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THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



In Southern Italy and other parts of Southern 

 Europe where the Fig has been extensively 

 cultivated for ages, the majority of the trees 

 planted are Ficws-individuals, i.e. such as have 

 female flowers only in their inflorescences, these 

 yielding the best and juiciest Figs. Fig-plants 

 of the form known as Caprificus, which, beside 

 male flowers, contain only gall-flowers in their 

 inflorescences, are not cultivated, because most 

 of their Figs dry up and fall off prematurely. 

 A few specimens of Caprificus are reared here 

 and there in order that their inflorescences may 

 be artificially transferred to the branches of the 

 Ficus-trees. The process of transference is called 

 caprification, and the growers believe that the 

 Figs of Ficus are improved by the wasps which 

 come out of the Gtywificus-infLorescences and 

 enter those of the Ficus. But this opinion, 

 though very wide -spread amongst cultivators 

 and peasants, is not correct. The Figs of Ficus 

 do not require the intervention of wasps to 

 become sweet and juicy. As a matter of fact, 

 Ficws-inflorescences which have been entirely 

 unvisited by wasps and have developed no 

 fertile seeds in their little fruits, ripen into 

 excellent eating Figs, and innumerable quan- 

 tities of the Figs sold come from trees and from 

 districts where no process of caprification is 

 employed. It seems, therefore, that the use of 

 caprification must be traditional, and have 

 originated at a time when growers were not 

 only concerned with the production of good 

 fruit but of fertile seeds also with a view to the 

 multiplication of the plants. At the present 

 day Fig-trees are no longer raised from seed 

 but from cuttings, and caprification is conse- 

 quently superfluous. Nevertheless the country 

 people persevere with the old custom in spite 

 of their ignorance of its real significance. 



Cultivation in the Open Air. 



Soil. — The Fig will grow well in almost any 

 soil. In the rich well-manured soil of gardens 

 it grows too luxuriantly for the heat and light 

 of our climate. We have known the roots of 

 a Fig-tree extend nearly 30 feet in a kitchen- 

 garden, but the shoots were too luxuriant and 

 soft to mature fruit. Better wood is obtained 

 where the Fig is planted in a border 6 feet 

 wide and 2 feet deep, with a hard road or walk 

 in front, into which the roots can scarcely 

 penetrate. A chalk bottom suits the Fig well, 

 as it affords a moderate supply of moisture 

 in dry weather, and in wet it does not 

 become stagnant. Where such soil does not 



naturally exist, the subsoil ought to be well 

 drained. A rich friable loam is to be preferred, 

 and if calcareous so much the better. It should 

 be made thoroughly firm, to induce a short- 

 jointed sturdy growth. 



Situation. — This should be warm, yet airy 

 and exposed to sunlight, otherwise the foliage 

 is apt to become yellow, and the fruit liable to 

 drop off. A wall with a south, or nearly south, 

 aspect is the best, and next to this, one that 

 has a south-west exposure. Near the coast, in 

 the southern parts of the kingdom, the tree 

 will grow as a standard; and in parts of the 

 kingdom inland, where the summers are warm, 

 but the winters occasionally severe, Fig-trees 

 may be planted as espaliers if walls cannot be 

 afforded. In this way their branches can be 

 trained so as to expose the foliage to light and 

 air in summer, and in winter they can be more 

 easily protected than standard trees. 



The sandy gravelly soil of Argenteuil, near 

 Paris, suits the Fig remarkably well; but the 

 best trees are those which grow in old quarries, 

 where their roots are free from stagnant water, 

 and where they are sheltered from cold and 

 exposed to a hot sunshine, which ripens the 

 fruit. The water which collects in the ravines 

 keeps them constantly supplied with moisture. 

 The tree also succeeds well planted in a paved 

 court, against a building with a south aspect. 

 A Fig-tree thus planted and left to grow at 

 liberty will produce excellent fruit, and in 

 much greater quantity than in any other situa- 

 tion. The paving protects the roots from frost 

 in winter and from drought in summer; what- 

 ever may be the nature of the soil under the 

 pavement into which the roots penetrate, the 

 tree always thrives well. The roots of a Royal 

 Muscadine Grape planted, near London, against 

 a wall in a paved court, extended beneath the 

 pavement, and the fruit was the finest we ever 

 saw produced out-of-doors in this country; and 

 circumstances so highly favourable to the Grape 

 would doubtless prove equally so to the Fig. 

 This is proved to some extent by the Fig grow- 

 ing and cropping well when trained against 

 a wall, where the roots are under a hard gravel 

 walk at the foot. 



Fruiting. — The Fig is deciduous; it commences 

 to grow, in the neighbourhood of London, in 

 the first, second, or third week in May, and con- 

 tinues growing till late in autumn, if not checked 

 by frost. Whilst the young shoots proceed in 

 growth, one, and sometimes two, fruit -buds 

 are formed in the axils of the leaves, frequently 

 in the axil of every leaf along the shoot in 



