362 



OASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



soil can hardly be too poor and porous. A mixture 

 of light loam, lime-rubbish, and smashed brick, 

 two parts of the former to one of the latter, or the 

 two in equal quantities, is best. A depth of two 

 feet is sufficient. Some of the best Figs ever grown 

 by the writer were planted in a paved yard, without 

 any preparation whatever. A few paving-stones 

 were lifted, the roots planted, and the stones re- 

 placed a month or so after planting. And the Fig- 

 trees so planted have borne good crops for twenty 

 years. They were trained up the front of stables, 

 and over the roofs, and left to shift for themselves 

 for food under a paA^ed yard, over which more than 

 a hundred tons of coal were carted annually. 



This may seem an extreme example of a starving 

 regime, but it reveals the way to success in ripening 

 good crops of Figs in our climate. 



Training and Treatment.— There seem but 

 two possible methods of top-treatment that can 

 result in good crops of Figs in the open air in 

 our climate. The one is the coddling, and the other 

 the hardening system. 



The chief points in the first are to keep the shoots 

 thin ; that is, to prune and train them on the fan- 

 system, something like Peaches, but with wider 

 spaces— say a foot — between the branches. Then, 

 before the approach of winter, the whole surface of 

 the trees is thatched with reeds, straw, or branches, 

 and covered with mats. Another plan of protecting 

 Fig-trees in the open consists in detaching them 

 from the walls, tying all the branches together into 

 one bundle, or two of about equal size, binding them 

 round with straw or mats, and fixing them en masse 

 to the wall, or stout stakes, for the winter. The trees 

 by either of these methods are preserved from frost 

 until March, or even later, according to the season. 

 They are then uncovered tentatively, left for a time 

 untied after being uncovered, and finally trained 

 afresh over the wall when all danger of injury 

 from severe frosts is over. The weak link in this 

 mode of culture is the sudden transition from the 

 covered to the uncovered state. And failure has so 

 frequently resulted, that this mode of culture has 

 been very generally given up in favour of what may 

 be called the hardening process. 



This should begin by confining each tree to a 

 single stem. The stem may be of any handy height, 

 from six inches to a yard. Its chief object is to get 

 rid of suckers, and confine the trees, large or small, 

 to one root-stock. This is the first step towards 

 fertility. And as to training, the horizontal system 

 is the best for trees of any considerable size. 



There should be no pruning. Should the branches 

 start too strongly at first, pinch out the leading 

 shoot when it has made from four to six leaves. 



This will force all the buds into shoots, which 

 will probably suffice to lay the foundation of the 

 future Fig-tree. But should this not prove to be 

 the case, then stop the second, or even the third 

 crop of branches, until a sufficiency of shoots are 

 produced to form the tree. So soon as the foun- 

 dation is thus laid, and future furnishing in plenty 

 provided, the stopping of Fig-branches in the open 

 air should cease. 



All these preliminary stoppings may be avoided, 

 much time saved, and greater fertility established 

 and maintained, by planting Fig-trees at once a yard 

 or more apart for this hard system of treatment, 

 for the surest mode of securing good crops of Figs in 

 the open air consists in letting them alone. Fix 

 the branches firmly to the wall or building, and let 

 them grow or ramble as they list. They will 

 soon get into fertile ways, and make but little 

 growth. The shoots will be short-jointed, the 

 leaves small, and the fruit numerous. The wood 

 under this let-alone principle also matures so 

 thoroughly that our ordinary winters do it no 

 harm. Leave the Fig-trees wholly to their fate, 

 which as a rule is a perfectly safe one. 



The embryo Figs formed on the young shoots 

 during the previous autumn mostly perish, though 

 many of them may pass through mild winters un- 

 harmed. But the cultivator on this system does not 

 rely on these for a crop. On the contrary, he mostly 

 picks off all Figlets the size of Filberts before the 

 winter. When the young shoots break in the spring, 

 from one to three, or more, young Figlets come forth 

 almost abreast of, or beneath, the leaf-stalks. These 

 furnish the crop that ripens during the succeeding 

 summer, and all Figs in advance of these, as well as 

 all that come after, are useless in the open air. One 

 growth a year, and one crop, must be the motto of 

 the successful Fig- grower in our climate. 



But these unstopped growths will have a tendency 

 to get away from the wall *? They have ; and this in 

 not a few localities adds to the fertility of Figs in 

 the open air. In colder situations they may be tied 

 closer in for greater warmth. Gable-ends facing- 

 south, and with a chimney running up them, furnish 

 the best possible sites for open-air Figs. 



The roofs of houses with a southern or other warm 

 exposure also suit them admirably. But it is need- 

 ful to arrange a simple wire, wooden, or other frame, 

 or trellis, so as to lift the trees a foot or eighteen 

 inches above the roof. Otherwise the fruit, and 

 even the leaves or branches, are apt to get scorched. 

 Figs lying on roofs would also decompose almost 

 before they were ripe during wet weather. 



General Culture. — This consists in letting 

 well alone, except an occasional removal of a few 



