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CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



is hardly necessary to say that a set of pot-trees 

 is not only requisite but indispensable, as they 

 can be so easily forced, rested, and often fruited a 

 second time in houses devoted to other purposes; 

 but the most satisfactory way to grow them 

 is in a light span-roofed pit. This should be 

 efficiently fitted with hot- water pipes for giving top 

 and bottom heat, good plunging- pits with a path 

 along the centre, apex and ground-line ventilators, 

 and a good tank for affording a constant supply of 

 warm soft water. For very early forcing, use 

 moderate growers and free croppers like the good 

 old Brown Turkey, the White Marseilles, Osborne's 

 Prolific, and Negro Largo. For placing along the 

 back of the Fig-house proper, the pyramidal form 

 is to be preferred. For forming the front row 

 or for forcing in compact pits, the bush form will 

 best answer the purpose, as the bulk of the fruit- 

 bearing wood can be kept close to the light. 



Having selected suitable plants established in 

 six-inch pots, place them in a pit near the glass, 

 where they can have a night heat of 60° and a rise 

 of 10° to 15° by day. Pinch out the leaders at 

 the height at which it is intended to start the first 

 set of side shoots. When these have made four 

 leaves, pinch the points out of them and tie them out 

 equidistant from each other in a horizontal position. 

 If for pyramids, place a stick to the leader also. 

 Syringe freely and keep the roots well supplied with 

 tepid diluted liquid, to induce a second and a robust 

 break. If the first break produced four shoots, the 

 second will most likely result in double that number, 

 which will be quite sufficient to form the foundation 

 of the pyramid. When the buds have grown an 

 inch, give the plants a shift into clean, well-crocked 

 pots, using good turfy loam of a sandy calcareous 

 nature, to which one-third of old lime rubble or hair- 

 plaster may be added. Avoid animal manure, as 

 this compost will form the nucleus of a ball which 

 will have to keep sound and sweet for a number of 

 years, and manure of this kind would have an 

 injurious effect. A few handfuls of bone-dust may 

 however be added, and clear diluted liquid will 

 stimulate growth when the pots are again full of 

 roots, but not before. Allow the pots to stand on 

 the bed of fermenting material, turn them round 

 occasionally, and syringe well under the foliage to 

 keep it free from spider. When the leader has 

 grown nine inches, .it must be pinched to produce 

 more side shoots, which, as well as the breaks from 

 the first set, will also require stopping when they 

 have made four leaves, and so on until the plants 

 again require potting. This, the final shift for the 

 season, may be made into 12 -inch pots for the 

 strongest, and 11-inch for the weakest, using the 

 same compost as before. The foundation of the 



trees having been formed by pinching every shoot 

 at the fourth leaf up to the middle of July, stop- 

 ping must be discontinued to give the last breaks 

 time to ripen with a good terminal bud. From this 

 time discontinue stimulants and give more air, but 

 still continue a good Vinery temperature, i.e., 65° at 

 night to 80° by day, and well syringe the under 

 sides of the leaves to keep down spider. If all has 

 gone well, close compact trees, three feet in height, 

 will be thickly set with embryo Figs on short stubby 

 pieces of wood, and as these must not be encou- 

 raged to swell larger than small Peas, the ripening 

 of the wood must be secured by increasing the air 

 and reducing moisture. 



Bush trees like Fig. 5 can be more easily formed 

 by the same mode of treatment, as they do not re- 

 quire staking : an occasional pressure with the hands 

 to give the young growths a pendent habit being 

 generally found sufficient ; but where time admits, 

 more shapely trees can be formed by drawing the 

 shoots down to a horizontal position with threads of 

 matting secured to a wire placed round and beneath 

 the rims of the pots. When the wood is quite ripe 

 and the leaves have fallen, remove them to a cool, 

 dry house, where the pots can be packed up in spent 

 tan or leaves to prevent the roots from becoming too 

 dry, and there leave them until again wanted. 



When pot-trees are properly formed and estab- 

 lished, their after-management is very simple, as they 

 require very little pruning, nearly every growth they 

 make being short and stubby and studded with fruit. 

 In course of time these spur-like pieces of wood may 

 become too thickly placed, light and air being im- 

 portant elements in the ripening of Figs. When 

 this is the case, they should be well thinned out at 

 the winter dressing, and disbudding should be carried 

 on with a free hand when they start into growth. 

 When pruning or thinning out is necessary, short 

 pieces with stout terminal buds should always be 

 preserved, as they are the most fruitful, and increase 

 with the age of well-managed trees. After the trees 

 get into the largest-sized pots and shifting is discon- 

 tinued, they may be occasionally, but not annually, 

 turned out and partly shaken out, root-pruned, and 

 re-potted in fresh compost. 



FORCING THE FIG. 

 With modern appliances at command, the fruit- 

 forcer of the present day can readily produce ripe 

 Figs from the early part of April nearly up to 

 Christmas. The first are almost invariably obtained 

 from trees established in pots, two and sometimes 

 three crops being obtained from them in one year. 

 The last or third crop is, however, a great mistake, 

 as the fruit so obtained is small, and ripens when 



