PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 119 



alike, and that it is not always safe to rely upon the wild figs producing 

 sufficient crops of the proper quality at the time the figs are required 

 for the caprification of the Smyrna figs. 



Office of the Caprifig. — The question now arises as to the qualities 

 most highly prized in a caprifig tree, and their practical importance to 

 the horticulturist. 



It may not be entirely superfluous to point out first the practical 

 relationship of the caprifig and the wasps used in the process of caprifica- 

 tion. When the Smyrna figs have attained a certain size their female 

 flowers have become receptive; that is, they require to be pollinated by 

 the pollen from the male flowers, in order that they may set fruit and 

 mature seeds. As the fig is closed, and no pollen can enter through the 

 aid of the wind, as is sometimes the case in other kinds of flowers, it 

 must be brought there by the means of insects. The aid of insects in 

 bringing pollen from one flower to another is a most common thing in 

 nature, and it is safe to say that the majority of flowers are pollinated 

 in that way. It will thus be seen that in order to caprificate the 

 Smyrna figs, we require, not only caprifig trees and wasps, but it is also 

 necessary that the wasps should be covered with the fig pollen when 

 they emerge from one fig in order to enter another. This makes the 

 question more complicated yet, and it is this question of pollen which 

 distinguishes the caprification of the Smyrna figs from the caprification 

 of the wild figs or caprifigs. The^wild figs or caprifigs can be caprificated 

 and will set fruit without any pollen being present, but the Smyrna 

 figs would all fall off, and dry without maturing, if pollen was not present 

 in sufficient quantity to pollinate a large number of fig flowers. 



Why Different Caprifigs Are Necessary. — The successful culti- 

 vator must carefully consider the qualities of his caprifigs, as upon 

 their nature and characteristics depend the profits of years of labor, just 

 as much as upon the quality of the Smyrna figs intended for fruit. The 

 main point that is to be considered is the necessity of procuring an 

 abundant supply of Blastophaga wasps covered with pollen at the time 

 required. If either the pollen fails or the wasps appear too late or too 

 early, a failure will be the result. To avoid these the cultivator must 

 prepare a plantation of the proper kinds of caprifig trees. The first 

 caprifig tree which we know of with certainty in this State was imported 

 into California by the Bulletin Company of San Francisco. This tree 

 was planted at Niles on the Shinn place, and it is safe to say that many 

 trees resulting from cuttings of this tree have been scattered over this 

 State and are now growing in full vigor without having attracted any 

 special attention. Unfortunately this caprifig tree was not of a variety 

 which could harbor the fig wasps during any longer period than a few 

 months. It possesses only one crop of figs a year — the crop known as 



