these 



persons equally understood the Sexmt Relationship of the Fig,* and likew 



ise in the 



^:^::;i^:-:x^^^ nantavamr ***-** ** *&^ - .£** where * P ec Uli a r 



p H r;z s ;; c :;; el x^; «: tather of history> r? M dis,in ?* ,he ^^^ ° f ***• »»•»• ^~ 



Lib. XII. Cap. IV. J ^ Same pr ° CeSS Under the t,tle " ^ «'/»'>'""— ." " On tW««</««." PtISII „ IST . Nat . 



the z:zz:; SSwssStt rc!a ; e 'V* ir^," are practiscd at ,his * y in ,i,c ***>**> * »• ** *« 



substance of which is as follows. P " r ° UltJ,EF0RT ' » a *«* <*? before the Academy of Science at Paris in , ;o 5 , the 



^^jSSs^-s^z of thc d rr ic fig T e> : hich arc cu,,iva,cd in France - spain - an<i ^ ** ** ** « - -i.i. 



Wild fig-tree. The econd Tthe H ^ " ° T*' P°" " le °' d <** "** ' hi< * «?"«» «° «**>« fa) Utfo, and Unifies a 



fonuZ, c,, ltit !X a d r ; ^jSrsir?? g "d r r The fo T r !r r c r sive,y ' in *■ *- ** ** so r , s 'of ^ C !L 



These fruits have a sleek Z',TtS g ° , ' '", "' ^ "**? ^^ "^"'^ ,hoSe of < he ^^en-fig. 



placed upon distinct foot H f V^ f ?" Zl T^ " """ ^ ^ ""^ '"^ ^ " ,ale a " d *«« dowels 



^SSsi! thc T d , f,uit ' which is ca,i t ""'"■"■'- x,,cse d ° - ^ sasraassris 



rW th* 7 /°f""«» gradually fall away after the gnats are gone; the cmtilircs, on the contrary, remain on the tree till \l ,v ,n,l in 



Stts wjasesis p r d ,h 7 ,"' r " ,o ^ - ° f "• : " -* ^- ■ ' ;: S2a ; * 



•i.* \ u gg an thc other two; and whcn lt £ rows to a certain s^e, and its bud beffina to onen it i. ^ l \i : 



£ ex ^r xs « rr r are r: h g eno " sh to go f T r to — — *K& &£££: 



this case the h, sh 1 1, , T C ° me ' H '" ^^ ^'^ wMe thC °'"' in th ° Se Ver ? l ,ar,s arc "^Md <° rccciv,- them I„ 



«; ;; : "rr to „ pn d ? y th , c t s -, ,f i ,,ey miss thc mwrtunity ' * ■* ft,, « a - d ,hc ■«• ° f * -SK? 



ay. iNone but those that are well acquainted with thc culture know the critical moment of doing this; and in order to know it their 



hi „; iiTo b u e " f °, n the t ud , ° f ,he % : for that part not ° n,y indicates ,i,c time t,iat ,he ■*■«• - - '-«•-. sa£ w«: 



the fig ,s to be successfully pneked: if the bud is too hard and compact, the gnat cannot .ay its eggs; and the fig drops when the bud Is 



fan* andj u r '1*ft ?T ^T T* ° f ffUit iS t0 "<*" ^ frUit ° f ,1,C garden fig - trCC> in th ° fol,0win S ma,,ner - ^ring the months of 

 June and July, thc peasants take the orm, at the time their gnats are ready to break out, and carry them to the garden fig-trees • if .hcv do 



pla^tl ^so IT' "1 *i' T* ** ^ ° f ^ d ° n ' eStiC fig " tree ' " 0t ripeni " g ' "'" '" ' VC ^ ttUe timc dro l> ! " ^ »«»«, The 



SSenfcTn^ d aCqUa ' n tedW ^, ^ese precious moments, that, every morning, in making their inspection, they only transfer to their 

 garden fig-trees such on,, as are well conditioned, otherwise they lose their crop. In this case, however, they have one remedy, though an 

 inmtterent one; which is, to strew over the garden fig-trees another plant in whose fruit there is also a species of gnats which answer the 

 purpose in some measure." 



Linnaeus thus explains the rationale of this practice. « Thc caprificus, or wild fig, is the male plant, and the cultivated fig the female. 

 1 he flowers are disposed within the cavity of the receptacle, which is so close shut, that often it will scarce admit the end of a common 

 needle through the pore in its extremity. Now thc fig-flies, which are of the ichneumon kind, being transformed, and furnished with 

 wings, about the time the farina of the male fig is ripe, make their escape from those male figs, and being wholly covered with their dust, 

 alter copulation, they seek for a place to lay their eggs, and flying to every one of the female figs, they enter their cavities, which are filled 

 with pistilla from all sides, by which means they must necessarily brush off that farina, or male dust, with which they were covered, and 

 thus the seeds are impregnated." It is true, the female fig can ripen its fruit, though thc seeds are not impregnated, because this fruit is not 

 tpericarpium, or seed vessel, but only a receptacle : so also the hop, mulberry, strawberry, and blite, can produce fruit, even though 

 their seeds do not ripen, because their fruit is nothing but a receptacle or catyx. Some botanists who were ignorant of this, seeing those 

 trees produce fruit without previous impregnation, thought they had found an unanswerable argument against the generation of plants ; but 

 they did not consider, that the fruit of the fig is not a seed vessel, but a common receptacle. Yet it appears, that the fruit of the fig, if the 

 seeds are impregnated, grow to a much larger size than those which are not ; which Tourncfort also observed; for he tells us, that a fig-tree, 

 m Franche Compte, where there is no caprification, produced every year only 25 pounds weight of figs ; but that another of thc same size in 

 one of the islands of the Archipelago, produced yearly 280 pounds weight of figs, which is above ten times the quantity of the other. This 

 age hath clearly refuted the opinion of Camerarius, who maintained that the seeds of figs never produced any plants. For Linnaeus tells 

 us, that fig trees are raised every year in Holland from the seeds, provided the fruit is brought from Italy. But if the fruit grew in France, 

 England, Germany, or Sweden, where there are no wild Jigs, the seeds produce nothing; on the other hand, if those seeds are sown, which 

 grew in Italy or the Greek islands, where the male fig abounds, the plants spring up with case, putting forth leaves, which at first are like 

 those of the mallow. The same experiment was tried with good success in the Upsal garden in the year l 7 M." 



Yet still it would be a difficulty for us to imagine, that such refined knowledge was in the breasts of the ancients. 

 Tournefort, in explanation of this practice, says, " The prickers contribute to the maturity of thc fruit of the garden fig-tree by causing 

 them to extravasate the nutritious juices, the vessels inclosing which they tear asunder, or perhaps too, when depositing their eggs, they 

 leave some sort of ferment, which gently agitates the milk of thc fig." 



This is also nearly the explanation of Theophrastus, to whom a knowledge of the sexes of plants- is attributed, in his chapter * De Ca- 

 prificatione," on Caprification. " Cum autem morsu crebro culices ora ficuum aperuerint, humorem absumunt supervacuum, et aditum li- 

 berum auris praebent, et omni poma spirantia efficiunt." 



" By the numerous piercings of the flies, outlets are made in the figs, by which the superfluous moisture is drained, a free passage to the 

 air afforded, and breathing pores effected." Theoph. B. II. C. XII. 



Like some of our modern gardeners, who^re in the habit of applying the male flowers to the female in the cucumber plant raised under 

 glasses, in order to ensure a produce ; so the ancients performed the like operation on their palms, pistachias, and figs, and in the same way, 

 but without knowing, or even thinking, of the sexes in plants at the time. 



b PlSTACIA, 



