THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GR0\^T:RS ' COX\'ENTION. 



179 



OUTLINE OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE FIG. 



The fig", like the cottonwood, the carob, the pistache, and some others, 

 exists in two forms, male and female. The female trees alone bear fruit, 

 and the male trees, or capri figs, as they are called, produce pollen, 

 which, when carried to the flowers of the female trees, cause the fruits 

 to set and fertile seeds to develop. 



From this point on, the complications begin that make the life history 

 of the fig one of the most interesting chapters in natural history. The 

 pollen is carried from the male flowers of the capri fig tree to the 

 female flowers of the ordinary fig tree exclusively by a very small wasp- 

 like insect, the Blastophaga psenes. The fig tree is absolutely dependent 

 on the visits of this insect for a crop of seeds, and in its turn the 

 Blastophaga can live and breed only in the capri figs. This mutual 

 dependence, or symbiosis, as naturalists call it, is one of the most strik- 

 ing- cases known and dates back to somewhat remote geological epochs. 



The capri fig tree bears fruits that, at first sight, much resemble 

 ordinary figs, and which though seldom edible, finally soften and fall 

 oft'. If a capri fig be cut open before it ripens fully it will be seen to 

 be full of grains that look much like seeds. These grains are minute 

 galls, each one of which contains a fig insect. Finally, when the insects 

 are ready to cut their way out of the galls, the mouth of the capri fig 

 opens, and a ring of male flowers, situated just below, begins to shed 

 pollen al)undantly. The female BlastopJiagas (which alone issue from 

 the capri figsj get coated with this pollen as they crawl out, and carry 

 it to the female flowers which line the young budding figs on the female 

 trees. The dusting of the female flower with pollen causes the fruit to 

 set and to bear fertile seeds. 



Now the capri fig tree in order to support the Blastophaga must bear 

 a succession of capri figs ; in most fig-growing countries there are three 

 generations of capri figs, called respectively the winter, spring, and 

 smmner generations, often known by their Neapolitan names — mamme, 

 proficlii, and ))iammo)ii. Though it is a deciduous tree, the capri fig 

 must carry a crop of nearly ripe but dormant capri figs through the 

 winter on its bare branches. 



The true nature of the fig and capri fig trees as outlined above has 

 been obscured by the fact that many varieties of the female or ordinary 

 fig tree bear abundant crops without any pollination, and hence the 

 Blastophaga is not needed in growing such varieties (which happen to 

 be just the ones which alone are grown in central and northern Europe 

 and in the Ncav AVorld). Ordinary figs are analogous to navel oranges, 

 which. ha\dng no pollen, likewise produce fruit without being pollinated, 

 and, like navel oranges, have no fertile seeds. 



It was only when the culture of Smyrna figs was attempted in this 

 State, a quarter of a century ago, that it was realized that something 

 was wrong, and it was only eighteen years ago that it was finally proved 

 that figs of this class set no fruit unless pollinated. 



In the orchards about Smyrna, in Greece, about Naples, in Algeria, 

 in Portugal, and in many other localities in the Old AYorld capri figs 

 containing BlastopJiagas ready to come out are suspended in the 

 branches -of the fig trees to facilitate the transfer of pollen by the 

 insect. This operation is called caprification. 



