in the British Islands for its fruit, it must 

 be grown in the warmest and most 

 sheltered places, and treated pretty much 

 in the same way as the Peach and 

 Nectarine as regards soil and aspect, 

 against south or south-west walls (see 

 p. 1034). The trees are best planted about 

 March and AprU, in mild weather, spread- 

 ing the roots out carefully as recommended 

 at p. 1032, and making the soil very firm 

 round them afterwards. 



Autumn planting, as with other fruit 

 trees, is not advisable in the case of the 

 Fig, as the more or less severe wintry 

 weather may seriously injure if not quite 

 kill trees only partly established. 



The shoots are attached to the walls 



