FIGS. 



217 



equal distribution of the sap will be ensured, 

 and the result will be a disposition to produce 

 fruit which will not be so liable to drop off as 

 when irregularity of growth is permitted. 



The bearing shoots, produced along the lead- 

 ing branches, should be trained at full length. 

 In autumn every alternate one should be cut 

 back to one eye; at the same time those not 

 cut back must be trained at full length. In the 



following summer the latter should bear and 

 ripen fruit, and then be cut back in autumn to 

 one eye, and shoots from the bases of those cut 

 back the previous autumn should be trained for 

 succession. In this way every leading branch 

 will be furnished with shoots of the current 

 year for succession, alternately with shoots or 

 branches of the previous year for bearing. 

 According to the vigour of the tree the shoots 



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Fig. 1015.— Giant Fig-tree at Culzean Castle. 



may proceed from the leading branches, at 

 greater or less distances apart. When there is 

 a considerable quantity of firm wood deposited 

 in the leading branches, the shoots will also be 

 firmer and shorter, and a greater number may 

 be trained between the leading branches without 

 being overcrowded. Young shoots will push 

 from the extremities of those branches on which 

 the fruit is being matured. But these branches 

 are destined to be cut back at the end of the 

 season; therefore young shoots from their ex- 

 tremities need not be encouraged. On the 

 contrary, it is advisable to check them by 

 pinching the terminal bud when they have 

 made four leaves. These will prove beneficial to 

 the fruit by drawing sap along the branch; but 

 if the terminal shoot be allowed to grow un- 

 checked, it is apt to rob the fruit, especially if 

 it should start into vigorous growth; for it is 

 well known that fruits situated in the vicinity 



of vigorous shoots are apt to drop. If the trees 

 are making rampant growth it is advisable to 

 pinch out the points of all the gross shoots. 

 This will cause the young fruit-buds to form 

 and swell rapidly, and will often make barren 

 trees fruitful. 



Protection. — Where the climate is tempered 

 by the sea, Fig-trees in ordinary winters require 

 no protection, but generally it .is necessary. 

 The covering should be thin in mild winters, 

 but provision should be made for readily in- 

 creasing it if the weather become severe. 



At Argenteuil, near Paris, where the Fig is 

 extensively cultivated in the open, and where 

 the winters are often more continuously severe 

 than they are in Britain, the extremities at least 

 of the branches are laid in the soil, which is not 

 of a sandy nature, and the parts not interred 

 are covered with straw or litter. The same 

 plan has been successfully tried in this country; 



