THE FIG UNDER GLASS. 



299 



alternate lateral shoot, as in Fig. 4, for summer 

 growths, which will be pinched at the sixth leaf 

 for the second crop of fruit. Tie the others 

 in to the wire next above the main shoot for 

 the first crop. Fork down a little of the turf wall 

 until the points of the roots are reached, shorten the 

 strongest and add a little fresh compost, again re- 

 taining it with a turf wall some eighteen inches in 

 advance of the preceding. Earn it very firm, and 

 after removing all loose particles from the surface of 

 the original border, add a top dressing of fresh loam, 

 free from organic matter. Next prepare the pot 

 trees that are intended to play the part of super- 

 numeraries, by top-dressing with rich compost as 

 previously advised, and place them on sods of turf, 

 grass side downwards, to prevent the roots from 

 penetrating the borders. If they require elevating 

 to the light, use inverted pots with a sod of turf 

 resting on them. When arranging the pot trees, 

 allow plenty of room, not only for their extension, 

 but for the extension of the planted-out trees also, 

 as they will make considerable growth, and it is no 

 use trying to grow good pot Figs in the shade of foli- 

 age above them. Keep the house cool and dry, but 

 safe from frost, until, say the 1st of January, which 

 is quite early enough to commence forcing. When 

 the house is closed, fill up the unoccupied part of the 

 future border with fermenting leaves, and apply water 

 to the roots at the temperature of 90°. Syringe 

 regularly twice a day with tepid water, and commence 

 forcing with a temperature of 50° at night and 60° 

 by day, gradually raising it as the trees and the 

 season advance. When the permanent trees get 

 into growth, follow the first season's directions as to 

 stopping and notching the leaders for breaks ; pinch 

 the laterals at the sixth leaf to throw up the second 

 crop this year and to secure another break, which 

 will give the first crop in the year following, also 

 rub off all duplicate growths when more than one 

 starts from the single eyes at a, Fig. 4. When the 

 terminal points on the first- crop shoots, b, have made 

 three leaves, pinch them to throw force into the 

 advancing Figs, and to prevent the foliage from 

 becoming crowded, as these first-crop shoots will be 

 cut back to a single bud at the next autumn pruning, 

 or earlier if the second-crop shoots require their 

 space after the first crop is gathered. 



If variety among the pot plants be an object, and 

 late strong-growing kinds from which a second crop 

 cannot be expected are introduced, many of the 

 gross shoots may require cutting back before they 

 are started, all the short stubby growths being left, 

 as they will be the earliest and the most fruitful. 

 These varieties, on account of their vigour, should 

 be placed where they will have the most room, 

 while the kinds specially recommended for forcing 



in pots will be found suitable for placing along the 

 front where head-room is limited. 



The stopping, thinning, and regulating of the 

 young growths early in the season will not differ 

 from that recommended for early pot Figs ; but 

 many of them, later on, will require discretionary 

 management, particularly those late kinds which 

 have been pruned to a single bud, otherwise repeated 

 pinching will leave many blind shoots, which will 

 have to be cut back in the autumn. As days in- 

 crease in length, and solar heat becomes more 

 favourable, the trees will require an abundance of 

 stimulating food and liberal syringing, until the 

 fruit shows signs of changing for ripening. Ven- 

 tilation, too, will be more liberal, always through 

 the early part of the day, a circulation being main- 

 tained on all favourable occasions, and forcing will 

 be carried on as much as possible by early closing 

 with solar heat, when the house may safely run up 

 to 90°. In all other respects, the rules laid down for 

 the management of early pot Figs will apply to this 

 house also. 



The preceding cultural directions apply to ad- 

 vancing young trees which have not yet reached 

 their largest pots, or covered the whole of the trellis 

 allotted to those planted out in borders. When they 

 have attained their full size, and have filled the 

 pots and borders with roots, generous feeding and 

 mulching with good rotten dung will greatly assist 

 them during the hot months, especially when they 

 are swelling off second crops of fruit. The borders 

 being well drained and made piecemeal, they be- 

 come one mass of hungry roots, which cannot easily 

 be over-watered, while the want of water is often as 

 fatal to Figs as it is to Peaches. 



The Fig- Case (Fig. 1). — As the treatment of 

 Figs, either in pots or planted out in the span- 

 roofed succession house, is identically the same as 

 that laid down for trees in the lean-to, this part of 

 our subject may be dismissed to leave room for a few 

 words on the management of the wall-case. Many 

 such structures have, of late years, been put up in 

 front of old-established trees on open walls, and the 

 result has been so satisfactory that owners of such 

 trees have found them a profitable investment. 

 Where large old trees of the never-failing Brown 

 Turkey, the Ischias, or the Brunswick, a variety 

 that does not submit to early forcing, are covered 

 in, the first operation will be the correction of the 

 drainage, if it exists, root-pruning, and re-laying in 

 fresh compost. Autumn is the best time to do this, 

 care being observed that the soil is free from manure 

 and not too rich, otherwise the growths will become 

 gross and the fruit will be late in ripening. After 

 the turn of the year, when danger of very severe 



