THE FIG. 205 



watering at the root than plants in pots. StUl, after 

 the trees have thoroughly filled the border with roots 

 and have covered the roof of the house with fruit- 

 bearing wood, they require copious supplies of water 

 and liberal annual top-dressing with rotten manure. 

 When bearing heavy crops, ordinary manure, or guano- 

 water, should be liberally supplied to them. Except 

 when the fruit are ripening, it is not easy to over- 

 water a limited border filled with one mass of fig-roots. 

 In the first few years of their growth and forcing, it 

 is, as has already been stated, undesirable to over-feed 

 them. Old fig-trees that are properly managed some- 

 times show more fruit than it is desirable to have, and 

 it is advisable to thin them slightly; for, as in the case 

 of most other fruits, a lesser quantity of fine figs is more 

 satisfactory than a greater number of inferior ones. 



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 the trees if they are kept too dry at the root 

 and the syringe not freely used, but it rarely becomes 

 formidable when they are sufficiently supplied with 

 moisture. Thrips must be ' kept in check by occa- 

 sional fumigations with tobacco - smoke, but never 

 when the fruit are ripe, as they will taste of the 



