NEIGHBOURHOOD 01? PARIS. 



403 



attained the length of four or 

 process of forcing autumn figs 



Fig. 220. 



^ 



off as soon as it has 



five inches. As the 



to ripen makes the trees weaker and less able to produce 



the buds, or " fig flowers/' for the next year, only those 



which are strong and vigorous should be chosen for the 



purpose. 



Should the late frosts destroy the crop of figs, an 

 event which may take place before the middle of May, 

 summer pruning must be resorted 

 to, that is to say, each lateral 

 branch is pruned back to near 

 the stem. This operation causes 

 the sap to flow to the old wood 

 and produce a large crop of shoots. 

 This circumstance is taken advan- 

 tage of to fill up empty spaces, of 

 course taking care to leave only 

 those shoots growing that are 

 really useful. The shoots are 

 thinned out according to the me- 

 thod already described. 



After the figs are gathered, 

 each branch bearing fruit presents 

 the appearance shown in fig. 220, 

 or that in fig. 221, if the shoots 

 have been retained so that we 

 may have autumn figs. Towards 

 the end of August a dry day is 

 chosen for cleaning the figgery. 

 The portions of the shoots which 

 have borne fruit are cut off as 

 useless shoots are taken away just above the lowest eye. If 

 this eye should develope the succeeding year it is disbudded 

 in its turn. Withered branches are also removed quite 

 close to the stem, care being taken to cover the open places 

 with grafting wax. Some growers leave this operation until 

 the spring of the following year, but prunings made at that 

 time give rise to a much greater loss of sap, and the 

 wounds made in the tree heal up with great difficulty. 



Dl)3 



Branch of Fig Tree after the 

 gathering of the crop. Should 

 the year he unusually warm, 

 some of the lowor Figs may 

 ripen ; if not, they are re- 

 moved. The shoot that has 

 borne figs is cut at B. 



shown at fig. 220, and 



