PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 123 



THE riG. 



Address by GEORGE C. ROEDING, of Fresno. 



I left California last May for the purpose of investigating the question 

 of the Smyrna fig as it grew in Smyrna. I left early in the season in 

 order to be in Smyrna during the season of caprification. We had dis- 

 covered many things about this subject theoretically, but there were 

 many practical points that we did not understand. I left Berlin on 

 the 2d of June and arrived in Constantinople on the 4th and was in 

 Smyrna on the 11th. I went on this trip as the special agent of the 

 United States Government, and immediately called upon the Ameri- 

 ican consul to see whether he could give me any information in 

 regard to the caprifigs. My principal object was to see how caprifica- 

 tion was carried on. He said I had arrived too late, and naturally I 

 was very much worried about it. As I could not go out into the 

 interior right away, I took an interpreter from the consulate's office 

 and got into a cab and traveled around the suburbs of Smyrna, 

 desiring to find a few caprifigs, in the hope, possibly, of learning that I 

 had not arrived too late. After traveling awhile, I was successful in 

 finding a caprifig. The insects were just about to emerge, and I realized 

 that I had arrived just in the nick of time. The following day I went 

 to Aidin, and told the consul my object in making this trip. I knew I 

 was in a rather dangerous position, and that if they found out what I 

 wanted every obstacle would be placed in my path. I represented to 

 the interpreter and all other people that I was a special agent of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture from New York, and when- 

 ever I had an opportunity I discussed with those people the subject of 

 caprification. I stated to them that I had heard that there was an insect 

 required for the production of the Smyrna fig, and that I thought it 

 was ridiculous. All of these men told me that I could believe what I 

 pleased, but they said, " We know that if we don't have this insect we 

 don't have Smyrna figs." 



After spending a few days there I went out to several fig orchards, in 

 which caprification was just going on. I asked the gentlemen a great 

 many questions about caprification and the methods of carrying it on, and 

 I was surprised to learn the intense ignorance displayed on the subject. 

 They knew nothing of the subject outside of the fact that without the 

 insect they had no figs. They did not know how to account for the 

 insect, or anything else about it. I asked them what became of 

 the insect when the fig disappeared, and they said the insect disap- 

 pears. I asked them how they got it back again, and they said, "We 

 don't know; it comes out of the woods." As I say, upon my arrival at 

 these orchards caprification was going on, and I began to examine the 



