364 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



localities, but it generally does not reach above half that 

 height. The leaves are large, cordate, and deeply sinu- 

 ate, with three to five lobes, thick and pubescent on the 

 under surface. The blossoms are not apparent, but con- 

 cealed in the inside of the fleshy receptacle that becomes the 

 fruit, which consists of a pulp, containing numerous peri- 

 carps enclosed in a rind, which becomes variously colored 

 in the different varieties. Though the fruit is too sweet and 

 luscious for those unaccustomed to it, it with use soon be- 

 comes a great favorite, and is perhaps the most wholesome 

 and nutritious of fruits. The fig is a native of Asia and 

 Africa, and has been cultivated from the earliest times. 

 It is perfectly at home in all the low country and middle 

 portions of the Southern States, and as universally 

 cultivated below the mountain section as the peach. 

 Large quantities of dried figs are imported into the United 

 States, and are even sold in our midst. These, at very 

 little expense, could be put up at home and even ex- 

 ported at a profit. 



A good way to dry figs is to gather them when per- 

 fectly ripe ; boil them in a preserving kettle in a syrup of 

 nice sugar about five minutes. Take them out, dry them 

 in a warm oven, or a kiln made for drying fruits ; when 

 dry they can be packed in drums or boxes. 



Imported figs are dipped in a hot lye made of fig wood 

 ashes, and dried on frames in the sun ; when dried here 

 they are apt to be infested with minute insects. The fig 

 is readily propagated by shoots, or cuttings from the 

 roots, planted in the fall or spring. Cuttings should be 

 eight or ten inches long, and include a small portion of 

 old wood at the base of each ; if planted in a hot bed in 

 January, they will make handsome plants the same sea- 

 son. Figs should be planted twelve to fifteen feet apart 

 in good, rich earth. The Celestial Fig is best trained as a 

 low tree. The best soil for the fig is a mellow loam of a 

 calcareous nature. 



